Joe Ebanks, a professional poker player from Stow, Ohio with live tournament winnings of more than $3 million, has added another achievement to his impressive list. The player has just won the Hollywood Poker Open Season 4 Columbus $1,115 Regional Main Event for the amount of $49,928 and a seat into the season-ending $2,500 HPO Championship Event.
Ebanks is no stranger to the big poker scene. The Ohio-born player has won one WSOP gold bracelet and has finished runner-up in a WPT event, among other things. He won his WSOP gold piece in 2011 when he topped the field of the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed Championship. Apart form the gold bracelet, he also took home the amount of $1,158,481. Last year, Ebanks finished runner-up to Griffin Paul in the $3,500 WPT Showdown Championship, held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
There were 249 entries to take part in the $1,115 Regional Main Event, creating a prize pool of $249,000. The top 27 finishers were paid, with lowest payouts totaling $2,739. The winner was to take home the amount of $59,756. As mentioned above, Ebanks collected a little bit less than what had initially been projected as he chopped the remaining pot with his heads-up opponent.
The ten-handed final table was reached on Day 2 of the event. Ebanks began ten-handed play as the chip leader and the only player beyond the one-million mark.
Jeff Russell was the first to leave the final table. The player collected the amount of $5,105 for his performance. Rick Sklenar was then eliminated in 9th place for $6,474. Chris Roberts hit the rail in 8th place, good for a payout of $7,844.
Chris Meyers was eliminated by Ebanks in 7th place for $9,338. Shortly after, David O’Connor was busted in 6th place for $11,205. He, too, fell victim to the eventual champion. Ebanks also sent Jeff Gregg to the rail. The latter received $13,695 for his 5th place in the tournament.
Ebanks was responsible for the next two eliminations as well. First, Greg Yeager left the final table in 4th place for $17,679 and was followed by Bill Khourie, who received $24,900 for his 3rd place in the event.
As it could be suggested, Ebanks started the heads-up match against Jeremy Detamore with a significant chip lead over his opponent. Shortly after two-handed play began, the two players discussed a deal but could not agree on the terms and continued playing for some more time. A second deal was discussed and was reached this time. Eventually, Detamore finished 2nd for $46,680 and as mentioned above, Ebanks scooped a $49,928 share of the entire prize pool.
