Elio Fox, WSOP 2018
Elio Fox wins first bracelet of 2018, and his 2nd overall

One day down, two events started, one bracelet awarded. The 2018 World Series of Poker is off to a speedy start, with the one-day $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty NLHE event playing down to a winner on Wednesday, while Event #1: the $565 Casino Employees event, is down to just 13 players.

Here’s all you need to know about Day 1 (May 30) of the 2018 WSOP.

Jodie Sanders leads final 13 in $565 Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em event

As always, the WSOP schedule kicked off on May 30 with the $565 Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em event (Event #1).

A total of 566 runners turned out for it, with a field made up of dealers, media members, and all other walks of casino-working life. That large field was whittled down to just 13 when the chips were bagged at the end of Day 1, and here’s a look at how the remaining players stack up:

  1. Jodie Sanders – 509,000
  2. Jordan Hufty – 399,000
  3. Won Kim – 319,000
  4. Skyler Yeaton – 317,000
  5. Tom Booker – 283,000
  6. Zachary Seymour – 242,000
  7. Katie Kopp – 172,000
  8. Jason Pepper – 168,000
  9. Brad Helm – 140,000
  10. Thomas Yenowine – 130,000
  11. Anthony Dewald – 81,000
  12. Tom Ratanakul – 58,000
  13. Terry Bania – 35,000

Day 2 will be an all American affair, with all of the final 13 hailing from the USA. It’s Jodie Sanders, a table games dealer at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Southern California, who leads the way after 20 30-minute levels. When action resumes at 12pm on May 31, levels will double in length to 60 minutes.

Everyone is guaranteed a $2,484 payday, but their sights will be set on the $61,909 first-place prize. Take a look at what the final table will play for:

  1. $61,909
  2. $38,246
  3. $26,250
  4. $18,332
  5. $13,031
  6. $9,432
  7. $6,953
  8. $5,222
  9. $3,998

Some recognisable names were lost throughout the course of Day 1 action, including none other than PocketFives’ own Kevin ‘KevMath’ Mathers. Sadly Mathers failed to reach the cash (85 players were paid), and joining him on the rail prior to the bubble were the likes of 2013 champ Chad Holloway, and last year’s winner Bryan Hollis.

As for those who did make the money, there was some familiar faces. WSOP Media Coordinator Issac Hanson (38th for $1,227), WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart (52nd for $1,085), Johnny Gagelonia (33rd for $1,418), and bracelet winner Dieter Dechant (17th for $2,018) all made a profit.

Elio Fox wins second bracelet in first ever $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty NLHE

We have our first bracelet winner of 2018, and the winner is now part of the esteemed two-bracelet club.

Elio Fox came out on top in the first ever edition of the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty No Limit Hold’em, Event #2 on the summer’s schedule. Fox, who won his first WSOP gold by winning the 2011 WSOPE Main Event for $1.87 million, picked up his second bracelet in the process plus a first-place prize of $393,693.

Paul Volpe
Third place for Paul Volpe

He had stiff competition though, not only in the end stages but throughout. This one-day tournament with 20-minute blind levels attracted 243 of poker’s best and brightest, resulting in a stacked final table which included the likes of Paul Volpe, Alex Foxen, and 2009 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada. The latter would be the first to fall from the finale in ninth, while Foxen busted in sixth. Volpe exited in third place when he ran his ace-eight into Fox’s ace-jack pre-flop and couldn’t hit.

That left Fox heads-up with Adam Adler, but the duel last only two levels. In the end Fox three-bet shoved holding pocket deuces and Adler called all-in with ace-ten. A low board saw Fox turn a set and river a full house to claim the title.

After the victory, Fox said: “There was such a big field and I think there was a good mixture of pros and recreational players. I think doing turbos is great because it’s good for non-professional players who can finish an event quickly.

“Bounty turbo formats appear a lot online, so I’ve definitely played it a lot, but I think it’s a great addition to the WSOP schedule.”

Prior to the final table, plenty of big names were lost. Bryn Kenney had a deep run in this one, ultimately bubbling the final table when he ran his pocket nines into Volpe’s pocket kings and couldn’t hit, busting in 10th place for $21,734. John Racener, Talal Shakerchi, Kenny Hallaert, Marc Macdonnell, and Antoine Saout all made the money and enjoyed deep runs.

Other players who tried and failed to cash include 14-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, reigning WSOP Player of the Year Chris Ferguson, other former Main Event winners Jonathan Duhamel, Ryan Riess, Joe McKeehen, and Qui Nguyen, Multiple bracelet winners Adrian Mateos, Kristen Bicknell, Brian Yoon, Erik Seidel, and Dominik Nitsche, plus Stephen Chidwick, Dietrich Fast, Jason Somerville, Andreas Eiler, Steve Zolotow and Igor Kurganov. 

Event #2: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty NLHE final table payouts:

  1. Elio Fox $393,693 (United States)
  2. Adam Adler $253,343 ((United States)
  3. Paul Volpe $169,195 (United States)
  4. Danny Wong $119,659 (United States)
  5. Charles Johanin $86,096 (United States)
  6. Alex Foxen $63,042 (United States)
  7. David Eldridge $46,993 (United States)
  8. Taylor Black $35,671 (United States)
  9. Joe Cada $27,582 (United States)

Tomorrow’s action (May 31)

There are two events kicking off on Thursday: Event #3: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em SHOOTOUT, and Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better.

Upeshka De Silva took down the Shootout event last year for $229,923, beating a field of 369 players to win his second gold bracelet. De Silva came out on top over a tough final table which included Jan Schwippert and Olivier Busquet. That win marked his second WSOP bracelet, having taken down a $1,500 NLHE tournament in 2015 for $424,577.

Meanwhile, last year’s champ in the Omaha Hi-Lo was Benjamin Zamani, who also claimed his second WSOP bracelet with the win. Zamani, who has $4.74 million in cashes going into the 2018 Series, bested a 905-strong field in 2017 to bank the $238,620 first-place prize. Like De Silva, Zamani’s first bracelet came back in 2015 in a $1,500 NLHE event, good for $460,640.

News & Notes

1. Jerwin Pasco, a player from the Philippines with $90K in career earnings, went on an amazing run today that could see him playing the $100,000 High Roller on Friday. Pasco won the 10am $125 Mega-Satellite into the $850 Mega-Satellite, then won that for entry into the $7,500 Mega-Satellite on Thursday. Stay tuned to see if he completes the incredible feat.

2. There are new WSOP chips in play this year, as highlighted by Kevin Mathers on Twitter. Here’s a look at them in all their glory:

3. The ‘crown prince of poker’, Fedor ‘CrownUpGuy’ Holz, was in action in the $10K Turbo today, leading us to believe that Holz will be playing a healthy schedule this summer. He’d bust during Level 12, when down to just two and a half big blinds he moved all-in with queen-seven off and couldn’t suck out on James Obst’s pocket kings.