WSOPC Event #1: $400 No-Limit Hold'em 30K Opener

The WSOPC at Elgin has seen its first event come and go. Event #1: $400 Opener Event drew out a total of 474 entrants over the course of 12 levels of late registration, with only 72 of them grabbing a piece of the $156,420 prize pool. It would be around 3:20 am before the last card was dealt and all of the tournament's many chips would be in the hands of one man. 

It would seem like fate that the two men heads up for the title would have had a significant encounter earlier in the tournament on the bubble. Briant Harold Alavez Lopez was seated next to George Pappas with Lopez holding the overall chip lead of the 73 left at the time while Pappas was a significant top 5 stack. The two would involve themselves in the biggest pot in the tournament up to that point where Pappas would jam turn after Lopez bet and Lopez would quickly fold, ceding the chip lead of the tournament to Pappas. 

Their second encounter would see the reverse happen as after a lengthy final table battle, Lopez would outkick Pappas heads up to take down his first ever WSOPC ring! After being down to the shortest stack three-handed, Lopez would battle back in a rollercoaster of a short-handed match to take down the title. 

Though this was his first ever WSOPC cash, Lopez is far from unexperienced on the poker tournament felt. This score now puts him in the top 50 of the Mexico all-time money list as he holds many cashes and wins from the Americas in his Hendon Mob results. The win meant quite a bit to him as immediately after, he called his family who were up in their beds very late and excited to hear him talk about his win. He also embraced his friend on the rail who had been watching a significant chunk of the final table. 

With this win, Lopez also earns his way into the WSOPC 2025 Tournament of Champions out in Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, California. 

Final Table Payouts

1. Briant Harold Alavez Lopez - $29,546
2. Georg Pappas - $19,691
3. Matt Buhler - $13,694
4. Nathan Ma - $9,711
5. Joseph Saltanovitz - $7,024
6. Patrick Kim - $5,185
7. Casper Jensen -  $3,907
8. Todd Larsen - $3,007
9. Nick Francione - $2,365
10. Chris Thiel - $1,901

That will conclude our coverage of the WSOPC at Grand Victoria Casino today. Be sure to check back in with Poker.Org to see who else wins rings this week.