It’s been a busy two weeks for members of PocketFives in Cannes, France, site of the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe. The annual tournament series switched locales from London to Cannes this year and exceeded all expectations. Two longtime online poker players have captured preliminary event bracelets, Tristan Cre8iveWade and Steve MrSmokey1Billirakis (pictured). In cyberspace, PocketFives faithful have been railing the action in a Live Poker thread.

Billirakis scored bracelet #2 after trumping the field of a €5,300 Pot Limit Omaha event (#3) and raked in €238,000. His first bracelet came three years ago in the $5,000 World Championship of Mixed Hold’em in Las Vegas and was good for $536,000. That year, Billirakis edged out a final table that included Greg “FBT” Mueller and Jon PearlJammer Turner. Now, he’s scored two bracelets in as many genres of poker.

Billirakis, who hails from Las Vegas, defeated Italy’s Michele Di Lauro heads-up. He told WSOP officials following his bracelet win how his second WSOP victory differed from the first: “I really did not know what I was doing at the time compared to now. I did not have much fear back then. Now, my game is definitely much better than it was.”

Also present at the final table of the Event #3 was 2011 WSOP November Ninemember Eoghan O’Dea (pictured) who finished in ninth place for €21,000. If O’Dea had prevailed instead of Billirakis, he would have become one-half of the first father-son duo ever to win gold bracelets in the same game, as O’Dea’s father, Donnacha, scooped a Pot Limit Omaha bracelet in 1998. By the way, Doyle and Todd Brunson comprise the only father-son duo ever to win WSOP bracelets.

Players from eight countries were present in the final nine of the tournament. Among those nations represented were the United States, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria, Canada, and Ireland:

1. Steve MrSmokey1 Billirakis – €238,140
2. Michele Di Lauro – €147,171
3. Ramzi Jelassi – €105,937
4. Sam Trickett – €77,642
5. Jerome RaeDaChef Bradpiece – €57,912
6. Konstantin Uspenskiy – €43,950
7. Erich Kollmann – €33,922
8. Sam Chartier – €26,610
9. Eoghan O’Dea – €21,221

Wade (pictured) followed Billirakis’ bracelet win up with a victory in Event #4 of WSOP Europe, a €3,200 No Limit Hold’em Shootout. The 10-handed final table saw Wade edge out Mike SirWatts Watson, who hails from Toronto and banked €112,000. Wade picked up his first WSOP bracelet in the process and boosted his career WSOP earnings to nearly $1 million.

The tournament drew 258 entrants and marked a defining moment in Wade’s live poker career. He recorded two final tables at the WSOP in Las Vegas earlier this year for a combined haul of nearly $400,000 and has nearly $1.5 million in tracked cashes online. His poker blog is among the most popular here on PocketFives.

Event #4 was the first No Limit Hold’em Shootout ever to grace the WSOP Europe slate and ended with several members of the online poker community in the final 10:

1. Tristan Cre8ive Wade – €182,048
2. Mike SirWatts Watson – €112,526
3. Richard Toth – €84,016
4. Max Silver – €63,151
5. Bertrand ElkY Grospellier – €47,763
6. Steve MrTimCaum O’Dwyer – €36,357
7. Emil Patel – €27,842
8. Taylor taypaur Paur – €21,459
9. James Flushy Dempsey – €16,637
10. John texduke Armbrust – €12,981

In a thread in the Live Poker forum, members of PocketFives congratulated Wade on his first gold bracelet. One poster from Florida wrote, “Congrats mate. Told you after you FT’d the first one during summer you’re gonna do it again. Glad you got the monkey off your back. Now, please quit and let fish like myself win some money.”

Another poster exclaimed, “Long time coming. I read your blog a lot and knew you had a lot of times where you felt strong about your play, but just wouldn’t ship it. Great job, hope you’re feeling good. You deserve it, like a boss!”

Stay tuned to PocketFives for the latest WSOP news.