Dan Sepiol has taken his seat in the $10,400 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship, one year after his life-changing victory in the historic event.

The Indiana native had already produced impressive tournament results prior to December 2023 when he won $5.3 million in the largest guaranteed prize pool in poker history at the time ($40 million). PokerNews caught up with the defending champion on a Day 1a break at Wynn Las Vegas to find out how winning the major tournament has impacted his life in the past year.

Sepiol’s win at Wynn was a springboard to a monster 12-month run. He won a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet this past summer, finished runner-up in an online bracelet event, and took down the $25,000 buy-in WPT Alpha8 Trifecta event at Wynn in July for $672,200. Oh, and for good measure, he conquered a daily fantasy sports contest a couple weeks ago for $1 million.

How Did $5 Million Score Change His Life?

Returning to the scene (Wynn) of where he captured a monumental victory brings back some good memories for the defending champion.

“Yeah, for sure, playing the (WPT Prime Championship) the last few days or so and a couple of opening events, it brings back some memories,” Sepiol said.

Sepiol was already a Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) champion and World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) ring winner before he took down the 2023 WPT World Championship. He’d cashed for more than $1 million in live tournaments, according to The Hendon Mob. But the seven-figure payday was life-changing in ways, as he explained.

“Really, I feel like the same old Danny. Maybe I have a little more confidence at the poker table now, but basically playing the same tournaments, doing the same stuff.

Sepiol said he hadn’t played any hands of note through the first few levels. His stack five hours into play was hovering around the starting stack, which isn’t an awful spot to be in early in this marathon tournament that won’t end until Dec. 21.

The first of three Day 1 starting flights had 729 entrants at the time of publishing, 120 more than the same session last year in a tournament that had 3,835 entrants.

*Images courtesy of World Poker Tour.

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