We hate to break the news to Tomas Samol, but there isn’t much room to go up from here. The man from Zilina, Slovakia busted out of the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event in 32nd place for $236,000 and was the last member of the Slovakia poker community to be eliminated from the tournament.

That finish would be great for just about anybody, but for Samol, it was something else. It was the first time he had ever made the money in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Scratch that – it was his first cash in a WSOP event, period. Scratch that again – it was his first recorded cash in any live poker tournament anywhere.

Heck of a way to start, huh? Hopefully he won’t be too disappointed if he only manages to place 45th next year.

Samol began Day 6 of the 2012 WSOP Main Event in a good spot, sitting in the upper half of the field with almost two million chips. But he got off to a rough start, contributing to a double up of Mohammad Siddiqui when his A-K couldn’t beat Siddiqui’s jacks all-in pre-flop.

He was unable to really do much of anything after that, languishing in the one and two million chip range for most of the day. He held strong, though, and almost made it to the final three tables. His tournament finally ended when he and one of the two remaining women in the field, Norway’s Elisabeth Hille, got into a raising war pre-flop, with Samol eventually committing his chips with A-Q.

Hille insta-called with queens. A few outs opened up for him after a 2-3-4 all-diamond flop, but the hope was short-lived, as another diamond fell on the turn, giving Hille a flush and Samol no chance at a Main Event bracelet.