The Casino Employees saw a rise in entries this year.

The waiting is finally over. The 2016 World Series of Poker officially got underway Wednesday with the $565 Casino Employees Event. The event marks the start of 52 straight days of WSOP events at the Rio Hotel & Casino.

Before cards were in the air, WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel addressed the players and staff and invoked the Muppets with his opening statement.

“It’s time to play a little poker. It’s time to win some bracelets. It’s time to build some bankrolls. It’s time to destroy some bankrolls. It’s time to have some fun,” said Effel.

Event #1: $565 Casino Employees Event

For the first time in event history, the Casino Employees Event featured re-entry. Players who busted out during the first six levels of play were allowed to re-enter one time. That helped push the final field to 731 players – a 6.25% increase over last year.

The event brings out a number of familiar faces, including WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart, former winner Chad Holloway and the live stream play-by-play man himself, David Tuchman. PocketFives New Jersey beat writer Will O’Connor also made his way into the field. None of those four players were able to survive into the money though.

After 20 levels of play just 23 players remain with Spencer Bennett sitting on top with 627,000 – nearly double that of the next biggest stack. Kerryjane Craigie, who runs poker operations at the Hippodrome Casino in London, has 323,000.

Sitting in third is a name that longtime fans of the WSOP on ESPN may recognize. Nicholas Sliwinski, who finished 13th in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, finished with 301,000.

There were a few familiar faces among the 87 players to bust in the money on Wednesday. One of those is usually the one dealing final tables. Shaun Harris, who has dealt multiple WSOP Main Event final tables in his career, is taking a break from dealing this summer to take a shot at breaking through as a player. Harris busted his first bullet but made the second one work.


Harris eventually busted out in 56th place for $1,131, meaning he profited $1 on the opening day of the WSOP. Tana Karnchanakphan, who runs the Run Good Poker Series and Run Good Gear, also managed to find the cashier’s cage. Karnchanakphan finished 52nd for $1,278.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Spencer Bennett – 627,000
  2. Kerryjane Craigie – 323,000
  3. Nicholas Sliwinski – 301,000
  4. Tanja Vujanic – 195,000
  5. Amanda Wheeler – 182,000
  6. Eric Stack – 178,000
  7. Allison Arvey – 164,000
  8. Ashkun Lajevardi – 160,000
  9. Tom Ratanakul – 141,000
  10. Emmauel Ravelo – 135,000

Looking Ahead to Thursday

The Casino Employees event restart is at Noon with the final 23 players playing down to the first WSOP bracelet winner of 2016.

While that event is playing down to a winner, the WSOP could well be on its way to breaking their own record. Colossus II, the $565 buy-in event that allows players to enter each of the six starting flights one time, gets underway at 10 AM PT. The second starting flight gets underway at 4 PM PT. Both flights will play 18 30-minute levels on Thursday. Given the overwhelming success of Colossus last summer, the second version of the event is expected to break even more records.