The first event of the 2006 WSOP was the casino employee no-limit hold'em tournament. This tournament had a $500 buy-in and was open only to casino employees. The annual event is the poker industry's way to reward the casino professionals in the business, and was established by Benny Binion as a means of recognizing the hard work of Vegas employees. After all, without the poker dealer, there would be no WSOP, at least as long as the dealer isn't replaced by a computer.

The 2006 Casino Employee event drew 1,232 buy-ins for a total prize pool of $554,400, consisting of 101 payouts.

After the first day, the tournament was left with 18 players. These hard-nosed poker players duked it out until only two remained, Chris Gros and Bryan Devonshire. Chris Gros went on to win the event and the $127,616 top prize. Gros had been playing poker for 11 years, and worked as a poker dealer at Caesar's Palace for three years at the time of his victory.

Let's look at the final hand to see how Lady Luck allowed the poker dealer to win the six figure prize.

Gros was dealt a feeble 4C 3H.

Devonshire had an impressive AC KC.

Devonshire tried to lure Gros in with some mild action and bet only $30,000. It worked. Gros called, and lucky for him he did.

The flop fell 3S 3D 8H.

Gros had trip threes. He was looking very good. But there was no way Devonshire could've known, especially after Gros wisely checked his bet. Devonshire made a healthy $45,000 wager, and Gros raised it up to $100,000, which quickly prompted Devonshire to go all-in. The only way Gros could lose would be if Devonshire drew two aces or two queens. Gros looked like a sure shot, especially after the turn yielded a 10 H. The river card, totally moot at this point, produced a 7 H, and the poker dealer from Caeser's Palace won the first bracelet of the 2006 WSOP.

The following is a list of the top six winners who managed to deploy best tournament strategy, plus the winnings earned, in the No-limit Hold'em $500 casino employee Event.

Place Winner Prize

1 Chris Gros $127,616

2 Bryan Devonshire $66,582

3 R.J. Wright $38,531

4 Scott Clark $27,720

5 Christopher Himmenger $22,176

6 Craig Federspiel $19,404

Read about 2007 World Series of Poker.