Top Five Moments of the 2006 World Series of Poker........... And Jamie Gold Isn't Number One

When Nolan Dalla – media director of the World Series of Poker, co-author of the biography/autobiography One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar, and working poker writer for the past 12 years – says he has never seen a tournament with more unforgettable moments than the 2006 World Series of Poker, that means something.



During the months of July and August, thousands upon thousands of poker zealots made the pilgrimage to "The Poker Cathedral." On these holy grounds, the faithful witnessed mythic gods engage in battles of epic and legendary proportions, each producing tales more amazing than the next.



Get it?



In other words, poker fans, media, conventioneers, tourists, and anyone else lucky enough to visit the 2006 World Series of Poker at the Rio's Amazon Room watched some of the most dramatic and exciting stories in poker history unfold firsthand.



For those lacking an unwavering blind devotion, or anyone with a boss unwilling to give him vacation time, Card Player presents the five most talked about, debated, hyped, and celebrated storylines of the memorable 2006 World Series of Poker.



5. Doyle Brunson – The Legend Continues

Poker's Godfather Makes His 30th World Series of Poker Main-Event Appearance

In life, few things remain constant. Jobs change, relationships change, people change. In poker, nothing stays constant. A player wins a tournament and becomes the talk of the circuit, only to be dubbed a lucky donkey by the end of the year. Pros go from flush to broke, and great starting hands get drawn out on.



There is, of course, an exception to poker's rule of unbalance – Doyle Brunson.



Poker's steady captain enjoyed a World Series of Poker marked by celebrations honoring his Hall of Fame career. While the star-studded roast, hosted by Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett, and the hard-to-get-into but not-easy-to-forget



DoylesRoom.com party were highlights, Brunson's 30th WSOP main-event appearance, and the ceremony commemorating the milestone, stood out as a significant moment not only for the Series, but for the game of poker.



On Saturday, July 29, Brunson kicked off day 1B of the main event by simply showing up. The 2,137 players already seated applauded as Brunson entered the Amazon Room. A roped off center aisle, lined with DoylesRoom.com employees, awaited "Texas Dolly," as did friends and family, including daughter Pam Brunson, Dewey Tomko, Billy Baxter, and Mike Caro.



In the middle of more than 2,000 cheering soon-to-be adversaries, "The Godfather of Poker" joined his son, Todd Brunson, and WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. Brunson Sr., the man holding the poker equivalent of Cal Ripken's consecutive-games-played streak, received the full treatment as Pollack presented a 4-foot-long sheet cake with "Harrah's and the Rio Congratulate Doyle Brunson on the 30th Anniversary of the WSOP" lettered on it.



After Pollack officially dedicated the day's action to Brunson, the Super/System author accepted the microphone and made an announcement that he had heard during 29 previous World Series main events: "Shuffle up and deal."



Brunson smiled from the moment he walked in the door to the time he sat down to play, and described the ceremony as "flattering."



The recipient of many accolades over the preceding weeks, Brunson said the 30th anniversary ranked among the best, but in classic road gambler style, his attention returned to his first love, playing poker.



"I don't really let that stuff [the ceremony] go to my head one way or another. I just go and play my game," Brunson smiled.



The second round of applause Brunson received on the day came at 9:45 p.m., when amateur player Clay Sikes knocked him out of the tournament with trip tens. Brunson acknowledged the salute with a wave of his hat, and came back into the Amazon Room after an official announcement brought on more cheers for an encore appearance.



An odd parallel occurred on this day. A game famous for brutally unstable odds and devastating swings honored a man for his consistency, commitment, and devotion.



4. Jeff Madsen Raises the Bar

How a 21-Year-Old Film Student Defeated Erick Lindgren Heads Up and Became the WSOP's Most Unlikely Star



On June 24, the name Jeff Madsen represented just another amateur player taking a shot at fame and fortune on poker's biggest stage. By Aug. 10, the name Jeff Madsen represented overnight celebrity and instant wealth.



But before Madsen earned nicknames like "Boy Wonder" and "Poker Jesus," before his neck-and-neck World Series of Poker Player of the Year race with 10-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, before all of the accolades and product endorsements, he had to prove he wasn't a fluke. He did that in a heads-up match against FullTiltPoker pro Erick Lindgren.



Only one month removed from his 21st birthday, Madsen scratched together a morsel of attention for his third-place finish in the $2,000 Omaha eight-or-better event. While the $97,552 cash prize meant a lot to the California film student, few poker fans or media paid him any attention.



Then, Madsen made a second final table, in the $2,000 no-limit hold'em event. This time, he won. With the victory, he became the youngest bracelet winner in World Series history. His WSOP earnings topped $700,000. People started to take notice.



A fluke? The next Phil Ivey? Pros, licking their chops at the prospect, wondered when the kid would take the next step and enter the high-limit cash games. Madsen emerged from the success not as poker's heir apparent, but as the World Series' biggest question mark.



Six days later, he reached his third final table.



In spite of the accomplishment, many gave him little chance to win the $5,000 no-limit hold'em shorthanded event. Coming into the action as the short stack, he faced not one, but two established pros: seasoned veteran and DoylesRoom.com representative "Captain" Tom Franklin, and former World Poker Tour Player of Year winner Erick "E-Dog" Lindgren.



Most figured the Jeff Madsen WSOP fairytale would come to an end that night – but it didn't.



Madsen survived, built his stack, and outlasted four other players. Only one thing separated him from answering his critics and doubters – Erick Lindgren, a dangerous pro with a $680,000 chip lead and a desire to win his first WSOP bracelet.



Fans, media, and big-name poker pros flocked to the ESPN featured table and watched as Madsen made a push that nearly equaled the stacks. But Lindgren fought off the surge and distanced himself even further, building a chip lead in excess of $1 million.



A Lindgren victory appeared imminent, until one hand changed everything. After an all-in preflop call, Madsen flopped a set of eights to beat Lindgren's paired ace. The win gave Madsen a $900,000 chip lead, and he never looked back.



Lindgren soon bowed out in second place. A K Q 2 flop led to a Madsen all-in raise and a Lindgren call. Madsen had the lead with his Q 9 against Lindgren's A J. The final two cards, the 5 and the 3, sent Lindgren home, and the youngest bracelet winner in WSOP history became the youngest two-time bracelet winner in WSOP history.



While Madsen went on to finish third in the $1,000 seven-card stud eight-or-better event (his fourth final-table appearance), and edge out Phil Hellmuth for the 2006 World Series of Poker Player of the Year award, the victory over Lindgren proved to be the definitive moment of his young poker career.



It was a moment when the biggest question mark at the 2006 WSOP presented the poker world with an answer: Yes, Jeff Madsen is for real.



3. The 10 Man

Phil Hellmuth Jr. Wins Bracelet Number 10 in Dramatic Fashion

Baseball fans love the record for most career home runs. In football, historians hold the all-time touchdown leader in the highest esteem. As for poker, nothing compares to the bracelet, the undisputed sign of World Series greatness.



Phil Hellmuth Jr. entered the 2006 WSOP with nine bracelets, one off the all-time record set by two of the game's most legendary figures, Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson.



From the start, Hellmuth made clear his intentions for 2006. In an interview, he told Card Player, "I don't care about the money, I want the bracelet."



His first shot came in event No. 9, at the $5,000 no-limit hold'em final table. Hellmuth reached heads-up action with Jeff Cabanillas, a 22-year-old playing in his first live tournament.



With Brunson and Chan in attendance, Cabanillas pulled off an upset that left Hellmuth, his fans, and many in the poker community stunned.



After the defeat, Hellmuth guaranteed another final-table appearance and made good on his promise in the $3,000 Omaha eight-or-better event. The second time around lacked the excitement and drama of the Cabanillas showdown, as Hellmuth bowed out of play in sixth place.



The Series continued, and with each passing event, the dreaded cloud of "maybe next year" gathered over Hellmuth.



His opportunities to win a bracelet before the main event dwindled from double to single digits. Then, with four events remaining, Hellmuth made his third final table of the Series. The $1,000 no-limit hold'em (with rebuys) event, in all likelihood, represented "The Poker Brat's" last chance to take home a bracelet in 2006.



In an almost humorous case of bad luck, the final table featured more big-name pros than Hellmuth's previous two final tables combined. But in the end, he outlasted a dangerous field of nine that included Antanas "Tony G" Guoga, David Plastik, and John Spadavecchia.



Heads up for the second time in this year's WSOP, Hellmuth squared off against one of Europe's most accomplished players, WPT event winner and InterPoker.com representative Juha Helppi.



Compounding an already difficult situation, Hellmuth entered the heads-up action behind by $800,000.



Helppi increased the lead, as his chip stack approached the $2 million mark. The Finnish pro, famous for being a giant-killer after taking down Phil Gordon in a heads-up challenge at the 2002 UltimateBet Poker Classic, appeared to be on the verge of putting a permanent end to Hellmuth's 2006 bracelet bid.



Then came the pocket fives.



Hellmuth pushed all in preflop with the 5 5 and Helppi, holding the A 6, called. The tug-of-war hand started with a K J 5 flop that brought a "Ten! Ten! Ten!" chant from the fans packed into the bleachers and along the rails. The Q turn made Helppi's flush, but the Q river gave Hellmuth a miracle full house.



With Hellmuth sprawled out on the floor, fans struck up a whole new wave of "Ten! Ten! Ten!" cries.



In one moment, the number 10, the bar set by Brunson and Chan, poker's most revered record, transformed from a dream of next year to an opportunity of the present. Hellmuth latched on to the momentum and doubled up again, courtesy of pocket kings.



Before a packed Amazon Room, and with only three bracelets remaining before the main event, Helppi moved all in with the A 9. Hellmuth called, and turned over the A J.



Poker now boasted three 10-time World Series bracelet winners.



2. Poker's Gold Standard

Jamie Gold Uses Head Games and the High-Pressure Pitch to Win Poker's $12 Million Championship

In Hollywood, people call talent agents sharks. Fierce, cunning, and ruthless, they prowl the industry's waters intimidating opponents and gobbling up prey.



In poker, people call weaker players fish.



For Jamie Gold, a former Tinsel Town talent agent, the 2006 World Series of Poker main event offered up more than 2,000 varieties of chum.



The one-time handler of high-caliber stars like The Soprano's James Gandolfini and Desperate Housewives' Felicity Huffman, Gold channeled the lessons learned from pulling off multimillion dollar deals and reading larger-than-life personalities. His experiences yielded an unprecedented four-day run as the main event's chip leader, a title he kept all the way to the richest final table in World Series of Poker history.



Two constants remained throughout much of Gold's championship march – his chip lead and his table chatter. A nonstop barrage of questions, comments, and criticism elicited the exact response Gold desired from his opponents – frustration.



"I play against the other players, while they're trying to play their cards," Gold stated during the final day of the $10,000 championship.



While some argued Gold owed his success to blind luck and not poker skill, the chip boss continued to manufacture the necessary responses from his opponents over the four-day period. Players called when he wanted them to call, players bet when he wanted them to bet, and just about everyone he faced in a big hand went broke.



At the final table, and with the entire poker world watching, Gold stayed true to his playing style. He talked, and talked, and then talked some more. En route to his heads-up match with Paul Wasicka, Gold accounted for all but one of the final table's seven eliminations.



With Thursday night already passed on to Friday morning, and with only one opponent separating him from the $12 million first-place cash prize, the chatter never ceased. Gold made allusions to his own holecards, and peppered Wasicka with questions about hand strength and strategy, all while raking in pots and building a massive chip lead.



A mere 20 minutes into heads-up play, Gold moved over the top of a Wasicka $1.5 million bet on a Q 8 5 flop. Going into the tank, Wasicka endured Gold's usual routine, as the former Hollywood shark verbalized the dynamics of the hand and offered Wasicka the consequences of making a call or a fold.



"He did a really good job of tricking me on the last hand," Wasicka told reporters.



The mind games worked, as Wasicka made the call with pocket tens, and Gold turned over the Q 9. With his hands raised in the air, and the crowd chanting his name, Gold pulled off the most famous high-pressure pitch of his life. The A turn and 4 river sealed the deal for the 2006 World Series of Poker champion.



"I was in a zone," Gold said after his win. "I felt I could manipulate people [throughout the tournament]."



Manipulate, intimidate, and gobble up the opposition.



If the story of Jamie Gold's 2006 WSOP victory were a fable, the moral might go something like this: A shark is still a shark, no matter what waters you put him in.



1. H.O.R.S.E. Race

David "Chip" Reese and Andy Bloch Battle Heads Up for Eight Hours in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. Event

Across the country, people will remember the 2006 World Series of Poker for Jamie Gold and his $12 million first-place cash prize. The championship made national headlines and entered millions of households in one form or another via mass media.



For many of the thousands of fans, press, and poker players entrenched in the Rio's Amazon Room for a month and a half, the most lasting moment of the 2006 WSOP occurred weeks before the name Jamie Gold entered the public's collective mind.



The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event exceeded expectations, and featured a heads-up showdown that reached legendary status in the hallways and poker suites of the WSOP.


A final table loaded with poker's brightest stars and luminaries, punctuated by an epic one-on-one match, made instant celebrities out of two of poker's more low-key stars – David "Chip" Reese and Andy Bloch.



While the fame may not have been what either player desired, the attention became inevitable. Bloch and Reese survived arguably the most talented starting field in WSOP history, only to advance to a final table plucked from a poker fan's dreams.



When names like Brunson, Cloutier, Tomko, and Ivey dropped out of contention in less than four hours, most assumed heads-up play would follow suit. The opposite occurred, as Reese and Bloch hunkered down and engaged in a cerebral poker match that favored the calculated move over the aggressive play.



Despite both admitting to battling fatigue, neither abandoned strategy or game plan. Bloch built up a substantial lead, only to have Reese come back and double up five times during the match.



Minutes after Reese's final double-through, which left Bloch crippled with a mere $300,000 in chips, Nolan Dalla, on hand as a witness to the WSOP's first $50,000 buy-in event, announced that with eight hours of play between them, Bloch and Reese had officially set the record for the longest heads-up match in Series history.



The announcement came at 9:12 a.m., more than 11 hours after the first cards of the final table had hit the air.



With the availability of CardPlayer.com and the other poker media outlets, Reese's victory became common knowledge shortly after the match ended at 9:21 a.m.



While the online sites and magazines conveyed the hand histories and payouts, they failed to convey the excitement, interest, and admiration that developed around Bloch and Reese.



Only a handful of spectators lasted into the early morning long enough to see Reese win the event, and they became inundated with questions and requests for details about the heads-up match.



Bloch, often playing in the shadows of higher-profile poker stars, became a favorite target for photo ops and autograph seekers.

As for Reese, the man many pros consider to be the best all-around poker player in the world, his $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event victory served as an introduction to a whole new generation of poker fans.



The effects of Bloch and Reese's eight-hour heads-up match transcended their overnight celebrity. Both men elevated the H.O.R.S.E. event to mainstream status by ushering in a new enthusiasm for mixed-game poker – and they didn't need $12 million to do it.

Poker By the Numbers – 2006 World Series of Poker Edition

Defending Champion Joe Hachem's percentage chance of winning when moving all in with pocket aces against Andrew Schreibman's pocket jacks: 80%


Hachem's percentage chance of winning after Schreibman hit a jack on the flop: 8.5%


Number of previous world champions eliminated on day one of the 2006 World Series of Poker main event: 7

Number of previous world champions eliminated between day two and day four of the 2006 World Series of Poker: 9


Most cashes by a single player at the 2006 World Series of Poker: 8

Number of players to do so: 2

Combined amount won by the two players to have eight separate cashes, Humberto Brenes and Phil Hellmuth Jr., at 2006 World Series of Poker: $1,622,763

Amount Rhett Butler won for his third-place finish in the 2006 main event, his only cash: $3,216,182


Total number of fully loaded 2006 Honda Civics that WSOP Champion Jamie Gold could buy with his $12 million first-place prize: 578

Number of Mercedes-Benz SLR McLarens, not fully loaded, that Gold could buy: 26

Top Five Quotes of the 2006 World Series of Poker

"Blueberries probably were the reason why I won." – Jamie Gold, on his secret weapon for winning the 2006 main event

"I think what affects my play is that the lights are really hot up there, and I didn't put on any deodorant." – Brad "Yukon" Booth, on the pressures of playing at the ESPN featured table

"This guy raises, then he falls asleep!" – David Levi, at 7:05 a.m. on day two of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event

"Phil is good at a few things: He's a good father, he's a good self-promoter, and he's a good whiner." – Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, on his Tournament of Champions opponent Phil Hellmuth Jr.

"I'll put it in my closet with the rest of them." – Allen Cunningham, the $1,000 no-limit hold'em (with rebuys) winner, on what he plans to do with his fourth WSOP bracelet.