There's no bigger poker festival on the planet than the World Series of Poker and the 2014 edition got off to a memorable start. After Executive Director Ty Stewart welcomed everyone, dollar bills poured down from the ceiling, giving everyone in attendance the chance to pocket a few extra bucks. Once settled back into their seats, 876 competitors who work in the casino industry went to the grind trying to earn the first picture in the 2014 WSOP champions slideshow.
Roland Reparejo is familiar with putting in the time and effort in order to make dreams come true. Unlike his lengthy tenure of three decades in the kitchen that led him from dishwasher to executive chef, his dream of becoming a WSOP champion became a reality in just three days.
"This is incredible to win," said Reparejo to the WSOP. "I've been coming here for years, usually to play in the Employee's event and the Seniors, too. I can't believe I won this. It's a dream to me."
The 55-year-old left the culinary world behind to become a poker dealer in California, making him eligible for this event. He ultimately knocked out Corey Emery, a dealer from the Player's Club in California, in a quick five-minute match to win the bracelet and $82,835.
Reparejo, who came to the United States from the Philippines in 1980, said that he plans on saving some of the money for his kids. This was his second WSOP cash, substantially larger than his 134th-place finish in the 2013 Seniors event.
Below are the complete results of Event 1 at the 2014 World Series of Poker:
Event 1: Casino Employees Event, no-limit hold 'em
Buy-in: $500
Entries: 876
Prize pool: $494,200
Players in the money: 90
1. Roland Reparejo $82,835
2. Corey Emery $51,037
3. Charles Nguyen $33,073
4. Olivier Doremus $24,203
5. John Taylor $17,975
6. Brian Wong $13,528
7. Marcin Sobczak $10,308
8. David Luttbeg $7,947
9. Kevin Chiem $6,192
10. Cameron Tullis $4,888
11. Aaron Henderson $4,888
12. Jay Graunstadt $4,888
13. Antonio Bonilla $3,930
14. John Pearson $3,930
16. Patricia Baker $3,157
17. Peter Alba $3,157
18. Eric Monson $3,157
19. Mo Nuwwarah $2,585
20. Sherwin Pilalia $2,585
21. Luis Gadiana $2,585
22. Craig Capello $2,585
23. Mindy Ritchie $2,585
24. John Dodson $2,585
25. Jason James $2,585
26. Sergio Trevino $2,585
27. Dustin Iannotti $2,585
28. Ludwig Berger $2,168
29. Sandro Terone $2,168
30. Jonathan Brown $2,168
31. Joseph Vigurs $2,168
32. Ian Wiley $2,168
33. Romeo Samblero $2,168
34. Chris Solomon $2,168
35. Shannon Stash $2,168
36. Stephen Conyers $2,168
37. Ray Kluever $1,813
38. Ronaldo Rodriguez $1,813
39. Carlos Loving $1,813
40. Daniel Grymyr $1,813
41. Robert Nonni $1,813
42. Jeffrey Dumlao $1,813
43. Dennis Glover $1,813
44. Chen Zhong $1,813
45. Christopher Danek $1,813
46. Brett Halladay $1,529
47. Andy Rich $1,529
48. Kristi Nguyen $1,529
49. Kristofer Vinson $1,529
50. Zachariah Miller $1,529
51. Alexander Sun $1,529
52. Scott Wygal $1,529
53. Glenn Sorrells $1,529
54. Jacob Crawford $1,529
55. Erle Mankin Jr. $1,292
56. Charompol Hongthong $1,292
57. Bo Johnson $1,292
58. Daniel Johnson $1,292
59. Ryan Parr $1,292
60. Kareem King $1,292
61. Jose Zaragoza $1,292
62. Jeffrey Peck $1,292
63. Jesse Kertland $1,292
64. John Johnson $1,103
65. Darold Donelly $1,103
66. Joshua Harding $1,103
67. Daniel Zheng $1,103
68. John Pack $1,103
69. Anthony Hutchins $1,103
70. Matthew Lukwinski $1,103
71. Victor Moler $1,103
72. Jessica Lamm $1,103
73. Anthony Klemm $977
74. Michael Majerus $977
75. Agustin Garcia $977
76. Arthur Goltz $977
77. Jason Curran $977
78. Danielle Barille $977
79. Richard Marting $977
80. Jonathan Pilichovski $977
81. James Morris $977
82. Dennis Cregg $886
83. Michael Counihan $886
84. Willy Kerol $886
85. Tyler Byrd $886
86. Lee Davy $886
87. Joseph Neuenfeldt $886
88. Ryan Sackett $886
89. Sang-Han Kim $886
90. Nicholas Nadeau $886