Day 6 - The 2006 WSOP Main EventThe Field Whittles Down To Final 27; Jamie Gold Increases Lead; Player Promises To Give Winnings To Charity |
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The $12 million finish line drew closer on day 6 as the 2006 World Series of Poker main event field narrowed from 45 to the final 27.
Action kicked off at noon PDT in level 25 with $15,000-$30,000 blinds and $5,000 antes.
Dollar signs and payouts aside, the buzz on day 6 revolved around an amateur player's surprising promise. David Einhorn, a hedge fund manager from Rye, New York, left many in the Amazon Room stunned when he revealed his pledge to donate all of his winnings to one charitable organization, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
That promise included every penny of a potential $12 million first-place cash prize.
"Whatever amount I win, you know, that'll be what I can do to help out," Einhorn told Card Player's Rich Belsky. "My grandfather suffered with it [Parkinson's Disease] for a long, long time," Einhorn continued, "So I decided, heck, let's just play this tournament for charity and see how it goes."
Along with karma, Einhorn wore a good luck charm to help him out on his crusade, a sweatshirt covered in multicolored handprints. "You know in poker you need good hands, so I brought my good hands with me," Einhorn smiled. The handprints in question belonged to Einhorn's wife and three children, Rachel, Naomi and Mitchell.
For more on David Einhorn's story, click here.
The second surprise of day 6 proved to be short-lived. After a main event marked by hyperaggressive play and constant bustouts, the action during level 25 drew attention because of its inaction. At the featured table, the first six pots were all won preflop.
Any theories on the causes for the tight play soon became irrelevant as players started to mix it up again and the rapid eliminations resumed.
"It's like an Internet tournament being played live," ESPN's Norman Chad joked.
For the second day in a row, chip boss Jamie Gold did his part to contribute to the main event's list of casualties. Gold's first victim, Brian Hansen, took a trip to the rails in 42nd place ($247,399). Hansen moved all in with pocket tens on a 9
8
4 flop only to have Gold call and turn over pocket aces.
The win put Gold at $9,400,000.
As a result of the ever-growing stacks, Harrah's made WSOP history by putting into play the main event's first-ever $100,000 chips. The chip, described by some as "mint green with chocolate," debuted during the color-ups between levels 25 and 26.
Gold, making sure he collected his fair share of $100,000 chips, eliminated Rob Betts minutes before the player break. In a case of two pair over two pair, Betts pushed all in on an A
K J 6 board. He appeared to be in good shape with the A J
, but exited the tournament when Gold flipped over A K.
With Betts down in 38th place ($247,399), Gold wielded a $13,500,000 chip stack.
Another significant bustout before the end of level 25 involved Kyle Bowker, the first player in the 2006 main event to crack the $1 million chip mark. Bowker walked away the 37th-place finisher ($247,399) after his pocket tens failed to improve against Sirous Jamshidi's pocket kings.
The introduction of the $100,000 chip coincided with the exit of one of the 2006 main event's most colorful and popular pros, Humberto Brenes.
Coming into play as a short stack, Brenes survived for nearly two hours. Needing to make moves, he pushed all in preflop with 8 5. Ricki Nielsen called, and his pocket kings put him well ahead of the Costa Rican poker pro. The A Q J 10 9 board gave Nielsen the Broadway straight and Brenes's 2006 main event run ended with a 36th-place finish ($329,865).
While Brenes bowed out of contention, the other two big-name pros in the field continued to roll.
Full Tilt's Allen Cunningham won a number of pots and steadily built up his stack. A big win with a set of fives bumped him as high as $3,300,000. But late in the action, the 2006 WSOP $1,000 no-limit hold'em bracelet winner doubled up Cung Do after Do's set of nines bested his A Q. Cunningham ended the day with $2,650,000.
Jeffrey Lisandro, another Full Tilt representative, lived near the top of the leaderboard for the second consecutive day. He developed a rivalry with fellow pro Prahlad Friedman, and the two butted heads on numerous occasions.
On one hand, Friedman induced a fold from Lisandro on an A J 8 board with over $600,000 in the pot. After Lisandro mucked his cards, Friedman flipped over 9 2 and said, "Now we're playing some poker."
Lisandro won his share of the duel's hands, and finished play ahead of Friedman on the chip leader list.
At 5 p.m. PDT, Lisandro helped his own cause in attempting to win his first main event title. He called an all in preflop raise by Lowell Kim, who held K Q. Lisandro's A 8 paired an 8 on the 9 8 7 4 3 board, busting Kim from the tournament. The 28th-place finish ($329,865) marked the end to day 6 of the 2006 WSOP main event.
The top five chip counts are as follows:
1. Jamie Gold - $13,000,000
2. Erik Friberg - $7,735,000
3. David Einhorn - $6,905,000
4. Rhett Butler - $6,400,000
5. Dan Nassif - $5,430,000
Complete final day 6 chip counts and payouts can be found via the "Featured Chip Count" link on the CardPlayer.com home page.
The road to the 2006 World Series of Poker main event final tables resumes at noon PDT when the remaining 27 players battle down to the last nine.
Stay tuned to CardPlayer.com for live updates, chip counts, photos, videos and for a new episode of "The Circuit."
For more information on bracelet winners and other WSOP news stories please visit http://www.cardplayer.com/tournaments/wsop/2006s.
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