Day 7 - The 2006 WSOP Main Event27 Players Battle Down To The Richest Final Table In WSOP History |
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Fans and media packed around the final three tables of the 2006 World Series of Poker main event to watch a diverse field of 27 battle it out for the nine most talked about seats in poker history.
At noon PDT, level 27 kicked off with $25,000-$50,000 blinds and $5,000 antes.
Players entered action guaranteed to make at least $494,797. The hefty payouts, combined with the hyperaggressive style displayed in the tournament, meant railbirds didn't need to wait long to see Day 7's first bustout.
Minutes into play, Richard Wyrick pushed his remaining $550,000 in from the cutoff and the field's short stack received a call from the field's big stack. Already at a huge chip disadvantage, Wyrick became a statistical dog when he flipped over A
7
and Jamie Gold showed the A
K. Gold paired his king on the flop, sending Wyrick to the rail as the 27th-place finisher ($494,797).
The rapid-fire eliminations continued with Siddharth Jain (26th - $494,797) and Mark Garner (25th - $494,797) busting out a mere eight minutes after Wyrick's exit.
Gold, a television producer from California and the reigning chip boss since day 4, fortified his place in the spotlight by knocking out six of the next 11 players eliminated from tournament action.
The Jamie Gold hit parade started with Eric Lynch, who bowed out in 24th place ($494,797) after his A 6
failed to improve against Gold's pocket 10s. Gold followed up the Lynch elimination by out-kicking Lee Kort (22nd - $494,797) when both players held a set of jacks and sent Prahlad Friedman home (20th - $494,797) with a flopped nut straight.
Friedman's A 3 made him a slight favorite against Gold's 8 7, but odds went out the window after the 6 5 4 flop.
After the hand, Friedman told Card Player's Rich Belsky the reason for his all-in move came from a tell he picked up on Gold. "I don't wanna say the tell," Friedman laughed. "These guys [remaining players] have to pay me a good amount and then maybe I'll tell."
Tell or no tell, Gold kept rolling; he provided the first elimination after action moved to two tables and built a huge chip lead. A Q J 6 flop led to a series of bets, ending with Gold moving all in and David Einhorn calling.
Einhorn, a hedge fund manager who pledged to give all his main event winnings to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, saw his dominant K Q starting hand downed by Gold's Q 6. The 3 turn and 8 river offered Einhorn no help and he exited the tournament in 18th place ($659,730).
For Einhorn, and the families who will benefit from his donation, the top 20 finish brought something more important than any WSOP bracelet could provide: hope.
"It feels great, its an important charity," Einhorn said in regards to his half-million-dollar-plus donation. "I think this is a disease for which a cure will eventually be found."
While Einhorn left the tournament floor content with his success, Gold's next two victims exited with little to smile about (except for the million-plus cashes, of course).
Luke Chung put all his chips in on a A 5 4 flop, and his A 5 made him a huge favorite over Gold's A J. But the J turn gave Gold the superior two pair, and a shocked Chung fell in 14th place ($907,128).
Gold dropped the hammer again less than an hour later. No comebacks necessary this time as Gold, holding pocket kings, called William Thorsson's preflop all-in raise with pocket jacks. The kings stayed true and Thorsson dropped out in 13th ($907,128).
Thorsson's elimination marked two significant points in the 2006 WSOP main event: Gold's stack approached $30,000,000 and, the 12 remaining players were all millionaires.
Two players with millions in tournament winnings already, and the last big name pros, experienced quite different day 7s.
Full Tilt rep Jeffrey Lisandro entered in eighth place with $3,715,000. He found early success but failed to drag many substantial pots as the day progressed.
The turning point for Lisandro occurred when he called an all-in preflop raise by Paul Wasicka. Pocket kings gave Wasicka a dominant lead over Lisandro's pocket jacks. The Q 10 9 7 3 board inflicted a crippling loss on Lisandro.
The Australian-born pro would not last much longer.
With less than $100,000 left, Lisandro pushed all in preflop but mucked his hand after Rhett Butler showed two pair with a king kicker. Lisandro walked off the ESPN featured set as the 17th-place finisher ($659,730)
Lisandro's Full Tilt associate, Allen Cunningham, came into play with $2,650,000, good enough to put him just outside the top 10 at number 13. He soon jumped up the leaderboard after check-raising all in on a K 5 2 flop. Kevin Aaronson, the original bettor at $400,000, folded but Erik Friberg called the $2,255,000 raise.
Cunningham's pocket fives gave him a set, and Friberg's pocket nines failed to catch up. The win put Cunningham's stack at over $6 million.
Minutes later, Cunningham scored another big win when he called an all-in raise by Kevin O'Donnell. This time Cunningham didn't need a set, as he had O'Donnell's pocket kings dominated with pocket aces. The rockets held, sending O'Donnell home in 21st place ($494,797), and moving Cunningham into second on the leaderboard with $11,750,000.
Cunningham, considered by many to be the most dangerous player left in the field, not only used his chips to intimidate the short stacks, he muscled around Gold too.
On one hand, Cunningham raised $300,000 preflop and Gold called. After the 9 4 4 flop Gold bet $300,000 and Cunningham called. Both players checked the A turn, but the 6 river brought action. Gold bet $1 million and Cunningham raised to $2 million. The 10 8 gave Gold a flush, but Cunningham held the A K for the nut flush.
The hand bumped Cunningham up to $16,200,000 and dropped Gold down to $28 million.
At 10:55 p.m., PDT Leif Force's elimination in the 11 spot ($1,154,527) brought the 10 remaining players together for the 2006 WSOP main event's "unofficial" final table.
With the money and bracelet ceremonies planned for Thursday, the field needed to lose one more player before action could wrap for the day.
The fame and notoriety associated with reaching Thursday's final table created a new bubble and play slowed.
After nearly three-and-a-half hours of basic survival, the 2006 World Series of Poker main event final table was set.
Fred Goldberg earned the unenviable title of "final table bubble boy" after losing two big hands. First, Goldberg called an all-in preflop raise by Michael Binger. Goldberg's pocket 10s were best until Binger, holding the A Q, paired his ace on the turn.
An hour later, and with his stack cut in half, Goldberg moved all in from the cutoff for $2,800,000. Richard Lee called and left little drama for the last hand of the day as he flipped over pocket kings to Goldberg's Q 3.
"I did not plan to go the final table as the short stack," Goldberg told Card Player's John Stapleton. "[I wasn't going to] sit around and wait for hands."
Although Goldberg missed Thursday's spotlight, the part-time pro from Hollywood, Florida, earned ($1,154,527) for his 10th-place finish.
"Reality will hit, I'll be happy [about winning one million dollars]," Goldberg continued, "[Right now] I'm very disappointed, extremely disappointed."
As for the nine remaining players, reality, the life-changing spotlight, and a shot at $12 million will hit on Thursday at the main event's final table.
The chip counts for the final table are as follows:
1. Jamie Gold - $26,650,000 (Seat 8)
2. Allen Cunningham - $17,770,000 (Seat 5)
3. Richard Lee - $11,820,000 (Seat 1)
4. Erik Friberg - $9,605,000 (Seat 2)
5. Paul Wasicka - $7,970,00 (Seat 3)
6. Doug Kim - $6,770,000 (Seat 7)
7. Rhett Butler - $4,815,000 (Seat 9)
8. Michael Binger - $3,140,000 (Seat 6)
9. Dan Nassif - $2,600,000 (Seat 4)
The battle for $12 million and poker's most prized award ends on Thursday, August 10th as the nine remaining players return to the Amazon Room at 2 p.m. PDT for final table action.
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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