Congratulations to Chiab Saechao, Event #1 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em Champion ($70, 859)!
After 21 hours of grueling, crazy poker, we have our first bracelet winner of the 2012 World Series of Poker! A big congratulations goes out to Chiab “Chip” Saechao, who came into today as the chip leader, and rode that momentum to a final table victory in Event #1 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em. He will take home almost $71,000, and of course, the coveted gold bracelet, for his efforts.
732 entrants ponied up the $500 entry fee for the opening event of the series, and 81 of those players walked away with money in their pockets. 46 of those players came back today, including WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. Stewart played very well but, ultimately bowed out in 19th place.
Despite entering today as the chip leader, Saechao remained fairly quiet for the first half of the day. He entered the final table 8th in chips, and seemed very content with sitting back and letting the other players take each other out. With five players left, Saechao won back-to-back coin flips, including a roller coaster hand against Patricia Baker, the eventual runner up. Action began with Patricia Baker opening under-the-gun for 32,000. Action folded around to Saechao in the small blind who immediately pushed his entire stack in for about 260,000 more. Ray Pulford folded from the big and Baker fell into the tank. She eventually slid a calling stack into the middle.
Baker: 
Saechao: 
"It's a race!" Saechao shouted.
The flop came 
and a clearly dejected Saechao groaned and shouted, "Ten!"
Turn: 
Ask and you shall receive.
A 
fell on the river, giving Baker trips, but improving Saechao to a full-house as he doubled.
From there, Saechao never looked back, notching three of the final four eliminations, on his way to victory! Once again, a big congratulations go out to Chiab Saechao, our first bracelet winner of the summer!
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chiab Saechao | $70,859 |
| 2 | Patricia Baker | $43,754 |
| 3 | James Routos | $28,206 |
| 4 | Ray Pulford | $20,663 |
| 5 | Nicolas Vaca-Rondon | $15,359 |
| 6 | Jay Pinkussohn | $11,571 |
| 7 | Steven Phan | $8,824 |
| 8 | Matthew Wilmot | $6,808 |
| 9 | Georgi Ivanov | $5,309 |