It was an exciting day to be a member of the online poker community on Thursday, as Joe ender555Ebanks (pictured) and Chris moorman1Moorman went toe-to-toe for the title in Event #46 of the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP), the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Championship. A total of 474 players showed up and Ebanks walked away with his first gold bracelet. All six players at the final table were members of PocketFives.com.

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For Moorman, the tournament marked his third deep run in a WSOP event this year. He took third in a $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed tournament for $271,000 and then made the final two tables of a $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Handed contest for $30,000. His runner-up finish to Ebanks on Thursday night at the Rio in Las Vegas was worth another $716,000.

Ebanks booked the first million-dollar payday at the 2011 WSOP and collected $1.1 million. Accordingly, he was quite elated to come away with the win. He told WSOP officials, “This is a dream come true. It’s what I have been working on ever since I came into poker, like seven years ago. I’ve always wanted to win a World Series of Poker bracelet. And, I also won it in one of the best events to win it in, so it’s great.”

He added that moving due to Black Friday may be in the offing following the conclusion of the 2011 WSOP: “[Black Friday] has affected me. I lost a lot of my money because of that. Thankfully, I won some money here today. But I am going to have to move if I want to continue playing. I am probably going to move after the Series is over.”

The final hand of the tournament was quite buzz-worthy. The money went in on a board showing 3-Q-10-K with two diamonds, with Ebanks’ K-4 of diamonds holding the lead. Moorman (pictured) showed J-7 for a straight draw and the river was the nine of diamonds. Despite giving Moorman a straight, the card also gave Ebanks a flush.

Bertrand ElkYGrospellier landed in third place. The newly minted bracelet winner fell short in a race on his final hand with K-10 against pocket eights and earned $447,000. Fourth place belonged to PocketFives blogger Tristan Cre8ive Wade, who ran A-9 into Moorman’s A-J on his final hand. Wade pulled in nearly $300,000 and recorded his second WSOP final table of 2011.

Taylor taypaurPaur was bounced in fifth place for $198,000. Paur, who has wins in the PokerStars Sunday 500, Full Tilt Sunday Mulligan, and a $163 No Limit Hold’em Full Tilt Online Poker Series event, among others, could not hold on with pocket fives against Ebanks’ A-Q on his final hand.

In a clean sweep of the final table, Mike SowersUNCC Sowers (pictured) took sixth place for $138,000. Sowers’ A-9 could not withstand the K-7 belonging to Ebanks and he logged his third career WSOP final table:

1. Joe ender555Ebanks – $1,158,481
2. Chris moorman1Moorman – $716,282
3. Bertrand ElkYGrospellier – $447,074
4. Tristan Cre8iveWade – $292,866
5. Taylor taypaurPaur – $198,140
6. Mike SowersUNCCSowers – $138,301

Also coming away with a bracelet in recent days was Athanasios Polychronopoulos (pictured), who is known as Athanasios 9on PocketFives.com and has the longest name in WSOP history. No joke. Polychronopoulos brought home $650,000 for taking down Event #48, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament. He edged out Simon pokerbrat13 Charette heads-up in another final table that was stacked with PocketFivers:

1. Athanasios Athanasios 9 Polychronopoulos – $650,223
2. Simon pokerbrat13 Charette – $404,235
3. Peter Ippolito – $286,118
4. Yevgeniy Jovial Gent Timoshenko – $206,348
5. Sebastian Winkler – $150,667
6. Alexander ArgentinaBoy Queen – $111,341
7. Heinz Pius – $83,286
8. Matt All In At 420 Stout – $63,032
9. Sven Niklas Heinecker – $48,272

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