Prior to joining in at the 2018 WSOP Event #1 on May 30 (Wednesday), Jordan Hufty only had $1,900 in career live tournament earnings, and now that he took down the 2-day first event of this year's WSOP, he can now add a sweet $61,909 to his lifetime live poker winnings.
The customary opening event of the World Series of Poker every summer, the Casino Employees event, has kicked off with yet another awesome turnout. Late registration remained open for 12 levels, and so there were a total of 566 entries noted. This unique tournament may not typically attract the attention of the big names in the poker world, but it instead brings the gaming industry's employees together to play a game that they all love.
Hufty knocked out Jodie Sanders in an arduous heads-up match that lasted almost 4 hours. It was indeed a tough battle for the two players, as both of them were usually the chip leaders throughout the whole day. Sanders put all of his chips in the middle with pocket threes and was called by Hufty's king-queen. The board looked safe for Sanders on the turn, but when the dealer revealed the king on the river, Hufty broke down as he realized he had won his very first WSOP gold bracelet.
After he won, he hugged his friends on the rail, and he was teary-eyed when asked how he felt after winning a WSOP gold bracelet, "I've thought about this every day for the last 15 years and for it to actually happen is just unbelievable."
He thanked two of his close friends for his success, "I moved from Michigan to Las Vegas with these two guys and none of this would be possible without them."
Jordan Hufty, who works as an Aria poker dealer and floorman, says that when it comes to playing poker, 95% of it he plays online, 4% in live cash games, and he plays only 1% in live tournament earnings. He said, "I have a passion for poker, it's just something you can't explain. It's nice that this happened so early in the series so I will probably fire a few more events here and there."
At the beginning of the day, he felt quite confident as he came in as one of the biggest stacks and thought he just needed to stick to his plan, "I felt confident and I knew I just needed to avoid making mistakes and capitalize on my opponent's mistakes. When you are 70 big blinds deep heads-up, it can be a grind, but I never lost focus."
Some players, if it's their first time, will most often get nervous being on the big stage under the limelight, but it didn't bother Hufty at all, "I've dealt a lot of nosebleed games and even been at this table on Poker After Dark before, just on the other side of it. I didn't feel out of place on the big stage like I thought I would."
Hufty said he's going to take a few days off to celebrate, and tequila shots may be called for the weekend.
2018 WSOP Event #1 $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results
|
Place
|
Player
|
Country
|
Prize
|
|
1
|
Jordan Hufty
|
USA
|
$61,909
|
|
2
|
Jodie Sanders
|
USA
|
$38,246
|
|
3
|
Katie Kopp
|
USA
|
$26,250
|
|
4
|
Zachary Seymour
|
USA
|
$18,332
|
|
5
|
Won Kim
|
USA
|
$13,031
|
|
6
|
Tom Booker
|
USA
|
$9,432
|
|
7
|
Thomas Yenowine
|
USA
|
$6,953
|
|
8
|
Skyler Yeaton
|
USA
|
$5,222
|
|
9
|
Jason Pepper
|
USA
|
$3,998
|
|
10
|
Brad Helm
|
USA
|
$3,120
|
Source:
https://www.pokernews.com/news/2018/05/jordan-hufty-wins-first-wsop-gold-in-event-1-565-casino-empl-30960.htm?itm_content=pn-hp-hero-2
