Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Only 45 players remain in the 2006 WSOP Main Event as participants continue
to fall out of the march towards the $12 million first-place prize. Malibu,
Calif., native Jamie Gold currently resides in first place with $7,330,000
chips. Gold has never cashed in a World Series of Poker event, although he
has made some appearances on the California tournament poker scene. With all
of today's (August 7) Main Event players guaranteed at least $247,399, this
will be Gold's largest pay-out to date and considering his $1.4 million chip
lead over second place Erik Friberg, bigger money is well within his reach.
As the final week of the 2006 WSOP Main Event begins, the big story is the
relative lack of experience among the final 45 players. Although many
believed the final field would be made up of mostly new faces, few thought
so many big names would drop out so early. 2005 WSOP Player of Year Allen
Cunningham is one of the biggest names remaining, tied for that honor with
fan favorite and successful tournament player Humberto Brenes. Both men are
far from the top spot, but given their edge in experience, it would be hard
to count either out at this point.

If you exclude Cunningham and Brenes, the remaining 43 players combined have
two WSOP bracelets, 14 final tables, and 44 cashes.

Cunningham alone has four gold bracelets, 14 final tables, and 28 cashes
while Brenes had two gold bracelets, 17 final tables, and 40 cashes
lifetime.

While either player could post their career WSOP stats against the field and
come out looking good, if you combine the two, they surpass the rest of the
field by nearly a 2-1 margin in each important statistical category.

For the professionals and the big names, the size of the Main Event field is
the great equalizer. With a record 8,773 entries, making the money in the
Main Event has become the great challenge, never mind winning the whole
thing. By way of comparison, there are no former Main Event Champions
remaining. Only Brenes, who finished fourth in the 1988 WSOP Main Event, has
made a WSOP Main Event final table.

Other recognizable names to ardent poker fans are Jeffrey Lisandro (9th
place currently, 6 WSOP final tables, 14 chases), Cong Do (34th place
currently, 2 final tables, 6 cashes, and former bracelet winners Dan
Schmiech (2005- No Limit Hold'em) and Prahlad Friedman (2003 - Pot-Limit
Hold'em).

Main Event play begins again today at 12 p.m. PST. WSOP officials plan to
continue action until 27 players remain. The rest of the schedule for the
week looks like this:

Tuesday - 27 players down to 18 (three tables down to two).

Wednesday - 18 players down to 9 (down to the final table)

Thursday - 2006 WSOP Main Event Final Table

Here is the payout structure for the remainder of the Main Event:

45 thru 37 - $247,399

36 thru 28 - $329,865

27 thru 19 - $494,797

18 thru 16 - $659k

15 thru 13 - $907k

12 thru 10 - $1.15 million

9th Place - $1.56 million

8th Place - $1.98 million

7th Place - $2.39 millionv

6th Place - $2.8 million

5th Place - $3.21 million

4th Place - $3.62 million

3rd Place - $4.12 million

2nd Place - $6.1 million

Winner - $12 million

Casino City will be covering the final three days of the Main Event live
with continual updates from the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las
Vegas.