Our guide to the most entertaining televised World Series Of Poker final tables of the last 20 years
1. With the biggest prize in poker history, the 2006 main event remains the high watermark for poker’s biggest show. And here the main characters relive that famous night in their own words
With almost 9,000 competitors and a prizepool that created more dollar millionaires than any other poker tournament before or since, the 2006 WSOP main event arguably represents the high point in poker’s recent history.
These were the days before the US legislators came to town, when thousands of internet players chased dreams of emulating Chris Moneymaker to create a purse of $82.5m. Four days into the main event Jamie Gold emerged as chip leader, a position he maintained to the final day. But although Gold had a third of the chips in play as the final table began, the pundits were tipping Allen Cunningham, running hot following his fourth bracelet win…
ALLEN CUNNINGHAM: I really felt fantastic. The day before had felt like a win – it was my peak in the tournament. If you could figure out my equity it was more than second-place money going into the final table because the structure is so top- heavy, so really anything other than first place would be a loss. I knew I had a fantastic chance of winning it.
Dan Nassif ’s participation was one of brevity. The 4 Nassif ’s A-K needed on the 2-3-5 flop to complete the straight never came, and he was eliminated in the fifth hand by Gold’s flopped set of deuces. Of all his opponents, Gold’s mentor Johnny Chan had warned him to stay away from Cunningham. Inevitably though, they were to tangle. In a four- way pot, they both hit trip nines on the 8?-9?-9? flop, Gold’s 10 kicker ahead. But Cunningham’s experience ensured he wasn’t going broke just yet.
ALLEN CUNNINGHAM: Jamie had limped under the gun, another player limped and I called on the button with 9-7. On the flop Jamie made a really large bet of $1m.
I called, and Erik Friberg also called with Q?-J?. The 5? came on the turn and they both checked. I only bet half the pot thinking that would be enough for any kind of draw to fold. Jamie called and Friberg folded. I felt if Jamie had a 9 and a bigger kicker, he may have bet again or raised. I also knew he limps in with big pairs fairly often so I figured there was a decent chance I had him.
When the offsuit Ace came on the river, he checked to me. I strongly considered checking back, but I thought a smallish bet was likely to get a call if he had an Ace, Kings or Queens, so I made the value-bet.
JAMIE GOLD: I made a crying call because I’d got stuck in the hand. I felt like I had no choice, that he had to have a better hand. To me, that was a huge mistake. He should never have played that hand, or he should have raised big. You don’t play the button with 9-7, you raise or fold.
Gold’s remarkable run continued as Erik Friberg and Richard Lee were both ousted holding pocket Jacks against his Queens in separate hands. If there was any trapping to be done, Gold made sure it was by him.
JAMIE GOLD: Lee said I made a horrible call, but I say he f**ked up and what a horrible move on his part. It wasn’t hard – he was so easy to read, ego had overtaken him and he thought he could beat me.
At 12: 45am, after nearly ten hours of play, Rhett Butler was eliminated in fifth place, when his pocket fours lost as Gold hit a pair of Jacks on the flop. The action was now four-handed and Gold was dominant with 45m chips. His nearest rival was Michael Binger with 14.3m, trailed by Paul Wasicka’s 12.5m.
The blinds were at 200k/400k with a 50k ante, when Binger raised to 1.1m with K?-8?. Gold called, but Cunningham re-raised all-in holding pocket tens. Binger folded and Gold called with K?-J?. Cunningham walked away from the table saying, ‘I’m puking!’ Sure enough, the King hit on the flop and Cunningham was out in fourth.
ALLEN CUNNINGHAM: Jamie was fairly easy for me to play against at that point. Not all of the other players had the same feeling – he actually played fantastically against most of them. I don’t think he was specifically using a strategy, but the way he played worked well. A lot of his opponents were not experienced enough to figure out how to play against someone who was playing so many hands.
JAMIE GOLD: I put Allen on any small pair – it was a great call on my behalf. I knew I was on a coin-flip with him and that’s how I got him out. It was my first major tournament against the best in the world, and I was nervous, so of course I made mistakes. But when I knocked Allen out it was a great feeling. That was the first time I was convinced I was going to win.
Soon after came the hand that could have had changed everything. Gold limped on the button and Binger raised to 1.5m. By now Wasicka was getting frustrated with the repeated cycle of limp, limp, raise by Binger, snarling, ‘You can’t have a hand every single time Jamie limps in.’ He eventually made the call.
MICHAEL BINGER: Since it had gone three- handed I’d raised once or twice on the button when Jamie had limped and Paul completed, so they thought I was trying to steal, but this time I had A?-10?.
The 6?-10?-5? flop brought something for everyone. Wasicka had the daddy of draws with 7?-8? and checked, but as soon as Binger had made his 3.5m bet with top pair, Gold instantly re-raised all-in holding 3?-4?.
This was too much for Wasicka, who sat there saying: ‘this is sick… this is sick.’ Gold continued to bait him, saying: ‘We’ve all got a hand, let’s get it over with right now!’ Uttering the words, ‘this is disgusting’, Wasicka folded and Binger called. The 7? turn brought Gold the straight. But if Wasicka had stuck about, the Q? would have delivered him the flush on the river.
PAUL WASICKA: I really don’t regret my decision because given the information I had, my read on Jamie was really strong that he had a draw. I didn’t have 3-4 in his range so either we had the same hand and I was freerolling, which would have been a really good scenario, or he had a higher flush draw. I thought maybe the 7-8 was good, but my game is fold equity and being in spots where I give my opponent the chance to fold.
MICHAEL BINGER: It was inevitable I was going out on that hand. I had top pair/top kicker and already had 5m in the pot. I was really happy when Jamie moved in because I thought I had him, but when Paul was in the tank, I was like, ‘Wow, Paul could easily have bottom two pair.’ When Paul folded, it was an automatic call. We’d been playing for 14 hours straight and I had top pair/top kicker, so it would have taken extraordinary circumstances to make me fold.
Binger shouted for a red King, but as the 7 hit on the turn he grimaced and walked slowly away from the table. As the crowd applauded he turned and smiled and raised a hand, looking pleased with his third-place prize of $4,123,310.
MICHAEL BINGER: Overall I was happy to slide into third place. One of my main regrets is when I was in a hand with Jamie, I had third pair and he flashed me one of his cards on the river. There was a possible straight and an Ace, and I was actually thinking, ‘I’m really getting odds to call here,’ but somehow I folded, and he showed the bluff. It was the one time he did something out of line, but honestly Jamie didn’t annoy many people at the table. It was mainly the people watching.
PAUL WASICKA: I felt at the end of the hand, ‘Man, I could have made a lot more money’, but there was nothing I could do, so there was no real reason to be upset. After the fact, the only thing you can do is reflect, and if you feel like you made the right play, then there’s nothing to regret. I was just praying for Jamie to hit, then once he did, I was like ‘All right, heads-up, let’s take him down!’
2. 2006 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E.
What a line-up. Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, Patrik Antonius, Andy Bloch, Phil Ivey, T.J. Cloutier, Jim Bechtel, David Singer and Dewey Tomko. Some of the biggest names in poker playing not just for the bracelet and the money, but the chance to make history. The final titanic heads-up duel between Bloch and Reese sealed the tournament’s place in poker immortality.
3. 2003 MAIN EVENT
Chris Moneymaker’s victory at the main event was the start of the poker boom, and its effects are still being felt today. But the final-table action was also pretty thrilling in its own right, culminating in a heads-up clash with the ice-cool Sammy Farha. It was a stunning bluff from Chris Moneymaker that swung the momentum and helped pave the way for the online poker explosion that was to follow. The stuff of legend.
4. 1988 MAIN EVENT
Johnny Chan attempts to make it two main event titles on the bounce, culminating in an epic final hand that was to go on to be immortalised on celluloid in the film Rounders. Chan’s feat in back-to-back main event wins is likely never to be repeated again, and this will remain a seminal moment in poker history.
5. 1997 MAIN EVENT
Stu Ungar’s final comeback was played out in the daylight on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, in the only outdoor WSOP main event final table to date. Watching Ungar dominate the table under the blazing desert heat is compulsive viewing even today.
6. 1989 MAIN EVENT
Phil Hellmuth becomes the youngest main event champion in history, stopping Johnny Chan from becoming a three-time winner in the process. It’s an instantly recognisable Hellmuth, taking his time over big decisions, folding pocket tens three-handed then making sure the table knows about it. A star was born indeed.
7. 2000 MAIN EVENT
The first signs of the online revolution that was to follow were visible in this classic encounter between live game veteran T.J. Cloutier and the internet-schooled Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson. It’s like watching the changing of the guard.
8. 2005 SHORT-HANDEDNO-LIMIT HOLD’EM
Doyle Brunson watched Johnny Chan win a tenth bracelet then immediately set about catching him up. He waited just five days, taking the title in the short- handed event from a final table including fellow world champ Scotty Nguyen.
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