Home › Blogs › Jay Baage's blog

BuzzWatch: World Series of Poker Finale is Multiplatform and Hot! UPDATED

Authored by Jay Baage on August 10, 2006 - 8:46am.
PokerFriday morning, the largest single payout in live poker history – $12 million dollars – was securily in the hands of one grand champion, Jamie Gold. He beat out the other eight players at the final prestigious table in the World Series of Poker Championship at Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 
Poker is a game that is easy to take multiplatform and find ways for the audience to interact, as well as get sponsors in on the action. And there are no signs that the poker craze is cooling off anytime soon.

For the first time, ESPN broadcasted the final table action live over pay-per-view. If you were not anywhere near a TV, you could (and still can) get it on V-Cast to your cell phone from Verizon Wireless or see the online coverage provided by AOL and cardplayer.com.

Jamie Gold was a clear favourite to win the 37th annual Championship? Yahoo! searchers predicted that Jamie Gold would cruise to victory (pictured here next to an LA muscle man). Gold was the only guy at the final table who had buzz. Beginning on Sunday, he rose from anonymity to spike 26% by Wednesday. Compared to him, the other remaining players were being ignored.

For those of you who missed the Finale and want to find out more about why it is so addictive to watch these poker stars play, check out High Stakes Poker on the cable network GSN (Game Show Network) every Monday at 9-10pm, ET/PT.

The nine players at the final World Series of Poker table, all of whom are now millionaires by the way, were:

Jamie Gold
Gold, a 36-year-old television producer from Malibu, Calif., heads into the final table as the chip leader. Gold learned to player from his mother and by taking part in regular home games, but he also has had an expert tutor in friend and 10-time gold bracelet winner Johnny Chan. Gold said he wants to win the tournament to make his father, who has ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), proud in the little time he has left. 
Allen Cunningham
The only household name to make the final table, 29-year-old Cunningham came of age with some of poker's biggest names, including Daniel Negreanu and John Juanda. With four World Series of Poker bracelets to his name, including one earlier this year, the understated Las Vegas resident remains well positioned going into the final table. 

Richard Lee
Lee was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and now resides in San Antonio. The 55-year-old investor has been playing poker for 40 years; he is married with three children. This marks the second year Lee has played in the World Series of Poker. His greatest poker moment was going from 185,000 in chips to 2,350,000 in chips during a single day of the Main Event. 
Erik Friberg
This 23-year-old Swede has been playing poker for 10 years. A former student, Friberg is now a professional poker player. This marks the Stockholm resident's first year participating in the World Series of Poker. 

Paul Wasicka
Wasicka, whose nickname is "Kwickfish," taught himself to play poker 2.5 years ago with the help of some friends. A former bartender and restaurant manager, the 25-year-old counts "sucking out on aces" as a hobby. Prior to making the Main Event final table, the Westminster, Colo., resident’s best finish came earlier this year, when he placed 15th in another tournament. 

Douglas Kim
Kim is a 22-year-old a resident of Hartsdale, N.Y., who has been playing poker for four years. The financial consultant has an economics degree from Duke University and counts guitar playing and video games as his hobbies. He learned to play poker through a friend and considers his greatest poker moment "making kings fold pre-flop without having aces".

Rhett Butler
Butler, an insurance agent from Rockville, Md., is making an impressive debut at the World Series of Poker, thus far outlasting all but eight of the record 8,773 entrants in this year’s Main Event. The 44-year-old father of three can be found on the golf links when not seated at a poker table. He learned to play poker from his father 25 years ago and said he is playing in the tournament for his family and friends. 
Michael Binger
This 29-year-old Atherton, Calif. resident describes himself as a professional poker player and part-time theoretical physicist -- he earned a PhD in theoretical particle physics from Stanford earlier this year. Binger has been playing poker for six years, and this marks the second year he has played in the World Series of Poker. In addition to making the final table of the Main Event, he made the final table of a $1,500 buy-in event earlier in the tournament and won $100,000. 
Dan Nassif
Nassif taught himself to play poker three years ago. He has entered the World Series of Poker twice, with this final table appearance being by far his greatest performance. The 33-year-old account executive lives in St. Louis and enjoys golfing when he isn’t playing poker. 

The nine  players represent all that remained of the largest field of participants ever to enter a live poker tournament, 8,773. The previous record of 5,619 players was set at the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event, won by Joseph Hachem of Melbourne, Australia. Hachem pocketed a then-record $7.5 million.

In addition to the $12 million top prize, the following amounts will be paid to the other top finishers:

2nd place: $6,102,499
3rd place: $4,123,310
4th place: $3,628,513
5th place: $3,216,182
6th place: $2,803,851
7th place: $2,391,520
8th place: $1,979,189
9th place: $1,566,858

[Source: World Series of Poker, August 9, 2006]

Related Links:
http://www.worldseriesofpoker.comhttp://www.cardplayer.com/poker_news/news_story/1282?class=PokerNews
http://games.aol.com/poker
http://www.wsopmobile.com
http://www.gsn.com/specific_page_elements.php?link_id=S82
tags: Games | Sports | Internet | Video | Gambling | TV | Tournaments | Poker | World Series of Poker | Buzz |