The 2006 world series of poker is down to its final table of nine. The field was so big this year (over eight thousand people!) that every single one of the players at the final table will receive over a million dollars. The payouts are
1st – $12,000,000
2nd – $6,102,499
3rd – $4,123,310
4th – $3,628,513
5th – $3,216,182
6th – $2,803,851
7th – $2,391,520
8th – $1,979,189
9th – $1,566,858
Yowzer! Among the players at the final table is a theoretical physicist:
Michael Binger
This 29-year-old Atherton, Calif. resident describes himself as a professional poker player and part-time theoretical physicist – he earned a PhD in theoretical particle physics from Stanford earlier this year. Binger has been playing poker for six years, and this marks the second year he has played in the World Series of Poker. In addition to making the final table of the Main Event, he made the final table of a $1,500 buy-in event earlier in the tournament and won $100,000. Chip count: $3,140,000.
Damn, professional poker play and part-time theoretical physicist, now thats a job description!
Update: Binger has come in an amazing third place. Amazing because he started out a very very short stack! Congrats to Binger, he done make us theoretical physicists proud. The winner was Jamie Gold who had a commanding lead through the final table.
Holy moly, I didn’t even notice that. Apparently it is his real name.
Rhett Butler???
I’d really like to see a very simple job description for someone at the final table, like, Abstract Painter.
on a related note, now that online gambling is a class C felony in Washington, how are grad students going to fund their conference trips?
Wow, I think we have this one on Tivo – I’ll have to watch it. Yay for scientists playing poker!