Naj Ajez Leads Final 132 in WPT World Championships with $5.67 million Top Prize

Day 3 of the World Poker Tour’s Flagship WPT World Championships Main Event saw just 132 players survive as an initial field of 3,835 players meant the $40 million guaranteed event paid out just a little overlay. That overlay announcement was handled with impeccable grace by the WPT themselves, but on a heated day on X, formerly known as Twitter, opinion was divided on whether that grace extended to outside observers.

Guaranteed Drama as WPT Fall Just Short of $40m

After the World Poker Tour more than doubled last year’s inaugural guarantee of $15 million to $40 million in 2023, some observers commented that to hit the guarantee this year would be nearly impossible, given the close proximity in time to the WSOP Paradise and EPT Prague Main Events. Poker players could theoretically attend at least two of the three events, but not without difficulty and as such, all the fields maybe took a tiny hit they otherwise wouldn’t have done.

A phenomenal achievement and one that WSOP commentator Norman Chad highlighted as he gave the WPT a pat on the back. At least, to him, it was a compliment. For some on social media, Chad’s comment came across as snarky and a reminder of the WSOP’s Main Event numbers. To others, the sincerity came across as Chad drew parallels with the achievements of the similarly huge $10,000-entry event of the past.

As poker fans, you’ll no doubt make your own mind up on the comments.

Congrats to the @WPT, @pliska007, @SavagePoker & @WynnPoker for hosting 3,835 players for the WPT World Championship.

3,835. Nice.

I remember early in the poker boom, when the @WSOP
Main Event blew past 4,000 – in 2005, with 5,619 entrants – it felt great.

You'll get there.

— Norman Chad (@NormanChad) December 16, 2023

With that episode in the rear-view mirror, the action ploughed on towards the money bubble. With profit or no profit on the line, a former World Series of Poker legend made a superb fold as Australian former world champion Joe Hachem threw away pocket kings… correctly!

? ? ?

Wow @JosephHachem, just wow. ? ? pic.twitter.com/b4g5Txg7Ot

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) December 17, 2023

Day 3 Field Features Prominent British Heroes

With 132 players remaining, the upper limits of the leaderboard feature some of Britain’s finest as the ‘Limey’ invasion of the World Championships continues. Chris Moorman is already a World Poker Tour Main Event winner, and will come into Day 3 in ninth place out of the 132 survivors, bagging up 7,120,000 chips on Day 2.

Jack Salter (4,390,000) is another player to taste victory on the WPT, winning a World Poker Tour Deepstacks event and with Jack Hardcastle (3,795,000) hot on his heels, there’s a great chance that Great Britain sees some representation in the latter stages of the event. Welsh Triple Crown (WSOP, WPT and EPT) winner Roberto Romanello is perfectly positioned in the middle of the field with 2.6 million, with Fraser McIntyre (1,465,000) and Stu Rutter (1,700,000) also representing ‘Blighty’ well.

Big names are all over the leaderboard, with Joe Cada (715,000) short stacked but full of experience, WPT ambassador Brad Owen (730,000), WSOP legend Davidi Kitai (1,035,000), Upeshka De Silva (1,490,000), Igor Kurganov (1,800,000), Christoph Vogelsang (1,985,000), Andrew ‘Chewy’ Lichtenberger, Alex Foxen (2,115,000), Ren Lin (2,245,000), Ben Heath (2,425,000) and Michael Rossitto (5,915,000) all very much still involved.

Ajez the Leader as Hudon Falls

Last year’s winner, Eliot Hudon, fell during Day 2 to mean that there will be a new player who can call themselves a WPT world champion in 2023. Australian Naj Ajez holds the chip lead heading into Day 4, with his stack of 11.4 million chips just ahead of Russian GGMILLION$ crusher Artur Martirosian (10.9m) close behind him. Mexican Andres Campero is less than a million chips from the chip lead himself on 10.5m.

Behind the top three players, Indian player Ankit Ahuja (9,090,000) will be exerting as much pressure as he can on his opponents, while Mario Navarro (7,625,000) and Mark Mounsey (7,520,000) round out the top six. American poker legend Kristen Foxen (7,260,000) is going to be a huge threat to the title as she sits in seventh place of the remaining players with all the nous needed to make a difference at the business end of the event.

Lithuanian Paulius Vaitiekunas (7,240,000), the aforementioned Moorman (7,120,000) and Czech player Roman Hrabec (6,620,000) round out the top 10 and with over $5.67 million up top a massive day’s play is ahead of players still in with a chance of glory in Las Vegas at the Wynn from 12 noon on Monday. It’s still anyone’s WPT World Championship.