Mandalay Bay Poker Championship
Mandalay Bay Casino and Hotel
May 25 to June 8, 2006

WPT Event Day 1
349 players went at it on Day 1 of the WPT tournament. First prize is over $1,000,000 and payouts will go to the top 50 players where even the last position, (number 50), will be rewarded with $13,440. The payout schedule for the final table players is as follows:

1. $1,033,440
2. $604,765
3. $319,180
4. $184,745
5. $134,390
6. $94,075

1. Nenad Medic -- 141,200 Chips
2. Loi Phan -- 119,250 Chips
3. Amnon Filippi -- 112,150 Chips
4. Josh Arieh -- 100,225 Chips
5. Amir Vahedi -- 93,575 Chips
6. Carlos Mortensen -- 93,400 Chips

WPT Event Day 2
At noon 164 players sat down for the next round of play at the Mandalay Bay. And from the beginning the eliminations went fast with Paul Darden, Evelyn Ng, Kenna James, Isabelle Mercier and Vanessa Rousso going out in the first hour. The casualties continued with David Sklansky, Kathy Liebert, Farzad Bonyadi, Cyndy Violette, Chau Giang, T.J. Cloutier, Dewey Tomko, Erick Lindgren and David Williams following them.

Now the question comes to mind, "Who was doing the eliminating?". Brad Booth took out a huge share of players and Tuan Le also hit the field hard building up their chip stacks to make the top 6. Carlos Mortensen also had a very good day. Tournament officials decided to end things earlier than planned, so around 9:00 p.m. 56 players bagged their chips to continue on to Day 3. Come back as we will have the results posted when released. Here are the top 6 players with chip counts:

1. Brad Booth -- 327,100 Chips
2. Joe Tehan -- 311,200 Chips
3. Tuan Le -- 287,500 Chips
4. Charles Pacheco -- 248,000 Chips
5. Carlos Mortensen -- 247,900 Chips
6. Tom Koral -- 220,400 Chips

WPT Event Day 3
The day began with 56 players and ended with 18 that will continue to compete on Day 4. But the day's action was fierce with eliminations. Nemad Medic went out in 50th position when his pocket Q's were outdone by an opponents pocket J's that ended up trips. Erik Seidel lost to Tuan Le's quad 4's, Joe Tehan took out Patrik Antonius and Loi Phan in the quest to becoming the Day 3 chip leader. Others who followed to the sidelines include Kristy Gazes (49th), David Oppenheim (41st), Max Pescatori (38th), Hasan Habib (33rd), Harry Demetriou (29th), John Juanda (27th), Chad Brown (25th), Tuan Le (22nd) who was finished by John Cernuto after having his chip stack hit hard during the day by other players and Chris Grigorian (21st).

This tournament will continue play at 12 noon, so come back for updates. Here are the top 6 players with chip counts:

1. Joe Tehan -- 1,056,000 Chips
2. Alex Outhred -- 902,000 Chips
3. Brad Booth -- 721,000 Chips
4. Tom Koral -- 590,000 Chips
5. Mike Landers -- 531,000 Chips
6. John Cernuto -- 397,000 Chips

WPT Event Day 4
The top 6 players have been established for the final table that will take place tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. But the process going from 18 to 6 continued the intensity that has been established since the tournament began. During the tournament a debate between Tony Ma and Brad Booth came up when Brad promised another player he would show him his cards if he would fold. Ma said this was not good poker etiquette and he was backed by the tournament director Jack McClelland. Booth said he was sorry and play continued.

The unfortunates sent to the sidelines included John Cernuto, Gary Maresh, Tim Phan, Carlos Mortensen and Tony Ma for this round. Come back for updates as we list the results of tomorrows action. Here are the final table players with chip counts:

1. Alex Outhred -- 1,743,000 chips
2. Burt Boutin -- 1,729,000 chips
3. Brad Booth -- 1,659,000 chips
4. Joe Tehan -- 1,371,000 chips
5. Al Stonum -- 263,000 chips
6. Steve Vincent -- 219,000 chips

WPT Event Final Table
Joe Tehan became an instant millionaire on top of receiving a $25,000 freeroll to the WPT championships next year for winning the Mandalay Bay Poker Championship. And he only had to stay at the final table less than 5 hours to achieve it. Things began at 4:00 p.m. and Steve Vincent was the first to go within 15 minutes of the start. Al Stonum followed him 12 minutes later. Alex Outhred left in 4th place when Brad Booth produced a full house J's over K's. From that point on Brad played even harder, but 2 1/2 hours later he lost to Burt Boutin in a showdown and walked away in 3rd place.

After a marvelous money presentation, Joe Tehan and Burt Boutin went back to the action to see who walks away rich. An hour later, the hand that won for Joe went as follows. Joe is on the button and he raised, after which Burt went all in (Ah 10c) and is called by Joe (9c 8h). And believe it or not, the board showed 10s 9s 9h Ad 8c giving Joe a full house and the win. Here is how the final table made out:

1. Joe Tehan -- $1,033,440
2. Burt Boutin -- $604,765
3. Brad Booth -- $319,180
4. Alex Outhred -- $184,745
5. Al Stonum -- $134,390
6. Steve Vincent -- $94,075