Jamie Gold Captures 2006 World Series Championship

For 46 smoldering Las Vegas days and desert-cooled nights, the world of poker took over sin city and the numbers screamed, "Look at us, we're on fire!" The 37th-annual World Series of Poker (WSOP), conducted in the Amazon ballroom of Harrah's Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, was simply sensational when viewed from any angle.

The cavernous Amazon Room filled to capacity

With a year under the collective belts of Harrah's management, the 46 events ensued with hardly a glitch. More than 200 poker tables, covering 63,000 square feet of space, functioned as tournament felt, satellite launching pads, and live-action venues of various limits as needs occurred.

Jeffrey Pollack, the newly appointed WSOP commissioner, was prominently perched atop the pyramid as players, dealers, floor personnel, fans, and the media arrived to take part in what has become the richest sporting event in the world. Determined to ensure the WSOP delivered what all involved wanted, the former NBA president of marketing and corporate communications did just that. Based on my discussions with players and employees, the commissioner skied and scored a slam-dunk. Records for number of entrants and prize money fell in almost every event.

Our unstoppable poker train delivered 8,773 championship contenders (a 56 percent increase from 2005). The winner will receive an astounding, record payout of $12 million. To put these numbers in perspective, just 17 years ago, Phil Hellmuth Jr. triumphed over 177 players to capture the crown and $755,000 (a smidge more than 6 percent of what this year's winner will haul away).

Something New
If you've been watching the MANSIONpoker.net-sponsored Poker Dome Challenge on Fox Sports Network, you are familiar with the all-in button. The WSOP has adopted this innovative idea. This year, a player can choose to activate his all-in button instead of pushing out a mountain of chips. Other player accommodations such as additional floor personnel, staggered breaks, expanded food sources, and increased restroom facilities are welcome improvements.

Day 1A: The 2006 world championship of poker begins at 12:12 p.m. on July 28 with 2,168 players slotted in the first of four flights. Players of various ages, sizes, and nationalities (more than 50 countries are represented) take their seats. Aware that ESPN will have cameras rolling, several entrants arrive in costume. Whether experienced or playing in their first major event, this is surely a time of anticipation, exhilaration, and aspiration for all. The trick is to control emotion, and transfer excess energy to observation. Correctly using your opponents' tendencies to your advantage and understanding risk/reward are the keys to making good moves early on.

The Structure
The blinds commence at $25-$50 (antes kick in at level four). Each level will consist of two hours of play. Competitors will battle deep into level six ($200-$400 blinds with $50 antes) before play ends in the wee hours of tomorrow. The published objective is to reach 800 players when the proverbial horn sounds.

Player Down
Just six minutes into play, an unknown (to me) contender dejectedly rises from his chair and makes his way to the hallway - his dream of snagging the humongous first-place prize shattered. Precisely 15 hours after play begins, 785 baggies are distributed to the remaining players. The competitors count their checks, place them in these individual plastic pouches, and depart after floor personnel verify the chip counts. Three players, led by Ken Jacobs at $119,100, break into six figures. An average stack is $27,236.

Days 1B, 1C, and 1D: Part of the luck of the draw in this event is table assignment. To build chips, it is best to be at a loose/action table comprised of amateur players. It is also nice to be at a table that remains intact or breaks late in the day. That way, a player need only "get acquainted" with one player at a time when a tablemate busts out.

Jesus Speaks to the Masses
However, if you're Jesus, table changes can be a blessing. Here's Chris Ferguson, who was moved frequently on day 2B, yet continually built his stack: "I don't mind moving around. I can pick up on my opponents pretty quickly, so I don't worry about it too much. Of course, it all depends on who's at the tables. If you have a tough table, you like getting moved, and I've had some pretty tough tables today. No one's giving away money. You've got to earn everything at these tables." Chris is correct. Players are getting stronger through incessant televised tournaments, tapes, DVDs, magazine articles, radio shows, books, and the rapid learning curve known as Internet poker.

Gone in 60 Seconds
Play begins at 12:03 p.m. on day 1B. We lose Greg Nunley after the first hand when his K-K falls to Mark Lawlor's A-A. These players were willing to commit all of their chips preflop (Nunley made the fifth raise to all in). While I advocate taking frequent measured risk to build chips, sometimes you strongly sense that K-K is trailing, and the reward of doubling up to $20,000 (when one will need more than $9 million in chips to be at par at the final table) simply isn't worth the risk.

Play Ends at 3 a.m.
We lose Doyle Brunson, Paul Darden, Mel Judah, Howard Lederer, Gavin Smith, and Dewey Tomko. Phil Hellmuth Jr. was also sent to the rail, a victim of (in his words), "Horrendous, horrendous luck." His last words were, "I'm still in shock." The 1989 world champion arrived more than two hours late (perhaps saving himself for the arduous journey ahead at the costly expense of failing to fully observe his opponents). Phil was in action for two hours and 35 minutes.

Day 2A: Doyle Brunson once said, "The worst day of the year is the day you get knocked out of the World Series of Poker championship." Texas Dolly and 5,402 entrants are now spectators, while 3,370 remain in the game.

An Arrow Pierces Robin Hood's Armor
Doesn't lady luck know how far and wide $12 million would stretch through worthy causes? Barry Greenstein, who donates all of his tournament winnings to charities, picks up pocket kings. He moves in for $20,000 after observing a non-threatening flop (8 5 2). Luke Neely, believing his own overpair (Q-Q) is good, pushes his chips ($17,200) in and spikes his set on the turn. Greenstein cannot recover and leaves us 18 minutes later.

Bags Before Midnight
At 11:56 p.m., play comes to a close midway through level 11 ($600-$1,200 blinds with $200 antes).

Day 2B: After another 12-hour day, the field has been reduced to 1,159 participants, thus 86.8 percent of the starters have been eliminated after two days of play for each contestant. The leaders are Dmitri Nobles ($549,200), Yuriy Kozinskiy ($443,300), Jon Lane ($405,400), Ken Jacobs ($375,300), Daniel Pelletier ($334,300), and Daniel Negreanu ($331,000). Tomorrow, Aug. 3, is a day off for all.

Day 3: We have combined into a single field (1,159 players remaining), and tension pervades as players scan the prize-pool sheet, realizing that this will be the first day that eliminated players score cash, but not until we reach player 873.

Play at Table 10
I decide to watch some long shots: Bill Burdick (seat No. 1 with $25,600), Alex Todd (seat No. 2 with $118,500), Josh Newborn (seat No. 3 with $70,000), and Rick Fratcher (seat No. 4 with $67,500). An average stack is $75,700. The blinds will remain at $600-$1,200 with $200 antes for approximately one hour. There are 10 players at each table, but as one is eliminated, play will become ninehanded, and that will be the way we stay through the final table.

With a posted blinds/antes amount of $3,800 up for grabs, Burdick tries to win the first pot with a raise to $3,200, but Fratcher is game and leads out for $6,000 after the 10 9 3 flop. Burdick folds, flipping up the 9. Interestingly, the table begins to evaluate Bill's fold. Ernie Gormaz (seat No. 6) does the math, telling Burdick it was a good fold because if Fratcher had a 10 or an overpair, Bill had only five outs twice. A few other players then chime in.

Ivey in Defeat
Widely acknowledged as the best player alive, Phil Ivey, who cashed $846,444 in the preliminary events, just couldn't get going in the championship. However, we were treated to a glimpse of his all-around thinking ability today. As I wander past Phil's table, I observe a triangle with five stacks of 20 chips across the bottom and on the two sides. Three stacks of 20 reside in the center of the structure. Every chip is black ($100 denomination). Three pink $500 chips sit on top of the configuration, topped by a yellow $1,000 chip. That's 320 $100 checks. Ivey aside, the entire table had only 27 black chips. Phil, the short stack ($34,500) at the table, didn't want to be pushed around, and was doing his best to project strength. Would his chip arrangement fool everybody? No. Could it fool a few players? Probably, thus Ivey was doing all he could to win, and that's what he always does.

The Bubble Bursts
We reach bubble time at $800-$1,600 blinds with $200 antes. Burdick, Fratcher, and Newborn are in danger. But, each plays his way to the money aggressively, instead of clamming up and losing ante after ante plus all blinds when the big stacks raise. Burdick actually put himself in danger twice by moving all in. His opponents folded both times.

The entire table makes the money, and then the action heats up throughout the room. As careful as most players are when "the cut" looms, almost all loosen up when profit is locked up. During the next two hours of play, we lose nearly 200 players!

Day 4: As we begin level 16 ($2,000-$4,000 blinds with $500 antes), 481 players are in action, with Jon Lane leading the way ($654,000). Dimitri Nobles sits behind $650,000. Negreanu was whittled down to $93,500 yesterday.

I watch several name players lose their stacks (Susie Isaacs, Hoyt Corkins, Ted Forrest, Tom McEvoy, Cyndy Violette, Chad Layne, and Kathy Liebert). At 6:27 p.m., Joe Hachem is felted (trademark Phil Laak), holding pocket rockets, and the poker world is assured of crowning a new champ. Joe reigned well - always thoughtful, articulate, and cooperative with fans and the media. He leaves us with an additional $42,882 for his excellent 238th-place finish and with these thoughts: "It was incredible and magnificent. What a year it has been."

Negreanu fights until 7:05 p.m., when he moves all in for $43,000. David Woo defends his small blind with the K J. Daniel reveals the Q 10. Woo hits a jack and Daniel exits.

Pace Makes the Race
We're flying through this event (mainly due to long days early on and the aggressive play after the bubble burst yesterday). At 10:06 p.m., play ends with only 135 players seated. The preliminary schedule showed play would end with 300 players remaining and 150 tomorrow. Rest for all is on the horizon.

The blinds have been $4,000-$8,000 with $1,000 antes for the last 79 minutes, thus stack sizes have been changing quickly. Jamie Gold, whose mentor is Johnny Chan, has scored several huge hands (two within the span of 10 minutes) to leapfrog all competitors. The television producer from California, and former talent agent for The Sopranos' James Gandolfini, Desperate Housewives' Felicity Huffman, and R&B artist Brandy, bags $3,700,000. While Jamie is sitting pretty, in 20 more hours of play we will be at $40,000-$80,000 blinds with $10,000 antes; thus, barring disaster, he will be fronting $210,000 each round, and major chip shifts will be rapid. Three others have crossed the $2 million barrier (Max Reele, Jim Routos, and Kyle Bowker). Sprinter Dimitri Nobles has dropped off his strong early pace and resides 13th with $1,252,000.

Day 5: Since Routos and Bowker have drawn the same table, I decide to watch them play. Here's the makeup of table 150:

Player Seat Chip Count
Virgil Beddingfield 1 $453,000
Kyle Bowker 2 $2,272,600
Sebastian Zavarsky 3 $497,000
Davis Huynh 4 $280,000
Bryan Micon 5 $275,000
Mack Lee 6 $287,000
Jim Routos 7 $2,279,000
John Lee 8 $473,000
David Einhorn 9 $462,000

Big-Stack Respect
When play begins, Routos (pronounced Root-us) raises. Everyone folds to Bowker (as in take a bow) in the big blind. Kyle folds and shows an ace, as if to send the message, "I'll get out of your way, and I'd like you to do the same if I bet." The 23-year-old New Yorker, along with more than 1,600 others, qualified through PokerStars.com. He rocketed yesterday from 23rd place to become the first player to sit behind more than $1 million in chips. Generally, big stacks try to avoid each other. They prefer to pick on small- and medium-sized stacks, thereby limiting their exposure to a big setback.

Small-Stack Attack
When Bowker and Routos fold, the action gets heated. Bryan Micon relieves Mack Lee of all but $18,000 of his chips when Bryan's 6-6 holds up against Lee's unmatched overcards. But, Lee triples through on the next hand, and survives another 77 minutes, leaving one hand after Beddingfield departs. Both players pocket $51,129 for their efforts.

This was another interesting table to follow. At 11:31 p.m., Routos bags $2,775,000. Einhorn made a big move to $2,840,000. Bowker slipped to $885,000. John Lee worked his way up to $805,000. The others cashed, all outlasting more than 98 percent of the opposition.

Dimitri Nobles cashes in at No. 76, demonstrating the well-known fact that leading a tourney early on is not a surefire recipe for making the final table. With 56 players remaining, Sabyl Cohen gets all of her chips in with the K 8. She is a 56-to-44 favorite to survive Erik Friberg's J 10, but a jack flops to send our last live lady back to Oakland with $123,699.

At 11:26 p.m., Sean Johnson becomes the day's 46th ($164,932) and final elimination. After all chips are bagged, our leaders are: Jamie Gold ($7,330,000), Erik Friberg ($5,905,000), William Thorsson ($3,545,000), Rhett Butler ($3,210,000), and Kevin Aaronson ($3,190,000).

Only three big-name pros remained at the day's conclusion: Jeffrey Lisandro ($2,995,000), Allen Cunningham ($1,290,000), and Humberto Brenes ($565,000).

Day 6: We begin at noon with 45 players, but only 27 will be seated when play concludes today. Approximately 90 minutes remain at level 25 ($15,000-$30,000 blinds with $5,000 antes).

Ten past World Series of Poker champs were on hand for the money presentation.

Going for the Gold
I'm watching Jamie Gold stack his checks in piles of 20 each. By the third hand, he's got them arranged neatly. Jamie sports a black WSOP cap and a long-sleeve Bodog.net black and red shirt, unwashed (he claims) for superstitious reasons. Now on the button, the bespectacled player raises to $110,000. Robert Betts defends his big blind. Both check after viewing a one-suit flop (J 7 3). The other red 3 turns, and Robert pushes $300,000 forward. Gold calls. The dealer delivers the 5. Robert bets (it looks like $450,000), and Jamie quickly folds.

In the next hand, Mark Garner makes it $120,000 to go from under the gun (first to act). Gold and Bryan Hansen (to Gold's immediate left) are game. The dealer flops the K J 7. After Garner checks, Gold fires $200,000. Hansen folds, but Garner calls. When the 2 comes on the turn, Garner taps the table. Gold immediately announces, "All in." Just as rapidly, Garner mucks.

Gold's back again with a $90,000 raise in the following hand. Everyone folds to Garner in the big blind. He contemplates for 15 seconds and mucks.

For the next few hours, Gold is the table bully, but he vacates when confronted strongly. Jamie realizes that if opponents play back at him, they may be putting their tournament lives on the line; thus, they will often possess a decent hand. Between hands, he is friendly and talkative. The only time Gold folded more than five hands consecutively was when he was asked to color up his $5,000 chips (to the $25,000 denomination). He converted more than five racks and seemed distracted (but not irritated) by the procedure.

The 36-year-old continues his strong play until 5:04 p.m., when play concludes after Jeffrey Lisandro takes Lowell Kim out in 28th place. Kim collects $329,865. The 27 remaining contestants will play down to the final table tomorrow.

Gold leads with $13,000,000. He is followed by: Erik Friberg ($7,735,000), David Einhorn ($6,905,000), Rhett Butler ($6,400,000), and Michael Binger ($5,725,000). Top pro Allen Cunningham has been surviving nicely with a subpar stack for the last three days, and has now climbed to a threatening 13th-place position (with $2,650,000).

Day 7: We have reached level 27 ($25,000-$50,000 blinds with $5,000 antes). Richard Wyrick, our short stack with $570,000, will be looking for a spot to double through quickly. He finds the A 7 and moves in. Gold calls. He has Wyrick dominated.

Jamie's A-K prevails and Wyrick leaves with a tidy $494,797 (the amount that finishers 19 through 27 will receive). Our leader, a one-man dream-wrecking machine, will knock out seven players today.

Alas, all is not perfect in Gold's storybook run to become poker's first $12 million man. Although Jamie appears to be on cruise control, passing $18,000,000 in chips, Cunningham, a most dangerous predator when stacked, has finally started to catch cards. Allen reached $3 million and doubled through by spiking a set of fives in a four-way hand. After bullying some preflop limpers and taking a few pots on the flop, he has crossed the $10 million mark.

The final table had a record $88 million in chips in play.

Luck of the Draw
After Luke Chung takes out Dustin Holmes, 18 are left to redraw for seats at two tables.

Cunningham continues to run hot. He draws seat No. 8 at the ESPN featured table. Gold pulls seat No. 7. Thus, Allen will act after Jamie in almost all instances (advantage Cunningham). There is approximately $59 million in chips in play at the featured table, and only $31 million or so at the second table, which includes the four shortest stacks.

Just before 6 p.m., Luke Chung goes down in 14th place ($907,128). His two pair are in the lead on the flop, but Gold spikes his kicker on the turn to make a higher two pair. Chung stood to win a bonus of $10 million if he became the champ, part of the deal that FullTilt.net gave its online qualifiers in the form a 10-year annuity.

William Thorsson follows Chung to the cashier when Gold's K-K takes down the Swede's J-J. Jamie has slightly more than one-third of the chips in play with 12 players remaining (each guaranteed a prize of at least $1,154,527).

After a dinner break and three hours of action, we have reached the last bubble (one more player must depart to reach our final nine and end play for the day). With the blinds at $60,000-$120,000 and antes at $20,000, Paul Wasicka raises to $400,000 with pocket fives. Gold is game and flops top pair, but Wasicka spikes a set and doubles through to $9,500,000. A stock market sector never goes straight up, not even gold. Jamie is approximately $10 million down from his high mark. Wasicka is an excellent player. He made a big run at the World Poker Tour Championship won by Joe Bartholdi, and has cashed twice at the 2006 WSOP.

At 2:17 a.m., Fred Goldberg's Q 3 falls to Richard Lee's black kings, forming our final table:

Seat Player Chip Count Chip Rank
1 Richard Lee $11,820,000 3
2 Erik Friberg $9,605,000 4
3 Paul Wasicka $7,970,000 5
4 Dan Nassif $2,600,000 9
5 Allen Cunningham $17,770,000 2
6 Michael Binger $3,140,000 8
7 Douglas Kim $6,770,000 6
8 Jamie Gold $25,650,000 Leader
9 Rhett Butler $4,815,000 7
Chips in play $90,140,000
Average stack $10,015,556

Day 8: An astounding $37,811,922 is up for grabs today, with each competitor craving the $12 million winner's portion, the largest prize ever offered in the history of sports and games. Gold and Cunningham share 48 percent of the checks, and both have shown willingness to battle. Gold has a melting point of 1,945 degrees Fahrenheit. Will the other eight players be able to apply such heat? Cunningham is an exceptional player. Will his skill and experience be too much for his opponents?

We begin at 2:13 p.m. with Rhett Butler on the button and the blinds at $80,000-$160,000 with $20,000 antes.

Doug Kim raises as we settle in for a long session. Gold reraises, chasing Kim away. Undaunted, the 22-year-old Duke graduate is back again in the next hand with another raise to $480,000. This time, Richard Lee comes over the top and Doug mucks once more. Kim, who will be making his first-ever poker tournament collection (not a misprint), plays aggressively for more than six hours until Paul Wasicka ends his day with pocket queens. In his final hand, Kim moves all in with pocket nines after Wasicka bets $1 million on the flop (4 4 3). Paul calls with Q-Q and prevails. Kim collects $2,391,520 for his excellent seventh-place finish.

Kim outlasts Dan Nassif, who departs in ninth place in hand No. 5. After Gold limps in from under the gun, everyone folds to Nassif, who raises to $700,000. Gold calls and the pair observe a flop of the 5 3 2. When the chip leader checks, Dan announces, "All in." Gold beats him into the pot, showing pocket ducks for a set. Dan's A-K is in deep trouble (he rates to win just 14 percent of the time). An ace turns and a 10 falls on the river, sending Nassif off to collect $1,566,858. In retrospect, the 33-year-old account executive may be asking himself two questions: What if, instead of raising to $700, I had moved in for my entire $2,300,000? Would Jamie have mucked?

Sandwiched between Nassif and Kim is Erik Friberg (pronounced Free-burg), who leaves in eighth place after hand No. 57. The 23-year-old professional online player limped in. Gold, on the button and playing policeman much of the day when in late position, raised to $1 million. The Swede moved over the top and all in with J-J, but Gold had Q-Q. Jamie needlessly hit his queen on the river, ensuring the knockout.

Richard Lee, dressed in a San Antonio sweatshirt, arrived at the final table in third place, but was clearly playing for the win. The 55-year-old investor took his jacks up against Gold, who, once again, held pocket queens. Based on the betting, Richard could have easily gotten away from the hand and almost assuredly coasted into fourth place, but he decided to make a stand. The board didn't help him, and he departed in sixth place with $2,803,851.

There are 28 minutes remaining at level 34 ($120,000-$240,000 with $40,000 antes) when the players take a 90-minute dinner break. Here is the chip count after 122 hands:

Seat Player Chip Count
3 Wasicka $14,560,000
5 Cunningham $13,680,000
6 Binger $7,440,000
8 Gold $51,175,000
9 Butler $3,235,000

Butler, a 44-year-old insurance provider, lasts until 12:46 a.m., when he pushes his stack forward and is called by Gold and Cunningham. His pocket fours are a substantial underdog to the duo's combined overcards. Gold hits top pair (jacks) on the flop, and Rhett retires in fifth place. Butler has been playing poker for 25 years, but is relatively new to tournament poker. Like Kim, this will be Rhett's first-ever cash in a poker tourney.

We've reached level 36 (70 hours of play have been concluded in the eight days of action for each combatant). Although the $200,000-$400,000 blinds may seem high, with $90,140,000 in chips in play, a round of folding is only 1.1 percent of the aggregate chip amount. Gold is still soaring, with approximately $48,675,000. He is followed by Wasicka ($17,000,000), Michael Binger ($14,800,000), and Cunningham ($6,850,000).

In our 13th hour, Cunningham, gunning for his fifth and most prestigious WSOP title, raises all in after Binger raises to $1.1 million, and Gold makes the call. Allen has been our most active preflop raiser since the third round of play today. His nemesis has been Binger. Allen has gotten his left-side opponent all in three times at the final table, only to see Binger survive and double up in each instance. In this hand, Binger mucks. Cunningham, playing from the big blind, tables 10-10, a small favorite over Jamie's K J. But a king flops, and the 29-year-old top pro, with more than $6 million in tourney winnings, is sent to the rail. Gold (who continues building a wall of green $100,000 chips), Wasicka, and Binger have these respective chip counts: $57 million, $16.5 million, and $14 million.

Without Cunningham to pick on, Binger, who holds a Ph.D. in physics, gets bounced 45 minutes later. He raises to $1.5 million from the big blind. Both opponents call the 29-year-old part-time poker pro who aspires to a career as a theoretical physicist. After Wasicka checks the flop (10 6 5), Binger bets $3.5 million. Gold announces, "I'm all in." Binger is in great shape with the A 10. Gold has a draw (4 3). But lady luck has been sprinkling glitter on Gold for the last few days, and she seems to have an endless supply. The dealer turns the 7, ending a great run for Binger. He did very well to move up from eighth to third position at the final table, thus securing a life-changing payout.

As Binger knows, gold (Au) carries the atomic number 79, and (give or take) that's how many million chips Gold has when we begin heads-up play. Jamie, who has stated that he wants the win but not the accompanying fame, may be forced to accept the package. He has played too well and received the type of cards that weren't meant for a second-place finisher.

Wasicka, a native of Dallas, has about $12 million in chips. He needs to catch some tickets quickly, because Gold shows no signs of slowing down. Paul got off to a brutally slow start today, winning just two hands in the first 59. He gradually picked up steam, hit a great drawout card on Gold, and began to play much more aggressively as time went on. On a radio show two days ago, I picked the 25-year-old as my dark horse to win. He's given me a great run.

At 3:43 a.m., on the seventh hand of heads-up action, Gold completes from the small blind by placing another $200,000 in front of his huge stack. Wasicka wants more. He raises $1.3 million. Gold has had great success with limping in and calling raises today. This hand is no exception. He calls quickly. The flop comes Q 8 5. Paul bets $1.1 million. Jamie announces, "All in." He then engages Paul in a discussion of the relative strengths of their two hands. In a roundabout way, he tells Paul that he holds a queen. Gold has been telling the truth about his hands all day, but Paul chooses to call anyway. Wasicka reveals pocket tens. Gold, revealing the Q 9, is two cards away from victory. The A brings him closer. He turns away from the table and says to his mentor Johnny Chan, "Tell me the river card is no 10, no 10, no 10." Chan assures him that it won't be a 10, and reminds Jamie that Paul has just two outs. The dealer burns and delivers the most gorgeous card that our new world champion never saw - the 4.

Wasicka, Gold's seventh knockout victim of the day, is gracious in defeat. He hugs Jamie and congratulates him. The runner-up played an unconventional, confusing game that was almost devoid of continuation bets (following through on the flop when he made preflop raises). In what must be a statistical record, Paul never made a call on the river in the 236 hands played through the day, night, and morning.

The waves of the ocean are powerful and persistent. Stand before them and they will eventually knock you down. It was with this type of indefatigable force and relentlessness that the 36-year-old Jamie Gold thwarted his foes for eight days of play to capture the most coveted title in gaming, the world championship of poker. Going for the gold in his inaugural WSOP championship proved to be an enormously successful and lucrative project for the television producer who has cashed 14 previous times in major poker events. He played great poker and caught great cards.

Here's a recap of how they finished:
Place Player Home Prize
1. Jamie Gold Malibu, California $12,000,000
2. Paul Wasicka Westminster, Colorado $6,102,499
3. Michael Binger Atherton, California $4,123,310
4. Allen Cunningham Las Vegas, Nevada $3,628,513
5. Rhett Butler Rockville, Maryland $3,216,182
6. Richard Lee San Antonio, Texas $2,803,851
7. Doug Kim Hartsdale, New York $2,391,520
8. Erik Friberg Stockholm, Sweden $1,979,189
9. Dan Nassif St. Louis, Missouri $1,566,858