Event #1: $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em

 

 End of Day 1 chip leader Spencer Barrett

Day 1 of the WSOP Casino Employee Event is in the books. A field of 731 entries came to try their hand at winning the first WSOP gold bracelet of 2016. Only 23 players remain, and Spencer Bennett holds the chip lead with 627,000.

Bennett snuck into the lead over Matthew Tyler after Tyler spent most of the day knocking players out left and right. At one point in the tournament, Tyler had five times the average chip stack and seemed to be cruising to the lead. However, he kept getting hands and attempting to bust players with much less success than before.

With 25 left, Eric Stack (178,000) earned a double off Tyler when Tyler opened the button to 22,000 and Stack shoved 100,000 more. Stack had    against the    of Tyler. Stack spiked a king on the river to double and leave Tyler with only 11 big blinds. He ended the day with 91,000.

Kerry Craigie finished the day in second place and will be rocking a stack of 323,000 entering Day 2. Nicholas Swilinski (310,000), Tanja Vujanic (195,000), Amanda Wheeler (182,000) round out the top five. With Allison Arvey sitting on 164,00, that puts the four remaining female players in the top third of the field.

 

Some players who made the money but failed to survive to the day. Notables among the 110 players who cashed in this event include WSOP staffer Simone Ricci (106th), Jason Stern (60th), former WSOP Dealer of the Year Shaun Harris (56th), last year's Casino Employee Champ Brandon Barnette (55th), and 2007 Casino Employee Champ Eric Narciso (36th). A complete list of results so far can be found under the Results Tab.

 

The seat draw for Day 2 can be found in the Reports Tab.

The remaining players will return tomorrow at noon and will play down to a winner. Stay tuned to WSOP.com for updates throughout the day as the players compete for the first WSOP gold bracelet of the summer.

Henry Thiel open-shoves all in from the button for 107,000. Nick Sliwinski calls from the big blind.

Thiel shows   . Sliwinski shows    and utters a loud sigh of dismay. 

The flop comes     and Sliwinski lets out a loud "Oh!" as he outflops the bigger pair with a full boat.

The turn is the   and the river is the  , leaving Thiel's jacks cracked.

Nick Sliwinski - 235,000
Henry Thiel -- Eliminated in 24th place for $2,066

Raynard Luna raises in early position to 28,000. Amanda Wheeler shoves for 95,000 and Raynard calls.

Raynard shows    against Wheeler's   .

The flop favors Wheeler with    , and a turned   leaves Raynard drawing to only four outs -- two nines and two tens. The river, though. is the  , and Wheeler wins a big stack of chips from Raynard.

Amanda Wheeler - 205,000

As noted, just before the table redraw, Gorge Hayes was eliminated in 27th place. Here are the seating assignments for the final 26 players:

Table 1

Seat 1. Christopher "CJ" Sand - 110,000
Seat 2. Chris Jones - 185,000
Seat 3. Tanya Vujanic - 274,000
Seat 4. Spencer Bennett - 540,000
Seat 5. Michael Coombs - 102,000
Seat 6. Robert Ostler - 91,000
Seat 7. Jeff Fast - 56,000
Seat 8. Randall Bostick - 39,000
Seat 9. Kerry Craigie - 114,000

Table 2

Seat 1. --
Seat 2. Amanda Wheeler - 120,000
Seat 3. Emmanuel Ravelo - 150,000
Seat 4. Tom Ratanakul - 35,000
Seat 5. Raynard Luna - 220,000
Seat 6. Allison Arvey - 170,000
Seat 7. Brian Soja - 115,000
Seat 8. Tiankang Xing - 65,000
Seat 9. Henry Martinez - 120,000

Table 3

Seat 1. Matthew Tyler - 310,000
Seat 2. Ashkun Lajevardi - 50,000
Seat 3. Erik Stack - 100,000
Seat 4. Brandon Manill - 80,000
Seat 5. Brian Mikesh - 90,000
Seat 6. Daniel Ellery - 65,000
Seat 7. Henry Thiel - 105,000
Seat 8. Paul Kelly - 95,000
Seat 9. Nicholas Sliwinski - 80,000

Stephen Conyers is eliminated in 28th place and Gorge Hays is eliminated in 27th place, and they're now redrawing for new seating assignments. Action has been paused while the field recombines around the final three tables left in play.

The draw and counts will be posted here shortly.

On consecutive hands, Matthew Tyler eliminated Zackary Moore and doubled up Raymond Luna.

On the first hand, Tyler made it 24,000 and Moore shoved for around 100,000. Tyler called. Tyler had    and hit a king on the flop. His hand held and Moore was eliminated.

On the next hand, Tyler was in the big blind. Luna shoved all in under the gun and Tyler called from the big blind. Luna had    against the    of Tyler. The board came      , giving Luna the win and the double-up.

Matthew Tyler - 470,000
Raymond Luna - 102,000
Zackary Moore - Eliminated

Players are on a 20-minute break. Action will resume shortly.

Ronaldo Rodriguez shoves all in from late position for about 40,000, Tiankang Xing calls from the button, and the blinds fold. 

Rodriguez:    
Xing:   

The board runs out      , and Rodriguez is out. 

Tiankang Xing - 135,000
Ronaldo Rodriguez - eliminated in 35th place for $1,728

 

The action folds to the Sarah Lee on the button, who moves all in for about 38,000. The small blind folds and the big blind, Spencer Bennett, quickly calls. 

Lee -   
Bennett -   

The       board doesn't help Lee, who is eliminated. 

Spencer Bennett - 190,000
Sarah Lee - eliminated in 38th place for $1,472