The first open event of the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is in the books. When the smoke cleared in Event #2, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, Brent bhanks11Hanks (pictured) edged out Jacob bazeman Bazeley for his first gold bracelet and a cash infusion of $517,000. For you Bazeley fans out there, you can take solace knowing your man cashed for $322,000.

Hanks, who calls Las Vegas home, pushed his career WSOP earnings to nearly $1 million and entered the final day of play in ninth place out of 15 survivors. Around the dinner break on Wednesday, he Tweeted, “2.4M at dinner with 6 left – Friends and family, you guys kick ass. Table is tough as hell, but I’m scrappin #bracelethunting.”

He made good on his hash tag when all was said and done, Tweeting when the bracelet was his, “Lots of people to thank individually for all the love and support. Feels great! Hoping to keep it rolling! #bracelethunting #Yeahhhpp.”

Hanks held a 5:4 chip lead entering heads-up play against Bazeley(pictured), who had the lead at the start of play on Wednesday. Bazeley scooped three straight pots to open heads-up play and snatched the lead away from the eventual bracelet winner, but Hanks regained the edge in a seesaw match after getting Bazeley to fold on a board of 7-A-2-3 with three spades.

Then, staring at 6-4-4-A-9, Bazeley led out for 600,000 and Hanks called, only to muck when Bazeley showed A-J for aces-up. When the final break of the tournament rolled around, Bazeley had built a 2:1 chip lead.

Apparently all Hanks needed was a breather because when play resumed, he came out of the gate swinging. On a board of 10-Q-4-K-5 with three spades, Hanks pushed out a bet of 580,000 and Bazeley tanked before electing to call. Hanks showed K-9 of diamonds for a pair of kings, which was enough to best Bazeley. One pot later, Hanks had assumed the chip lead.

The back-and-forth action continued (pictured) until the defining hand of the tournament, which saw Bazeley 3bet to 420,000 and Hanks 4bet to 780,000. With the rail biting its nails at every turn of the card, Bazeley 5bet all-in and Hanks called, putting his own tournament life at risk. When the cards were flipped up, Hanks held A-8 against 9-9.

The PokerNews live coverage team painted a picture of the scene: “Bazeley was ahead and he had Hanks covered. The dealer was preparing to reveal the board and the chants were raining down from the rail, ‘ace, ace, ace, ace, ace, ace!'” The rail’s demands were met on the flop when an ace hit and Bazeley couldn’t catch up. Bazeley, down to one big blind, was eliminated on the next hand.

Bazeley was gracious in defeat, Tweeting to his 900+ followers, “#runningpure until the last hand, but couldn’t lose to a nicer guy, @bhanks11 I’m really happy for u… Thanks for all the support #iheartuall.”

Here were the final table results from Event #2:

1. Brent bhanks11Hanks – $517,725
2. Jacob bazemanBazeley – $322,294
3. Andrew Badecker – $224,029
4. Vanessa Selbst – $161,345
5. Ryan Schmidt – $117,921
6. Abdyl Konjuhi – $87,231
7. Michael Kaufman – $65,377
8. J.P. MavFish Kelly – $49,621
9. Richard Park – $38,106

Today at the Rio, the online poker community will be honed in on the finale of Event #3, $3,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha. What started as a field of 317 is now down to just eight. The action restarts at 1:00pm PT and the quarterfinal match-ups are as follows. You’ll notice quite a few brand name poker pros still standing:

Jason JAKoon1985Koon versus Annette Annette_15 Obrestad (pictured) – Koon has $2.6 million in tracked MTT winnings in his PocketFives profile, while Obrestad was the inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event champion.

Simeon Naydenov versus David RaptorBenefield – A relatively untested Naydenov will face off against Benefield, a CardRunners instructor who will record his 11th WSOP cash.

Julian Powellversus Gregg Merkow – A young gun versus an established player. Merkow hasn’t cashed for five-figures in a WSOP event since 2009, while Powell hasn’t done so since 2008.

Leif Force versus Andy Frankenberger – Force received plenty of TV time for his deep run in last year’s Main Event. He also took second in the World Poker Tour’s 2011 Southern Poker Championship. Frankenberger is the reigning WPT Player of the Year.

Here’s what the top eight are playing for:

1st Place: $207,708
2nd Place: $128,660
3rd Place: $73,655
4th Place: $73,655
5th Place: $28,409
6th Place: $28,409
7th Place: $28,409
8th Place: $28,409

Who’s your horse? Let us know by leaving a comment here or visiting the Official WSOP Rail Thread in our poker forums.