Canada's Lonnie Hallett has captured the 2023 WSOP's record-setting $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship, topping an 8,180-entry field to win $763,731. In the process of securing his first bracelet win and just his third overall WSOP cash, Hallett, pictured above, denied an eighth bracelet win by 82-year-old Poker Hall of Famer Billy Baxter.
Baxter finished as the runner-up in this event, earning $473,212. Though Baxter entered heads-up play against Hallett well behind in chips, had he come back to win, it would have set a new WSOP mark for the longest span between a player's first and most recent bracelet wins. Baxter won his first bracelet 48 years ago, in 1975.
Third place in the Seniors tourney went to another prominent player, double-bracelet winner Dan Heimiller. Heimiller enjoyed a massive Day 4, building a stack of three million to nearly 60 million to take the lead entering Monday's live-streamed, seven-player finale. Hallett began the day in second place with just over 50 million chips, while Baxter led five relative short stacks into the Day 5 finale.
As was expected, the finale began with the short stacks being picked off one at a time. Hallett dominated the early action and moved into the lead. The field was down to its final three when a huge collision between Hallett and Heimiller occurred. Most of the players' chips went in after a Qh-Jh-4h flop, when Heimiller had Ah-Jc for middle pair and the nut-flush draw. Hallett, who had Heimiller covered, called Heimiller's all-in re-reraise with Qc-4c for a flopped two pair. The river and turn bricked out, giving Hallett a commanding lead and sending Heimiller to the cashier to collect a $356,166 payday.
The end came just a few hands later, when Baxter, down to about 10 million in chips himself, moved all in pre-flop with Qc-2h. Hallett called and was ahead with Ac-8c, and he moved further ahead when the flop came 8d-7d-6c. Baxter needed a queen to stay alive but the turn was a blank 3s and the 8s river gave Hallett trip eights and the victory.
Baxter spoke with PokerOrg yesterday about the effort it takes to play massive, multi-day events.
Here are the final-table results for the Seniors championship:
- Lonnie Hallett - $765,731
- Billy Baxter - $473,212
- Dan Heimiller - $356,166
- Shannon Fahey - $269,841
- Gordon Eng - $205,799
- Loren Cloninger - $158,006
- Rudolf Fourie - $122,130
- Ron Fetsch - $95,040
- David Stearns - $74,464
