When Joe Hachem won the 2005 WSOP main event, he would occasionally show up in the news, with his new found celebrity making his actions noteworthy. The same holds true for reigning World Series of Poker Champion Jamie Gold.
All things must come to an end, and the dispute between TV producer Bruce Crispin Leyser and 2006 World Series of Poker main event winner Jamie Gold has ended as it had begun - an agreement was struck between two men.
When Mike Sexton took down not only Mike Matusow but Daniel Negreanu at the 2006 World Series of Poker’s Tournament of Champions, it was a sweet, sweet victory. Not only did Mike Sexton, often referred to as the "Ambassador of Poker", create this version of the TOC’s predecessor many years ago, Sexton has played the role of expert commentator for the World Poker Tour since its inception, and has had plenty of opportunities to comment on both Matusow and Negreanu as they played.
37th annual World Series of Poker is now over. Starting the day as a huge chip leader, about two to one over his closest threat Allen Cunningham, Jamie Gold managed to hold on to a dominating position, playing aggressive poker in about 30% to 40% of the parts, and bringing it home in early morning hours on August 11, becoming the latest World Series of Poker Main Event Champion.
August 9th was supposed to be the second to last day of play for the Main event of the 37th annual World Series of Poker. Instead, the final table players will get a day off. The reason for the change in schedule started on Friday, August 4th, for the first time during Even 39 all flights were playing together as one. The play was supposed to end at 600 players, but tournament’s organizers decided to keep playing through another level or two. Despite the chant of " Six Hundred Players! Six Hundred Players!" the tournament directors decided to end the play with a little over 400 players. This snowballed into Tuesday, August 8th where 27 participants played down to 9, which was supposed to happen on August 9th.
The Main Event of the 2006 World Series of Poker is almost finished. The play continued on Tuesday with the number of players went from 27 down to 9. There was about an 11 1/2 million dollar gap between first place and 27th place, ten of these players were going home without a fight. Jamie Gold, however, didn’t shy away from mixing it up, despite an enormous chip lead. His closest competitor throughout the night, Allen Cunningham, stated around half of Gold’s chip stack, and either one of them could have sat back and just let the other players bust themselves out of the event. But Cunningham and Gold mixed it up with the rest, losing some chips and then gaining back more.
Event 43, the fourth of "second chance" events at this year’s World Series of Poker, this $1,500 No-Limit Texas Holdem game will run for two days. The attendance seems to be dropping off in these events, as players make their way home, some excited from great victories and others dejected and hopefully determined to try again next year.
Once again multiple events were taking place at the Amazon Room in the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino as Events 39, 41, and 42 were all underway. Most attention was on Event 39, naturally, as it was Day Five of the Main Event, with the majority of the pros dropping off along the way. Daniel Negreanu was gone, as was Annie Duke, Surinder Sunar and many others, leaving it up to the lesser-known pros and amateurs to battle on.
It was Day Four of the Event 39, the Main Event of the 37th annual World Series of Poker, taking place at the Rio in Las Vegas. A day started with 481 players, and while all of them were guaranteed to least double up on their initial investment of $10,000, the big price of $12 million likely kept everyone highly motivated to play their best. Nine players had over $500,000 in chips, six players had over $600,000 in chips, and of them only one was a big-name Pro, David Chiu. Many favorites bit the dust throughout the day, including Kathy Liebert and the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event champion, Joe Hachem.
After a day off and plenty of time to rest, replenish their energy, and worry about making money, over a thousand players returned to the Amazon Room to run up the heat on the Main Event of the 37th annual World Series of Poker at the Rio in Las Vegas, Nevada. Only a little over six hundred players would reach the money, meaning the few hundred were going to go home broke. While the majority of the field seemed to be amateur players, or at least not very well-known names in the world tournament poker, there were still plenty of big names in play.
August 3rd was a quiet day in the Amazon Room of the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino as the Main Event took a day off. It would be nothing at all going on in the tournament room if it were not for Event 40.
On Wednesday there was round two of Day Two as some 1400 poker players took their seats to begin the final battle before all flights came together as one. Wednesday started at Level 7 and the blinds were $250/$500 along with a $50 ante just to keep things interesting. Tuesday’s adventure in poker saw quite a few professionals busted out, however there were still a few big names and pros left to meet the survivors of Wednesday’s poker battles.
On Tuesday 1637 players returned after a 2 day break and they likely breathed a collective sigh of relief as they have made it past the first hurdle on the quest for a first prize estimated to be at nearly $12 million. Over the first two days of the Main Event during the 37th annual World Series of Poker hundreds of players kissed their dreams goodbye, not to mention their $10,000 buy in, leaving these 1600-some players left to carry on the pursuit of the dream.
Here it is, Day 1D, the final day of Day One of the 37th annual World Series of Poker. Once again around 2000 players took their seats in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino, with the world waiting to see who the final group of players would be that would survive Day One. After this survivors from Monday will face off against survivors from the day before, Day 1C, on Wednesday, August 2. Following a break on August 3, all Day Two survivors will meet up on Day Three, August 4.
The madness begins once again on July 30th as the third day of the first day of the 37th annual World Series of Poker Main Event kicks off around noon. In the two previous days a little over 2000 players each battled it out until all of the roughly 4200 players who started there were approximately 1500 players left, ready to face each other in battle on August 1, the first day of day two of the WSOP Main Event. Sunday’s gang of 2000 players on Day 1C who managed to survive the field will face the remaining players of Monday’s Day 1D on August 2. Then, finally, all groups will be united together on August 4 for the start of day three.
With over 2000 players crowding the Amazon Room at the Rio the day before and play proceeding to just over 700 were left, the action on the second day of this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event, or technically Day 1B, the second day of the first day, promised to be more of the same.
And so it has begun. The Big Show, the Main Event of the 2006 World Series of Poker got underway on July 28th with two thousand players all desperate to survive. The build up of the last four weeks has lead to this moment, when James Garner, the actor famous for his role in a witty movie Maverick, called out the immortal words: "Shuffle Up and Deal!"
It would be tempting to say it was a quiet day in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino considering there was only one scheduled event taking place, but the fact that it was also a Satellite Day and the Media and Celebrity Event Day likely took much of the peace out of the equation.
There were no beginning events scheduled for July 26th, which worked out to be good planning coming up on Friday’s start of the Main Event. The previous day’s scheduled end to Event 35 did not come off, as the players were still sitting at the table in the wee hours of Wednesday, and the event was scheduled for an unprecedented fourth day.
There were five events going on on Tuesday in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino, just another day at the World Series of Poker. While technically two events were scheduled to end on July 25th, they both carried on past midnight, so "technically" they didn’t end until July 26th.
Getting close now to the kick off of the final event, on July 24th two more events started up at the 2006 World Series of Poker, with one ongoing and one finishing.
Event 35 kicked off at noon on Monday, with players hoping to repeat last year’s efforts by Steve Hohn of Overland Park, KS, who took down the field of 595 players and a $156,985 first prize.
As the weekend comes to a close at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino it is less than a week till the start of the Main Event at this year’s World Series of Poker, and the action is still going strong. On this day two events ended, one continued on, and one started off.
With four events running simultaneously in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino, it was a busy Saturday at the World Series of Poker. The closely followed shorthanded Event 30 came to an end at the start of this weekend in Las Vegas, and two more events started up to take its place, while the third $2,000 No-Limit event chugged away.
This was going to be one of the first days in a long while at the 2006 World Series of Poker that an event was not ending. On tap was event 30 running in its second day and event 31 on its first. The day before, however, the two day Event 29 offered a bit of a surprise by being extended to a third day, so it is back to one beginning, one ongoing and one ending event for Friday, July 21st.
Thursday, July 20 was a busy day for those handing out World Series of Poker bracelets, with three events wrapping up on the same day. No ongoing events were in progress, but one event did start around mid-day, making it four total events running simultaneously in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino.
Another exciting day at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino, where thousands of poker players took their seats in the Amazon Room and stacked up their racks of chips, getting ready to bust or be busted in one of three events. No ongoing events were in play this day, just one event coming to a close and two more events kicking off, and all three were following the recent rash of two day events.
Mark Seif was the 2005 $1500 NL Holdem Champ, winning the bracelet in what was Event 22 last year. He managed to take home over six hundred grand and beat out 2012 players to do it. This year the field is wide open, and don’t be surprised to see Mark Seif in the game again, trying to go for a back to back win. Other players in this event include Annie Duke, sister to Howard Lederer, and Chris Moneymaker, the 2003 WSOP Main Event champion.
The start of Event 26 shows that Scott Fischman can’t seem to stay out of the tank as he busts out of another event on the early side of things. Many others join him on the rail, including Annie Duke, Cyndy Violette, Clonie Gowen, John Bonetti, Joseph Hachem, Dutch Boyd, Ron Rose, Chris Reslock, and David Singer as well as the 2004 WSOP champ, Fossilman Greg Raymer.
One of the favorite events of any poker series, the WSOP No-Limit Holdem Shootout began on July 16th. This event, besides having a name that is reminiscent of poker’s colorful past in the days of the Wild West, offers a bit of a change for those used to the typical freeze out, multi-table mode for most of the events. The day started with six players per table, and around six hundred players. The winner of each table will pocket at least four grand, and move on to the next day, where there will be ten players per table.
Two more events kicked off on July 15th, both of which had significant winners last year. The two grand No-Limit event continues as well, and the shorthanded game wraps up with the final table.
1579 players took their seats on July 14th to try their luck in this second chance two grand No-Limit event. That put over $2.8 million dollars into the prize pool, a fantastic figure with the top man or woman player going to score $660,948.
The second shorthanded game of this season’s World Series of Poker got underway on July 13th. Last year it was Issac "The General" Galazan taking over three hundred grand for first place, and this year the competition would be just as tough. Issac is in the running again, with two cashes already this year fueling him on. Joe Hachem, Mel Judah, Jean-Robert Belland and Evelyn Ng are all gone early on day one.
A big day was on July 12th at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino, as four events ran simultaneously. While this is not the first time that has happened, it is the first time that two events started and two events ended on the same day. Two anticipated events, for different reasons, began on Wednesday, one on the cheap end of the spectrum and one on the costly.
It was Tuesday at the World Series of Poker and the Great Poker Machine grinded on. On this day, July 11th, three poker events ran in the tournament room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino in lovely Las Vegas, including the conclusion of a big ticket event and the start of a medium ticket event.
Two events wrapped up on July 10th, while another was in Day Two and yet a fourth kicked off around noon, repeating a pattern that will continue on and off through the end of the month. The numbers of poker players alone are staggering, but add in guests of the players, media folks, casino employees, camera crews and WSOP staff, and there is one huge mass of humanity bubbling in and around the tournament room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino for this year’s World Series of Poker.
The madness resumed on Sunday as Saturday, the temporary "easy day" of running three events at the same time, passes on into a four-event Sunday. Once again two events kicked off on the same day, one event - Event 13 - concluded, and a fourth was running its middle "hump" day to determine the final table of players for it’s Day Three.
The madness seemed to recede just a bit on Saturday, July 8th, as only three events were running in the tournament hall of the Rio, as opposed to the four per day on Thursday and Friday. Of course, there will be four running again on Sunday, so one would think the players would have enjoyed things being a bit less crazy - then again, perhaps not. With a rebuy event kicking off this day, things were anything but sedate as pros shoveled more and more money at the tournament personnel ready with racks of fresh chips as they hoped to score significant advantages.
Around 1,300 players took their seats on July 7th for a noon kick off of Event 13, $2,500 No-Limit Hold ’ em, each of them hoping to imitate the success of last year’s winner of this event, Farzad Bonyadi, who beat out 1,056 players to snag a half of a million dollars and the bracelet. David Singer, a well known WPT finalist, was the first to go, followed by Cyndy Violette and others.
As the smoke cleared the atmosphere from the previous days spectacular fireworks in celebration of Independence Day, the action of July 5th got underway. Another busy day with one event beginning, one ending and one in the middle, July 5th was the first day two non Hold ’em events were running at the same time.
As the citizens of America warmed up their grills, hunted up grassy spots for picnics and settled down to watch fireworks as the nation celebrated it’s Independence Day, thousands of like minded people from all around the globe gathered in one place in Las Vegas to celebrate something else entirely: the World Series of Poker. Once again three events were running in the tournament hall at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino, with one starting, one ongoing, and one finishing.
The day before Americans celebrate the anniversary of their independence thousands of poker players were celebrating the game they love in the tournament hall of the Rio in Las Vegas. Three events were run, with the fairly standard pattern of one beginning, one in the middle, and one ending with a newly established WSOP bracelet winner. One of the more anticipated events by the many poker players a little tired of the drama of No-Limit Hold ’em was Event 8, which began at noon.
July 2nd marks the end of the first week of WSOP action, which kicked off on Sunday, June 25th. This Sunday was markedly different in contrast to last with thousands of poker players buzzing in the tournament hall, competing in three different events. The start of the second Limit event at noon kicked things off, followed by the resumption of No-Limit and the conclusion of the No-Limit Shorthanded events beginning at 2pm.
The 2006 World Series of Poker has been in force for nearly a week, with thousands of poker players haunting the halls of the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino. The first Saturday of the event was another day of multiple running events, with the culmination of Event 4, the continuation of Event 5, and the kick off of Event 6.
Event 3 drew to a close shortly after 10pm as one by one the players dropped by the wayside, including hopeful pros such as John Juanda and Dewey Tomko, who bubbled out of the final table, but not the money, as he finished in tenth place.
Event 4 started its second day with Phil Ivey beating an opponent to the punch by filling a full boat with Queens over Threes, taking over thirty grand from the guy with Jacks over Threes. The action saw over forty players drop to the rail, with nine left to compete in the final table the next day.
The vibe was still live at the Rio All-Suite with tournament rooms jam packed with simultaneous tournament action. One event was ending, another was picking up steam and a third was just getting started as the 2006 World Series of Poker began heating up. Pros who had double booked themselves had to get creative, other pros who entered events in a dominating position had to eat crow, and a lone Canadian player in a field of Americans makes off with the big prize in Event 2.
Wednesday saw the second day of what is going to be 37 days at the Rio of simultaneous World Series of Poker tournament action. Event 2, the first open event of the season, was in it’s second of three days and Event 3 kicked off at noon. As a testament to poker fever still running hot, Event 2, the $1,500 No Limit Texas Hold ’em event, drew one of the largest fields in tournament poker history. What a way to kick things off, with 2,776 players battling it out for a prize pool totaling $3,789,240!
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