Holloway Wins Employees Event

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There's a feeling that lies within the majority of reporters that cover a sport or team or game. For those that get the privilege to watch and report on the ones they respect, they secretly wish to be out on the field themselves, playing and attempting to capture the greatest achievement that sport has to offer. In football, there's no chance that Adam Schefter can go out and play quarterback for the New England Patriots, and in baseball, I highly doubt Tim Kurkjian is going to pitch for the Detroit Tigers anytime soon. If you're reporting on a sport, your time to compete has essentially passed.

Poker is quite obviously very different.

In poker, there's no hiding that every blogger and writer wants to be the next Phil Ivey. They want to sit at the table with Daniel Negreanu, bluff Jason Mercier and tell stories about how much they made last year by four-betting a fish. The truth is that in the game that I love, that's the exact landscape and, above all else, that ambition really is possible. There's no boundary between the amateurs and pros, and on any given day, someone can turn their dream into a reality. That dream came true for PokerNews' Chad Holloway, who captured the first bracelet of the 2013 WSOP in the $500 Casino Employees Event.

Holloway is the senior news editor for PokerNews.com, the site that handles the live reporting for the World Series of Poker. According to the WSOP's Jess Welman, the PokerNews team is considered contractors with Caesars and thus, eligible to enter the event. Holloway defeated the field of 898 players in the opening event of this year's Series to capture $84,915 and his first WSOP bracelet.

"The bracelet means the world," said Holloway on Twitter. "Money comes and goes, but I'll always have today."

As part of his job responsibilities, Holloway reports hand histories throughout the major tournaments around the world, and it was no surprise that those that he covers were among the ones on his rail and the first to congratulate him on his victory. The ability to study and analyze the hands that the game's elite are playing led him to the right place and now, poker history.

According to the WSOP, the final table began late on Thursday with Bobby Rooney holding a dominating chip lead and Hieu Le trying to hold on with only 10 big blinds. Allan Kwong knocked out Le eight minutes into the action (3-3 over 2-2), and Holloway, who started the final table in third, began his surge with his elimination of Michael Trivett in eighth (A-8 over K-J). Rooney, who finished sixth in this event in 2009, temporarily padded his lead by sending Tyrone Smith home in seventh, but lost the lead to Holloway when he eliminated Sean Small in sixth (A-4 over J-8).

Kwong won the largest pot in the tournament up to that point when his trips outkicked Holloway's to take the lead, and after Daniel Ellery's elimination in fifth, Holloway was the short stack. That standing didn't last long. Holloway battled back and was once again the leader when three remained, but lost some of his chips and needed a double-up against Rooney to put himself in dominating position to begin heads-up play. As the clock approached 6:30 a.m. ET, Kwong and Holloway traded the chip lead until Kwong ultimately made a bad read. On the final hand, Kwong opened to 75,000 and Holloway called. After a flop of Q-Q-5, Holloway checked, Kwong bet 85,000 and Holloway raised. Kwong moved all-in and Holloway called in a heartbeat, showing Q-9 for trips against Kwong's troublesome A-K. With a 10 on the turn and 2 on the river, Holloway captured the title and celebrated with the massive rail of poker media members who had gathered.