Chris Minton opened the action with a raise to 120,000 before Rico Cuevas re-raised all in for his last 315,000. Minton made the call with while Cuevas showed .
Cuevas needed his hand to hold to stay alive and he remained ahead when the board came out . The river, though, brought the , giving Minton top pair and ending Cuevas' tournament in eighth place.
Bryan Garret raised to 160,000 preflop. James Barnett three-bet to 500,000. Garret called and turned over his cards thinking he had been forced all in. After a brief discussion and agreement that it was a misunderstanding, in a show of good faith, Barnett also turned over his cards and called what was needed to cover the rest of Garret's stack.
Garret had the and would need to come from behind against the .
The board would not help him though as it ran out the and Garret was gone in fifth place.
Jack Behrens opened from under the gun to 250,000 and called after James Barnett three-bet to 600,000 from the button.
Both players checked the flop. Behrens led out for 250,000 on the turn and Barnett raised to 700,000.
Behrens made the call to see the river fall . Behrens bet 500,000, leaving himself just 600,000 behind, and Barnett went into the tank for several minutes, cutting out the chips to call before deciding to lay his hand down.
Behrens showed for flopped quads and moved up to 2,400,000. Barnett, who had a commanding chip lead a short time ago, fell down to 1,500,000.
Leo Abbe raised from the button to 400,000 and called when big blind James Barnett put him all in.
Leo Abbe:
James Barnett:
Barnett flopped a king on a flop of and made trips when the came on the turn, leaving Abbe drawing dead. The was a mere formality as Abbe was able to carry his Day 1 chip lead all the way down to a fourth place finish.
Danny Chang moved all in for about 475,000 from the button. Jack Behrens flatted from the small blind and James Barnett also called from the big blind.
Three players saw the flop of . Behrens led for 500,000 and Barnett folded.
Behrens had the which Chang had very little chance with the . The turn was the and the river the to send Chang away in third place.
Jack Behrens jammed his remaining two million and James Barnett snap-called.
Jack Behrens:
James Barnett:
Behrens had flopped a pair of tens, but was well behind Barnett's flopped flush. The board ran out , no help for Behrens who finished as the runner-up for $24,112.
The 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #1: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em attracted 419 entries, and after two full days of play, just one remained in Jimmy Barnett, a 36-year-old duel dealer and floor at Caesars Palace.
"My boss is really cool, he knows I want to play, so we’re trying to make it work where I floor a couple of days to help out, deal a couple of days, and then play the rest," said Barnett, who took down a $39,013 top prize and his first gold bracelet.
Barnett originally hails from California but came out to Vegas in 2018. He got an audition with the Golden Nugget, which he passed despite having no experience, and has been working in the industry ever since.
“Once Vegas started opening back up, I got an opportunity at Caesars and have been there since then," he explained. For Barnett, Vegas has always held a special place in his heart as his dad brought him to Sin City on his 18th birthday. Three years later when he turned 21, he came back and played his first WSOP event.
“Special. I think it’s on every poker player’s bucket list. It’s just special," Barnett said when asked how it felt to win the bracelet. "My father passed a handful of years ago from cancer. We would come out here and play all the time. My grandma just passed away three weeks ago. I posted on Facebook I was going to win a tournament for her, and to win a WSOP tournament, it’s special.”
Barnett added: "I haven’t been happier. I could have lost this and it would’ve hurt obviously, but I get to play a game for fun. I get to work at Caesars where I would stay growing up. I really am living the dream. I’m one of the luckiest people you’ll know because I have great friends, family, and doing something I love. It’s work but it’s not, it’s awesome. To win this is just the icing on the cake.”
2021 WSOP Event #1 Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
Jimmy Barnett
United States
$39,013
2
Jack Behrens
United States
$24,112
3
Danny Chang
United States
$16,540
4
Leo Abbe
United States
$11,587
5
Bryan Garret
United States
$8,294
6
Bobby Schmidt
United States
$6,069
7
Chris Minton
United States
$4,542
8
Rick Cuevas
United States
$3,478
9
Ronald Baltazar
United States
$2,727
10
Justin Steinman
United States
$2,191
Day 2 Action
As the day began with 50 players, play would go at a rapid pace before slowing with about fourteen players left as the final table neared. Justin Steinman started the unofficial final table of ten with the chip lead with 1,750,000, but he would go from high to low, as he became the first player of the final table to hit the rail after losing two huge hands.
Ronald Baltazar was the next player to leave in ninth place, and Rico Cuevas then exited in eighth. Chris Minton bowed out in seventh place when his ace-queen fell victim to a ten in the window to lose to queen-ten.
Bobby Schmidt was the next elimination after losing a couple of big flips to go from a big stack early in the table to a sixth-place finish. Bryan Garrett was felted next in fifth place.
Play would slow down significantly while four-handed, where each player would experience drastic swings in chips. It took nearly two hours before Leo Abbe was eliminated in fourth place to bring the table down to three.
From there, Danny Chang was eliminated in third place after having his stack whittled down to make way for the heads-up battle, which began with Jack Behrens holding a slight chip lead over Barnett. However, Barnett would soon take command as he shoved the river on a decisive hand that forced a fold to give him the chip lead and finalized the victory after he flopped a flush on the final hand.
Congratulations to Jimmy Barnett, winners of the 2021 WSOP Event #1: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em!