For almost five decades, the World Series of Poker has been summoning players from all around the world to celebrate a game they share an affinity for. The 48th annual WSOP festival kicked off mere days ago at Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, promising a summer full of poker excitement, attractive prize pools for tournament entries, and 74 gold bracelets up for grabs.
The first such bracelet was awarded to the winner of Event #1 on the schedule of this year’s edition of the festival on Thursday. The WSOP traditionally begins with a $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em tournament that is intended solely for people employed in the casino industry. Bryan Hollis, a Maryland-based poker dealer, took down the event to win his first-ever WSOP cash of $68,817 and the coveted piece of jewelry.
Hollis was the last man standing out of a field of 651 entries. The player said in his post-victory interview that he had flown to Las Vegas to take part namely in the Casino Employees event as well as in the upcoming COLOSSUS $565 No-Limit Hold’em, Day 1A of which is set to start today. Of his newly acquired cash, Hollis revealed that he would use it as a down-payment for a new house.
The 2017 Casino Employees winner cashed in a WSOP event for the very first time. WSOP’s brand new Casino Employees champion said that he had participated in WSOP events in previous years but had never made it deep into those.
As mentioned above, poker plays a significant role in Hollis’ life as he works as a poker dealer back in his home state. He has also been playing poker, although only recreationally, for the past 15 years.
It took two days of play for the winner of the Casino Employees event to be determined. The tournament’s second and final day saw 11 survivors return to the Rio poker tables to fight off until there was one player left. As many as 102 hands were played before the names of the two heads-up opponents were clear. Hollis faced Chris Solomon from Florida.
Two-handed play began with Hollis holding the lead. Action unfolded quite quickly and the Maryland poker dealer finished off his opponent in around 20 hands. The moment of victory came when Hollis flopped a top pair, while his Solomon was unable to improve. There was nothing else left for the latter but to console himself with second-place prize of $42,508.
This year’s WSOP Casino Employees event attracted 651 entries who generated a prize pool of $325,500. The top 98 spots got paid, with min-cashes starting from $834.
