By the time mid-July rolls around, 130 World Series of Poker gold bracelets will be won between events at Horseshoe Las Vegas and WSOP.com. But there will only be one player with a claim to being the first such winner of the summer, and that privilege belongs to Southern Californian poker dealer Phovieng Keokham.
In event no. 2 of the 2025 WSOP, the $500 Industry Employees no-limit hold’em, Keokham outlasted a field of 914 entrants to win $64,369 and the bracelet.
“I’ve been in the industry for over 25 years. “I’m a dealer from southern California. I play the series every year for 20+ years but this is my biggest cash. ‘Mr Min-Cash’, they call me,” Keokham told Poker.Org reporters.
On a wild final hand, against eventual runner-up finisher Christopher Zollo, an enormous amount of chips went in preflop. With blinds at 80,000/160,000, Zollo raised to 400,000 and Keokham three-bet to 2 million. Zollo four-bet all in and Keokham called with A♦ Q♣. Zollo was caught raising light with 9♦ 6♠, but he still had more than a 35% chance to win the hand, according to the Card Player Texas Hold’em Poker Odds Calculator.
Sure enough, Zollo quickly took the lead on a 10♠ 9♠ 4♦ flop, but Keokham quickly regained control with a Q♥ on the turn. Zollo had five outs he could hit to win on the river, but the 2♣ gave Keokham the victory.
Zollo’s willingness to go with this particular hand might have stemmed from the nickname he chose for himself in the new WSOP+ app.
Chris Zollo with one of the most insane @WSOP stories of all time. All tournament long was under the username “Suckme69” on the WSOP app. Heads up for the bracelet in Event #1, the floor makes him change his name on the app…
— Skull Mike (@SkullMikePoker) May 29, 2025
The win is even more impressive considering Keokham was reduced to one of the shortest stacks with seven players left. His pocket aces were cracked by Pedro Green’s A♦ 10♣. Remarkably enough, Keokham ultimately eliminated Green later on in the final table with pocket aces, which on this occasion beat Green’s A♣ Q♥.
Keokham, who is based out of San Diego, nearly matched the total of all of his previous 33 live tournament results combined in a single result. His previous total career earnings were $67,201.
It was a whirlwind second day in the newly rebranded Industry Employees event, formerly known as the Casino Employees event. 138 of the 914 entrants who began play on Tuesday bagged up chips, and it took until about 9:30 p.m. local time in Las Vegas before the field hit nine players and a dinner break.
Connor Richards of PokerNews made the biggest final table of his career and finished seventh for $8,301. This result represents just the fourth major recorded cash of his career, after a 44th-place finish in last year’s WSOP Casino Employees event.
Shaun Colquhoun bagged the chip lead at the end of Day 1 Tuesday and made a valiant run at going wire to wire. He reached three-handed play, only to eventually run into a rivered two-pair from Keokham that knocked him out in third.
Looking Ahead
After crowning the first World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner of the series Wednesday, there are no WSOP winners set to be crowned on Thursday. Event no. 3, $5,000 no-limit hold’em, and event no. 4, $1,500 Omaha eight-or-better, will each play out day 2. The $1,000 Mystery Millions reaches day 1C, the third of five starting sessions. Both event no. 5, $5,000 pot-limit Omaha and event no. 6, $1,500 seven card stud, also kick off Thursday.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout |
| 1 | Phovieng Keokham | $64,369 |
| 2 | Christopher Zollo | $42,886 |
| 3 | Shaun Colquhoun | $29,850 |
| 4 | Michael Coombs | $21,126 |
| 5 | Mark Kawamoto | $15,207 |
| 6 | Pedro Green | $11,138 |
| 7 | Connor Richards | $8,301 |
| 8 | Rick Muniz | $6,299 |
| 9 | Francois Truong | $4,867 |
Photo credit: WSOP
