Florida man wins largest live tournament at WSOP in Las Vegas

Thousands of WSOP poker players compete at the $500 buy-in, no-limit Hold'em tournament dubbed The Big 50 at the Rio on Saturday, June 1, 2019, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images

WSOP poker players compete at the $500 buy-in, no-limit Hold’em tournament dubbed The Big 50 at the Rio on Saturday, June 1, 2019, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images

Ian "Aces" Sweden, of Kirkcady, Scotland, wears a dragon hat during the The Big 50, a $500 buy-in, no-limit WSOP Hold'em tournament at the Rio on Saturday, June 1, 2019, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images

A joker card is mistakenly dealt during the The Big 50, a $500 buy-in, no-limit WSOP Hold'em tournament at the Rio on Saturday, June 1, 2019, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images

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By David Schoen / Las Vegas Review-Journal

June 7, 2019 - 10:38 pm

Updated June 7, 2019 - 10:43 pm

Femi Fashakin of Orlando, Florida, won the largest live tournament ever Friday, capturing the BIG 50 No-limit Hold ’em event at the World Series of Poker.

The $500 buy-in tournament drew 28,371 entrants at the Rio Convention Center over nine days to surpass the previous all-time record (22,374 entrants) set during the 2015 WSOP “Colossus” tournament.

Fashakin, a software engineer and entrepreneur born in Lagos, Nigeria, took home $1,147,449 with his first career bracelet. His previous lifetime WSOP earnings were a shade over $12,000.

Paul Cullen, a Las Vegas resident originally from Canada, finished second and made $709,183.

Fashakin started the final table with the chip lead but was the shortest stack at one point during four-handed play. He then found consecutive double-ups and was responsible the final three eliminations.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.

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