Frederick Narciso made it 600 to go from the cutoff with Stephen Sanchez calling from the small blind, before Claudio Elizalde squeezed to 2,300 from the big blind. Narciso and Sanchez called.
After the dealer spread out a flop of J♠4♣6♣, Sanchez shoved his short stack into the middle for around the size of the pot, and Elizalde moved all in over the top. Narciso called for his remaining chips and the cards were turned over with Elizalde having the chance to bust two players.
Stephen Sanchez: K♦J♦
Frederick Narciso: A♣A♥
Claudio Elizalde: Q♠Q♥
Sanchez had top pair, Elizalde had an overpair, but Narciso was ahead with pocket aces. The rest of the board ran out 8♣4♥, keeping Narciso's aces ahead until the end. Sanchez was out, and Elizalde was left with around 5,000.
After a raise from Charles Petry sitting under the gun to 400, and a re-raise to 1,200 from Rudolph Dacanay next to act, Philip Restivo sat on the button with a decision. He elected on a call, and Steven Harrison decided to do the same from the big blind, Petry closed the action with a call.
The players went four ways to a flop of A♣5♥3♠.
Harrison decided to lead out 5,000 into a pot of roughly the same size. Action folded around to Restivo, and he moved his remaining chips into play.
Harrison faced a decision for 18,500 chips and his tournament life. Before long, he risked it all.
Steven Harrison: A♦Q♥
Philip Restivo: A♠K♣
With both players holding top pair, Restivo held a massive advantage with his king kicker. After a 5♣ on the turn, and a 3♥ on the river, Harrison was eliminated.
Kevin Burgess made it 600 to go from under the gun and Joseph Berg three-bet to 2,000 from the small blind. Burgess made the call.
The dealer fanned out the flop of K♦4♦3♣ and Berg bet 1,400. Burgess called again.
Berg checked the 10♠ turn and Burgess checked behind. Both players checked again when the 10♣ came on the river, and Berg turned over J♦J♥ for a pair of jacks. Burgess couldn't beat it, and Berg pulled in the pot.
Joshua Bodell made it 300 to go from early position before Lawrence Letourneau three-bet to 1,200 from the hijack. When it got back to Bodell, he called to see a flop.
On the A♣J♠5♠ flop, Bodell checked, and Letourneau fired out a continuation-bet of 600. Bodell flicked in the call.
Both players were happy to check down the A♠ turn and K♦ river. Letourneau turned over Q♥Q♣ for two pair, aces and queens with a king kicker to take down the pot.
Welcome back to PokerNews, the official media partner of the 2025 World Series of Poker and home of live updates from all bracelet events.
Today sees the start of Event #2: $500 Industry Employees No-Limit Hold'em here at Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas. Previously called the Casino Employees event, a name change for 2025 now means that poker bloggers, vloggers and streamers are all eligible to play.
This has caused some controversy in the months leading up to the 2025 WSOP, but that's all in the past now as the series has begun.
This two-day event gets underway at 2 p.m. local time, with late registration open for nine 40-minute levels, and one reentry is allowed. There will be 15-minute breaks every three levels, with a 60-minute dinner break at the end of Level 9 (~8:30 p.m.).
The starting stack is 25,000 chips with the plan for Day 1 to play 15 40-minute levels or down to 15% of the field, whichever is later. For the surviving players, Day 2 resumes Wednesday, May 28, at 1 p.m. and plays down to a winner.
Last year’s event was the one of the largest Casino Employees Events in history, with a field of 1,189 entries generating a prize pool of $499,380. The winner was Jose Garcia, who defeated Richard Rothmeier heads-up to win $79,134 and his first WSOP bracelet.
Year
Entries
Winner
Country
Payout
2024
1,189
Jose Garcia
United States
$79,134
2023
1,015
Peter Thai
United States
$75,535
2022
832
Katie Kopp
United States
$65,168
2021
419
James Barnett
United States
$39,013
2020
-
Not held
-
-
2019
686
Nicholas Haynes
United States
$62,345
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Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates from the tournament floor throughout the day and to find out who advances to Day 2!
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