One of the biggest paydays so far in the 2011 World Series of Poker was enjoyed by Joe Ebanks, who beat a tenacious Chris Moorman in event 46.
It has taken four days and the elimination of many of poker’s biggest names to find a winner in event 46: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Championship, but on Thursday it was finally achieved, thanks to a tough heads up that extended into an extra day of action.
The final two players of a 474-player starter field – Joe Ebanks and Chris Moorman – returned to battle Thursday, with play lasting just a few hands thanks to Ebanks’s massive chip lead.
Moorman had to be content with a still impressive second placing check for $716,282, whilst Ebanks claimed the bracelet and a massive first prize of $1,158,481.
Moorman held the chip lead going into heads-up play with 7.4 million to Ebanks’s 6.8 million. But in the first hand of heads-up action, Ebanks seized the chip lead and holding an advantage over Moorman of 9.8 million to 4.4 million. By the time the third day action was halted, Moorman was on 3.2 million whilst his opponent has a runaway lead and a stack of 11 million chips; it was too much to beat despite a plucky performance from the runner up.
Wednesday saw an intimidating list of top players among the 22 survivors going into the third day of this competition, including Mike Sowers, David Benefield, Lee Markholt, Bertrand Grospellier and Ben Lamb. Although all cashed, it was Grospellier who set up the heads up when he busted out in third place for a payment of $447,074, clearing the way for a heads up which could not be completed in the allotted time, requiring the last two players to return on the following day to settle the matter.
Event 48: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em was down to just 4 players in the wee small hours of Friday morning Vegas time, with Athanasios Polychronopoulos leading at level 30 (the last for the day) on 4,700,000, well ahead of poker ace Yevgeniy Timoshenko on 2,730,000 and followed by Simon Charette (2,350,000) and Peter Ippolito (2,230,000).
The third and hopefully last day of the event started Thursday afternoon with 30 players remaining from an original field of 2,713. Sebastian Winkler had the chip lead, chased by Matt Stout and with Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Mike DeMichele some way back in the chip list but still dangerous.
The game could well run on to yet another extra day of action.
Event 49: $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball was delivering exciting poker in the early hours of Friday morning in Vegas, with just two players left at level 27 from a starting field of 310.
Justin Bonomo had the advantage on 1,550,000 against Leonard Martin’s 768,000 as the two fought for the bracelet in an exciting heads up that began when David Bach headed for the cashier after being eliminated in the third spot just on midnight.
The third day of action in the event had started with 13 players still in contention and Jason Mercier in the lead and looking for his third career bracelet. It was not to be, with Mercier falling along with other stellar players like Eli Elezra, Scott Seiver, Shawn Buchanan, Jon Turner, and Galen Hall.
There may be sufficient time in this day to decide the winner, but both finalists are accomplished players with wide experience.
Event 50: $5,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em had reached level 20 and the final three hands of second day action in the small hours of Friday morning, with 39 players remaining from an original field of 817.
Darryl Ronconi was holding the chip lead on 800,000, with Isaac Baron closing in on him on 750,000, and Eric Froehlich and David Baker still in the top ten. Also still in contention are Ben Volpe, Jonathan Spinks, Ryan Young and Vitaly Lunkin.
This new event on the 2011 WSOP schedule attracted a full roster of professional players and entered its second day with 297 survivors still raring to go. Mark Herm started the day as chip leader with James Akenhead, Johnny Lodden, and Allen Bari all near the top of the leaderboard at that stage.
The first day of event 51: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better concluded in the early hours of Friday morning with William Speir topping the leaderboard on 115,300, ahead of nearest rival Dave Sands on 94,000. At that point 134 survivors were bagging their chips and preparing for another tough day starting Friday.
There were 946 entries for this competition, generating a prize pool of $1.22 million and attracting an eclectic mix of amateur and professional players.
Falling on the first day were quality players like Phil Laak, Tom Dwan, Daniel Negreanu, Eric Baldwin, Marcel Luske, Mike Matusow, Greg Raymer, Jonathan Duhamel, and Phil Hellmuth.
However, an equally impressive list of aces will be moving into the second day of the action Friday, including Alexandre Gomes, Kathy Liebert, Alex Wice, Alexander Kostritsyn, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Joe Hachem, and David Sands.
Also bagging their chips after a first day were the 135 survivors in event 52: $2,500 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No-Limit). All that remained of an initial field of 580, the survivors will be racing for a share of the $1.31 million prize pool on Friday when the second day of action commences.
Nikolay Losev leads on 114,100 with Joseph Cheong his closest opponent on 98,600 and Chris Moorman still up there in the top ten, along with Scott Montgomery, Max Pescatori and Jimmy Fricke.
First day casualties included Michael Mizrachi, Jennifer Lee, Mike Sexton, Erick Lindgren, Antonio Esfandiari, David Williams, Jerry Bust, Hoyt Corkins, David Chiu, John Juanda and Daniel Negreanu.
The money bubble bursts at position 54 in this event, so the second day action can be expected to be brisk!