WSOP 2025: The First Gold Bracelet Awarded as Phovieng Keokham Dominates the Employees Event

It didn’t take long for the first results to drop from the 2025 World Series of Poker. Phovieng Keokham has claimed the first gold bracelet of this year’s series, emerging victorious in the $500 Employees Event and pocketing 64,369$. Meanwhile, the poker world’s attention was drawn yet again to Phil Hellmuth, who’s announced he’ll be joining the Main Event this year after all.

First Bracelet of the Series Awarded

The second event on this year’s WSOP schedule—the $500 Industry Employees NLH—drew a field of 914 poker industry workers, building a total prize pool of 402,617$. Of those, 138 players advanced to Day 2, securing a minimum cash of 1,006$. Standing atop the field was longtime poker dealer Phovieng Keokham, who not only captured his first career bracelet but also took home 64,369$ for the win.

Keokham, a dealer based in California, has been working in the poker world for over 25 years. For the past two decades, he’s regularly played WSOP events—though until now, his deep runs had mostly ended with min-cashes. “This victory means a lot to me, both the bracelet and the prize money,” Keokham said. “I only planned to stay in Vegas for a few days, but now it’s clear I’m extending my trip and planning to play a lot more events!”

Final Table Results:

#	Player	Country	Payout
1	Phovieng Keokham	USA	64,369$
2	Christopher Zollo	USA	42,886$
3	Shaun Colquhoun	USA	29,850$
4	Michael Coombs	USA	21,126$
5	Mark Kawamoto	USA	15,207$
6	Pedro Green	Dominican Republic	11,138$
7	Connor Richards	USA	8,301$
8	Rick Muniz	USA	6,299$
9	Francois Truong	USA	4,867$

Poker Action Everywhere You Look

The poker rooms at Paris and Horseshoe are packed wall-to-wall, and the star power at the tables is undeniable right from the opening days. Last night’s jam-packed schedule featured five tournaments across a mix of NLH, PLO, and Seven Card Stud formats. Tonight, we’ll crown the champion of Event #4 (1,500$ Omaha Hi-Lo), with just 16 players remaining from a field of 910 entries. The Final Table for Event #3 (5,000$ NLH) is also on deck, with 25 contenders left out of the original 693 entries.

If you’re keeping tabs on big names, watch out for Jon Kyte battling in the 1,500$ Omaha Hi-Lo, and the likes of Michael “TexasMike” Moncek, Sam Soverel, Justin Saliba, and Ethan “Rampage” Yau making deep runs in the 5,000$ NLH. The 1,500$ Seven Card Stud event features notable survivors as well—Max Pescatori, Brian Rast, Allen Kessler, and Dzmitry Urbanovich are all still in contention.

Hellmuth Surprises with (Un)expected Announcement

Legendary WSOP record-holder Phil Hellmuth had hinted just a month ago that he might skip the WSOP Main Event in protest of this year’s tournament structure. But, as many expected, it didn’t take long for Phil to reverse course and announce that he’ll once again be playing the Main Event. Poker fans can look forward to yet another over-the-top grand entrance in true 1980s rock star fashion. Honestly, did anyone expect anything else?

I am 100% playing in the @WSOP Main Event!

I’ll be coming in themed as “Highway To Hellmuth.” Might dress up like an 80’s rock star. Can’t wait to share the artwork we have for this Grand Main Event Entrance@BetRivers might give away a Ford Mustang#POSITIVITY #PHNiceLife pic.twitter.com/x4XLYLG3El
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) May 29, 2025

Sources – WSOP, PokerNews, HendonMob, X, Photo – Eloy Cabacas