Allen Cunnigham Wins Fourth Bracelet in WSOP $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Rebuy Event10K Omaha Reaches Final Table and $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Draws Monster Field |
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Four events; two bracelet winners; over 2,950 poker players raking pots, making bluffs and taking bad beats - just another day at the 2006 World Series of Poker.
With action stretched from one side of the Amazon Room to the other, the 15th day of the WSOP featured the following tournaments: final table $1,000 no-limit hold'em rebuy, final table $1,000 ladies' no-limit hold'em, day two $10,000 pot-limit Omaha, and day one $1,000 no-limit hold'em.
The chip counts coming into player were as follows:
1. Tom Franklin - $590,000 (Seat 6)
2. Tim Phan - $551,000 (Seat 3)
3. Steve Wong - $295,000 (Seat 7)
4. John Hoang - $274,000 (Seat 5)
5. Allen Cunningham - $233,000 (Seat 2)
6. David "Chino" Rheem - $170,000 (Seat 8)
7. Andy Bloch - $163,000 (Seat 9)
8. Alex Jacob - $106,000 (Seat 1)
9. Everett Carlton - $86,000 (Seat 4)
With the cards in the air at 2:56 p.m. PDT, the action started at $6,000-$12,000 blinds and $2,000 antes. Team Full Tilt member Andy Bloch served up the first casualty when he eliminated Alex Jacob in tenth place ($46,358).
Thirty hands later, Bloch, unable to drag many pots after the Jacob bust, moved all in on an Allen Cunningham raise. Bloch held pocket nines, but Cunningham's A
Q
paired an ace on the flop and the queen on the turn. Bloch, armed with copies of his new blackjack instructional DVD, and backed by a substantial cheering section, exited the tournament in eighth place ($69,537).
On the very next hand, Everett Carlton took a trip to the rail in seventh place ($92,715) courtesy of Cunningham, after his K
J missed the board and Cunningham's A
10 made two pair.
Tim Phan, a favorite to win coming into the final table, watched his stack steadily decline. Sitting at the bottom of the stack list, he pushed all in with A Q, only to have David "Chino" Rheem call him with the A K. The board brought no help to either player, and Phan exited the tournament in sixth place ($115,894).
Coming off a second-place finish in last week's $1,500 seven-card stud event, John Hoang finished three spots back in fifth ($139,073), but, due to the number of player rebuys, took home more money. He fell when his 7 6 failed to improve against Tom Franklin's A Q.
Rheem, supported by a high profile cheering section that included the Mizrachi brothers, Amnon Filippi, Nam Le, Tuan Le, and J.C. Tran, thrilled his fans with his elimination of Steve Wong. Rheem flopped a set of sixes and finished Wong off in fourth place ($162,252).
After the bustout, Rheem won a number of other pots and jumped into the chip lead. Franklin dropped to the middle of the board and, perhaps sensing a draw, pushed all in on a 8 7 4 flop. Rheem called, and Franklin, holding top pair with the 8 2, indeed found himself up against Rheem's straight and flush draw with the A 5. The K turn made Rheem's diamond flush, and Franklin finished the day in third place ($185,431).
Rheem took a commanding lead into heads-up play, topping Cunningham by over $1 million. But, in a matter of a few hands, Cunningham doubled up when his pocket queens held up against Rheem's A Q, and the gap narrowed. He then dragged a succession of pots, and wrenched the title of table chip boss from Rheem.
Cunningham continued to dominate, and Rheem, seeing his stack disappear, pushed all in preflop over a Cunningham raise. After the call, Rheem flipped over J 9 and Cunningham showed A Q. The board came K 5 2 K A, and Cunningham paired his ace.
Rheem, the runner-up, took home $327,981.
As for Cunningham, he collected his fourth career WSOP bracelet, and netted a $625,830 first-place cash prize.
The field, loaded with big-name stars like Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, and Hasan Habib, attracted an impressive crowd for a day 2 event. In four-and-a-half hours, 16 players hit the rail and the final table was set.
Chip counts going into tomorrow's action are as follows:
1. Jani Vilmunen - $485,000
2. Hasan Habib - $349,000
3. Mike Guttman - $283,000
4. Lee Watkinson - $276,000
5. Mark Dickstein - $212,000
6. Nick Gibson - $207,000
7. Thomas Wahlroos - $168,000
8. Mickey Appleman - $102,000
9. Rafi Amit - $99,000
Players return for final table action tomorrow at 2 p.m. PDT. First prize, along with the WSOP bracelet, nets a $655,746 cash prize.
The action kicked off at noon PDT with $25-$25 blinds and $1,500 starting stacks. For the first time in the 2006 WSOP, tournament officials scheduled players to break in shifts, a move used to avoid a mob scene and bathroom mass exodus were the field all to break at once.
Joe Hachem proved to be one player who didn't need to worry about trips to the bathroom or stretching his legs. The 2006 WSOP champion exited the tournament on the first hand.
Other big-name pros who failed to survive day 1 action included Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren, Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, and Gavin Smith.
With the top 270 players finishing in the money, the bubble burst at five minutes before midnight.
At the end of over 13 hours of poker, day 1 concluded with 136 remaining players. Humberto Brenes, John Phan, and Greg Mueller represent the three biggest names near the top of the leader board.
Play resumes tomorrow at 2 p.m. PDT.
Stay tuned to CardPlayer.com for live updates, chip counts, photos, videos, and new episodes of "The Circuit" and "The Series."
For more information on bracelet winners and other WSOP news stories please visit http://www.cardplayer.com/tournaments/wsop/2006s.
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