Dan Sepiol won the 2023 WPT World Championship on Thursday and the $5.3 million top prize. [Image: Flickr.com / World Poker Tour]
Happy holidays, indeed
As 2023 comes to a close, there are still six people with work to do before the holiday break, with each competing for the title at the 2023 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas. On Thursday, Dan Sepiol emerged victorious after a singles match against Georgios Sotiropoulos to claim the top prize of $5,282,954.
“Be prepared to make plays in the big moments.”
Sepiol is 29 years old, has a straight tournament purse dating back to 2017 and had earned more than $1 million before this week, but this victory clearly dwarfs anything he’s done before. He had been considering leaving professional poker for several years, but Jeremy Brown, Justin Brown and Taylor Black took him under their wing and coached him, based on his “innate willingness to play in the big moments,” Black told WPT. com.
“…I’d say he’s earned it. He worked hard. He also earned it not only for the hard work, but for the ups and downs as well. “Yes, I honestly couldn’t be happier for him,” Black added.
Jump the gun
Sepiol entered heads-up play with a huge chip lead over Sotiropoulos, 310.5 million to 72.6 million, a gap that only widened over the first hour. At one point, their lead swelled to 10 to 1 and victory seemed inevitable.
But after a simple double to get up from the felt, Sotiropoulos doubled again with an almost miraculous hand. Sepiol was carrying the K-2, and it looked good on the flop from the AK-8. Sotiropoulos only had 5-7, but he hit a straight runner to push his stack to 115.9 million, enough now to be dangerous, though still less than half what Sepiol had.
The crazy thing about the hand is that when the cards were turned over, Sepiol misread his opponent’s hand and thought he had already won. He went to his tracks to celebrate when someone pointed out that he was missing a hand. Sepiol clearly had a sense of humor about it, laughing at the situation, but inside, it may have thrown him for a loop.
“Definitely a possibility,” he said in his post-match interview. “I don’t know for sure, but definitely, what’s the word? The momentum definitely changed after that.”
Back and forth in a few hands
The momentum has definitely shifted. After the hand, the two players agreed to a deal in which Sepiol was guaranteed US$4,682,954 and Sotiropoulos US$4,167,246, leaving the remaining US$600,000 to the winner. In hand, Sotiropoulos took the lead.
But just a few hands later, Sepiol snatched the momentum right back, beating a pair with J-2 in control against JQ to double the lead and take a big lead. The tournament ended on the next hand.
The chips were all on pre-flop, Sotiropoulos with KQ and Sepiol with K-3 (suits of no consequence). The flop changed nothing, but the turn produced a 3 for Sepiol, Sotiropolous couldn’t find a queen on the river, and that was that.
In addition to the millions of dollars, Dan Sepiol also won $10,400 on next year’s WPT World Championship, the Wynn Championship Trophy, and the Daniel Arsham-designed WPT World Championship Trophy.
