2023 was a great year for tournament poker as a whole, and quite a few well-known players made a serious impact throughout the year, but few names made the headlines as often as Bin Weng.
The Philadelphia resident had one of the most impressive years on the tournament poker circuit ever recorded, winning over $6,000,000 in cash prizes and truly establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with.
Weng entered 2023 as an established pro, but not one to win millions over a 12-month period. Yet, in a course of a single year, he was able to leave a lasting mark on the poker world and quickly become one of the biggest names in the game.
To honor his success at WPT events this past year, World Poker Tour named Bin Weng the WPT Player of the Year, a title he earned by accumulating 2,175 POY points, over 500 more than Dan Sepiol who finished in second place after winning the WPT World Championship event for over $5.2 million.
Speaking on Weng’s dominant year, WPT CEO Adam Pliska stated:
“I have seen a fair share of outstanding player performances throughout my years with the World Poker Tour. However, Bin may have put on the best string of achievements that I have seen in a long time. And his skill is only matched by his humility.”
Weng Dominates the 2023 Season of WPT
Late last year, Bin Weng was a name known only to industry insiders and players who shared the felt with him over the course of the six years he spent playing on the tournament circuit.
That all changed quickly in the early days of 2023, as Weng won a cool million dollars in the Borgata Championship Event in Atlantic City on January 4, announcing himself to the poker world.
Just a few months later, Weng made an impact on the WPT as well, as he was able to enter two simultaneous final tables of WPT Main Events as the chip leader.
On April 28, Weng took his chip lead in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown all the way to a trophy, winning $1.12 million in the process, which stood as the biggest win of his poker career.
While he was not able to win at WPT Choctaw in Durant just days later, his fourth place finish there was still good for another $143,000 in cold hard cash.
Like most of his peers, Weng spend the summer in Las Vegas grinding the World Series of Poker, but made his return to WPT in the midst of it and broke his own record for the biggest cash in his tournament career.
The $10,500 WPT EveryOne for One Drop was an event that carried no POY points, but thanks to a massive attendance awarded Weng with $2.22 million in cash for his win.
To end the season, he went on and recorded deep runs at WPT bestbet Scramble and WPT Prime Championship at the Wynn, taking his points total to well over 2,000.
Just when everyone thought that the year of Bin Weng could not get any better, and that his domination was perhaps over, he took down the $25k High Roller event at the WPT World Championship for just under a million dollars, profiting at yet another WPT festival.
Here is a full rundown of Weng’s WPT results that won Bin Weng the WPT POY title:
Event | Place | Points | Cash |
WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown | 1st | 1,400 | $1,128,250 |
WPT Choctaw | 4th | 550 | $143,000 |
WPT EveryOne for One Drop | 1st | 0 | $2,227,054 |
WPT bestbet Scramble | 22 | 100 | $12,900 |
WPT Prime Championship | 1,107 | 125 | $1,800 |
WPT World Championship $25k High Roller | 1st | 0 | $958,279 |
A Breakthrough Year across the Board
Typically speaking, most players who win POY years on various tours tend to do well on that tour for the year, but don’t record too many great results away from it.
For Bin Weng, the name of a tournament and the brand he was playing under meant very little in 2023, as he dominated the tournament circuit all year long at nearly every stop he visited.
His year started in the best possible way, as he took down a million dollars just four days into January at the Borgata Championship Event in Atlantic City dubbed “The Return.”
As early as February, Bin Went captured a WSOPC Ring at the $1,700 WSOPC Las Vegas event, taking home $227,344 in the process.
His dominant summer at the WPT came next, but he was also able to seven cashes at the WSOP in Las Vegas, along with a second place finish in a High Roller event at The Lodge in Austin, Texas.
A true tournament grinder he is, Bin went out of his way to play events such as Potomac Poker Open and Maryland State Poker Championship, recording a number of significant cashes in those before returning to land a couple of cashes at the Poker Masters in Las Vegas as well.
Just ahead of the WPT World Championship festival, he almost won the Borgata Poker Fall Mini Series Event #2 as well, coming second in that one for $134,897.
To crown his year, Weng took down the High Roller event at the Wynn just before Christmas, going home for the holidays in the best possible way.
Expect to See More of Weng in 2024
In 2023, Bin Weng established himself as one of the best No Limit Texas Hold’em tournament players in the world and he will have plenty to prove this year as well.
If we have learned anything about the new poker legend last year, it is that he has an extremely humble persona, but also that he is highly competitive and always gives it his all.
With 2024 tournament season now open, we can expect to see plenty of the WPT Player of the Year on the circuit, with final table appearances nearly guaranteed given his level of play and the amount of volume he typically puts in, which means Bin Weng fans will have plenty of chance to see their personal hero in action.