Eliot Hudon
Eliot Hudon won the WPT World Championship for $4.1 million when he beat British mixed game specialist Benny Glaser to the crown in Las Vegas.

After a frantic, pressured final day at the felt, Eliot Hudon triumphed in the World Poker Tour’s record-breaking World Championship in Las Vegas, beating Benny Glaser to the top prize of $4.1 million. As the dust settles on a tournament that has captured the excitement and emotion of poker players like never before in December, each player of the final six went through a variety of emotions.

 

 

Each player’s journey to the final table and their eventual seven-figure finish was an emotional one and played out to a backdrop of thousands of fascinated fans living their best vicarious lives via social media. The action took place in Las Vegas but was seen around the world.

 

Early Stages Cut Field in Half

 

The disparity between the stacks of the six remaining players always dictated that the final would be a frantic one in the early stages and it didn’t disappoint. With just 55 hands needed to go from half a dozen players dreaming of victory to the winner getting their name on the WPT Mike Seton Champions Cup, it took 11 hands for the first elimination to take place.

 

Colton Blomberg shoved from the small blind with Ad8d and was called for just under seven big blinds with jack-nine in the big blind. Blomberg started the hand ahead as he looked to double up, but a board of Kh7s3s6sTs saw Blomberg lose to Glaser’s rivered four-flush, heading home with just over a million dollars.

 

After his exit, Blomberg, whose appreciation of making the final table has been a truly memorable part of the event, gave a shout out to his family.

 

 

Frank Funaro was the next to fall. Just three hands after Blomberg had headed to the rail, he had company as Funaro’s shove with AhTc ran into Eliot Hudon’s KsKh. A runout of Js6d2cKdJc saw Hudon make a full house on the river as Funaro’s desperate hope for a Broadway straight gutshot floundered on the river. He still wanted to let his many fans know what their support meant to him.

 

 

With Hudon getting off to the best possible start, four-handed play saw him improve his stack even more and when he racked up 188 million chips (94 big blinds), his opponents collectively held just 54 big blinds between them. It was a surprise it took until the 39th hand for the field to be trimmed to three.

 

Adam Adler was the man to miss out on the podium places, cutting a disparate figure as he was sent to rail albeit with a career-high score of over $1.6 million.

 

 

Less than two dozen hands stood between the three remaining players and the major title everyone would be talking about for years to come. Jean-Claude Moussa was the one to miss out on heads-up, busting for just over $2 million when he lost two key hands out of three played. First, his Ac2d failed to hold as Benny Glaser’s all-in with QdQc saw him double up after a board of QsJdTdJh3h came down.

 

Moussa Falls to Benny’s Queens

 

After one double up from three big blinds, Moussa’s journey was at an end. His call with Ac3h for his tournament life from the big blind was the right one, as Eliot Hudon had shoved with 6d5d, but the board of 4c3d2cQsKd flopped the eventual winner the nut straight, and a chagrin Moussa was the last American to hit the rail in Vegas. He’d done a huge amount better than he thought he would pre-game.

 

 

Heading into the final day, Glaser had called it ‘the biggest spot of my life’.

 

 

After a chop pot and three hands in a row for Glaser, the British player started heads-up with real hope of a fightback. However, seven hands in, the battle was over and Hudon was the champion. After a board of 8h6c2d9d5c saw Glaser shove on the river with QdJs in an audacious bluff, Hudon called with 7c4d for a rivered straight and claimed the title.

 

 

A day of drama and a week of record-breaking action was over. In the aftermath of a superb tournament, the World Poker Tour will likely confirm the return of the WPT World Championship in 2023. They’d be mad not to, since the atmosphere in Sin City this week has been the closest it comes to the WSOP Main Event since the summer.

 

World Poker Tour 2022 World Championship Final Table Results:

Position Player Country Prize
1st Eliot Hudon Canada $4,136,000
2nd Benny Glaser United Kingdom $2,830,000
3rd Jean-Claude Moussa U.S.A. $2,095,000
4th Adam Adler U.S.A. $1,608,000
5th Frank Funaro U.S.A. $1,301,000
6th Colton Blomberg U.S.A. $1,001,050