Eliot Hudon Wins 2022 WPT World Championship for $4.1 million

The final day of the record-breaking World Poker Tour World Championship saw some of the best players in the world of poker duke it out for the $4.1 million top prize. When the dust settled on a thrilling climax 55 hands later, it was the Canadian player Eliot Hudon who topped the lot, beating British mixed game specialist Benny Glaser heads-up to claim by far the biggest prize of his poker career so far.

Short Stacks Face Early Peril

Given how short a time it would take the final table to play down to a winner – just a couple of dramatic hours at the felt – the feeling was that any early bust-out would set the tone. That was proved correct as less than a dozen hands had passed by the time an emotional Colton Blomberg became the first of four Americans to be felted.

Blomberg, whose journey to the final table had been one his fans lived vicariously through a series of posts via the social media platform Twitter, was all-in with ace-eight, but while he started the hand ahead of Benny Glaser’s jack-nine, he did not end it the same way, the board giving the British player a flush on the river to send Blomberg home with $1,001,050 to the loving bosom of his family.

Next to go in fifth place was Frank Funaro. Short-stacked, Funaro earned $1,301,000 for his run from 2,960 entries all the way to the top five as he lost to the eventual winner. Funaro was all-in with ace-ten but ran into Eliot Hudon’s pocket kings and a more than clean board of J-6-2-K-J gave Hudon a full house and sent Funaro home.

Adler Addles, Glaser Goes for Glory

With four players remaining, it was turning into the Hudon show, with the chip leader utterly dominant after starting the final table behind only Benny Glaser at the top of the chipcounts. That situation changed dramatically after those early eliminations, with Hudon holding 94 big blinds, and his three opponents only just exceeding 50 big blinds collectively.

After 39 hands of the final table, six became three as Adam Adler busted in fourth place for $1,608,000. Adler was all-in with a flush draw, but it never came in for him and he was the man to miss out on the podium places. Jean-Claude Moussa was not far behind him, losing out for a record career score of $2,095,000 when he exceeded his wildest expectations in the event.

All-in with ace-deuce in an effort to skittle Glaser’s chances, he couldn’t overtake the Brit’s pocket queens, and soon after lost with ace-three against Hudon’s six-five. The flop was a dream for the eventual winner, with it coming 4-3-2 for the flopped nut straight. That was always likely to win through from that position and so it was, eliminating Moussa for that record score.

Glaser Can’t Take the Title

With just two players remaining from the incredible field of 2,960 entries that saw a prizepool of $29 million paid out to players, two final seven-figure scores were on the line. The winner would bring home over $4.1 million, while the runner-up would bank over $2.8 million instead. As he began the final day in the chip lead, Glaser declared the moment as ‘the biggest spot of my life’.

Hudon, however, was not to be denied having roared into the lead over the course of 48 hands. It didn’t take long for him to finish off Glaser, with just seven hands of heads-up poker all it took to find a deserving champion. The first four players to have lost their stacks at the final table had been American, but the final duel – between a Brit and a Canadian – ended after a brief flurry of pots in Glaser’s favor.

Hudon ended the event, though, and after a British bluff, too. Glaser shoved with just queen-jack on a board showing 8-6-2-9-5, but it was an easy call for the Canadian as he uttered “I call” and showed seven-four for the rivered straight. As Glaser reflected on going so close to the biggest major title of his career, Eliot Hudon became the inaugural winner of the WPT World Championship, and $4.1 million richer overnight.