First Bracelet Won; Selbst Goes for 2nd

First Bracelet Won; Selbst Goes for 2nd

Friday, 30 May 2014

It might not have been open to the general poker playing public but this summer's first WSOP bracelet was handed out earlier today in the $500 Casino Employee event.

The annual tournament is a chance for poker industry insiders to have a crack at a bracelet without a host of pros breathing down their necks and this time around 876 participants anted-up.

Defending champion Chad Holloway fell by the wayside midway through Day 1 and as more players exited and Day 2 drew to a close, just Cory Emery and Roland Reparejo were left last night.
Despite managing to squeeze in a few hands of heads-up play before the session was forced to end they couldn't decide a winner so returned today to conclude their battle.

At the restart it was Reparejo with the lead and as play resumed he didn't relinquish his position. Within a few hands the match was over and as the bracelet and $82,835 top prize was push Repajero's way he leapt from his seat in celebration.

Commenting after his momentous win the former chef said: "This is incredible to win. I've been coming here for years, usually to play in the Employee's event and the Seniors, too. I can't believe I won this. It's a dream to me."

With one event now complete, all eyes are turned to the $25,000 Mixed Max tournament which was left poised with just two players left.

After former chip leader Al Decarolis fell to Vanessa Selbst in third for $290,622 it left his executioner and Jason Mo just one elimination away from the title.

At present Mo (5,860,000) has almost 2 million chips more than Selbst (3,960,000), but after Mo tweeted that his opponent is "so bad", it's likely we'll see some fireworks as the two players fight for the $871,148 top prize.



Tags: WSOP 2014, Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mo, Roland Reparejo