Bryan Hollis from the United States is the first bracelet winner of the 2017 World Series of Poker after winning the $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em event. He defeated Chris Solomon in the heads-up play to collect his first bracelet and the top prize of $68,817 for his grand victory.
Hollis defeated a packed field of 651 players to win $68,817 and his first bracelet of the 2017 WSOP in the $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em. Talking about his victory, he said, “It is incredible,I felt like I was freerolling after a couple hands yesterday. I’m just on a high that I can’t explain right now.”
It is interesting to know that the 33-year-old poker dealer haven’t played many tournaments, but he is well-versed in the game. Most of his last 15-years, he has spent playing limit cash games and has only played a handful of tournaments in his life. Given these facts, this win so special for him.
Last year, Hollis was busted in just seven hands, but this time he came strongly and won the event. Like everyone, he has a dream of buying a house. When asked about investing his winning amount, he said, “I have always wanted to buy a house and now I have a down-payment. It feels so cool.”
The Day 2 of Event #1: $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em began with 11 players among whom Chris Gallagher was the chip lead. The final table formed after Bahar left in 10th place ($3,543). After Josh Clanton finished in 3rd place, it was heads-up play between Hollis and Solomon. It took hardly 25 hands and Hollis finally lured Chris Solomon into bluffing into his top pair to win the title in fashion.
A Look at Final Table Payouts:
1st: Bryan Hollis – $68,817
2nd: Chris Solomon – $42,508
3rd: Josh Clanton – $29,372
4th: Jermel Stephens – $20,629
5th: Alex Cordova – $14,731
6th: Adem Arbuckle – $10,698
7th: Chris Gallagher – $7,903
8th: Vincent Russell – $5,941
9th: Victor Kim – $4,547
Team Agarwal Makes Day 2 in the $10,000 Tag Team Championship (Event #2)
The second event of the series was $10,000 Tag Team Championship, which made its debut on WSOP last year. A total of 102 players signed up for this event. By Day 1 end, Team Polk comprising of Doug Polk, Ryan Fee, Jason Mo and Michael Finstein emerged the chip lead accumulating 240,600 in chips.
Team PokerMet pro Shuchi Chamaria Agarwal was also seen in action joining hands with PokerStars Pro from India Aditya Agarwal. To the delight of poker fans in India, Team Agarwal survived Day 1 and were among the top 10 stacks with 178,400 in chips to enter the Day 2 of the Team Teams Event.