Fabian Brandes victorious in WSOP 6-Handed PLO event

After a grueling nine hours under the bright lights on the World Series of Poker feature table at Bally's - Las Vegas Event Center Fabian Brandes has won Event #39: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed to lift the prestigious WSOP gold bracelet and pocket $371,358 in prize money.

The German, who now resides in Vienna, Austria, outlasted 719 players that generated a prize pool of $1,919,730. The Omaha specialist defeated Day 2 and Day 3 chip leader Leonid Yanovski heads up to take the crown, much to the absolute delight of his rail. Brandes told PokerNews "It was a rollercoaster of a day! It is unreal to have the bracelet in my hand."

Brandes' win came only nine days after he narrowly missed out on a bracelet in Event #19: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller to Tong Li of China, bagging $907,132. The German's total earnings this summer is $1,278,490 from only two tournaments played. Brandes only intends to play one more tournament, Event #69: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-handed Championship to be held 2-5 July.

Other than Brandes gaining the first gold bracelet of his career, the big story of the day was the sensational comeback made by Sean Winter. The high stakes specialist who is 31st on poker's all-time money list, was down to 100,000 chips at one point, which was less than one big blind.

Winter, from Jacksonville, Florida, spun up his stack to take the chip lead after winning seven all ins when he was at risk of elimination. Unfortunately, he couldn't complete the miracle victory and finished in third place to take home $156,401.

Poland's Grzegorz Derkowski was the first elimination of the day, after nearly four hours of play, when Brandes turned a better two pair than Derkowski. The $55,501 payday is the second-biggest cash of the foosball enthusiast's career.

Making his second WSOP final table in a week, Hungarian Ferenc Deak went one position better than he did in Event #30: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed by finishing fifth. Amateur player Thomas Morrison, who works in Maryland, secured the biggest cash of his life by claiming fourth place for a six-figure score. His previous best was $1,746 back in 2010.

Yanovski will ultimately be disappointed with how the final table panned out. At one stage, the musician from Haifa, Israel, (whose band is called Big Blind Special), had two-thirds of the chips in play.

But the winner is Brandes who was supported with his Super Mario figure card protector and a Mario cap. When asked about the Mario affiliation, Brandes said, "I pretended to be superstitious and this year I chose Mario, and so far he is doing a good job." After a first place and a second place, Brandes will be keeping his lucky figure under lock and key.

Final Table Results
1 Fabian Brandes Germany $371,358
2 Leonid Yanovski Israel $229,529
3 Sean Winter USA $156,401
4 Thomas Morrison USA $108,604
5 Ferenc Deak Hungary $76,880
6 Grzegorz Derkowski Poland $55,501

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)