Monday’s short session at the World Series of Poker Main Event has brought the competitive field down to the last 27, with big money assured for everyone still battling toward the ultimate first prize of $12 million.
Monday’s players were well compensated. The first player out in the 45th position when play resumed, Jim Routos collected a farewell prize of $247 399, as did those down to position 37. Positions 36 through 28 earned even more at $329 865 each, and the 27 through 19 who go out after play starts again Tuesday will each approach the half million mark at $494 797. By the time the last 12 players to survive has been reached the individual pay cheques stand at $1.15 million.
But it’s the final table that really counts, and these are the take home dollars that these ultimate players, who have survived from a starting field of 8 773 will have their eyes on:
9th Place – $1.56 million
8th Place – $1.98 million
7th Place – $2.39 million
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
Thirty-six year old Jamie Gold, a former Hollywood agent for “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman and “The Sopranos” star James Gandolfini is currently way ahead on chips and must be a favourite to win. The Californian who hails from Malibu went into Monday’s game with $7 330 000 and had almost doubled that by the end of play Monday. He starts today’s action with $13 000 000, ahead of number 2 chip leader Erik Friberg, on around $7.7 million in chips.
One of the notable features of this year’s surivivors is the absence of most of the big names, who certainly tried hard but have not made it through to the last 45. The 2005 WSOP Player of Year Allen Cunningham is still in the hunt, but popular and successful tournament player Humberto Brenes went out last night.
By way of comparison, there are now no former Main Event Champions remaining.
This is how the action will shape up over the next few days:
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
The average stack entering day seven play is about 3.3 million chips. That can diminish pretty quickly, as after about 40 minutes of play the blinds go up to level 28 (30 000 / 60 000 with a 10 000 ante) and players will be paying 180 000 chips per orbit.
Day seven will begin today (Tuesday) at noon Vegas time, and end when the final nine contenders have been decided.