Players are off on a 75-minute dinner break. Registration for this event will come to a close at the conclusion of this break.
2019 World Series of Poker
Niveau: 10
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 1,200
The 50th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) kicks off today with $500 buy-in Event #1: Casino Employees Event. The tournament is open to those who either work in casinos or in the gaming industry, and thanks to their sportsbook in New Jersey, DraftKings personnel are permitted to play.
They’ll be well represented in their first year of eligibility as a team of six players traveled from the East Coast to compete for the summer’s first bracelet. PokerNews caught up with each DraftKings employee – one of which is already a WSOP bracelet winner – talk about the opening event of the 2019 WSOP.
Steve McLoughlin
Age: 49
DraftKings Position: Director of Community Team
Steve McLoughlin is no stranger to the WSOP and poker community; in fact, he’s been a part of the world since 2001. At 49 years old, he’s the oldest of the DraftKings crew and as he pointed out just a year away from eligibility for another WSOP tournament.
“Next year I qualify for the dreaded Seniors Event,” he said. “Seniors events should be 60+, I’m still too young.”
McLoughlin, who enjoys cooking and dining experiences, joined DraftKings a little over a year ago as Director of Community Team, which means he and his team lobby on behalf of player needs to enact positive change that benefit all players.
“Poker was the first peer-to-peer game that ever caught my attention, and the game that still captures a significant amount of my attention since 2001,” said McLoughlin, who was a featured player on Poker Night in America during its first three seasons. “I read everything that was available and discovered the early version of 2+2 where I encountered posts from many of the future greats who were up and coming. In these early days I encountered many peers such as Greg Raymer, Ed Miller, Tom Dwan, Andrew Robl, Shaun Deeb, and my co-worker at DraftKings Jon Aguiar. They all got their start on the 2+2 forum.”
Additionally, McLoughlin has worked in the poker industry after a career in music.
“Within the online gaming industry, I have held numerous roles including time in management at the Two Plus Two Forums and PokerTracker,” he said. “I started my career in the music business as a recording engineer, working on what seems like a third of all hip-hop records that were recorded in NYC in the early 90s.”
As for which team member he likes to go deep, McLoughlin is going with the software engineer.
“Asad is the player that impresses me the most. He is brand new to poker yet has learned so
quickly.”
Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
---|---|---|
Andrew Barnett
|
125,000
46,200
|
46,200 |
Phill Duggan
|
124,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
Kyle Chismar
|
115,000
11,000
|
11,000 |
Benjamin Valder
|
96,000
31,000
|
31,000 |
Paul Bishop
|
94,100
16,100
|
16,100 |
Isaac Hanson |
78,300
78,300
|
78,300 |
|
||
Jose Zaragoza |
74,000
-17,700
|
-17,700 |
Jonathan Aguiar |
73,700
1,200
|
1,200 |
|
||
Valerie Cross |
52,500
29,500
|
29,500 |
|
||
Teng Zheng |
49,500
30,300
|
30,300 |
Yori Epskamp |
41,000
-6,600
|
-6,600 |
|
||
Chad Holloway |
40,900
-24,100
|
-24,100 |
|
||
Katie Kopp |
33,000
2,400
|
2,400 |
|
||
Kevin Mathers |
32,900
-3,200
|
-3,200 |
|
||
Eric Anderson |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Diana Plant
|
26,500
-4,500
|
-4,500 |
Ben Guerena
|
26,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
Stephen Rose |
25,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
CJ Sand
|
23,200 | |
Samuel Cosby |
16,500
-8,500
|
-8,500 |
Mid States Poker Tour Commentator Benjamin Valder raised to 3,100 from under-the-gun, and was called by a player on the button. Johnny Rodriguez, a traveling dealer here for the WSOP, three-bet jammed for 11,600 in the small blind, and both Valder and the button called.
Action checked to the river of a board, and Valder checked again. The button bet 10,000.
"Really? I have such a big one...you must have it!" Valder said before folding.
The button turned over for a rivered flush. "No good," Rodriguez said before turning over for a full house and the triple.
Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
---|---|---|
Benjamin Valder
|
80,000
-16,000
|
-16,000 |
Johnny Rodriguez |
37,000
37,000
|
37,000 |
A player limped in from under-the-gun, and Yori Epskamp raised to 4,000 next to act. A player in middle position called, as did the limper.
Action checked to Epskamp on an flop, and Epskamp bet 3,500. Both of his opponents quickly folded, and Epskamp pantomimed a sigh of relief before turning over for a bluff.
"Pocket fours were good!" said the middle position player.
"They were, but I was going to hit a queen!" Epskamp told his opponent.
Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
---|---|---|
Yori Epskamp |
48,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
Niveau: 11
Blinds: 800/1,600
Ante: 1,600
The 50th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) kicks off today with $500 buy-in Event #1: Casino Employees Event. The tournament is open to those who either work in casinos or in the gaming industry, and thanks to their sportsbook in New Jersey, DraftKings personnel are permitted to play.
They’ll be well represented in their first year of eligibility as a team of six players traveled from the East Coast to compete for the summer’s first bracelet. PokerNews caught up with each DraftKings employee – one of which is already a WSOP bracelet winner – talk about the opening event of the 2019 WSOP.
Sumanth Reddy
Age: 32
DraftKings Position: Data Science Engineer
Rounding out the DraftKings team is Sumanth Reddy, who graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Economics.
“My very supportive family includes a younger sister and two parents who have long been horrified by my interest in poker,” he said. “Rightly so of course, because it’s a dumb luck game and I have no skill.”
He continued: “It’s debatable that I’ve ever truly learned to play poker. My first time looking at cards and throwing chips into a pot was in high school. It was at this time that I believed you should play any hand with a face card, and that it was truly possible to read a person’s soul. Additionally, in your heart, some select people could know the perfect, winning decision, in every single hand.”
Reddy has played the WSOP before where he says his claim to fame is successfully bluffing Phil Ivey.
“No one approved of how I played the hand in any way, but that’s not important,” he offered.
Like many others, Reddy thinks Asad is the DraftKings man to beat.
“He is easily one of the luckiest people I’ve ever met, shipping bad beat jackpots and winning on days that I don’t. He hasn’t been playing poker very long, so he will clearly be underestimated by his competition. This perfect storm of factors is why I believe he is the overwhelming favorite to win the entire tournament.”
With registration for this event now closed, the prizepool information has been released. The 686 players created a total prize pool of $298,410. Of the remaining field, 103 will be paid with a min-cash worth $727. Making Day 3's streamed final table on PokerGo guarantees a payday of at least $9,776.
The eventual winner of this event will take home $62,345 and will be awarded the second World Series of Poker gold bracelet of the 2019 series, as the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty event will finish a day earlier.
A full prizepool will be posted shortly.
A player jammed for 20,900 from under-the-gun, and a player in middle position called. Bryan Wienhoff, a dealer at Ameristar Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado, three-bet shoved for 79,500 in the small blind, and the middle position player called that, as well.
Bryan Wienhoff:
Under-the-gun:
Middle Position:
The flop gave the under-the-gun player a gutshot straight draw, but the turn and river kept Wienhoff's kings in front, eliminating the under-the-gun player while taking a big chunk out of the middle position player.
Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
---|---|---|
Bryan Wienhoff | 184,000 |