Twenty-four hours ago, real estate developer Craig Brouillette was a complete unknown to the poker community, as he had never recorded a cash in a live tournament, according to the Hendon Mob. Now, he has a piece of WSOP hardware after taking down the $600 No Limit Hold'em event for $16,055 at WSOP-C New Orleans.
"This is huge, huge, huge,” Brouillette told PokerOrg immediately following the win as he was struggling to find the words. “It was a long day [on day one]. I got knocked out early, bought back in, and just ground it out. Even the final table was a grind, man.
"I am so excited to get my first ring. It was an excellent tournament and a lot of fun. I want to play again. I want some more.”
'Pedal to the metal, and it paid off'
To get to the ring, Brouillette had to overcome a nearly 3-to-1 chip deficit heads-up against four-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Curtis Terry, and he did it in 20 minutes without the need of an all-in showdown thanks to a shift in mindset.
“When I was down, I had it in my head to play aggressively, and if I was gonna go out, I was gonna go out raising,” Brouillette said. “Luckily, he folded every time except for the last hand, when I had it. So just pedal to the metal, and it paid off.”
A real estate developer by trade, the Louisiana native learned the game by playing house games with his friends. However, he left the game behind for a few years to start a family with his wife and is now the proud father of three children.
He hopes that now, with a WSOP Circuit ring in his pocket, his wife will let him attend more tournaments in the future. Well, that and maybe a trip to The Bahamas will help, which he also takes home thanks to the win, and with it comes a buy-in to Event #1 at the 2025 WSOP Paradise.
“I didn’t know that. Wait, really? Holy cow. Dude, that is even better, icing on the cake. I might be more excited about that than the ring!” Brouillette said as the $5,000 package to Paradise was explained to him during his winner’s interview.
“I wish my friends could have been here to sweat this, but I was texting them updates throughout the day, and I can’t wait to tell them I won so they can all lose their sh*t.”
