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The 2006 World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...

(WSOP) began on June 25, 2006 with "satellite" events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event, and the Tournament of Champions

World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions

The World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions is an invitational freeroll poker event. Wins in this event do not count as official WSOP bracelets, but the winner receives a large trophy in the shape of the official World Series of Poker logo. In 2010, the WSOP Tournament of Champions returned...

held on June 28 and 29. Forty more events in various disciplines including Omaha

Omaha hold 'em

Omaha hold 'em is a community card poker game similar to Texas hold 'em, where each player is dealt four cards and must make his best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five community cards...

, seven-card stud

Seven-card stud

Seven-card stud is a variant of stud poker. Until the recent increase in popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was the most popular poker variant in home games across the United States, and in casinos in the eastern part of the country. Two to eight players is common, though eight may...

and razz

Razz (poker)

Razz is a form of stud poker that is normally played for ace-to-five low . The object of Razz is to make the lowest possible five-card hand from the seven cards you are dealt. In Razz, straights and flushes do not count against the player for low, and the ace usually plays low...

, plus ladies' and senior tournaments led up to the 10,000 US$ no-limit Texas hold 'em

Texas hold 'em

Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...

main event starting July 28 and running through the final table on August 10.

All events were held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino

Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino

The Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino is located off the Las Vegas Strip in the unincorporated area of Paradise, Nevada, USA. It is better known as The Rio and is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Inc. The Rio was the first all suite resort in the Las Vegas area...

in Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

, which marked the first time that a casino other than Binion's Horseshoe

Binion's Horseshoe

Binion's Horseshoe, also known as the Horseshoe Casino or simply The Horseshoe, was a hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on what is now the Fremont Street Experience. The casino was named for its founder, Benny Binion and had 366 rooms, three restaurants and a rooftop pool.The...

(now "Binion's") hosted the final table of the main event. Six days reserved for the first two rounds of play for the main event were established by Harrah's Entertainment

Harrah's Entertainment

Caesars Entertainment Corporation is a private gaming corporation that owns and operates over 50 casinos, hotels, and seven golf courses under several brands. The company, based in Paradise, Nevada, is the largest gaming company in the world, with yearly revenues $8.9 billion...

, which has run the annual event since its purchase from the Binion family in 2004.

The first prize in the main event was $12 million (US$), the richest prize for the winner of any sports or television event in history. The top 12 players became millionaires.

The 2006 World Series featured a much-anticipated HORSE tournament with a $50,000 buy-in, the highest ever for a single WSOP event.

Humberto Brenes

Humberto Brenes

Humberto Brenes is a professional poker player. Brenes currently resides in Miami Lakes, Florida with his wife and three children ....

, Phil Hellmuth

Phil Hellmuth

Phil Hellmuth is an American professional poker player. He is best known for holding a record 11 World Series of Poker bracelets, for winning the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker and for his temperamental, "poker brat" personality...

, Chris Ferguson

Chris Ferguson

Christopher Philip Ferguson is an American professional poker player. He has won five World Series of Poker events, including the 2000 WSOP Main Event, and the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. On September 20, 2011, the U.S...

, and Alex Jacob

Alex Jacob

Alex Jacob is an American professional poker player.Among his biggest poker accomplishments are winning the Peter A. Fabrizio Memorial Poker Classic in 2003 and finishing runner-up at the 2006 World Poker Tour tournament in Foxwoods Resort Casino on April 9 2006, winning $655,507...

are tied for the most number of cashes during one WSOP, with eight cashes each. Jeff Madsen

Jeff Madsen

Jeff Madsen is the third-youngest winner of a World Series of Poker event and the 2006 World Series of Poker Player of the Year....

, who won two events and made two other final tables (finishing third both times), was named the 2006 WSOP Player of the Year (POTY). He barely edged Hellmuth, who also made four final tables.

Events

Number	Event	Winner	Prize	Runner-up	–
1	$500 Casino Employee's No Limit Betting (poker) In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing... Hold'em Texas hold 'em Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...	Chris Gros	$127,616	Bryan Devonshire	Results
2	$1,500 No Limit Hold'em	Brandon Cantu Brandon Cantu Brandon M. Cantu is an American professional poker player. Upon winning a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2006, Cantu relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada. On March 14, 2007, Cantu became one of only 27 players to ever win both a World Series of Poker bracelet and a World Poker Tour championship...	$757,839	Phong "Mark" Ly	Results
3	$1,500 Pot Limit Betting (poker) In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing... Hold'em	Rafe Furst Rafe Furst Rafe Furst is an entrepreneur, angel investor, cancer awareness advocate and part time professional poker player. Furst currently works on and advises many projects that involve technology and social entrepreneurship. He regularly blogs about complex systems on EmergentFool...	$345,984	Rocky Enciso	Results
4	$1,500 Limit Hold'em	Kianoush Abolfathi	$335,289	Eric Buchman Eric Buchman Eric Buchman is a professional poker player from Valley Stream, New York, who finished in fourth place at the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event...	Results
5	$2,500 No Limit Hold'em Short Handed 6/Table	Dutch Boyd	$475,712	Joe Hachem Joe Hachem Joseph Hachem is a Lebanese-Australian professional poker player known for winning the main event of the 2005 World Series of Poker. He was the first Australian to win the main event, which earned him $7.5 million, then a record for all-time biggest tournament prize.The next year, Hachem won his...	Results
6	$2,000 No Limit Hold'em	Mark Vos Mark Vos Mark Vos , also known as 'pokerbok', is a professional poker player from Australia. Vos was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and attended Waldorf High School in Constantia. He excelled at mathematics olympiads while in high school, and represented his province in the interprovincial olympiad...	$803,274	Nam Le	Results
7	$3,000 Limit Hold'em	Bill Chen	$343,618	Yueqi "Rich" Zhu	Results
8	$2,000 Omaha Omaha hold 'em Omaha hold 'em is a community card poker game similar to Texas hold 'em, where each player is dealt four cards and must make his best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five community cards... Hi-Lo (8 or better) High-low split In traditional poker games, the player with the best traditional hand wins the whole pot. Lowball variations award the pot to the lowest hand, by any of several methods...	Jack Zwerner Jack Zwerner Jack 'Action' Zwerner is an American professional poker player and business entrepreneur. He is most known for founding land based casinos, gaming in international waters, and shaping the casino world as it is today. He is also known for winning the 2006 World Series of Poker Event 8: Omaha Hi-Lo...	$341,426	Rusty Mandap	Results
9	$5,000 No Limit Hold'em	Jeff Cabanillas	$818,546	Phil Hellmuth Jr. Phil Hellmuth Phil Hellmuth is an American professional poker player. He is best known for holding a record 11 World Series of Poker bracelets, for winning the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker and for his temperamental, "poker brat" personality...	Results
10	$1,500 Seven-card stud Seven-card stud Seven-card stud is a variant of stud poker. Until the recent increase in popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was the most popular poker variant in home games across the United States, and in casinos in the eastern part of the country. Two to eight players is common, though eight may...	David Williams David Williams (card player) David Anthony Williams is a professional poker player and popular Magic: The Gathering player.-Personal life:Williams was born in Arlington, Texas. He briefly attended Princeton University before switching to study economics at Southern Methodist University...	$163,118	John Hoang	Results
11	$1,500 No limit Hold'em	Bob Chalmers	$258,344	Tam Ho	Results
12	$5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or better)	Sam Farha Sam Farha Ihsan Farha is a professional poker player. He is best known for finishing as runner up in the World Series of Poker main event in 2003 and has won three bracelets at the WSOP.-Early years:...	$398,560	Phil Ivey Phil Ivey Phillip Dennis "Phil" Ivey Jr. is an American professional poker player who has won eight World Series of Poker bracelets, one World Poker Tour title and appeared at nine World Poker Tour final tables...	Results
13	$2,500 Limit Hold'em	Max Pescatori Max Pescatori Massimiliano Pescatori is an Italian professional poker player.Pescatori is a regular on the poker tournament scene, often placing high in Card Player Magazine's Player of the Year Race....	$682,389	Anthony Reategui Anthony Reategui Anthony Reategui is a professional poker player from Chandler, Arizona. A graduate from Chandler High School, Anthony worked at a Mesa, Arizona car washing facility before his poker career...	Results
14	$1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/multiple rebuys	Allen Cunningham Allen Cunningham Allen Cunningham is an American professional poker player.Cunningham studied civil engineering at UCLA before dropping out of school to play poker professionally. At the age of 18, he began playing at in Indian casinos...	$625,830	David Rheem David Rheem Chino Rheem is a poker player from Los Angeles, California, and a reputed welcher. In November 2008, Rheem finished in seventh place at the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, cashing for $1,772,650. He went out of this event on to Peter Eastgate's with Eastgate flopping a pair of queens on a...	Results
15	$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em	Mary Jones Meyer Mary Jones Meyer Mary Jones Meyer was a World Series of Poker champion in the 2006 $1,000 Ladies - No-Limit Hold'em event.As of 2008, her total WSOP tournament winnings exceed $236,094.-World Series of Poker bracelets:-References:...	$236,094	Shawnee Barton	Results
16	$10,000 Pot Limit Omaha	Lee Watkinson Lee Watkinson Lee Watkinson is an American professional poker player, originally from Longbranch, Washington.At the 2004 World Series of Poker , Watkinson finished 2nd in the $5,000 pot limit Omaha event...	$655,746	Mike Guttman	Results
17	$1,000 No Limit Hold'em	Jon Friedberg	$526,185	John Phan	Results
18	$2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em	Eric Kesselman	$311,403	Hyon Kim	Results
19	$1,000 No Limit Hold'em Seniors	Clare Miller	$247,814	Mike Nargi	Results
20	$50,000 H.O.R.S.E.	David "Chip" Reese Chip Reese David Edward Reese , more commonly known as Chip Reese, was an American professional poker player and gambler from Centerville, Ohio...	$1,716,000	Andy Bloch Andy Bloch Andrew Elliot Bloch is a professional poker player. He holds two electrical engineering degrees from MIT and a JD from Harvard Law School.-Poker:...	Results
21	$2,500 No Limit Hold'em Short Handed 6/Table	Bill Chen	$442,511	Nath Pizzolatto	Results
22	$2,000 No Limit Hold'em	Jeff Madsen Jeff Madsen Jeff Madsen is the third-youngest winner of a World Series of Poker event and the 2006 World Series of Poker Player of the Year....	$660,948	Paul Sheng	Results
23	$3,000 Limit Hold'em	Ian Johns	$291,755	Jerrod Ankenman	Results
24	$3,000 Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or better)	Scott Clements Scott Clements Scott Clements is a professional poker player from Mount Vernon, Washington, United States, who has won titles in both World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker events....	$301,175	Thor Hansen Thor Hansen Thor Harald Hansen is a professional poker player. He was recruited by Larry Flynt to play poker for him after Hansen played against him in Las Vegas in the mid 1990s. He has two WSOP braclets, one from the 1988 WSOP in Seven-card stud, and then later in Deuce to Seven Lowball in the 2002 WSOP...	Results
25	$2,000 No Limit Hold'em Shootout	David Pham David Pham David Pham , is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player from Bell Gardens, California with two World Series of Poker bracelets and has made seven final tables at the World Poker Tour.- Early life :...	$240,222	Charlie Sewell	Results
26	$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha	Ralph Perry Ralph Perry (poker player) Rafael "Ralph" Perry is a professional poker player originally from Russia. He has been playing professionally since 1992.In 2006, Perry represented Russia at the inaugural Intercontinental Poker Championship and reached the semi-finals, during which he was the target of some much-publicised...	$207,817	George Abdallah	Results
26a	$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys	Eric Froehlich Eric Froehlich Eric Froehlich is an American professional poker player, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. As of 2009, Froehlich's total live tournament winnings exceed $1,300,000. His 16 cashes at the WSOP account for $867,783 of those winnings....	$299,675	Sherkhan Farnood Sherkhan Farnood Sherkhan Farnood was the Chairman of Kabul Bank until late 2010, which is Afghanistan's largest private financial institution with over 1 million customers. Farnood holds 28.16% of the shares in the Kabul Bank. He also owns Pamir Airways, in partnership with Khalilullah Fruzi/Frozi, Mohammed Fahim...	Results
27	$1,500 No Limit Hold'em	Mats Rahmn	$655,141	Richard Toth	Results
28	$5,000 Seven-Card Stud	Benjamin Lin	$256,620	Shawn Sheikhan	Results
29	$2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em	John Gale John Gale (poker player) John Gale is an English professional poker based in Bushey, Hertfordshire.Gale is a relative newcomer to poker, having only begun playing Texas hold 'em in mid-2004. He first made a name for himself by qualifying for the World Poker Tour 2005 PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure tournament in The...	$374,849	Maros Lechman	Results
30	$5,000 No Limit Hold'em Short Handed 6/Table	Jeff Madsen Jeff Madsen Jeff Madsen is the third-youngest winner of a World Series of Poker event and the 2006 World Series of Poker Player of the Year....	$643,381	Erick Lindgren Erick Lindgren Erick A. Lindgren is an American professional poker player. He has won two World Poker Tour titles, one World Series of Poker bracelet, and more than seven million dollars in tournament earnings during his poker career.-Poker career:He won his first major tournament at the Bellagio in 2002 and...	Results
31	$2,000 No Limit Hold'em	Justin Scott	$842,262	Freddy Rouhani Freddy Rouhani Farzad "Freddy" Rouhani is an American professional poker player who won the 2008 World Series of Poker $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better event....	Results
32	$5,000 Pot Limit Hold'em	Jason Lester Jason Lester Jason Lester is a professional poker player who has lived in New York City, Los Angeles and Miami. He is also an exceptional backgammon player and has won many tournaments in the past, but now he focuses on poker. He came in 4th at the 2003 World Series of Poker , the year Chris Moneymaker won the...	$550,746	Alan Sass	Results
33	$1,500 Razz Razz (poker) Razz is a form of stud poker that is normally played for ace-to-five low . The object of Razz is to make the lowest possible five-card hand from the seven cards you are dealt. In Razz, straights and flushes do not count against the player for low, and the ace usually plays low...	James Richburg James Richburg James Richburg is an American professional poker player from Long Beach, California.Richburg has won two World Series of Poker bracelets. The first came in the razz championship in 2006. He won his second in the $2500 HORSE event in 2007....	$139,576	Carlos Mortensen Carlos Mortensen Juan Carlos Mortensen is an Ecuadorian professional poker player of Danish descent and the only Hispanic Main Event winner of the World Series of Poker. Mortensen is known for his loose play, bluffing tactics, and interesting chip-stacking style.Mortensen moved from Spain to the United States in...	Results
34	$1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/multiple rebuys	Phil Hellmuth Jr.	$631,863	Juha Helppi Juha Helppi Juha Helppi is a Finnish professional poker player from Helsinki.-Career:Juha was originally a poker dealer, but made a name for himself in the first World Poker Tour event in Aruba, where he eliminated Kathy Liebert on the way to defeating professional player Phil Gordon in a heads-up challenge...	Results
35	$1,000 Seven Card Stud High-Low 8/OB	Pat Poels Pat Poels Patrick Poels is an American professional poker player from Mesa, Arizona and a two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner....	$172,091	Greg Dinkin	Results
36	$1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout	Victoriano Perches	$157,338	Arnold Spee	Results
37	$1,500 No Limit Hold'em	James Gorham	$765,226	Osman Kibar	Results
38	$5,000 No-Limit 2–7 Draw Lowball w/rebuys	Daniel Alaei Daniel Alaei Siblings=Devon VafaiDaniel Christopher Alaei is a professional poker player from Santa Fe Springs, California. He is of Assyrian Iranian descent....	$430,698	David Williams	Results
39	$10,000 No Limit Hold'em Championship	Jamie Gold Jamie Gold Jamie M. Gold is an American television producer, a talent agent, and poker player, based in Malibu, California. He is known for winning the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event and currently divides his time between his activities as president of production for the entertainment company,...	$12,000,000	Paul Wasicka Paul Wasicka Paul J. Wasicka is a professional poker player, based in Las Vegas, Nevada who was the runner-up at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event and the winner of the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship....
40	$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em	Praz Bansi Praz Bansi Pramesh 'Praz' Bansi is a 32 year-old professional poker player from London, England, who has won two bracelets at the World Series of Poker and is part of the London based poker group The Hitsquad....	$230,209	Anh Lu	Results
41	$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Paul Kobel	$316,144	Tyler Andrews	Results
42	$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Jim Mitchell	$153,173	Stuart Fox Stuart Fox Stuart Fox is a professional poker player who started off playing online poker and has now become one of the United Kingdom's most recognized and successful tournament players.-Poker career:...	Results
43	$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Kevin Nathan	$171,987	J. C. Tran J. C. Tran J. C. Tran is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player, based in Sacramento, California....	Results
44	$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Kevin Cover	$196,968	Joe Brandenburg	Results
45	$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Anders Henriksson	$202,291	Maureen Feduniak	Results

Main Event

The 2006 Main Event (event #39) remains the largest tournament in poker history (by prize pool) with a total prize pool of $82,512,162. The tournament, like every WSOP Main Event, is a $10,000 No-Limit Texas Hold'em event. Due to the 8,773-player field, there were 4 separate starting days (1A-1D), each playing down to 800 people. They were later combined into one other set of separate days (2A and 2B) before becoming one whole group. The field was whittled down to 9 players on August 8, and Jamie Gold was crowned World Champion on August 10. The final table of the "Main Event" was offered live on Pay-Per-View, but unlike ESPN telecasts, viewers at home could not see the hole cards of the players unless the player turned their cards over.

Along with the usual $10,000 chip stacks, a new feature to the WSOP was the "All-In" button. Tournament directors have informed the participants that the coin could be used in lieu of pushing all of one’s chips into the pot.

The beige $50,000 chips that were used in 2005 were not used in 2006. Instead, tangerine and yellow $25,000 chips, in the design of the current $25 chips, were used. And for the first time in World Series of Poker History, a $100,000 chip was introduced on day 7. The chips were mint green with black edge spots in the design of the current yellow/black $1,000 chip.

Final table

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Jamie Gold Jamie Gold Jamie M. Gold is an American television producer, a talent agent, and poker player, based in Malibu, California. He is known for winning the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event and currently divides his time between his activities as president of production for the entertainment company,...	$12,000,000
2nd	Paul Wasicka Paul Wasicka Paul J. Wasicka is a professional poker player, based in Las Vegas, Nevada who was the runner-up at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event and the winner of the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship....	$6,102,499
3rd	Michael Binger Michael Binger Michael W. Binger is a part-time professional poker player, based in Atherton, California. He has a brother, Nick Binger, who also has several high-profile tournament cashes....	$4,123,310
4th	Allen Cunningham Allen Cunningham Allen Cunningham is an American professional poker player.Cunningham studied civil engineering at UCLA before dropping out of school to play poker professionally. At the age of 18, he began playing at in Indian casinos...	$3,628,513
5th	Rhett Butler	$3,216,182
6th	Richard Lee	$2,803,851
7th	Douglas Kim Douglas Kim Douglas Kim is a Korean-American poker player and 2006 economics graduate of Duke University. Kim learned poker through a home game in college and through posting as 'technologic' on the internet forum hosted by Two Plus Two Publishing.Kim, who was eliminated by Paul Wasicka, finished in seventh...	$2,391,520
8th	Erik Friberg	$1,979,189
9th	Dan Nassif	$1,566,858

Other High Finishes

NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.

Place	Name	Prize
10th	Fred Goldberg Fred Goldberg Fred Goldberg is a professional poker player from Hollywood, FloridaGoldberg's first major success in poker came in the 2006 World Series of Poker main event, where he finished in 10th place winning $1,154,527. He also became known for bearing a strong resemblance to Chris Moneymaker, the 2003...	$1,154,527
13th	William Thorson William Thorson William Thorson is a Swedish professional poker player from Varberg, Sweden and a three time European Poker Tour final table participant who, in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, finished in 13th place....	$907,128
17th	Jeff Lisandro Jeff Lisandro Jeffrey Lisandro is an Australian professional poker player, now residing in Salerno, Italy. Lisandro is known by many to be a cash game specialist, but is a well-known face on the poker tournament circuit and is regarded as one of the premier Seven Card Stud players in the world...	$659,730
18th	David Einhorn	$659,730
20th	Prahlad Friedman Prahlad Friedman Prahlad S. Friedman is an American professional poker player from Los Angeles, California. He has played under the screen names "Spirit Rock" on Full Tilt Poker, "Mahatma" on Ultimate Bet, "Zweig" on Prima Network, and "Prefontaine" on PokerStars...	$494,797
24th	Eric Lynch Eric Lynch Eric Lynch is a professional poker player.Lynch resides in Olathe, Kansas. In 2006, he won a PokerStars $1 million guaranteed tournament and finished 24th at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, earning $494,000. He placed 3rd in a pot limit Hold'em WSOP event that same year...	$494,797
29th	Mitch Schock Mitch Schock Mitch Schock is an American professional poker player. He won his first World Series of Poker bracelet at the 2011 World Series of Poker where he made three final tables and has had at least five in the money finishes in each of the last three World Series of Pokers...	$329,865

Fall of World Champions

Day 1: Dan Harrington
Dan Harrington
Dan Harrington is a professional poker player, best known for winning the main event world championship at the 1995 World Series of Poker. He has earned one World Poker Tour title, two WSOP bracelets, and over six million dollars in tournament cashes in his poker career...

, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Doyle Brunson
Doyle Brunson
Doyle F. Brunson is an American professional poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. He is the first two-time World Series of Poker main event champion to win consecutively, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several books on poker.Brunson is the first player to...

, Bobby Baldwin
Bobby Baldwin
Bobby Baldwin is a professional poker player, off-road racer and casino executive. As a poker player, Baldwin is best known as the 1978 world champion, becoming the youngest main event champion at that time....

, Chris Moneymaker
Chris Moneymaker
Christopher Bryan Moneymaker is an American poker player who won the main event at the 2003 World Series of Poker . His 2003 win is said to have revolutionized poker because he was the first person to become a world champion by qualifying at an online poker site...

, Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan (poker player)
Johnny Chan rather than his Chinese birth name. born in Guangzhou, China in 1957) is a Chinese American professional poker player. He has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, including 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker main events consecutively....

, "Amarillo Slim" Preston
Amarillo Slim
Thomas Austin Preston, Jr. , known as Amarillo Slim, is an American professional gambler known for his poker skills and proposition bets...
Day 2: Berry Johnston
Berry Johnston
Berry Enfield Johnston is an American professional poker player. He is best known as the 1986 World Champion, but he has also won four other bracelets at the World Series of Poker in addition to cashes and wins in many other tournaments throughout his career.- Poker career :Johnston won the 1986...

, Scotty Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen
Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn is a Vietnamese American professional poker player who is a five time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and the 2008 WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship...

, Huck Seed
Huck Seed
Huckleberry Seed is an American professional poker player best known for winning the main event of the 1996 World Series of Poker.-Early Life:...

, Greg Raymer
Greg Raymer
Gregory Raymer nicknamed "Fossilman," is a professional poker player. He is best known for winning the 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event.-Early life:...

, Robert Varkonyi
Robert Varkonyi
Robert Varkonyi is an American poker player, best known for winning the main event of the 2002 World Series of Poker.-Early years:Varkonyi was born in and raised in New York...
Day 3: Carlos Mortensen , Chris Ferguson
Chris Ferguson
Christopher Philip Ferguson is an American professional poker player. He has won five World Series of Poker events, including the 2000 WSOP Main Event, and the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. On September 20, 2011, the U.S...

,
Day 4: Tom McEvoy
Tom McEvoy
Thomas K. McEvoy is a professional poker player and author. He is best known for his win in the 1983 World Series of Poker main event.-Early life:...

, Joe Hachem

Trivia

Celebrity players featured in the Main Event included Hank Azaria
Hank Azaria
Henry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...

, Paul Azinger
Paul Azinger
Paul William Azinger is an American professional golfer and occasional on air golf analyst. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 1988 and 1994.-Early years:...

, Charles Barkley
Charles Barkley
Charles Wade Barkley is a former American professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Sir Charles" and "The Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley established himself as one of the National Basketball Association's most dominating power forwards...

, Richard Brodie, Dean Cain
Dean Cain
Dean Cain is an American actor. He is most widely known for his role as Clark Kent/Superman in the popular American television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.-Early life:...

, Tony Cascarino
Tony Cascarino
Anthony Guy 'Tony' Cascarino is an former association football player who played as a forward for various British and French clubs and internationally for the Republic of Ireland national team, with whom he competed in the 1988 European Football Championship and two World Cups in 1990 and...

, Denny Crum
Denny Crum
Denzil E. "Denny" Crum is a former American men's college basketball coach at the University of Louisville from 1971 to 2001, compiling a 675–295 record. He guided the Cardinals to two NCAA championships and six Final Fours...

, Steve Davis
Steve Davis
Steve Davis, OBE is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire...

, Shannon Elizabeth
Shannon Elizabeth
Shannon Elizabeth is an American actress and former fashion model. Elizabeth is well known for her roles in comedy films such as Scary Movie, American Pie, and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back. She is also well known for her work in horror films such as Thirteen Ghosts, Cursed, and Night of the Demons...

, Salvatore (Sully) Erna
Sully Erna
Salvatore Paul "Sully" Erna , is an American vocalist and primary songwriter for the American heavy metal band, Godsmack. Erna is also a guitarist and drummer, performing these both on albums and during live shows. He has a daughter named Skylar Brooke Erna and an older sister named Maria.-Early...

, James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...

, Brad Garrett
Brad Garrett
Bradley "Brad" Garrett is an American actor, voice actor, stand-up comedian, and professional poker player. Throughout he has appeared in numerous television and film roles....

, Michael Greco, Ron Jeremy
Ron Jeremy
Ronald Jeremy Hyatt , usually called Ron Jeremy, is an American pornographic actor. Nicknamed "The Hedgehog", he was ranked by AVN at number one in their "The 50 Top Porn Stars of All Time" list...

, Joanna Krupa
Joanna Krupa
Joanna Krupa is a Polish-American model and actress. Krupa was born in Warsaw, Poland. She has a younger sister, Marta Krupa, also a model. Joanna Krupa moved to India, Delhi, Illinois, with her family at the age of five...

, Lennox Lewis
Lennox Lewis
Lennox Claudius Lewis, CM, CBE is a retired boxer and the most recent British undisputed world heavyweight champion. He holds dual British and Canadian citizenship...

, Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lyn Lillard is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his roles as Stu Macher in Scream, Stevo in SLC Punk , and Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo film series and the Animated reboot series.-Early life:Lillard was born in Lansing, Michigan, and grew up in Tustin, California...

, Norm Macdonald
Norm MacDonald
Norman Gene "Norm" Macdonald is a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer and actor. He is best known for his five seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, which included anchoring Weekend Update for three years...

, Tobey Maguire
Tobey Maguire
Tobias Vincent "Tobey" Maguire is an American actor and producer. He began his career in the 1980s, and has achieved his greatest fame for his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films.-Early life:...

, Mekhi Phifer
Mekhi Phifer
Mekhi Thira Phifer is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his multi-year role as Dr. Greg Pratt on NBC's long-running medical drama ER and his co-starring role opposite Eminem in the feature film 8 Mile...

, Laura Prepon
Laura Prepon
Laura Prepon is an American actress, best known for her role as Donna Pinciotti in the long-running Fox situation comedy That '70s Show, for all eight seasons. She is also known for the role of Hannah Daniels on the ABC drama October Road...

, Antonio Tarver
Antonio Tarver
Antonio Deon Tarver , nicknamed the "Magic Man", is a professional boxer from Orlando, Florida and the former WBC, WBA, IBF, & The Ring light heavyweight champion....

, Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton
Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers...

, and Jimmy White
Jimmy White
James Warren "Jimmy" White MBE is an English professional snooker player. Nicknamed the "Whirlwind" and popularly referred to as the "People's Champion", White is a multiple World Championship finalist renowned for losing each of the six finals he contested.White's extensive list of achievements,...

. Both Davis and Erna finished in the money, coming in 579th and 713th places respectively.

Event 5

When play resumed during day 2 of this event, a table with players, Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith, and Kathy Liebert

Kathy Liebert

Kathleen H. Liebert is an American professional poker player.- Poker :Liebert started her professional poker career as a prop player in Colorado...

were given extra chips after tournament officials had misplaced Mirza Nagji's chips in the wrong seat. Unknowingly, the rest of the players assumed that this stack was someone else's who was late and blinded off the stack. Eventually a player noticed that the stack was Mirza Nagji's chips, who by that time had been given replacement chips. Players estimate that out of the extra 120,000 in chips that were put into play, around 10,000–11,000 in chips had already been blinded off from the empty stack.

Event 20

Many poker players who entered into the HORSE event discovered that the cards they were playing with were marked or easily markable. Andy Bloch was assessed a 10 minute penalty for crumpling a card when a dealer refused to replace the deck after the new deck that came in was rife with markings. When asked for comment, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said, "I hadn't heard anything about the cards being marked until today. I am looking into getting more fresh setups and I am definitely working on solving the problem."

Event 25

During Event 25, the $2,000 NL Hold 'em Shootout, the structure was changed mid-tournament from a full table into a six-handed table event. Harry Demetriou

Harry Demetriou

Charidimos Demetriou is a British poker player.-World Series of Poker:Demetriou first became known in poker circles for his 3rd place finish at the $2,000 no limit Texas hold 'em tournament at the 2002 World Series of Poker won by Layne Flack...

, who had been playing in the event, objected to the change in format citing that a shootout should be 9, 10 or 11 handed, yelling about the unfair change in structure. Harry was eventually ejected from the tournament and was later refunded his money. Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu is a Canadian professional poker player. He has won four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour Championship titles. He is currently ranked second in the all-time career earnings list and is the star of poker game show Million Dollar Challenge. He plays a big...

missed the event completely because he assumed that the event would be a full table and he would be able to come into the tournament a little bit later after sleeping in. However by the time he showed up David Singer had won his table after blinding off Negreanu's stack.

External links

Official site