This is Ebanks first WSOP final table and first victory

In an event filled with some of the biggest personalities and top talents poker has to offer, it was the relatively quiet and unassuming Joe Ebanks who silenced the field, defeating a tough group of 474 players in the $10,000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em Championship to win his first gold bracelet and the biggest payday of the 2011 WSOP so far, worth an impressive $1,158,481.

While that may sound like a huge chunk of change, Ebanks was pretty candid about how it isn’t exactly a seven-figure score for him.

“Unluckily, I was backed, so I don’t get all of it,” he admitted. “Even with that, my portion of it is still the biggest cash I’ve ever had.”

Humble as he may be, Ebanks sure has a lot to be proud of, defeating a rock-solid final table in one of the toughest events of the year.

When the final table began, the chip counts were closely packed together with Chris Moorman leading the way with a pack of rowdy Brits cheering him on. Moorman continued to chip up, but did hit a minor setback when short stack Taylor Paur spiked a queen holding AQ to Moorman’s AK to double up. While Moorman dipped, Joe Ebanks and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier surged.

Some of Ebanks chips came at the expense of Mike Sowers, who busted out in sixth place after a hand in which all the money went in on a 9653 board. Sowers held A9 for top pair, while Ebanks held K7 for a pair and a double-gutted straight draw. The river 9 gave Ebanks his flush and sent Sowers to the rail. Paur was the next player to fall, also at the hands of Ebanks. Paur’s 55 were no match for Ebanks’ AQ, as the Q4468 paired Ebanks up to eliminate Paur in fifth place.

Moorman chipped back up to stay competitive and picked up a nice chunk of chips by eliminating Tristan Wade in fourth place. The two got it all-in preflop with Wade holding A9 to Moorman’s AJ. Wade failed to improve and exited his second final table of this WSOP.

With Wade’s elimination, the final three players were left virtually dead even in chips, but soon Grospellier found himself on the short stack and in a situation where he was moving all-in preflop with a growing frequency.  After several shoves without a call, Ebanks and Grospellier both put their chips in the middle with Grospellier holding KT to Ebanks’ 88.  The board ran out 9953Q, Grospellier failed to improve, and headed home in third place.  While he fell short of a second bracelet, he did make headway in the WSOP Player of the Year race, improving to 479.25 points–good enough for second place.

Moorman and Ebanks began the heads-up battle relatively even-stacked, but Ebanks didn’t take long to jump out to the chip lead.  The hard stop hit when Ebanks held a nearly 4-1 chip advantage and Moorman got a night to rest and regroup.

The night’s sleep didn’t seem to help Moorman much though, as he failed to overcome his chip disadvantage and had to settle for second.  After just a half hour of play, the heads-up match came to its end when the two players got it all-in on a QT3K board.  Ebanks held K4 for top pair and a flush draw, while Moorman showed J7 for an open-ended straight draw.  Moorman made his straight with the 9 on the river, but it also completed Ebanks’ flush, giving him the po and one of the most prestigious bracelets of this year’s WSOP.

For Ebanks, it is a dream come true, but even in the magic of the moment, he was still as down to earth as can be about what could be termed a career-defining score.

“It is a dream come true. It was what I’ve been working towards. It is the reason I got into poker seven years ago. I wanted to win a World Series of Poker bracelet and I won it in one of the best events to win it in,” Ebanks said. “I think I handled [the pressure] pretty well, but I definitely made many mistakes because of pressure. I think I was pretty lucky to win as well. I ran pretty well,I don’t know.”

Here are the final table results from the $10,000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em Championship:

1st: Joe Ebanks – $1,158,481
2nd: Chris Moorman – $716,282
3rd: Bertrand Grospellier – $447,074
4th: Tristan Wade – $292,866
5th: Taylor Paur – $198,140
6th: Mike Sowers – $138,301

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