By: Brian Gabrielle
http://www.ProCappers.com


All that glitters certainly looks to be Gold in the 2006 World Series of Poker's $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event at Harrah's off-Strip Rio Hotel and Casino.

Jamie Gold, a California TV producer and talent agent, kept a tight grip on first Tuesday as the record field was sliced from 27 to Thursday's Final Table of nine, more than doubling the chip count of his closest competitor, well-known pro and two-two-time gold bracelet winner Allen Cunningham, at one point.

Gold had more than 35 million chips at the time, but saw his stack dwindle as play proceded.

Action began at noon and progressed slowly after the first half of the remaining hopefuls had been eliminated as players tenaciously battled for the last nine coveted slots.

Play finally ended about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday when Fred Goldberg went all-in from the cutoff of $2.8 million.

Richard Lee called in the small blind and showed the kings; Goldberg displayed the queen of hearts and 3 of spades.

The board came 9 of hearts, 7 of hearts, 7 of clubs, jack of spades and 8 of clubs.

The nine players from last year's Final Table all had busted out before Tuesday play began, with defending champion Joe Hachem winding up 99th.

The 2006 WSOP Texas No-Limit Hold'em finalists, hometowns and chip totals are Gold, Malibi, Calif., 26,000,000; Cunningham, Las Vegas, 17,700,000; Erik Friberg, Stockholm, Sweden, 9,725,000; Lee, San Antonio, 8,745,000; Paul Wasicka, Westminster, Conn., 8,050,000; Doug Kim, Hartsdale, N.Y., 6,500,000; Rhett Butler, Rockville, Md., 5,000,000; Michael Binger, Atherton, Calif., 3,320; and Dan Nassif, St. Louis, 2,840,000.

The last dozen contenders each were guaranteed at least $1.1 million.

They will compete for a $12 million top prize.

The 10th, 11th and 12th-place contestants earned $1,154,572 apiece.

They were Goldberg, Lief Force and John Magill.

The 13, 14th and 15th place finishers each received $907,128.

They included William Thorsson, Luke Chung and Kevin Aaronson.

Notable pro Jeffrey Lisandro was eliminated in 17th, just behind David Einhorn.

Each took home $659,730.

Einhorn, the Rye, N.Y., investment firm emploee who began Tuesday as the third highest chip holder and had pledged to donate his winnings to actor Michael J. Fox's Foundation for Parkinson's Research, busted out in 18th place.

Parkinson's Disease was responsible for his grandfather's death.

The WSOP is running a day ahead of schedule as the original field of 8,773 was pared much quicker than anticipated, setting up an unprecedented dark day on Wednesday, the eve of the finals.

Registration for a simultaneous $1,500 buy-in No-Limit event fell considerably as players began heading home after extended Las Vegas stays.

The Monday-Tuesday tourney drew one of the smalllest fields in the six-week poker extravaganza, just 362 players.

James Mitchell beat Stuart Fox in heads-up action and won $153,173 from the $494,130 purse.