2006 World Series of Poker

Name	Number of chips (percentage of total)	WSOP Bracelets*	WSOP Cashes*	WSOP Earnings*
Jamie Gold	25,650,000 (28.5%)	0	0	0
Allen Cunningham	17,770,000 (19.7%)	4	28	$2,371,769
Richard Lee	11,820,000 (13.1%)	0	0	0
Erik Friberg	9,605,000 (10.7%)	0	0	0
Paul Wasicka	7,970,000 (8.8%)	0	2	$64,437
Doug Kim	6,770,000 (7.5%)	0	0	0
Rhett Butler	4,815,000 (5.3%)	0	0	0
Michael Binger	3,140,000 (3.5%)	0	1	$101,570
Dan Nassif	2,600,000 (2.9%)	0	0	0

*Career statistics prior to the beginning of the 2006 Main Event.

NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.

• Day 1: Dan Harrington,[3] Phil Hellmuth,[4] Doyle Brunson,[5] Bobby Baldwin,[6] Chris Moneymaker,[7] Johnny Chan,[8] "Amarillo Slim" Preston[9]
• Day 2: Berry Johnston,[10] Scotty Nguyen,[11] Huck Seed,[12] Greg Raymer,[12] Robert Varkonyi[12]
• Day 3: Carlos Mortensen ,[13] Chris Ferguson,[14]
• Day 4: Tom McEvoy,[15] Joe Hachem[15]

• Celebrity players featured in the Main Event included Hank Azaria,[16] Paul Azinger,[17] Charles Barkley, Richard Brodie, Dean Cain,[18] Tony Cascarino,[19] Denny Crum,[20] Steve Davis,[21] Shannon Elizabeth,[22] Salvatore (Sully) Erna,[23] James Garner,[24] Brad Garrett,[25] Michael Greco,[26] Ron Jeremy,[27] Joanna Krupa,[28] Lennox Lewis,[29] Matthew Lillard,[30] Norm Macdonald,[31] Tobey Maguire,[32] Mekhi Phifer,[33] Laura Prepon,[34] Antonio Tarver,[35] Wil Wheaton,[36] and Jimmy White.[37] Both Davis and Erna finished in the money, coming in 579th and 713th places respectively.[38][39]

When play resumed during day 2 of this event, a table with players, Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith, and Kathy Liebert were given extra chips after tournament officials had misplaced Mirza Nagji's chips in the wrong seat. Unknowingly, the rest of the players assumed that this stack was someone else's who was late and blinded off the stack. Eventually a player noticed that the stack was Mirza Nagji's chips, who by that time had been given replacement chips. Players estimate that out of the extra 120,000 in chips that were put into play, around 10,000–11,000 in chips had already been blinded off from the empty stack.[40][41][42]

Many poker players who entered into the HORSE event discovered that the cards they were playing with were marked or easily markable. Andy Bloch was assessed a 10‑minute penalty for crumpling a card when a dealer refused to replace the deck after the new deck that came in was rife with markings. When asked for comment, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said, "I hadn't heard anything about the cards being marked until today. I am looking into getting more fresh setups and I am definitely working on solving the problem."[42][43]

During Event 25, the $2,000 NL Hold 'em Shootout, the structure was changed mid-tournament from a full table into a 6-handed table event. Harry Demetriou, who had been playing in the event, objected to the change in format citing that a shootout should be 9, 10 or 11 handed, yelling about the unfair change in structure. Harry was eventually ejected from the tournament and was later refunded his money.[44] Daniel Negreanu missed the event completely because he assumed that the event would be a full table and he would be able to come into the tournament a little bit later after sleeping in. However, by the time he showed up David Singer had won his table after blinding off Negreanu's stack.[45]