WSOP 2025: Phovieng Keokham Wins The First Bracelet Of The Series

With the conclusion of  the $500 Poker Industry Employees Event #2, the first bracelet of the 56th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas. The  Southern Californian poker dealer Phovieng Keokham won the tournament after outlasting a field of  914 entries and overcoming Christopher Zollo in heads-up to claim the first bracelet of his career and career-best $64,369 in top prize.

The victory nearly doubled Phovieng Keokham’s live tournament earnings, which now stand over $135,000. For several years now, the WSOP has kicked off with the $500 Industry Employees No-Limit Hold’em event, this edition is no exception. Interestingly, this was Keokham’s second cash in this event, following his 128th place finish in the 2023 edition.

2025 WSOP Event #2: $500 Industry Employees No-Limit Hold’em Quick Recap

One of the two events kicking off the WSOP 2025 on May 27, Event #2: $500 Industry Employees No-Limit Hold’em was a two-day event that drew an impressive  914 entries, generating a prize pool of $402,617.

The 138 players who returned for the final day were already in the money. The final day began with Shaun Colquhoun being on top with 895,000 chips with Andrew Vodinh following with 686,000  chips.

The eliminations were fast, speeding up the race to the coveted final table. Some notable players to fall before the final table included Chad Holloway (101st for $1,006), Justin Kalvari (62nd for $1,244), Michael Yeung (23rd for $2,096), and two female players in Alyssa Hennager (14th) and Xia Wang (13th), both winning $2,514 for their efforts.

Final Table

The  final table of 10 was reached after the elimination of Angelo Perez in 11th -$3,832. Christopher Zollo kicked off the table as the chip leader with Phovieng Keokham being the shortest stack.

The first two casualties from the final table came in Jordan Russell and Francois Truong falling in 10th and 9th places, earning $3,074 and$4,867 respectively. Rick Muniz’s run ended in 8th for $6,299 and Connor Richards exited in 7th place for $8,301. The eventual champion Phovieng Keokham scored his elimination by busting Pedro Green (6th for $11,138) before Mark Kawamoto exited in 5th for $15,207.

Phovieng Keokham continued his momentum and busted MichaelCoombs in 4th for $21,126) and then took out Shaun Colquhoun (3rd -$29,850) whose A-6 lost to Phovieng Keokham’s two-paired nine-eight on 5th street.

Heads-Up

Keokham held 12.9 million to Chris Zollo’s 8.8 million at the start of the heads-up and it took only a few hands for him to seal the win. On the final hand, Zollo shoved with nine-six and Keokham called with ace-queen. A nine came on the flop to put Zollo in lead but a queen on the turn reversed the outcome, giving the title and the first bracelet of the series to Keokham. Zollo had to settle for $42,886 in second place.

2025 WSOP Event #2: $500 Industry Employees No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Payouts 

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Sources: WSOP, Life of Poker, PGT Blog

Image Credit: WSOP