Foxwoods Resort Casino loves to set records: world's largest casino; biggest poker room on the U.S. East Coast; and, in 2005, its
World Poker Finals established two
World Poker Tour milestones, first by crowning the youngest event champion in
WPT history, a then 21-year-old Nick Schulman, and by paying out $2,167,500 - the largest first-place cash prize in a
WPT regular-season event.
With a defending champion one year removed from the legal drinking age, and a winner's purse topped only by the
WPT Championship, the question going into the 2006
World Poker Finals became: What records could Foxwoods and the
World Poker Finals break this year?
Day One - Unofficial Record Broken: Longest Walk at a WPT Event
Most
WPT day ones possess a certain grand scale, but day one of the
World Poker Finals felt downright "supersized" - with three separate tournament areas, a 609-player starting field, and a 14-hour day that ended well past midnight.
The multi-locale action lasted the majority of day one with two possible factors contributing to the slow play. First, the early (ungodly by poker standards) starting time resulted in a conspicuous number of empty seats during levels one and two. Second, the first-place cash prize provided a substantial monetary incentive to advance deep into the tournament. While not breaking last year's $2.1 million record, the $1,717,194 winner's check still made the
World Poker Finals the most lucrative event of this
WPT season.
Along with the richest first-place prize record, another
WPT milestone remained untouched when Schulman fell short in his bid to be the
WPT's first repeat champion. The 22-year-old poker pro battled for most of the day in the poker room tournament area (most notably with 2006
North American Poker Championship 10th-place finisher Erik Cajelais), and even survived long enough to see the entire remaining field consolidated to the Sunset Ballroom. After more than 10 hours of play, the title defense ended when Schulman, all in preflop with pocket jacks, fell to an opponent's paired queen. An evening surge of eliminations, coupled with the sheer number of hours played, combined to whittle the starting field down to 168 participants.
With a day-two goal of playing down to the final 30, the players, media, and fans (many of whom had been in attendance from start to finish) headed to bed knowing one thing: Another long day awaited.
Day Two - Unofficial Record Broken: Most Vocal Protest at a WPT Event Not Involving Mike Matusow
Day two, otherwise known as the fight from 168 to 30, began at noon EDT. While reaching the tournament's next stage served as the day's focal point, the players also entered action preoccupied with the number 108, the exact number of eliminations separating the remaining field from the bursting of the money bubble.
2006
U.S. Poker Championship winner Alex Jacob vacated the Sunset Ballroom six minutes into play. The steady march of participants out of the tournament area continued, and by the end of the day's third level, only 85 players remained. Some of the notables eliminated in early play included Steve Frederick, "Miami" John Cernuto, Jeff Madsen, Devin Porter, Chad Brown, and Barry Greenstein.
The slow play following dinner resulted not from post-meal sluggishness but from the approaching money bubble. With 61 participants remaining, hand-for-hand action lasted more than an hour before Alan Schein's A
3
cracked Rich Levy's A-K on a J
9
5
4
2
board. Schein's wheel made Levy the 61st-place finisher, and the official bubble boy.
As the night progressed, and an ever-building line formed at the payout desk, the big story shifted away from the tables to "Kid Poker's" dissatisfaction with the tournament structure. The rule of staying 10-handed throughout, the absence of the $5,000-$10,000 blinds level, and the marathon first two days infuriated Negreanu. With the support of many of the remaining players, Negreanu exchanged words with the tournament director and vowed to boycott next year's event unless policies changed.
"A 15-hour day one is absurd," Negreanu told
Card Player. "I think that's a mistake, and hopefully in the future, the World Poker Tour will standardize the rules a little bit more."
At the end of play, Negreanu apologized for his open protest, but stood behind his position to see a more unified tournament structure for
WPT events.
Day two concluded shortly before midnight when two players, Amir Bonder and Gerald Limber, each had pocket kings cracked. On consecutive hands, a rivered gutshot straight and then a rivered flush made Bonder and Limber the 32nd- ($20,123) and 31st-place ($20,123) finishers, and the final two eliminations of the day.
Day Three - Official Record Broken: Most Female Players at a WPT Final Table
A
World Poker Finals with no records broken? Unthinkable, but that was the reality going into day three. In the minds of the returning 30 players, a different sort of reality loomed: By the end of the day, only six would be moving on to the lights, camera, action of a
World Poker Tour televised final table.
Already a bona fide poker star, Daniel Negreanu walked into the Sunset Ballroom at noon EDT with more than $260,000 in chips, but for a consecutive
WPT event, Kid Poker exited tournament play on the losing end of a cracked big pocket pair. In the
NAPC, his pocket kings fell to pocket queens, and here, Negreanu became the 27th-place finisher ($25,757) when Nenad Medic (K
6
) flopped two pair to best his pocket aces.
Two eliminations later, Clonie Gowen, another famous face at the poker tables, exited in 25th place ($25,757). Even with Gowen's departure, two respected and accomplished female players remained in contention. Kathy Liebert and Mimi Tran both entered play in the top five in chip stacks, and the two poker veterans hovered near the top spot as the field continued to dwindle.
A protégé and longtime friend of Barry Greenstein, Tran eliminated Doug Dicken in 19th place ($37,205) after her all-in bet with a flopped set of jacks received a call from Dicken, who had flopped a set of nines.
The hand-for-hand, two-table action lasted five hours before David Singer (not to be confused with FullTilt's David "The Dragonfly" Singer) exited in 11th place ($82,998), and the
World Poker Finals was down to the final 10 players. With Tran and Liebert among the last survivors, the
WPF teetered on setting a poker milestone by featuring the first
WPT televised final table to include two female participants.
Row after row of fans, many standing on top of seats for a better view, encircled the final table, and half an hour into play, E.G. Harvin's king-high straight sent Loi Phan into the crowd as the 10th-place finisher ($88,722). Forty-five minutes passed before Daryn Firicano, the day-one chip leader, exited in ninth place ($114,479), courtesy of Tran's pocket aces.
At 9:13 p.m., after Harvin's pocket jacks bounced Dan Sevigny and his A-K in eighth place ($143,100), Liebert ensured the
World Poker Finals of another record when her A
8
paired an 8 on the flop to beat Farhad Sinai's pocket treys. Sinai's seventh-place finish ($171,719) meant that for the first time in
World Poker Tour history, two female participants would be appearing at a televised final table.
Final Table
Held in the Grand Ballroom, and one day removed from day three to accommodate the
WPT Father-Son Challenge event, the
WPF final table drew a packed house for three simple reasons: the $1.7 million first-place cash prize; the crowning of a new
WPT title champion; and the rare opportunity to witness poker history unfold firsthand.
The chip counts and seating for the final table were as follows:
Player Chip Count Seat
1. E.G. Harvin $4,680,000 3
2. Mimi Tran $2,518,000 4
3. Kathy Liebert $2,500,000 2
4. Nenad Medic $1,281,000 6
5. Mike Perry $682,000 5
6. Michael Omelchuk $533,000 1
Play began with $15,000-$30,000 blinds and $3,000 antes.
One and Done - Mike Perry Eliminated on First Hand
For Mike Perry, a tournament amateur and electrician by trade, his
World Poker Tour final-table experience ended almost as soon as it started. On the very first hand of play, Perry raised to $120,000 from the big blind, and then, with a smile, called E.G. Harvin's all-in reraise. The K
K
proved to be the reason behind Perry's grin, but a dominant lead turned into a surprise exit when Harvin's 2
2
made a heart flush on the A
K
10
8
3
board. Perry, who called the final-table appearance his greatest poker accomplishment, earned $200,340 for sixth place.
Title Escapes Kathy Liebert
Unlike Perry, Kathy Liebert brought a deep resume of poker accomplishments to the final table, and the Interpoker pro wanted more. "Winning the title is the only goal," Liebert told
Card Player prior to the final table, but half an hour after Perry's elimination, Liebert's run came to an end. Tangling with the hottest player at the table, and one of the few with enough chips to knock her out, Liebert walked off the final-table stage to a standing ovation, with her fifth-place finish ($257,579), when her heart flush (5
4
) collided with Harvin's ace-high heart flush (A
J
).
Michael Omelchuk's Second WPF Final Table
Although a relative tournament unknown, Michael Omelchuk entered the final table following a second-place finish in an earlier WPF event. The New York native survived on the short stack, even doubling up through Harvin once, but ultimately became the third player eliminated in the final table's first hour. A victim of a worse kicker, Omelchuk's WPF ended with a fourth-place finish ($343,439) after he reraised all in with the J
9
on a J
10
6
flop, only to have Harvin call and show the Q
J
.
Mimi Tran - Last Woman Standing
Mimi Tran made clear her otivations the moment she reached the televised final table. "To make Barry [Greenstein] proud of me. To become the first woman to capture a
World Poker Tour championship event," Tran smiled. The veteran poker pro, with more than $1 million in tournament cashes, emphasized winning the title over the money. Tran stayed in the top three throughout by taking down a number of pots with preflop raises, but an apparent cold deck meant few substantial wins. At 6:25 p.m., and below the $1 million mark, Tran, the final female player, bowed out in third place ($472,228) after her paired queen failed to improve against Harvin's paired ace. Tran earned the highest finish for a woman thus far in this
WPT season.
Heads Up - Nenad Medic Vs. E.G. Harvin
Tran's elimination left the title and the $1.7 million first-place prize to be decided between Nenad Medic, a 22-year-old poker pro with
WPT final-table experience, and E.G. Harvin, a local amateur player who steamrolled the competition on days three and four.
The chip counts were as follows:
1. E.G. Harvin $6,640,000
2. Nenad Medic $5,805,000
The distinction between pro and amateur became apparent as Medic won a series of pots en route to taking the chip lead. After two long first days and a starting field of 609, the
World Poker Finals ended on the 13th hand of heads-up play.
Medic bet $150,000 into the 5
5
3
flop and Harvin raised to $650,000. The filled-to-capacity Grand Ballroom buzzed as the 9
turn led to a $1 million bet and a call by Medic. When the 9
came on the river, Harvin pushed all in. Medic took a moment, called, and showed the winning hand, the 7
5
, giving him a full house that crushed Harvin's A
J
.
Harvin, who played the tournament with a fan's enthusiasm and vowed to donate a portion of his winnings to charity, took home $904,389 for his runner-up finish.
"It feels amazing," Medic said after his win. "This is my third final table. The first two times [
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and
Aussie Millions], I finished sixth and third. Once you get that close, you really just want to win that title."
At 6 feet 4 inches tall, and towering above the crowd, Medic smiled, both for his $1,717,194 cash prize and for what awaited him.
"There's definitely going to be a party somewhere."
