On Thursday, longtime PocketFives member Tristan Cre8iveWade (pictured) finished third in Event #11 of the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP), $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha. Last year, Wade won a bracelet in a No Limit Hold’em Shootout event in Europe. Now, the University of Central Florida grad is nearly at $1 million in career WSOP earnings and reached his fourth WSOP final table in the last two years.

“I received a tremendous amount of support throughout the last tournament run,” Wade wrote in a PocketFives blog on Friday morning. “It’s always amazing to see that. Thank you, I appreciate it. That’s really all I can say. There are more and more good, respectable people in poker, which is exactly what this industry needs.”

In his blog, Wade described the final table as “crazy” and concluded, “I am really pleased with my finish and my play in that tournament, but I also realize I have a lot to work on. That is what makes poker fun.”

In his final hand, the Floridian went all-in pre-flop with Kh-Qh-Jd-9c and got a call from Charles Tonne, who showed Jh-9d-8h-5c. The flop of 7h-4d-5d was kind to Tonne, who hit a pair of fives, and an eight on the turn improved Wade’s opponent to two pair. The river was a queen, which spelled the end of Wade’s run in Event #11. He banked $102,000, his third six-figure WSOP cash.

Here’s how the final nine cashed out in the $1,500 PLO event. Five countries were represented in the group and the champ hailed from the Netherlands:

1. Vincent Van Der Fluit – $265,221
2. Charles Tonne – $164,132
3. Tristan Cre8iveWade – $102,690
4. Damien Lhommueau – $74,536
5. Alex Dovzhenko – $55,025
6. Rodney Brown – $41,249
7. Brian Garbe – $31,375
8. Calvin cal42688 Anderson – $24,186
9. David Schnettler – $18,896

By the way, if you’re a Wade fan, your boy has the 12th largest stack after one day of play in Event #16, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max. Fellow PocketFivers Nick fu_15Maimone (pictured) and Mark AceSpades Radoja own the top two spots in that tournament on the start of Day 2 and are virtually deadlocked in chips.

Radoja captured a bracelet last yearin a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout and has made a pair of top-60 finishes this year. Maimone is searching for his first WSOP cash since his 15th place run in the Main Event in 2009. He’s in the top 100 of the PocketFives Poker Rankings and has over $3.3 million in tracked MTT earnings in his profile.

The winner of Event #16 will bank $454,000 and 137 players, or just 8% of the field, survived a hectic Day 1. Each person is guaranteed to take home nearly $3,000 as it stands after one-third of the field went busto by the beginning of Level 5 on Thursday.

Other members of PocketFives remaining include Joe Joey CappCappuccio, Sam TheSquidGrafton, Andy BKiCeSeth, and Todd tbt4653 Terry, all of whom have chip stacks in the top 15.

Finally, CardRunners instructor Brian Stinger885Hastings (pictured) claimed his first WSOP bracelet on Thursday after beating Jason Mo in the finale of Event #12, $10,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em. Hastings wore a DraftDay daily fantasy sports shirt throughout the finale, which resulted in his first ever Las Vegas WSOP cash, and took home the title after winning back-to-back all-ins.

In the first confrontation, Hastings called all-in before the flop after Mo 4bet and showed A-7. Mo tabled A-3 and Hastings ducked a flush draw on the river to double through. On the next hand, Mo called all-in pre-flop with Q-9 and lost out to Hastings’ A-4 of hearts. Hastings’ first bracelet meant a payday of $371,000.

Hastings Tweeted when all was said and done, “Thanks to everyone for the overwhelming support! Everything is still sinking in. Glad I was able to pull it off! #wsop12 #wsoppoyhunting?”

Hastings told PokerNews in his post-game interview, “It’s pretty incredible. This is actually my first ever cash at the WSOP in Las Vegas and I’ve been playing it for like three-and-a-half years. I can’t say I saw this coming, but heads-up is probably my best form of poker and I did feel comfortable coming into the tournament. Running good and playing good is a good combo.”

Keep it tuned to PocketFives for the latest WSOP news.