Day 31 of the 2011 World Series of Poker saw bracelets awarded in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Championship, and the $2,500 Limit Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball event. The $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event reached the final table, but finished with four players left. Also, the $5,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em event made the money, while sizable fields came out for Day 1 of both the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event and the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em event.
Event #46: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Championship
The heads-up matchup between Joe Ebanks and Chris Moorman resumed on Thursday in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Championship. Ebanks led 11 million to 3.2 million to restart the match.
This matchup only took a couple of hands to reach its conclusion. The final hand saw Moorman raise to 240,000 from the button and Ebanks call to see a flop of 
. The flop was checked around and the turn brought the 
. Ebanks bet out 250,000 and Moorman shoved for about 2.06 million. Ebanks tanked a bit and finally made the call. Ebanks turned over 
for top pair and the second nut-flush draw. Moorman showed 
for only a straight draw. The 
fell on the river to give Ebanks the flush and the victory.
Joe Ebanks became the first million-dollar man at the 2011 WSOP after winning the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event. In addition to his first gold bracelet, he took home $1,158,481 in first-place prize money.
For more on Ebanks’ heads-up victory, read our live coverage blog.
Event #48: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
Day 3 of this $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event started with 30 players looking to make the final table. The headliners of the field were Matt "AllInAt420" Stout and Yevgeniy Timoshenko. Stout began the day second in chips and looked to make his first ever WSOP final table. Stout, indeed, made his first WSOP final table, and began fifth in chips. Timoshenko finished second in the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship earlier in this Series and is still looking for his first bracelet. Timoshenko also made it to the final table and began the table second in chips. Peter Ippolito entered the final table as the chip leader.
Stout took a couple of hits to his stack early on and then got coolered to finish in eighth. He was all-in with pocket tens preflop and ran into Athanasios Polychronopoulos’ pocket jacks. Stout could not hit his set and left with a $63,032 payday. Timoshenko was able to retain his chip position, and by the time play was suspended with four players left, he held 3.46 million in chips.
Athanasios Polychronopoulos finished the day as chip leader with 3.68 million, followed by Timoshenko. Peter Ippolitio has 2.83 million to start the final day and Simon Charette will come back as the short stack. He is still in decent shape with 2.24 million. Play will resume on Friday at 1430 PDT (2130 GMT) and continue until the bracelet is awarded.
Details on this final table can be found in our live reporting blog.
Event #49: $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball
The final day of the $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event began with 13 players looking to win the bracelet. Jason Mercier began the day as the chip leader, and the poker world watched in anticipation of Mercier winning his third bracelet. When the final table was reached, David Bach had taken over the chip lead with nearly double that of Eli Elezra sitting in second place. Mercier began the final table third in chips and Justin Bonomo was at this final table looking for his first bracelet.
Jason Mercier was eliminated in sixth place in this event. Down to fewer than 100,000 in chips, he got his stack in after the first draw holding 
and drawing one card twice. Masa Tanaka made the call and drew the same number of cards. After the final draw, Tanaka held 
and Mercier still had to show. Mercier pulled an 
, and since aces play high only, he was out.
Heads-up play at this final table was between Justin Bonomo and Leonard Martin. Bonomo worked his way into the chip lead in the later stages of the final and took a 1.6 million to 750,000 lead into heads-up play. The betting limits played a factor however, and the chip lead swung back and forth between the two players. Eventually, Martin was able to sustain a run without Bonomo staging much of a comeback, leaving Bonomo with around 235,000. With betting at 50,000 and 100,000, Bonomo had to double up in a hurry.
On the second draw of the final hand, Bonomo was all-in and drawing one card. Martin stood pat with but Bonomo still had a shot with . Bonomo missed on the second draw and took one final card. He squeezed out a 
, and Martin became the champion.
Leonard Martin finished second in the $1,000 Limit 2-7 in 2007 and sixth in this same event last year. Now, he has finally taken down the bracelet in this event, and $189,818 in prize money.
Complete Day 3 action can be found in our live event coverage.
Event #50: $5,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em
Day 2 of the $5,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em event began with 263 players looking to burst the money bubble. James Akenhead and Tristan Clemencon busted around the same time with 83 players remaining, meaning the remaining 81 players received a payday. Some of the players who finished in the money on Day 2 were Eric Haber, Josh Arieh, John Racener, Allen Bari, Johnny Lodden, Sam Stein, and Mark Radoja.
At the end of Day 2 action, Vanessa Peng finished as chip leader with 801,000. She had planned on playing in the Ladies Event on Friday, but now she has bigger fish to fry. Only 34 players remain in this event and among them include Eric Froehlich, David "Bakes" Baker, Wesley Pantling, and Barry Greenstein.
Find out who made the money on Day 2 by reading our blog.
Event #51: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo
A huge field of 946 players took to the felt in Day 1 of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event, an increase of 99 players over last year’s field. Some of the players that took their shots at the only pot-limit hi-lo bracelet of the 2011 WSOP included Bill Chen, Erik Seidel, Joe Tehan, Humberto Brenes, Berry Johnston, Men Nguyen, David Benyamine, and Kathy Liebert.
At the end of day one, William Speir emerged as chip leader with 115,300. David "Doc" Sands is in second with 94,000. Kathy Liebert sits seventh in chips and will start her quest for her second WSOP bracelet on Friday. A field of 134 players will return to play to the money and work to the final table.
We never chop up our coverage in our live reporting pages.
Event #52: $2,500 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No-Limit)
The $2,500 Mixed Hold’em event continued the trend of growth in the 2011 WSOP. Five hundred and eighty players turned out on Thursday, an increase of 73 over last year. This event played 30 minutes of limit hold’em and then switched to 30 minutes of no-limit hold’em each round. As the day wore on, the field was shaved to 153 who will return Friday to play past the money and maybe even the final table.
Nikolay Losev, who finished Day 1 as the chip leader, was the only player to break 100,000 on Day 1 and finished with 114,100. Chris Bell, Chris Moorman, Scott Montgomery, Max Pescatori, and Jimmy Fricke all finished in the top 10 of chips.
Find out who mixed it up on the felt on Day 1 in our live event blog.
On Tap
A bracelet will be awarded on Friday in the $5,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em event. Also, the money bubble will be reached in both the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo and the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em events. Finally, the ladies take center stage as the $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship overruns the Rio on Friday.
Podcast
On Thursday, the PokerNews Podcast crew was stood up by Jason Mercier. It’s OK though, because he was working his way to the final table of the $2,500 2-7 Lowball event. Instead, the crew discussed some of the events that went down earlier in the week and talked a little more about Full Tilt Poker.
The PokerNews Podcast is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Listen here.
Video of the Day
Joe Ebanks is thrilled to have just won the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Championship and over $1.15 million. Kristy Arnett caught up with him after his bracelet win and he could barely contain his excitement.
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