Event 46 - $10,000 Six-Max No-Limit Hold'em Championship - Live Updates

Joe Ebanks has won the $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship.

After about 15 minutes of play, Ebanks was able to finish the job he started out last night.

Ebanks started out the day with 11,015,000 to Moorman's 3,215,000.

After betting Moorman out of a hand on the river, Ebanks delivered the final blow.

Chris Moorman raised and Joe Ebanks called.

The flop fell 10♦ 3♦ Q♠ and both players checked.

A K♥ came on the turn and Ebanks led out. Moorman thought for a while and eventually moved all in.

Ebanks was next to go into the tank, he thought for a bit before finally making the call.

Moorman showed J♣ 7♦ and was going to need a non-diamond ace or a nine.

River: 9♦

Moorman became our 2nd place finisher, earning $716,282.

Today, Moorman won more money than he's ever earned in his live tournament career combined.

After ElkY was eliminated late last night, Moorman started the heads-up match in the lead. He held 7.4 million to Ebanks' 6.8 million.

But the tides turned quickly.

With a well-timed straight, Ebanks managed to see his stack grow to just around 10 million. After that, he held the lead throughout the rest of the match. Moorman kept winning small pots, hoping to stay alive.

But those hopes ended today.

:(

 

Joe Ebanks wins the $10K Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship bracelet and the $1,158,481 first-place prize.

This is around twice the amount that Ebanks has won in his live tournament career combined.

Despite not playing, ElkY was at the ESPN final stage today. He showed up to rail the heads-up match and stare at the shiny bracelet that slipped right through his fingers – or wrist.

ElkY was looking for his second WSOP bracelet this year and a shot at Player of the Year.

That dream was cut short last night.

Ben Lamb also had that dream.

Lamb registered for this tournament just after winning his first bracelet in the $10K PLO. He then went on to make another deep run and managed to finish in 12th.

A total of 474 players signed up for this tournament. They included the likes of: Jake Cody, Mike Sowers, JP Kelly, Phil Laak, Freddy Deeb, Erick Lindgren and Freddy Deeb.

But Ebanks survived all of them. He managed to clinch the bracelet and the largest prize awarded at this year's WSOP.

That's all for the $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship.

PokerListings, signing out!

There are still two players remaining on the fourth day of Event #46, $10,000 6-Max No-Limit Hold'em. Joe Ebanks has nearly a 3.5-to-1 chip lead over Chris Moorman.

Here are the official chip counts with the blinds beginning today at 60,000-120,000 with a 15,000 ante:

Joe Ebanks - 11,015,000 (91 bb)
Chris Moorman - 3,215,000 (26 bb)

Action was scheduled to resume at 2:30 pm, but since most of the $10,000 buy-in events resume at 3:00 pm, the players were nowhere to be seen.

They finally took their seats a few minutes before 3:00 pm. It's finally time to shuffle up and deal.

Day 3 of the $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship is in the books.

We started the day out with 22 players and we'll be returning tomorrow with only two.

Neither of these players will be fighting for their second bracelet.

That's right, ElkY was eliminated in the final level of the day. After going all in around three times without a call, ElkY finally found a buyer. Joe Ebanks.

ElkY showed K♠ 10♣ and Ebanks flipped over 8♣ 8♥.

The Brits began to chant for an eight, but they were soon overpowered by those cheering for a king.

The board ran 5♠ 9♦ 9♠ 3♣ Q♥.

No king.

ElkY will not win a second WSOP bracelet today.

 

ElkY ended another impressively deep run and finished the $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship in 3rd place.

His finish is worth $447,074.

This is a sizable sum, but ElkY was hoping for another seven-figure prize and a matching WSOP bracelet.

But ElkY wasn't the only potential 2011 double-bracelet winner on Day 3.

Ben Lamb was in the field today.

He registered for the $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship shortly after winning his first bracelet in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha.

Lamb broke into the top 10 chip counts during the day and managed to make it to the final two tables.

But that's where he'd encounter his demise.

Lamb ran his two pair into a flush and was eliminated in 12th place.

Tyler Smith, William Thorson, Chris Klodnicki and Russel Carson all started out the day, but they busted out before having a chance to play some poker at the ESPN final stage.

The last man who would not have the privilege of playing on the fancy, well-lit stage was Jeremy Menard.

Menard became the pre-final table bubble when his ace-king couldn't beat Chris Moorman's nines.

That bubble took over an hour to pop.

The next one went a lot quicker.

A few minutes after, when all the players were seated at the final table, Ben Tollerene would meet the end of his tournament life.

Tollerene would also fall to one of Moorman's pairs. Tollerene held ace-king, but he couldn't beat Moorman's jacks.

The final table then consisted of Mike Sowers, ElkY, Joe Ebanks, Tristan Wade, Chris Moorman and Taylor Paur.

The majority of the players who made the final table were guaranteed their largest WSOP cash.

They all fell at a slow, but steady pace.

Sowers fell first and was followed by Paur.

Heads-up chip leader, Joe Ebanks.

 

Tristan Wade finished in fourth and then, after a while, ElkY met his end.

ElkY came very close to being the first player this year to win two bracelets.

But that was cut short.

The bracelet will now either belong to Chris Moorman or Joe Ebanks.

Both players are fighting for their first WSOP bracelet and the single largest prize awarded at this year's WSOP.

Both players are already guaranteed $716,282.

This is more money than either player has won in their live tournament career.

Joe Ebanks has won a total of $595,734 in live tournaments. Moorman barely has him beat with $611,254.

They'll be coming back tomorrow at 3pm to finish their heads-up match.

Moorman will start the match with 3,215,000 and Ebanks will come in with the lead, 11,015,000.

We'll see you in 12 hours!

Three players remain.

Shortly after our last update, Tristan Wade was eliminated.

Wade and Chris Moorman went all in preflop and Wade showed ace-nine. He was trailing behind Moorman's ace-jack and was going to have to improve.

The flop paired both players' ace, but there was no nine to help Wade improve.

Wade became our 4th place finisher, earning $292,866 in the process.

This is Wade's second final table finish this year.

Earlier in the series he finished 7th in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event, earning $94,700.

After Wade was eliminated, players went on their final break of the night and returned for the final two levels of play.

The final three returned almost even in chips.

Joe Ebanks – 4,935,000
ElkY – 4,740,000
Chris Moorman – 4,550,000

It will be a race to see if we manage to get a winner tonight.

The general consensus is that we'll be coming back for another day.

Rail Action

More rail action also broke out.

After a series of warnings, security finally came up to a member of Moorman's railed and told him he had to leave the Amazon Room.

Apparently the railbird had been yelling at the players, telling them how to bet.

Both security and the floor had warned him multiple times to stop.

The railbird refused to leave and planted himself in his seat, arms crossed.

Backup showed up and security sternly told the railbird to leave.

“Fuck off,” the the railbird said.

“Excuse me?” Said security.

“I said fuck off.”

At that point, security told everyone in the aisle to leave just in case things got heated. Half the aisle complied and the railbird remained seated, refusing to leave.

Security gave the railbird yet another chance, and he refused once more.

One guard pulled out handcuffs and they threatened to call the police.

“I thought this was a free country,” the Brit said.

“It is, but this is private property,” responded security.

The railbird finally stood up and left, escorted by security. Crisis was averted and the Amazon Room remained safe...for now.

One more level of play remains.

If we don't get down to a winner tonight, we'll be returning tomorrow and playing until we do.

Four players left.

The action was almost missed during the excessive amount of action, alcohol, sexual innuendos and friction on the rail.

The floor and security have been fairly busy trying to keep the rail under control. We have a full section of boisterous Brits, a few heavily inebriated Taylor Paur fans and a section of French.

The French have been surprisingly quiet though. Politely cheering on ElkY and never going a few decibels above a golf clap.

The Brits have also been relatively tame. Emphasis on relatively.

The booze has yet to flow to the point where it's being drunk from shoes. They're also being one-upped by a member of Paur's rail.

He is at a level of inebriation where unconsciousness, or vomiting, seems imminent.

He's offering to buy drinks for a female on the British side of the rail and is poorly – very very poorly – attempting to imitate chants from the British side of the rail.

He's already been warned by security to stop doing pretty much anything that's not sitting down, several times.

Security has also had to come and intervene on Moorman's side of the rail. Extinguishing their rowdiness before it grows out of control and sets the arena ablaze.

Security was calming down the rail when there was an all in and a call.

Joe Ebanks and Mike Sowers were all in on the turn and Sowers was at risk.

Sowers held A♠ 9♥, and the board was pairing his nine. Ebanks held K♦ 7♥ and had a straight and diamond flush draw.

The river brought a 9♦, giving Sowers trip-nines.

But it also gave Ebanks a king-high flush.

Ebanks won. Sowers lost.

Sowers became our 6th place finisher and earned $138,301. This will be Sowers' second biggest cash in the WSOP.

Back in 2009, Sowers managed to finish 4th in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $194,930.

Around 20 minutes later there would be another all in situation.

Ebanks would be involved yet again, but this time it would be preflop, against Taylor Paur.

Paur showed a pair of fives and was up against Ebanks' A♦ Q♥.

The flop came Q♠ 4♦ 4♠ and Ebanks hit the queen.

Paur and his rail cheered for a five.

Their prayers would go unanswered and Paur would be eliminated in 5th place.

For that, he'll take home $198,140 and a heavily inebriated rail.

Players will go on a one-hour break after this level and will return for two more hours of play.

Chip Counts

Final four chip counts, courtesy of WSOP live updates.

Joe Ebanks – 5,600,000
ElkY – 3,975,000
Chris Moorman – 3,380,000
Tristan Wade – 1,900,000

The $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship final table is now set.

After a few hours of play we've managed to bring the massive field of eight, down to a more manageable six.

It took more than an hour after the dinner break for us to get down to seven players. During that time ElkY managed to win a couple of well-sized pots and grow his stack to 2,575,000.

That would put him third in chips, slightly behind Chris Moorman. Moorman made it to the final table with 2,650,000.

Joe Ebanks managed to hold on to the lead. He makes it to the final table with a stack of 3,150,000.

Four other players managed to make it to the pre-final table, but there was one odd man out.

Jeremy Menard.

Menard and Chris Moorman got it all in preflop. Menard had his tournament life at risk and showed A♠ K♣. Moorman showed a pair of nines and a good old fashioned race for the bubble of the final table bubble ensued.

The board came J♣ 6♠ 6♥ 7♥ 4♦ and Menard lost the race.

Menard earned $99,493 for his double-bubble finish.

The floor then redrew and moved to the ESPN final stage/colosseum/arena/thunderdome/pit-of-death.

The final table seating arrangement looked a little something like this.*

Mike Sowers – 1,425,000
ElkY – 2,575,000
Joe Ebanks – 3,150,000
Tristan Wade – 2,100,000
Chris Moorman – 2,650,000
Ben Tollerene – 1,290,000
Taylor Paur – 960,000

*It actually looked exactly like this.

It wouldn't take long before the official final table would appear.

Ben Tollerene and Chris Moorman went all in preflop. Tollerene showed ace-king and Moorman tabled jacks.

Moorman was in another race, with another pair, in another bubble.

The board ran 9♥ 3♦ 5♥ 2♠ 3♥ and Moorman won yet another race.

Tollerene was eliminated in 7th place and earned $99,493.

This is Tollerene's biggest live cash.

The players then took a short break and came back to be introduced to the official final table.

Sowers revealed that aside from poker he's a high school football coach. ElkY stated that he'd like to win the tournament to help solidify that belief that he's one of the best tournament players in the world.

Joe Ebanks used to be a dishwasher before he played poker. Tristan Wade attended the University of Central Florida and would like to make his school proud.

Taylor Paur also attended college, he went to San Diego State University for one year before turning to poker. Moorman has had all his cashes, except one, in No-Limit Hold'em and finally wants to win his first WSOP bracelet.

We will now continue to play until we hit a winner or 10 levels. Stay tuned to find out which one comes first.

We're down to our final eight players.

Also, the amount of players chasing their second 2011 WSOP bracelet has been halved.

Joe Ebanks has skimmed into the lead with 3,780,000. Barely taking the lead away from Ben Tollerene who has 3,730,000.

The top two players now hold more than 50 percent of the chips in play.

And they're seated at the same table. Right next to each other.

Tollerene is seated at Ebanks' immediate right.

Taylor Paur rounds off the top three counts with 2,100,000.

There's also a formidable rail starting to appear. Aside from the two $10K Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship tables, the final two tables of the $2,500 Omaha/Stud Hi-Lo tournament are being played out right next to them.

In the final two tables is Michael Mizrachi. Mizrachi adds another level of rail atop of this tournament's to form one super rail.

They've yet to get rowdy, but there's a couple of visible Miller Lites in the crowd. The night is still young, we'll keep tabs on these developments.

There Can Be (Potentially) Only One Double Champion

And that person is ElkY.

The board read J♥ K♥ 7♥ 4♦ A♠ and Lamb was all in. Taylor Paur had called and was showing A♥ 4♥ for the nut flush.

Lamb had A♣ 4♣ for the two pair but two pair can never beat a flush. NEVER!

Lamb was eliminated in 12th place and earned $56,140. He was the first person to go after the floor redrew to two tables.

Regression

The bubble for the last two tables was William Thorson. His 13th place finish made him the last person to cash for $43,976.

This is Thorson's first cash at the WSOP after his deep run in last year's Main Event. Last year he managed to finish in 22nd place for $317,161.

Before him, Gabe Patgorski finished in 14th and Tyler smith clinched 15th. They both won the same amount as Thorson for their finish.

Down to 8

Christopher DeMaci followed the Lamb in eliminations. He finished in 11th when his ace-jack couldn't hold up against Nick Grippo's pair of fives.

Next would be Matthew Hyman.

Taylor Paur raised to 45,000 and Hyman called.

The flop fell 10♣ J♣ 5♠ and Paur led out for 60,000. Hyman then, almost inaudibly, announced all in. He had already gone in twice without being called, but the third time wasn't a charm for Hyman.

Paur made the call and showed K♦ K♥, Hyman showed 9♠ 8♥.

Hyman was going to need a 7 or a Q to make his straight, but the turn brought a 9♣.

That eliminated queens as outs for Hyman.

A Q♠ came on the river.

Hyman was eliminated in 10th place, making the jump to $73,695.

This will be Hyman's first WSOP cash.

Ever.

The final bustee would be Nick Grippo.

Grippo got into a giant preflop pot with Ebanks. They ended up going all in and the pot had more than 3 million. Grippo showed ace-queen and was trailing behind Ebanks' ace-king.

Big slick held up.

Grippo will get his fourth, but largest WSOP cash this year, earning $73,695.

Players are now on a one-hour dinner break.

And then there were 15.

Usually, this would mean we were down to our final two tables, but this is no regular NLHE tournament.

This is six-max.

Mike Sowers is no longer our chip leader, he's been knocked down to 10th place. Taking his spot atop the chip podium is Ben Tollerene. 

Tollerene has 2,280,000 and this is his second cash this WSOP, matching the number he had last year. But this is the furthest Tollerene has made it in a WSOP event. It will, therefore, also be his biggest cash.

With 15 players left, Tollerene is guaranteed $43,976.

ElkY finds himself in second place now. The triple-crown winner has 1,810,000 and a menacing pair of sunglasses.

The other potential double-bracelet winner, Ban Lamb, has worked his way to 9th place with 770,000.

Eliminations

Not everyone survived the first couple of levels. Here's a short list to remember the brave souls who fell this level.

But don't feel bad for them, remember, they're in a better place. A place where they're at least $35,000 richer.

The first two eliminations were a double-kill.

Both Russel Carson and Thorsten Schafer found their tournament lives at risk against Joe Ebanks. Ebanks showed a pair of kings and both Carson and Schafer showed ace-queen.

Carson finished in 22nd and Schafer got 21st. Both players earned the same amount though, $35,377. But Ebanks was able to get the double the satisfaction, one for each pocket king.

Chris Moorman

 

David Benefield was next, he was also eliminated by a pair of kings. These kings belonged to Chris Moorman though.

Moorman and Benefield went all in preflop and Benefield's ace-eight wasn't able to outdraw Moorman's kings.

Chris Klodnicki was next and his 19th place finish made him the last player to cash for $35,377.

The floor then redrew to our final three tables.

Daniel Reijmer was the next one out. He managed to make the pay jump to $43,976 for finishing in 18th.

Greg Dyer was next when his ace-king fell to Jeremy Menard's king-nine.

16th place went to Lee Markholt.

Markholt raised to 37,000 from the cutoff and got re-raised by our fancy new chip leader, Ben Tollerene.

Faced with Tollerene's re-raise, Markholt 4-bet by grabbing most of his stack and dropping it in the middle.

Tollerene announced all in and Markholt called for whatever few chips he had left.

Markholt showed 9♣ 9♠ and was flipping against Tollerene's A♣ K♦.

The flop was a safe 4♣ 4♥ 8♠ for Markholt, but the turn brought the A♦ for Tollerene.

Markholt stood up, shook Tollerene's hand and made his way to the rail. Or possibly the cashier, to cash in his $43,976.

Chip Counts

Here are the top 10 chip counts, because 11 would be 1 too many. Courtesy of WSOP live updates.

Ben Tollerene – 2,280,000
ElkY – 1,180,000
Jeremy Menard – 1,730,000
Joe Ebanks – 1,180,000
Chris Moorman – 990,000
Christopher DeMaci – 860,000
Nick Grippo – 785,000
Matthew Hyman – 775,000
Ben Lamb – 770,000
Mike Sowers – 760,000

Day 3 of the $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Championship is now under way.

There were 474 players who registered two days ago, and now only 22 remain.

The bulk of the $4,455,600 prize pool still remains and it will go to these remaining players.

As you may expect, first place is getting a large chunk of that.

Whoever wins this tournament will take home $1,158,481 to go with their shiny new WSOP bracelet.

But to get to that prize, players are going to have go through a tough field.

Our current chip leader is Mike Sowers.

Sowers went on a big run at the end of the day and managed to finish with 1.48 million.

Sowers has won more than $2.5 million online and has almost matched that in live tournaments.

Sowers now goes into Day 3 of the championship with the chip lead. He's pushing ever closer to the largest first-place prize awarded this year.

He's followed by Chris Moorman, with 1.46 million.

Moorman has already come close to a six-handed bracelet, he finished 3rd in the $2,500 Six-Handed NLHE event a few weeks ago.

Starting out the day in 3rd is none other than Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

ElkY already has one championship bracelet this year and is going for his second. ElkY will also be shooting for another seven-figure win.

Ben Lamb, can he do it again?

 

Ben Lamb will also be back for Day 3. He's also back for another bracelet.

Shortly after winning the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, Lamb registered for this event and hasn't looked back since. He's starting out the day with 501,000.

Table draws have also been quite interesting today.

Sowers and ElkY find themselves seated right next to each other at one table.

Across from them Moorman is sitting next to Taylor Paur, whom also has more than 1 million in chips.

But these weren't the only big names in the tournament.

Joe Cada was in the field and managed to cash at a WSOP event. He finished in 26th, for $29,228.

Phil Laak, Dwyte Pilgrim, Jim Collopy, Erick Lindgren, Freddy Deeb and JP Kelly were all part of the original 474 players, but they will not be making it to the felt today.

Cards are in the air, and our remaining 22 players are guaranteed $35,377.

With short tables, big stacks and a $1 million prize, there's bound to be some action.

We're going to go find it, stay tuned.