Poker Tournament Results

37th Annual World Series of Poker

Event #17 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em

July 10, 2006 at 12:00 PM
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Tournament Schedule

Buy-In	$1,000
Prize Pool	$2,891,000
Entries	2891
Report Available

Jon Friedberg

Place	Name	Prize
1	Jon Friedberg (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$526,185
2	John Bon Phan (Stockton, CA, USA)	$289,389
3	Michael Pomeroy (Detroit, MI, USA)	$157,322
4	Tom Hawkingberry (Pittsburgh, PA, USA)	$122,596
5	Kevin O'Donnell (Scottsdale, AZ, USA)	$105,232
6	Corey Chaston (Hamilton, ON, Canada)	$88,132
7	Humberto Brenes (San Jose, CA, USA)	$74,715
8	Michael Halford AKA "Kidfrmtenn" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$61,561
9	Luu Thang AKA "Tiger Luu" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$49,772
10	Juan Carlos Mortensen AKA "El Matador" (Henderson, NV, USA)	$38,939
11	Karen Black (Whittier, CA, USA)	$35,516
12	Lowell Kim (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$32,622
13	Terry Trevathan (Lufkin, TX, USA)	$29,991
14	Shane McCarrell (Yuma, AZ, USA)	$27,460
15	Matthew Palmucci (Nashua, NH, USA)	$24,730
16	Nick Hill (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$22,099
17	Wei Chen (Chapel Hill, NC, USA)	$19,468
18	Boulos Estafanous (Darien, IL, USA)	$16,837
19	Tae Baik (Colmer, PA, USA)	$14,206
20	Richard Sparks (Beverly Hills, CA, USA)	$14,206
21	Simon Ford (Calgary, AB, Canada)	$14,206
22	David Parde (Beverton, OR, USA)	$14,206
23	Mark Wilds (Biloxi, MS, USA)	$11,576
24	Steve Connally (San Diego, CA, USA)	$11,576
25	Jon Dull (Fresno, CA, USA)	$9,471
26	Jeff Rosenblatt (Mount Royal, QC, Canada)	$9,471
27	Charlie Ng (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$9,471
28	William Kyle Orvis (Longmont, CO, USA)	$7,892
29	Joseph Falcone (Hawley, PA, USA)	$7,892
30	Zak Shapiro (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$7,892
31	Jason Stern (San Jose, CA, USA)	$7,891
32	John Shipley (Solihull, UK)	$7,892
33	Frank Huntress AKA "Granger" (Austin, TX, USA)	$7,892
34	Negie Marucci (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$7,892
35	Dave Walton (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$7,892
36	George A Auscomb (Frenkenmuth, MI, USA)	$7,892
37	Randy Haddox AKA "Randers" (Houston, TX, USA)	$6,314
38	Mark Burtenshaw (Idaho Falls, ID, USA)	$6,314
39	Anthony Limantzakis (Salt Lake City, UT, USA)	$6,314
40	John Bardwell (Haines City, FL, USA)	$6,314
41	Marek Kolk (Lithuania)	$6,314
42	John Repetti (Henderson, NV, USA)	$6,314
43	Mike Chow (Honolulu, HI, USA)	$6,314
44	Marlis Sawicki (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$6,314
45	Robert Hutchins (Monterey, CA, USA)	$6,314
46	Ronald Peterson (Kalispell, MT, USA)	$6,314
47	Greg Mueller AKA "FBT" (Vancouver, BC, Canada)	$6,314
48	Matt Rightnour (Clearfield, PA, USA)	$6,314
49	Chris McCormack (Laurel Hollow, NY, USA)	$6,314
50	Loren Cargile (San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA)	$6,314
51	Ed Apodaca (Elizabeth, CO, USA)	$6,314
52	Peter Boysen (Aarhus, Denmark)	$6,314
53	John Zaheri (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$6,314
54	Will Durkee (Pittsburgh, PA, USA)	$6,314
55	David Katz (Venice, CA, USA)	$5,262
56	Colby Spere (Canyon Country, CA)	$5,262
57	Ashley Young (San Francisco, CA, USA)	$5,262
58	Gary Long (Naples, FL, USA)	$5,262
59	Gregg M Goldstein (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,262
60	James Russell (Arlington, VA, USA)	$5,262
61	Daniel Lowe (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,262
62	Joe Ebert (Rochester, NY, USA)	$5,262
63	Ron Rogers (Edwardsburg, MI, USA)	$5,262
64	Kevin O'Sullivan (Santa Monica, CA, USA)	$5,262
65	Marcello Del Grosso (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$5,262
66	Thomas J Hayman (Macomb, MI, USA)	$5,262
67	Bryan Connole (Beaumont, CA, USA)	$5,262
68	Yakir Retner (Tel Aviv, Israel)	$5,262
69	Todd Miskos (La Salle, ON, Canada)	$5,262
70	Carlos Lopez (Dallas, TX, USA)	$5,262
71	Michael Katz (Manalapan, NJ, USA)	$5,262
72	Steve Zoine (Merrick, NY, USA)	$5,262
73	Michael Kilgoris (Huntsville, AL, USA)	$5,262
74	Richard Spring (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,262
75	Samir Zoudo (Modesto, CA, USA)	$5,262
76	Annand "Victor" Ramdin (Bronx, NY, USA)	$5,262
77	Peter Lawson (Sandy, UT, USA)	$5,262
78	Steve Vincent (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,262
79	Satish Vitha (Cerritos, CA, USA)	$5,262
80	Michael Sanderson (Odenton, MD, USA)	$5,262
81	Paul Finn (Pueblo, CO, USA)	$5,262
82	William Vosti (Arroyo Grande, CA, USA)	$4,209
83	Peter Lawson (Sandy, UT, USA)	$4,209
84	Lara Covert (Lawrence, KS, USA)	$4,209
85	Thomas Swanson (Duluth, MN, USA)	$4,209
86	Isaac Galazan AKA "the general" (Sunny Isles Beach, FL, USA)	$4,209
87	Colin McDonnell (Studio City, CA, USA)	$4,209
88	Justin Title (Austin, TX, USA)	$4,209
89	Erik Sorensen (Copenhagen, Denmark)	$4,209
90	Gregory Grivas (Carlsbad, CA, USA)	$4,209
91	Dennis Wu (Cleveland, OH, USA)	$4,209
92	Camillo Calabrese (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$4,209
93	Randolf W Sears (Victorville, CA, USA)	$4,209
94	Will Souther AKA "The Monkey" (Biloxi, MS, USA)	$4,209
95	Motoyuki Mabuchi AKA "Moto" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$4,209
96	Kevin Westcott AKA "Wheels" (Chicago, IL, USA)	$4,209
97	Clayton D Connelly (Fort Smith, AR, USA)	$4,209
98	Brian Hansen (Colorado Springs, CO, USA)	$4,209
99	Kevin Song (Diamond Bar, CA, USA)	$4,209
100	J.C. Tran (Sacramento, CA, USA)	$4,209
101	Nhan Le (Orange County, CA, USA)	$4,209
102	Mike Sanchez (Tucson, AZ, USA)	$4,209
103	Jared Smith AKA "J-rod" (Reno, NV, USA)	$4,209
104	Matt Engel (Allen, TX, USA)	$4,209
105	Brittani Simberg (Santa Monica, CA, USA)	$4,209
106	William Shanks (College Park, MD, USA)	$4,209
107	Rick Ruffman (Colts Neck, NJ, USA)	$4,209
108	David Scheinbart (Woodland Hills, CA, USA)	$4,209
109	Jacinto Lopez (Dallas, TX, USA)	$3,157
110	Mickey Seagle (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,157
111	William J Jensen (Silver Spring, MD, USA)	$3,157
112	Terry Myers (Yuma, AZ, USA)	$3,157
113	Paul Ahmed (Springdale, AR, USA)	$3,157
114	Kevin Ho (Gainsville, FL, USA)	$3,157
115	Steve Mitchell (Louisville, KY, USA)	$3,157
116	Tom Russo (Colorado Springs, CO, USA)	$3,157
117	David Lataille AKA "DMoney" (Suprise, AZ, USA)	$3,157
118	Edmund Liu (Burbank, CA, USA)	$3,157
119	Quinn Do (El Monte, CA, USA)	$3,157
120	Adam Naglich (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,157
121	Jeff Rasmussen (Carmel Ind, CA, USA)	$3,157
122	Frank Puleo (St. Louis, MO, USA)	$3,157
123	Thomas Hover (Blue Diamond, Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,157
124	Stephen Ladowsky (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$3,157
125	Tina Bergstrom (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,157
126	Gee Lee (Houston, TX, USA)	$3,157
127	Hank Sitton (Greenville, SC, USA)	$3,157
128	Pete Falkenstein (Ann Arbor, MI, USA)	$3,157
129	Jacob Hoffman (Nappanei, IN, USA)	$3,157
130	Brad Mahon (Gilbert, AZ, USA)	$3,157
131	Jean "Prince" Gaspard (Evanston, IL, USA)	$3,157
132	Kris Fields (Cincinnati, OH, USA)	$3,157
133	Carl A Davis (Levelland, TX, USA)	$3,157
134	Gary N Lew (Sugar Land, TX, USA)	$3,157
135	Jeremy Armstrong (Beverly Hills, CA, USA)	$3,157
136	Sheree Bykofsky (Atlantic City, NJ, USA)	$3,157
137	James Fox (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,157
138	Glyn Banks AKA "Rachet" (Smithville, TN, USA)	$3,157
139	Unknown	$3,157
140	Gary Gosewehr (Port Washington, WI, USA)	$3,157
141	Joe Ramos (Tulane, CA, USA)	$3,157
142	Joseph Yun (Honolulu, HI, USA)	$3,157
143	Christopher Mudd (Kirksville, MO, USA)	$3,157
144	Jim Thomas (Reno, NV, USA)	$3,157
145	Craig Brockman (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,157
146	Larry Etherington (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$3,157
147	David Williams (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,157
148	Anthony Renella (Aurora, IL, USA)	$3,157
149	Mark Bonsack AKA "bonsai" (Maple Valley, WA, USA)	$3,157
150	Charles Lunn AKA "Spanky" (Toccoa, GA, USA)	$3,157
151	Gioi Luong (Westminster, CA, USA)	$3,157
152	Ylon Schwartz (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$3,157
153	John Huston (Helena, MI, USA)	$3,157
154	Kevin Miller (Richmond Heights, MO, USA)	$2,368
155	Patrick Bueno (Paris, France)	$2,368
156	Ryan Larson (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,368
157	Randolph Spain (Brewer, ME, USA)	$2,368
158	Eddie Zakaria (Windsor, ON, Canada)	$2,368
159	Joe Holmes (Bullhead City, AZ, USA)	$2,368
160	Duane Drushella (OR, USA)	$2,368
161	Steven Waldo (Corinth, TX, USA)	$2,368
162	Richard Steinmetz (Ambridge, PA, USA)	$2,368
163	Stanley Duis (De Forest, WI, USA)	$2,368
164	Tomishau Krizanie (Oakland Park, FL, USA)	$2,368
165	Jason Chung (Houston, TX, USA)	$2,368
166	Richard Ferro (Dallas, TX, USA)	$2,368
167	Gregg Merkow (Plano, TX, USA)	$2,368
168	Billy Cockman (Jacksonville, FL, USA)	$2,368
169	Matts Eriksson (Stockholm, Sweden)	$2,368
170	Keith Noblett (Plano, TX, USA)	$2,368
171	Jonathan Sedaghati (Tarzana, CA, USA)	$2,368
172	Steven Musekat (Gordon, NSW, Australia)	$2,368
173	John Salmon (Maricopa, AZ, USA)	$2,368
174	Michael Serrano (Hoffman Estates, IL, USA)	$2,368
175	Barry Seedman (Henderson, NV, USA)	$2,368
176	Leon Walk (Warren, OH, USA)	$2,368
177	Lyle McKeany (Santa Barbara, CA, USA)	$2,368
178	Tony Grand (Chatsworth, CA, USA)	$2,368
179	Matthew Flynn (Millwaukee, WI, USA)	$2,368
180	Ross Boatman (London, UK)	$2,368
181	Dustin Carlton (Mantua, OH, USA)	$2,368
182	Robin Schoder (Conifer, CO, USA)	$2,368
183	Jon Loshbaugh (Denver, CO, USA)	$2,368
184	Theo Osborne (UK)	$2,368
185	Brett Smith (Palmer, AK, USA)	$2,368
186	Evan Peterson (Irvine, CA, USA)	$2,368
187	Mark Green (Shelbyville, IN, USA)	$2,368
188	Andrew Barciz (Scottsdale, AZ, USA)	$2,368
189	Arthur Bressler (Manalapan, NJ, USA)	$2,368
190	Michel Bokan (Sacramento, CA, USA)	$2,368
191	Kully K Burnet (Kailua, HI, USA)	$2,368
192	Matts Millson (Sweden)	$2,368
193	Roy Vandersluis (London, UK)	$2,368
194	Jeremy Nagel (Vancouver, BC, Canada)	$2,368
195	Brandon Adams (Pensacola, FL, USA)	$2,368
196	Richard Joel (Conyers, GA, USA)	$2,368
197	Juha Helppi (Helsinki, Finland)	$2,368
198	Rick Montijo (Bakersfield, CA, USA)	$2,368
199	Peter Hedlund (Stockholm, Sweden)	$1,578
200	Terry Huggins (Palo Pinto, TX, USA)	$1,578
201	Shannon Fadal (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$1,578
202	Jesse Petrakis (Napa, CA, USA)	$1,578
203	Mike Wattel (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$1,578
204	Gregory Eberlein (Surprise, AZ, USA)	$1,578
205	Phillip Tague (Denver, CO, USA)	$1,578
206	Eric Staton (Lexington, KY, USA)	$1,578
207	Theodore Mullilin (Gatlinburg, TN, USA)	$1,578
208	Christopher Guinnup (Saline, MI, USA)	$1,578
209	Talio Khio (Chicago, IL, USA)	$1,578
210	Michael Tham (New York, NY, USA)	$1,578
211	Phillip Biho (Lahaina, HI, USA)	$1,578
212	Arturo Diaz (San Diego, CA, USA)	$1,578
213	Vaughn McClelland (Jersey Shore, PA, USA)	$1,578
214	Gavin Smith (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$1,578
215	Brent McClame (Bristol, IN, USA)	$1,578
216	Michael McArdle (Gainesville, FL, USA)	$1,578
217	Roger Fitzsimmons (Galesburg, IL, USA)	$1,578
218	Michael Airhart (Austin, TX, USA)	$1,578
219	Phillip Gurian (Boca Raton, FL, USA)	$1,578
220	Michel Oslon (Wauwatosa, WI, USA)	$1,578
221	Jonathan Little AKA "FieryJustice" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$1,578
222	Philip Ariganello AKA "Woggy" (Ewa Beach, HI, USA)	$1,578
223	John Walliser (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$1,578
224	Kevin Currey (Orlando, FL, USA)	$1,578
225	Mark Barre (Pearland, TX, USA)	$1,578
226	Steve Federspiel (North Liberty, IA, USA)	$1,578
227	James Mattox (Kingsland, GA, USA)	$1,578
228	Ted Forrest (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$1,578
229	Kendall Fukumoto AKA "ohana808, KFKYF" (Honolulu, HI, USA)	$1,578
230	Gary Braufman (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$1,578
231	Doug Smith (Shawnee, KS, USA)	$1,578
232	Steve Abt (Meadowbrook, PA, USA)	$1,578
233	Chalk Blankenship AKA "Chalk" (Lenoir City, TN, USA)	$1,578
234	John Pires (Santa Clara, CA, USA)	$1,578
235	Don Bielli (Broken Arrow, OK, USA)	$1,578
236	Paris Holmes (San Antonio, TX, USA)	$1,578
237	Scott Mele (Lake Hiawatha, NJ, USA)	$1,578
238	Justin Patel (Cary, NC, USA)	$1,578
239	Terry Breeden (Spotsylvania, VA, USA)	$1,578
240	John Saint (Sulmar, CA, USA)	$1,578
241	Daniel Eskola (Stockholm, Sweden)	$1,578
242	Richard Basso (Saint Clair Shores, MI, USA)	$1,578
243	Jonathon C Crawford (Quincy, MA, USA)	$1,578
244	Ronald Delcamp (Seattle, WA, USA)	$1,578
245	David Drews (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$1,578
246	Jared Okun AKA "Smokinokun" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$1,578
247	Marc Aubin AKA "WineBoy" (Montreal, QC, Canada)	$1,578
248	Chris Johnson (San Jose, CA, USA)	$1,578
249	Richard Seward (Port Orchard, WA, USA)	$1,578
250	Bradford Damm (San Diego, CA, USA)	$1,578
251	Michael Gwyn (Woodstock, VA, USA)	$1,578
252	David Gibbone (Mount Royal, NJ, USA)	$1,578
253	Braden Kyle Lee (Aiea, HI, USA)	$1,578
254	Michael "Zip" Vitullo (Woodland Hills, CA, USA)	$1,578
255	Fred Finley (Arvada, CO, USA)	$1,578
256	Sandro Gebert (Venice, CA, USA)	$1,578
257	Glen Theobald (fort lauderdale, FL, USA)	$1,578
258	Arnold Kirschenmann (Bakersfield, CA, USA)	$1,578
259	Steve Kujubu AKA "speedie" (Sacramento, CA, USA)	$1,578
260	Kim Austin (Beaufort, SC, USA)	$1,578
261	Duffy Riebe (Irvine, CA, USA)	$1,578
262	Juan Carlin (Laredo, TX, USA)	$1,578
263	John Rusk (Mahomet, IL, USA)	$1,578
264	Markus Gonsalves (San Diego, CA, USA)	$1,578
265	Mikhail Vaynshteyn (Alberta, AB, Canada)	$1,578
266	James Pittman (Yorbalinda, CA, USA)	$1,578
267	Steve Lance (Twinsburg, OH, USA)	$1,578
268	Brian Ellenburg (Valley Village, CA, USA)	$1,578
269	Shawn Mattaro (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$1,578
270	Eric Behling (Milwaukee, WI, USA)	$1,578

Tournament Report

Nothing to Lose, Everything to Win

Jon Friedberg Pulls-Off Stunning Upset Victory
Mammoth 2006 WSOP attracts second-largest live poker tournament in history

Las Vegas, NV - Janis Joplin once sang, 'freedom is just another word for - nothing left to lose.' What the 1969 song lyric meant was that it's far easier to be daring and take chances when there is not so much at stake. Jon Friedberg, winner of the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em championship certainly understands this. He won the second-largest live poker tournament in history at the 2006 World Series of Poker, presented by Milwaukee's Best Light. Friedberg overcame a field of 2,891 players to win over half-a-million dollars in prize money. Only the main event of the 2005 WSOP attracted more entries. A whopping 270 players finished in-the-money.
Friedberg, who won his first-ever gold bracelet, is a 31-year-old MBA graduate from Pepperdine University. He is a businessman and investor with a number of ongoing start-up ventures. Freidberg lives in Las Vegas. It took two very long days to eliminate 2,882 participants. That left the final nine players, who returned for Day Three. When the final table started, Michael Pomeroy looked to be the player to beat. He enjoyed a sizable chip advantage. In fact, Pomeroy possessed one-third of the total chips in play. Only one former gold bracelet winner was present -- two-time champion Humberto Brenes. He won two WSOP titles in 1993, for Pot-Limit Omaha and Limit Hold'em.

Name Chip Count Seat # John Phan $747,000 1 Michael Pomeroy $1,325,000 2 Humberto Brenes $564,000 3 Tom Hawkingberry $675,000 4 Corey Chaston $229,000 5 Mike Halford $89,000 6 Kevin O'Donnell $222,000 7 Jon Friedberg $189,000 8 Thang T. Luu $314,000 9

About 15 minutes into play, Thang T. Luu lost most of his chips with ace-jack against pocket kings, and then was eliminated a few hands later. Luu, born in Vietnam and now living in Las Vegas, received $49,722. Mike Halford went out on the very next hand. He was pot-committed with jack-seven when the flop came Q-7-6 and actually had the best hand against John Phan's flush draw. However, a heart fell on the river making the flush, which busted Halford. The Las Vegas poker pro now has 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 10th-place finishes at the WSOP over the last two decades. He collected $61,561.
Costa Rican superstar Humberto Brenes' bid for his first gold bracelet in 13 years was dashed when Mike Pomeroy spiked a queen holding ace-queen versus Brenes' ace-king. Brenes, who owns several businesses in Central America and also has 41 cashes in his illustrious WSOP career, said adios and was paid $74,715 for seventh place. Next, Canadian poker player Corey Chasten went out in a three-way pot won by Kevin O'Donnell. Chaston received $88,132 as the sixth-place finisher.
When play became five-handed, Mike Pomeroy increased his chip lead to 2 to 1 and had about half of the chips in play. Kevin O'Donnell was not so fortunate. Fresh off winning the big pot which eliminated Chasten, O'Donnell flopped top pair holding ace-jack. But Jon Friedberg hit a third eight on the river to make three-of-a-kind, which broke O'Donnell. He earned $105,232.
Jon Friedberg started making his move when play was at four-handed. He narrowed the gap with the chip-leader Pomeroy, who busted the next player from the tournament. Tom Hawkingberry, who works as a compressed gas plant operator, exploded when his ace-four was dominated by Pomeroy's ace-jack. Pomeroy made a gratuitous flush, putting Hawkingberry out in fourth place. He earned $122,596.
Which now brings us to singer Janis Joplin's poker tournament strategy. In a post-tournament interview which occurred two hours later, Friedberg made an acute observation that summarized his reasons for success. He explained that it is sometimes easier to play a small stack than a big one. 'I prefer to come into a tournament as a shorter stack than a big stack,' Friedberg said. 'As odd as that sounds, when I am a short stack I feel like I have nothing to lose. But when I come in as a tall stack I am scared to lose my chips and it affects my game. To me, there are definite advantages to coming in with the short stack and I know it is uphill from there. I am willing to gamble, take chances, and play my game -- more so than if I have chips.'
Friedberg's strategy proved effective. He pushed John Phan out of a few big pots and, in at least one sense, became the victim of his own success. Friedberg seized the chip lead and then annihilated the player who had dominated the final table up to that point. Mike Pomeroy lost all of his chips with queen-three against Friedberg's pocket fives. Pomeroy caught a queen, but Pomeroy caught a five (making a set), which wrecked Pomeroy's dreams of victory. Michael Pomeroy, an auto worker from Detroit, raced off with $157,322.
When heads-up play began, Friedberg enjoyed a 4 to 1 chip lead. Later, Friedberg reflected back on his feelings when initially faced with the prospect of playing against John Phan heads-up for the gold bracelet. 'I think I needed a 4 to 1 chip lead to beat John. He is one of the very best players in the world. I'll be honest -- I was scared to death to play him heads-up and even at 4 to1, I was scared to play against him.'
The fear certainly did not show. Phan was never seriously able to threaten Friedberg's chip lead. About 90 minutes into heads-up play, the final hand of the night was dealt when Phan tried to make a pre-flop steal holding the less-than-desirable queen-four suited. Friedberg called the all-in move holding ace-seven suited. The final board showed 10-9-3-2-7, giving Friedberg a pair of sevens and his first WSOP victory.
As the runner up, John 'The Razor' Phan received $289,389 in prize money. He was visibly disappointed with the outcome. 'I have to try and keep my head up,' Phan said. 'There is always tomorrow in poker. I'll be back tomorrow.' Friedberg agreed that he had dodged a bullet by not having to confront Phan from a competitive disadvantage. '(Phan) was the single most feared opponent I had at this table,' Friedberg said. 'John is not going to be happy when he sees the (ESPN) television footage of me when I pushed him off some key hands. John is a great player and I feel very fortunate to have come out on top tonight.'
'I started off here on the final table eighth (in the chip count) out of nine players. I had a key double-up hand early. Then, I had a couple of very lucky suck outs and got some chips and was able to win. Every poker player's dream is to win a World Series of Poker gold bracelet. I came here, and now did it. I really can't believe it.'
Writer's Note: 1969's 'Me and Bobby McGee' was actually written by Kris Kristofferson, but it was popularized by Janis Jopin.
by Nolan Dalla
Overall Tournament Statistics (through end of Event #17):
Total Entries to Date: 16,912
Total Prize Money Distributed: $ 30,808,892
For official news and latest updates from the 2006 World Series of Poker, please visit: www.worldseriesofpoker.com
For official photographs from the 2006 World Series of Poker, please contact Eric Harkins (Image Masters PDI) at: image22@aol.com Or visit: http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/photo_store/
For additions news and information from the 2006 WSOP, please contact: nolandalla@aol.com
World Series of Poker Commissioner - Jeffrey Pollack
Director, Sponsorship and Licensing -- Ty Stewart
Director, Communications and Operations - Gary Thompson
Director, Broadcasting and New Media - Craig Abrahams
Vice President of Specialty Gaming -- Howard Greenbaum
WSOP Tournament Director - Robert Daily
WSOP Tournament Director / Director of Poker Operations for Harrah's Entertainment - Jack Effel

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