Defending Champ Eliot Hudon Out; Naj Ajez Leads WPT World Championship

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Dec 17, 2023 3 min read Last updated Dec 20, 2023

During the Day 3 session, we asked the question, will there be a repeat winner in the World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship. That answer is no after Eliot Hudon, the defending champion, was eliminated late in the day in 186th place for $27,000.

Hudon won it last year for $4.1 million, beating out 2,960 entrants in the first edition of the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.

He moved all in with K♥J♥ and a short stack against the A♠Q♣ held by Ardit Kurshumi. No improvement for either hand came on the board, and that was the end of the title defense.

WPT World Championship Day 3 Recap

The defending champion is out, but there are still 132 players with a shot at the $5,678,000 first place prize, the most anyone in the 3,835-entrant field will take home. One possibility as to who will be crowned champion on Dec. 21 is Daniel Sepiol, who is one of a number of players to win some thrilling hands late in Sunday's session.

Sepiol, a Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) champion, was all in preflop for about 2.4 million chips with A♥J♣ against the K♥K♦ of Davidi Kitai. The board would run out J♣3♠2♣J♥A♦, giving Sepiol a full house to suck out, and it brought him up to around 100 big blinds late in the session. Kitai, on the other hand, was left with a small stack.

At the end of the five-level session, Naj Ajez finished with the largest stack at 11,435,000 chips. He built that big of a stack thanks to playing the largest pot of the tournament to date late on Day 3 when he won a race to double through Maxime Chilaud.

2023 WPT World Championship Day 3 Top Chip Counts

Chance Kornuth, however, had his run stopped just short of Day 4 when he was eliminated in 137th place ($34,100). Other notables to bust on Day 3 include Jason Somerville (140th for $34,100), Hossein Ensan (144th for $34,100), Chris Hunichen (155th for $31,300), Lynn Gilmartin (454th for $18,700), and David Williams (468th for $18,700).

Day 4 begins Monday at noon PT with 132 players remaining. The blinds will jump to 40,000/80,000 (80,000 big blind ante) when play resumes. A complete list of chip counts will be available in the morning.

_{*Image courtesy of World Poker Tour.}

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