The 2006 World Series of Poker main event is over and we have a new world champion! Jamie Gold, a former hollywood agent hailing from Malibu, California has overcome the largest field ever seen in a live poker tournament.

Jamie was the last man standing out of a massive field of 8,773, this is an amazing effort and Jamie deserves full credit for his achievement.

The champ played some brilliant big stack poker and used his chips to perfection in his historic win. Gold knocked out 7 of the last 8 players, so it needs not be said that the man was happy to see alot of flops and really mix it up. He was loving the action.

The betting and raising was frequent and furious and the other finalists looked powerless to stop the man with the large chip lead. A student of the great Johnny Chan, while this in itself carries much weight, the new world champion has already faced some criticism with a few commenting that the man was lucky and had a great run. Gold indeed hit a few lucky cards, but no one can deny his talent with the deep stack and his ability to force his opponents to make moves against him.

The last 8 placed as follows:

8th Erik Friberg

7th Douglas Kim

6th Richard Lee

5th Rhett Butler

4th Allen Cunningham

3rd Michael Binger

2nd Paul Wasicka

1st Jamie Gold - the new World Champion

Jamie went into the heads up battle with close to a 7 to 1 chip advantage and it was over in only a few short hands. Runner up Paul Wasicka taking home over US $6 million. The final hand saw a flop of Q-8-5, Gold checked and Wasicka responded with a nice sized bet only for Gold to check-raise all in. Wasicka decided to make the call and the hole cards were exposed. Wasicka revealed pocket 10's, but Gold had made top pair with his Q-9. The turn was a Ace and the river came a 4, it was all over.

Gold has taken home US $12 million for his efforts and of course the all important bracelet.

Well done Jamie! We look forward to seeing more action from you in the coming months.

-SS

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