The 2006 World Series of Poker (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 held on June 28 and 29. Forty more events, in various disciplines including Omaha, seven-card stud and razz, plus ladies' and senior tournaments, led up to the 10,000 US$ no-limit Texas hold 'em 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 in Las Vegas, Nevada, which marked the first time that a casino other than Binion's Horseshoe (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, which has run the annual event since its purchase from the Binion family in 2004.
The first prize in the main event was $12 million (US$), at that time the richest prize for the winner of any sports or television event in history. The top 12 players became millionaires. The record prize was surpassed at the 2012 WSOP, when the winner of the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop, Antonio Esfandiari, received a first-place prize of $18.3 million.
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, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, and Alex Jacob tied for the most cashes during the WSOP, with eight each. Jeff Madsen, who won two events and made two other final tables (finishing 3rd both times), was named the 2006 WSOP Player of the Year (POTY). He barely edged Hellmuth, who also made four final tables.
Events
There were 45 total events in the 2006 WSOP. Phil Hellmuth tied for the career bracelet lead with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan when he won his tenth career bracelet.
#Date EventEntries Winner Prize Runner-up Results 1June 26, 2006 $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em1,232 Chris Gros (1/1) $127,616 Bryan Devonshire Results 2June 27, 2006 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em2,776 Brandon Cantu (1/1) $757,839 Phong Ly Results 3June 28, 2006 $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em1,102 Rafe Furst (1/1) $345,984 Rocky Enciso Results 4June 29, 2006 $1,500 Limit Hold'em1,068 Kianoush Abolfathi (1/1) $335,289 Eric Buchman Results 5June 30, 2006 $2,500 No Limit Hold'em Short Handed 6/Table824 Dutch Boyd (1/1) $475,712 Joe Hachem (0/1) Results 6July 1, 2006 $2,000 No Limit Hold'em1,919 Mark Vos (1/1) $803,274 Nam Le Results 7July 2, 2006 $3,000 Limit Hold'em415 Bill Chen (1/1) $343,618 Yueqi Zhu Results 8July 3, 2006 $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or better)670 Jack Zwerner (1/1) $341,426 Rusty Mandap Results 9July 4, 2006 $5,000 No Limit Hold'em622 Jeff Cabanillas (1/1) $818,546 Phil Hellmuth (0/9) Results 10July 5, 2006 $1,500 Seven-card stud478 David Williams (1/1) $163,118 John Hoang Results 11July 6, 2006 $1,500 Limit Hold'em701 Bob Chalmers (1/1) $258,344 Tam Ho Results 12July 6, 2006 $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or better)265 Sam Farha (1/2) $398,560 Phil Ivey (0/5) Results 13July 7, 2006 $2,500 No Limit Hold'em1,290 Max Pescatori (1/1) $682,389 Anthony Reategui Results 14July 8, 2006 $1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/multiple rebuys752 Allen Cunningham (1/4) $625,830 David Rheem Results 15July 9, 2006 $1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em1,128 Mary Jones Meyer (1/1) $236,094 Shawnee Barton Results 16July 9, 2006 $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha218 Lee Watkinson (1/1) $655,746 Mike Guttman Results 17July 10, 2006 $1,000 No Limit Hold'em2,891 Jon Friedberg (1/1) $526,185 John Phan Results 18July 11, 2006 $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em590 Eric Kesselman (1/1) $311,403 Hyon Kim Results 19July 12, 2006 $1,000 No Limit Hold'em Seniors1,184 Clare Miller (1/1) $247,814 Mike Nargi Results 20July 12, 2006 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E.143 Chip Reese (1/3) $1,716,000 Andy Bloch Results 21July 13, 2006 $2,500 No Limit Hold'em Short Handed 6/Table740 Bill Chen (2/2) $442,511 Nath Pizzolatto Results 22July 14, 2006 $2,000 No Limit Hold'em1,579 Jeff Madsen (1/1) $660,948 Paul Sheng Results 23July 15, 2006 $3,000 Limit Hold'em341 Ian Johns (1/1) $291,755 Jerrod Ankenman Results 24July 15, 2006 $3,000 Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or better)352 Scott Clements (1/1) $301,175 Thor Hansen (0/2) Results 25July 16, 2006 $2,000 No Limit Hold'em Shootout600 David Pham (1/2) $240,222 Charlie Sewell Results 26AJuly 17, 2006 $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha526 Ralph Perry (1/1) $207,817 George Abdallah Results 26BJuly 17, 2006 $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys158 Eric Froehlich (1/2) $299,675 Sherkhan FarnoodResults 27July 18, 2006 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em2,126 Mats Rahmn (1/1) $655,141 Richard Toth Results 28July 19, 2006 $5,000 Seven-Card Stud183 Benjamin Lin (1/1) $256,620 Shawn Sheikhan Results 29July 19, 2006 $2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em562 John Gale (1/1) $374,849 Maros Lechman Results 30July 20, 2006 $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Short Handed 6/Table507 Jeff Madsen (2/2) $643,381 Erick Lindgren Results 31July 21, 2006 $2,000 No Limit Hold'em2,050 Justin Scott (1/1) $842,262 Freddy RouhaniResults 32July 22, 2006 $5,000 Pot Limit Hold'em378 Jason Lester (1/1) $550,746 Alan Sass Results 33July 22, 2006 $1,500 Razz409 James Richburg (1/1) $139,576 Carlos Mortensen (0/2) Results 34July 23, 2006 $1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/multiple rebuys754 Phil Hellmuth (1/10) $631,863 Juha Helppi Results 35July 24, 2006 $1,000 Seven Card Stud High-Low 8/OB788 Pat Poels (1/2) $172,091 Greg Dinkin Results 36July 24, 2006 $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout524 Victoriano Perches (1/1) $157,338 Arnold Spee Results 37July 25, 2006 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em2,803 James Gorham (1/1) $765,226 Osman Kibar Results 38July 25, 2006 $5,000 No-Limit 2–7 Draw Lowball w/rebuys81 Daniel Alaei (1/1) $430,698 David Williams (0/1) Results 39July 28, 2006 $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Championship8,773 Jamie Gold (1/1) $12,000,000 Paul Wasicka Results 40August 3, 2006 $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em1,100 Praz Bansi (1/1) $230,209 Anh Lu Results 41August 5, 2006 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em1,007 Paul Kobel (1/1) $316,144 Tyler Andrews Results 42August 6, 2006 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em352 Jim Mitchell (1/1) $153,173 Stuart Fox Results 43August 7, 2006 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em420 Kevin Nathan (1/1) $171,987 J. C. Tran Results 44August 8, 2006 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em481 Kevin Cover (1/1) $196,968 Joe Brandenburg Results 45August 9, 2006 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em494 Anders Henriksson (1/1) $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 four 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. The 2006 WSOP Main Event remained as the largest Main Event in terms of entries and first-place prize until the 2023 WSOP Main Event.
Final table NameNumber of chips(percentage of total)WSOPBracelets*WSOPCashes*WSOPEarnings* Jamie Gold25,650,000 (28.5%)000 Allen Cunningham17,770,000 (19.7%)428$2,371,769 Richard Lee11,820,000 (13.1%)000 Erik Friberg9,605,000 (10.7%)000 Paul Wasicka7,970,000 (8.8%)02$64,437 Doug Kim6,770,000 (7.5%)000 Rhett Butler4,815,000 (5.3%)000 Michael Binger3,140,000 (3.5%)01$101,570 Dan Nassif2,600,000 (2.9%)000 *Career statistics prior to the beginning of the 2006 Main Event.
Final table results
Place Name Prize 1st Jamie Gold $12,000,000 2nd Paul Wasicka $6,102,499 3rd Michael Binger $4,123,310 4th Allen Cunningham $3,628,513 5th Rhett Butler $3,216,182 6th Richard Lee $2,803,851 7th Douglas Kim $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 100 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.
Place Name Prize 10th Fred Goldberg $1,154,527 13th William Thorson $907,128 17th Jeff Lisandro $659,730 18th David Einhorn $659,730 20th Prahlad Friedman $494,797 24th Eric Lynch $494,797 29th Mitch Schock $329,865 36th Humberto Brenes $329,865 88th Annie Duke $51,129
Performance of past champions Name ChampionshipYear(s) Day ofElimination Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston 1972 1 Doyle Brunson 1976, 1977 1 Bobby Baldwin 1978 1 Tom McEvoy 1983 4 (371st) Berry Johnston 1986 2 Johnny Chan 1987, 1988 1 Phil Hellmuth 1989 1 Dan Harrington 1995 1 Huck Seed 1996 2 Scotty Nguyen 1998 2 Chris Ferguson 2000 3 Carlos Mortensen 2001 3 Robert Varkonyi 2002 2 Chris Moneymaker 2003 1 Greg Raymer 2004 2 Joe Hachem 2005 4 (238th)
Trivia Celebrity players featured in the Main Event included Hank Azaria, Paul Azinger, Charles Barkley, Richard Brodie, Dean Cain, Tony Cascarino, Denny Crum, Steve Davis, Shannon Elizabeth, Salvatore (Sully) Erna, James Garner, Brad Garrett, Michael Greco, Ron Jeremy, Joanna Krupa, Lennox Lewis, Matthew Lillard, Norm Macdonald, Tobey Maguire, Mekhi Phifer, Laura Prepon, Antonio Tarver, Wil Wheaton, and Jimmy White. Both Davis and Erna finished in the money, coming in 579th and 713th places respectively.
Controversy Event 5 When play resumed during day 2 of this event, a table with players, Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith, and Kathy Liebert 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 6-handed table event. Harry Demetriou, 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 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.
See also 2006 World Series of Poker Results World Series of Poker circuit events