Poker Dealer, Hoai Pham from San Diego, has become the first person this year to win a WSOP gold bracelet. The 43-year-old, who currently works at the Village Club Casino, won the 2010 $500 No-Limit Hold’em Casino Employees Championship (Event #1) on Sunday, 30 May and was awarded $71,424 and his first WSOP bracelet. The event attracted 721 players and offered a total prize pool of $324,450.
The final hand of the tournament came when Pham found himself holding A-A and his opponent, A.J. Vea, had 4-4. Pham moved all-in after seeing a flop of Q-7-2 and Vea called after deliberating for a few minutes. A 5 on the turn and a 6 on the river failed to help Vea giving Pham the victory with pockets Aces.
Following his win Pham said, “I feel good, I am very, very happy. I can’t wait to tell everybody. I told my boss I would take vacation to (play in this tournament). So now, I get to go back to them and show them what I won.” Pham has requested that Vietnam’s national anthem is played at his WSOP bracelet ceremony.
Champion of the Casino Employees Championship in 2008, Jonathan Kotula, finished the tournament in tenth place, just one position from the final table. David Patent, who formally worked as a Harrah’s executive at the Rio and Flamingo, finished in 11th place. Former WSOP Tournament Director, Jack McClelland, finished in 19th place marking his fifth cash in a WSOP event.
Defending champion from 2009, Andrew Cohen, entered this year’s tournament but went out on a horrible beat during Day One. He pushed holding A-K and was called by a player with A-Q, the deadly flop of Q-Q-Q left Cohen drawing dead and ended up losing to four-of-a-kind.
Final Positions and Payouts:
1. Hoai Pham - $71,424
2. A.J Vea - $44,079
3. Chris Reider - $28.655
4. Matt Hollinger - $21,047
5. Patrick Silvey - $15,677
6. Kent Washington - $11,829
7. David Villegas - $9,029
8. Jeffrey Bennett - $6,969
9. Yuta Motoyama - $5,434
Stay with us, at Guide To Poker, for all the latest WSOP 2010 news.
