Congratulations to 2011 winner of The Big Deal, Eli Gorin, who thrived at the official World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

Courtesy of Caesars Entertainment, Gorin earned a WSOP seat valued at $10,000, as well as hotel and travel accommodations for two, by virtue of winning the MPI Foundation’s The Big Deal poker tournament last year.

Gorin and his wife, Johanna, were escorted by a limo and a Las Vegas showgirl to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, where Gorin also had the opportunity to meet Jack Effel, the official WSOP tournament director who also calls the shots at The Big Deal.

With only 15 minutes left on the clock on the first day of the tournament, Gorin—wearing his MPI Foundation shirt, hat and hoodie and playing against competitors who started the tournament with $30,000 in chips—took his remaining $5,100 in chips and went all in, proceeding to beat his entire table and earning $17,000 in chips. He continued playing on day two of the Main Event, finally bowing out of the tournament nearly two hours into his second day.

“Not sure HOW I did it, but after 12+ hours of play I managed to survive to move on to another day,” Gorin said at the end of his first day. “I want to really thank the MPI Foundation team, Steven Van Der Molen and the amazing team at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Caesars Entertainment and Freddie Onsaga and Encore Productions for being amazingly gracious hosts and sponsors of what has been one of the greatest experiences of my life! I am looking forward to defending my Big Deal title in St. Louis, so I hope to see a lot of you there... and get ready to bring your A games!"

Click here to learn all about the 2012 edition of The Big Deal, which will be held later this month at the WEC in St. Louis.