The first open-event gold bracelet of the 2016 World Series of Poker goes to Kyle Julius. The 29-year-old poker pro from Naperville, IL topped a field of 667 entries within the WSOP $1,000 top up turbo no-limit hold’em event to win the primary bracelet of his career and the $142,972 first-place prize.

“It feels great. That is actually my first ever live win and for it to be a bracelet win is pretty cool,” said Julius after the win. “To start with a win within the second tournament of the summer, it feels pretty unbelievable.”

The event featured a novel format. Along with having a turbo structure it also allowed players to double their starting stacks by winning sit-n-go’s that were available both on the Rio and online on WSOP.com. For individuals who didn’t win the extra chips the ‘top up’ was also available to buy for $1,000. 415 of the 667 entrants started with the 10,000 starting stack, with 235 topping up online, 99 on the Rio and 81 by paying the extra $1,000. After all a complete prize pool of $681,300 was built.

Julius was one of the crucial players to top up via a sit-n-go on the Rio. He came into the general table in fifth chip position but made his strategy to heads-up, knocking out Ben Yu in third place to establish a last showdown against Belgium’s Bart Lybaert.

Heads-up lasted just one hand. Julius moved all in from the button with the 44 and Lybaert called with the K9. The board ran out K102A4, giving Lybaert top pair at the flop to take the lead but improving Julius’s pair to a collection at the river to secure the pot and the title for the yankee. With that Lybaert was sent to the rail with $88,328 for his runner-up showing.

In addition to the money and the bracelet Julius also earned 840 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. Julius also earned another big perk on account of this title run. His fiancé and he expect a kid later this summer and apparently winning his first bracelet has helped him secure naming rights for his daughter.

“We was arguing about names and he or she was like, ‘If you win a bracelet you'll be able to name our child.’ It’s still going to be a mutual decision that we make together, but I BELIEVE I'VE a bit of more say now,” said Julius with a smile.

Here is a glance on the payouts and POY points awarded on this event:

Place	Player	Earnings (USD)	POY Points
1	Kyle Julius	$142,972	840
2	Bart Lybaert	$88,328	700
3	Ben Yu	$61,137	560
4	Karl Held	$43,001	420
5	Hugo Perez	$30,742	350
6	Christian Blech	$22,345	280
7	Nitis Udornpim	$16,518	210
8	George Dolofan	$12,422	140
9	Vinny Pahuja	$9,506	70

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2016 WSOP landing page complete with an entire schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

Read More... [Source: CardPlayer Poker News]