The Two All-Time Casino Winners Are at the Same Table -- Gilberto Taveras Garcia and Rob Saladin

From Left to Right:  Rob Saladin, Matt O’Brien, and Gilberto Taveras Garcia. Garcia and Saladin are first and second on the all-time casino leaderboard for career earnings.

The Rivers Casino & Resort Schenectady opened for business about two-and-a-half years ago, in February, 2017. While this is their first WPTDeepStacks event, they have run quite a few big tournaments of their own since then.

Rob Saladin took the early lead on the all-time casino earnings leaderboard by winning a huge event in May, 2017 — the Capital Region Classic main event. Saladin outlasted a field of 1,095 entries to win $46,034. Since then, Saladin has cashed an additional six times here, including two more final tables and another victory, increasing his career earnings at Rivers Casino & Resort to $73,266.

Gilberto Taveras Garcia wasn’t doing too bad himself, coming into 2019 with four cashes here for a total of $28,801. But then Garcia finished among the top three in a three-way chop in the Rivers Monster Stack held in April, earning $22,450 to put him over the $50K mark. But Saladin, who cashed in 25th place in that same event, still had a pretty comfortable lead.

The race got pretty intense a month later, as both players reached the final two tables from a field of 574 in an event with a prizepool worth $174,675. As long as Saladin was still in the event, Garcia wouldn’t be able to pass him on the all-time earnings leaderboard.

But Saladin busted out in 17th place, creating an opportunity for Garcia, and Garcia made the most of it. Garcia went on to win the event, earning $31,000 and catapulting into first on the all-time earnings leaderboard for the Rivers Casino & Resort. Here are their current standings:

1.  Gilberto Taveras Garcia  –  $91,200
2.  Rob Saladin  –  $73,266

Today, both players find themselves seated at the same table in WPTDeepStacks New York, and with the prizepool already exceeding the $200,000 guarantee and continuing to grow, this event could have a big impact on this leaderboard. Even if neither of them make the final table here, another player lower on the leaderboard could win the event and find themselves contending for the lead.