The sixth annual Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic has begun in Las Vegas and Joe Cornell has won the first of 19 preliminary events.
For his victory in the $1,500 No-Limit Texas Hold'em event, Cornell pocketed $162,070 after beating Kelly Samson in the head's up.
Although a number of well-known poker players reached the final table, Cornell was just too hungry for first prize.
Nick Binger finished in fourth place, only taking home $90,000 while Layne Flack busted out in sixth with $18,515 to add to his poker winnings.
According to Pokerlistings, poker faces Michael Binger finished in the money in 12th place, netting just $6,615, while Dutch Boyd scraped just $5,290 out of the prize pool for 18th place.
The Bellagio Poker Classic preliminaries will lead up to the Doyle Brunson Classic $15,000 event in December, which last year was won by poker legend Joe Hachem, who walked away $2.18 million richer.
The sixth annual Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic has begun in Las Vegas and Joe Cornell has won the first of 19 preliminary events.