The 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event was the largest single tournament in the history of poker. It was attended by a record shattering 8,773 entrants paying $10,000 each to enter. Harrah’s had originally only planned for 8,000 participants. The previous record of 5,619 players was set at the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event. This huge number of players resulted in the creation of a prize pool that reached a mind numbing $82,512,162 in size. Poker fans were able to watch the final table live through ESPN Pay-Per-View as well as on their V CAST enabled cell phones. They along with the entire world watched to see who would win the first place prize which reached a never before amount in the World Series of Poker of $12,000,000.
Over the 10 days in which the tournament was played, players from all over the globe, both men and women, sat down at the tables. They ranged from those who just turned 21 such as Jeff Madsen to 91 year old Victor Golden to women champions like Cyndy Violette and actress Jennifer Tilly. And this year one online poker room sponsored a chimpanzee named Mikey the Chimp to play at the tables. Everyone laughed at the idea, except Harrah’s who declined the chimp’s entry into the tournament. In order to handle such a large turnout, the field of players was split up into 4 groups of 2,000 players with additional alternates for each day. For those who don’t know, the alternates were individuals who could not be seated at the start of the tournament because there simply were not enough seats. Based on the order in which they registered, they were then seated as original contestants were being eliminated during the first couple of hours of play.
Action over Day 1, which was spread out over 4 days, proved to be very intense with the sole object being to just survive to the next round. So many entrants who tried very hard to stay in the tournament went out in a bad way. For example, actor James Garner was in a hand with the board showing K 3 2 after the flop. Garner called another player’s bet and the next card was a K. His opponent bets again and Garner calls. River card was a K. The opponent goes all in and Garner called with a level of confidence showing pocket 5’s for a full house. He was eliminated when the other player quickly produced K J for 4 of a kind Kings. In a different hand, two players at a table went all in with one having pocket 8’s and the other pocket 5’s. The flop showed 6s 5s 5c giving one player a huge smile as he flopped 4 of a kind. But the smile went away when the remaining cards were dealt, because the other player received everything he needed for a straight flush.
Eliminations continued by the hundreds with both seasoned top professional players and those who earned their seats online going to the sidelines each day. But some individuals soon began to stand out from the crowd. On Day 3 chip leader Jamie Gold led the pack and never relinquished his lead all the way to the final table. Erik Friberg, Doug Kim and Dan Nassif took their skills from the Internet to the real tables after qualifying for their seats online which cost much less than the $10,000 entry fee many paid. Intelligence helped paved the way for Michael Binger who has a PhD in theoretical particle physics. Professional player Allen Cunningham never really deviated from his playing style outside of not taking unnecessary risks with his chips. Paul Wasika, Richard Lee and Rhett Butler combined an understanding of the game with the luck so many prayed for to gain massive piles of chips. After 9 days, these fortunate players were the ones who would make history at this year’s final table.
At the final table Jamie Gold continued his overall dominance of the action by taking out Dan Nassif, Erik Friberg, Richard Lee, Rhett Butler, Michael Binger and pro player Allen Cunningham. Paul Wasicka sent Doug Kim to the rail after his pocket Q’s overcame Doug’s pocket 9’s in an all-in hand. And six hands after eliminating Michael Binger, Jamie Gold won the heads up with Paul Wasicka and became the champion of the tournament.
By the time it was all over it was figured that the 8,773 players was a 58 percent increase over the number who entered in 2005. Harrah’s anticipates exceeding this record-breaking number and others in 2007. Jeffrey Pollack, the Commissioner of the WSOP, has said there is a lot of room for growth and that is what he is focused on improving. So with the direction things have been taking over the past 3 years in the WSOP, you can count on next year being even bigger and better than this one turned out to be.
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There are a number of online poker games that new players can choose from depending on their preference. While the rules for all these games are different, here are some online poker tips that you can use while playing to maximize your chances of winning the games: