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August 11th 2006
WSOP Final Table: Midway Update
The 2006 World Series of Poker final table is well under way and already one man stands head and shoulders above the rest. With four players eliminated, most at the hands of one man, the dealers’ choice Jamie Gold is within touching distance of the biggest prize in sport. But he’s not there yet.
At 2pm today the nine finalists stacked up their chips and prepared for battle. It didn’t take long before someone’s tournament was over. On the fifth hand Dan Nassif raised to $700,000 after Jamie Gold had flat called from middle position. Gold checked in the dark before the flop came 5-3-2, inducing an all-in move from Nassif. Gold immediately called flipping over pocket twos for a flopped set and was miles ahead of Dan Nassif, who with AK could only hope for a 4 to give him a straight. It never materialised, and that was that.
Gold was on fire, and he picked up another monster pot just a few hands later. After a 9-9-8 flop Gold bet $1 million and was called by Erik Friberg and Allen Cunningham. Gold then checked the turn, a 5, and Allen Cunningham then bet $2 million. Gold called while Friberg folded, and Cunningham bet a further $2 million on the river, an ace. Gold called flipping over T-9 for trip nines and Cunningham mucked, showing the case nine as he did so. Gold raked a $13 million pot.
At this point play slowed down as the players tightened up and became more conservative. But at 5:30pm the table suddenly came to life. The action began with the elimination of Erik Friberg who found himself all-in preflop with his pocket jacks totally dominated by Jamie Gold’s pocket queens. He received $1,979,189 for 8th place.
Just two hands later and we had another all-in. This time Michael Binger was in big trouble against Allen Cunningham after getting his chips in on a flop of Q-J-8. With AT against Cunningham’s AQ there was only one card in the deck that could save him. And just like that the king fell on the turn, giving him the nut straight and doubling him up to over $6 million.
But Binger obviously wasn’t too comfortable with the extra chips, and he proceeded to throw most of them away on the VERY NEXT HAND. With A9 in the big blind he made a horrible call after Paul Wasicka moved all-in from the button. Wasicka’s AJ was miles ahead and Binger didn’t hit the 9 he needed – it cost him over $3 million chips.
No problem. After a period of relative calm Binger again got all his chips in the middle, and once again he had the second best hand. His A6 was only a marginal dog against Cunningham’s pocket twos, but a flop of A64 soon put an end to that and helped him double through Cunningham for the second time.
Binger wasn’t finished there however, and doubled through Cunningham for a THIRD time about half an hour later. This time, at last, he had the better hand, and his AQ held up against Cunningham’s QJ of spades to boost him to around $8 million in chips.
While Cunningham must have been getting rather fed up with Binger, he must have had huge sympathy for Richard Lee after the latter’s elimination. On the last hand before dinner Richard Lee, second in chips, raised to $1.2 million from the small blind after Jamie Gold had limped in from the cut-off. Gold quickly re-raised to $4 million total and Lee then moved all-in or a further $10 million. Gold immediately called and Richard Lee was crushed to see his opponents pocket queens. His jacks would not improve ad he was out in 6th, good for $2,803,851. It will have been a bitter tasting dinner.
For Jamie Gold however dinner must have tasted sweet. The chip leader at the start of the day had a huge chip lead with $51 million chips, miles ahead of second placed Paul Wasicka who had $14 million.
Back from the dinner break a hand finally went against Jamie Gold. Much to the relief of the other players, who must have been beginning to wonder if Gold had already paid the dealers the $1 million he promised them if he won, Gold proved he was not invincible by doubling up Paul Wasicka. It was not without a bit of misfortune however, as Gold had Wasicka thoroughly dominated when the chips went into the pot. On a K-Q-2 flop Wasicka bet $1 million and was re-raised to $5 million by Gold. Wasicka then moved all-in with KT and was horrified to see Gold call with AK. How quickly things can change however, and a ten on the river brought the Rio to its feet.
Currently, at ten minutes past midnight the chip counts stand as follows:
Jamie Gold - $44,075,000
Paul Wasicka - $18,000,000
Allen Cunningham - $12,800,000
Michael Binger - $6,900,000
Rhett Butler - $6,500,000
Submitted: 11/08/2006 08:19:53
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