The 2023 WSOP kicked off just days ago, but already they have awarded a bracelet. The first winner came from the $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em event, and the lucky player outlasted a field of over 1,000 contestants to take home over $75,000. This was just the first of many events on the massive WSOP schedule.

The winner was Peter Thai, who ran up against numerous challenges on his way to victory. Although he initially entered the final table as one of the chip leaders, he faced some strong competition,   outlasting James Urbanic in a grinding heads-up showdown. After his amazing payday, Thai says he will return to California, but not without plans to play in another WSOP event later this year.

“I never expected to win… I came here just wanting to have fun and one thing led to another” said Thai said in an interview with PokerNews. “I went through a tough final table. I doubled up several people, and it was kind of ridiculous.”

This 2023 WSOP event saw the third-largest attendance in the history of the Casino Employees Event, foreshadowing an extraordinary and momentous summer ahead. It also produced a substantial prize pool of more than $426,000, setting the stage for an exhilarating series to come!

This year’s event is already shaping up to be bigger than ever before, with new events like the $300 Gladiators of Poker, the lowest buy-in live event in the history of the tourney, and promising $3 million in guaranteed prize money. They are also bringing back the $1,000 Buy-In Mystery Millions, which guarantees a $1 million top bounty. You can see the full 2023 WSOP schedule at the WSOP website.