The year following Joe Hachem’s record-setting $7.5m top prize that he took back to Australia, the championship would return to an American. This time, however, the prize money reached ridiculous levels, with an incredible $12 million up top. A total of 46 events and a Main Event populated by 8,773 players, who would win the Gold? It was a once-in-a-lifetime World Championship.
Preliminary Events see Reese Chip up in H.O.R.S.E.
With the largest number of WSOP events on the schedule, there was something for everyone, and just as the year before, the title for youngest bracelet winner changed hands… twice! Eric Froehlich, in 2005, became the youngest player to win a WSOP bracelet. In 2006, when he won the $1,500-entry Pot-Limit Omaha rebuy event #26B for $299,675, he became the youngest player to win two WSOP bracelets. As the history recalls, he would only hold that record for 96 hours.
Three days before Froehlich would set the record for the youngest to win 2 bracelets, Jeff Madsen won his first bracelet in Event #22: $2,000 No Limit Hold’em for $660,948, beating the old record for the youngest player by 2 months and 20 days. Then, three days after Froehlich set the record for 2 bracelets, Jeff Madsen won his second of the series in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em 6-Handed event #30 for $643,381. Madsen also made two other final tables across the series this year and won the coveted title of 2006 WSOP Player of the Year.
Elsewhere, Bill Chen also won two events, the $3,000 entry Limit Hold’em event #7 and $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event #21. Chip Reese won the biggest buy-in WSOP event in history when he took down the event that would one day be named after him – the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event #20. Now known as the Poker Players Championship, all participants still pay $50,000 to compete for the world-famous Chip Reese Trophy. In 2006, Reese won it for a record score of $1,784,640, the largest prize outside the Main Event.
Poker Brat Reaches Double Figures
Phil Hellmuth became the 3rd member of the 10-bracelet club by winning Event #34: $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Rebuy $631,863. With an astronomical 2,445 buy-ins and rebuys, the event was akin to a Mini Main Event, as Hellmuth defeated Finnish star Juha Helppi heads-up for the title and his record-equaling bracelet.
Mexico finally had a winner in WSOP events as Victoriano Perches won the country’s first title at the World Series, taking down the $1,500-entry Limit Hold’em Shootout event #36 for $157,338 after outlasting 523 other players. And Clare Miller became the first female player to win the $1,000 buy-in Seniors No Limit Hold’em event #19 Championship, triumphing over 1,183 opponents to scoop a top prize of $247,814. Mary Jones Meyer won the Ladies Event #15: No Limit Hold’em, which also topped 1,000 entries and had a top prize of $236,094.
The Other Bracelet Winners
Other bracelet winners prior to the main event were Chris Gros (Event #1: $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em), Brandon Cantu (Event #2: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em), Rafe Furst (Event #3: $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em), Kianoush Abolfathi (Event #4: $1,500 Limit Hold’em), Dutch Boyd (Event #5: $2,500 No Limit Hold’em 6-Handed), Mark Vos (Event #6: $2,000 No Limit Hold’em), Jack Zwerner (Event #8: $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo), Jeff Cabanillas (Event #9: $5,000 No Limit Hold’em), David Williams (Event #10: $1,500 Seven Card Stud), Bob Chalmers (Event #11: $1,500 Limit Hold’em), Sammy Farha (Event #12: $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo), Max Pescatori (Event #13: $2,500 No Limit Hold’em), Allen Cunningham (Event #14: No Limit Hold’em Rebuy), Lee Watkinson (Event #16: $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha), Jon Friedberg (Event #17: $1,000 No Limit Hold’em), Eric Kesselman (Event #18: $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em), Ian Johns (Event #23: $3,000 Limit Hold’em), Scott Clements (Event #24: $3,000 Omaha Hi-Lo), David Pham (Event #25: $2,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout), Ralph Perry (Event #26A: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha), Mats Rahmn (Event #27: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em), Benjamin Lin (Event #28: $5,000 Seven Card Stud), John Gale (Event #29: $2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em), Justin Scott (Event #31: $2,000 No Limit Hold’em), Jason Lester (Event #32: $5,000 Pot Limit Hold’em), James Richburg (Event #33: $1,500 Razz), Pat Poels (Event #35: $1,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo), Jimmy Gorham (Event #37: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em), and Daniel Alaei (Event #38: $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Rebuy).
Watch The Last 18 Play down to final table at the 2006 World Series of Poker
All eyes turned to the Main Event, which was not the last event on the ticket. Event #40: $1,000 No Limit Hold’em and Events #41 through #45 (all $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournaments) all ran before the main event ended due to how long the big one took to play out. The following players won these closing tournaments: British up-and-comer Praz Bansi (Event #40), Paul Kobel, Jimmy Mitchell, Kevin Nathan, Kevin Cover, and Anders Henriksson. All in all, a fortnight elapsed between the start of the Main Event and the moment the bracelet and $12 million top prize was won.
2005 WSOP Main Event – Part 1 2006 WSOP Main Event – Part 2
About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.