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The 2006 World Series of Poker was a notable one. It featured the most players in WSOP history, a whopping 8,773 players. It also featured the largest prize pool, over 82 million dollars, and the largest first prize, a cool 12 million dollars.

More on the WSOP:

WSOP Satellites
New 2008 WSOP Events
2008 WSOP Schedule
WSOP Player Profiles
WSOP History
WSOP Winners
H.O.R.S.E.: The Player's Championship

2006 WSOP Champion Jamie Gold

The winner of the big prize was Jamie Gold, a television producer from Los Angeles. Gold was almost not going to play in the event, but decided he would at the last minute. It was a decision he would not regret, as he jumped out to a huge chip lead on his third day of play and never relinquished it.

The 2006 WSOP Final Table

The final table was one of the toughest in recent memory, with all-star poker pro Allen Cunningham joining Gold, Paul Wasicka and Michael Binger in the final four. Although all but Cunningham were unknown at the time, Wasicka has since proved himself to be a superior poker player, worthy of a spot at the WSOP main event final table.

2006 WSOP: The Big Hand

The hand that everyone would talk about in the 2006 WSOP main event came when it was down to three players, Gold, Binger and Wasicka. Wasicka held 8s9s in the small blind, Binger held AhTh in the big blind, and Gold had 4s3c on the button. Binger raised to 1.5 million and both Gold and Wasicka called.

The flop came Tc 6s 5s, giving Binger top pair top kicker, Wasicka a flush draw and gutshot straight draw, and Gold an open ended straight draw. Wasicka checked, Binger bet 3.5 million, Gold moved all in, Wasicka folded and Binger called. The turn was a 7c, giving Gold the straight and a now meaningless spade on the river didn't help Binger.

Many analysts felt that given the amount of money in the pot, Wasicka should have called with his flush draw. He didn't and finished in second, making Jamie Gold the 2006 Champion.

2006 WSOP Tournaments and Winners

Event	Winner	Prize	Entrants
$10,000 Championship Event	Jamie Gold	$12,000,000	8,773
$500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em	Chris Gros	$127,496	1,232
$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Brandon Cantu	$757,839	2,776
$1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em	Rafe Furst	$345,984	1,102
$1,500 Limit Hold'em	Kianoush Abolfathi	$335,289	1,068
$2,500 Short-Handed No-Limit Hold'em	Dutch Boyd	$475,712	1,895
$2,000 No-Limit Hold'em	Mark Vos	$803,274	1,919
$3,000 Limit Hold'em	Bill Chen	$343,618	415
$2,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo	Jack Zwerner	$341,426	670
$5,000 No-Limit Hold'em	Jeff Cabanillas	$818,546	622
$1,500 Seven-Card Stud	David Williams	$163,118	478
$5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo	Sam Farha	$398,560	265
$1,500 Limit Hold'em	Bob Chalmers	$258,344	701
$2,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Max Pescatori	$682,389	1,290
$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em with rebuys	Allen Cunningham	$625,830	752 (1670)
$1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em	Mary Jones Meyer	$236,094	1,128
$10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha	Lee Watkinson	$655,746	218
$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em	Jon Friedberg	$526,185	2,891
$2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em	Eric Kesselman	$311,403	590
$1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em	Claire Miller	$247,814	1,184
$50,000 H.O.R.S.E.	David "Chip" Reese	$1,784,640	143
$2,500 Short-Handed No-Limit Hold'em	Bill Chen	$442,511	740
$2,000 No-Limit Hold'em	Jeff Madsen	$660,948	1,579
$3,000 Limit Hold'em	Ian Johns	$291,755	341
$3,000 Omaha Hi-Lo	Scott Clements	$301,175	352
$2,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout	David "The Dragon" Pham	$240,222	600
$1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha	Ralph Perry	$207,817	525
$1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha with rebuys	Eric Froehlich	$299,675	158 (472)
$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Mats Rahmn	$655,141	2,126
$5,000 Seven-Card Stud	Benjamin Lin	$256,620	183
$2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em	John Gale	$374,849	183
$5,000 Short-Handed No-Limit Hold'em	Jeff Madsen	$643,381	183
$2,000 No-Limit Hold'em	Justin Scott	$842,262	2,050
$1,500 Razz	James Richburg	$139,576	409
$5,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em	Jason Lester	$550,764	378
$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em with rebuys	Phil Hellmuth	$631,863	754 (1691)
$1,000 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo	Patrick Poels	$172,091	788
$1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout	Victoriano Perches	$157,338	524
$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	James Graham	$765,226	2,803
$5,000 2-7 Draw Lowball	Daniel Alaei	$430,698	81
$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em	Praz Bansi	$230,209	1,100
$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Paul Kobek	$316,144	1,007
$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Jimmy Mitchell	$153,173	362
$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Kevin Nathan	$171,987	420
$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Kevin Cover	$196,968	481
$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em	Anders Henriksson	$202,291	494

WSOP Year By Year

2000's	1990's	1980's	1970's
2007 WSOP	1999 WSOP	1989 WSOP	1979 WSOP
2006 WSOP	1998 WSOP	1988 WSOP	1978 WSOP
2005 WSOP	1997 WSOP	1987 WSOP	1977 WSOP
2004 WSOP	1996 WSOP	1986 WSOP	1976 WSOP
2003 WSOP	1995 WSOP	1985 WSOP	1975 WSOP
2002 WSOP	1994 WSOP	1984 WSOP	1974 WSOP
2001 WSOP	1993 WSOP	1983 WSOP	1973 WSOP
2000 WSOP	1992 WSOP	1982 WSOP	1972 WSOP
	1991 WSOP	1981 WSOP	1971 WSOP
	1990 WSOP	1980 WSOP	1970 WSOP