Mandalay Bay Poker Championship Tournament
WPT Season 6

Main Event -- Day 1
The Mandalay Bay Poker Championship had 228 entrants to the tournament, each paying $10,000 for the privilege. With the WSOP to begin on June 1, there were lots of big names in the field. Seen at the tables were Michael Mizrachi, David Sklansky, J.C. Tran, Barry Greenstein, Allen Cunningham, Eric Seidel, Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak, Kathy Liebert, Alan Goehring, Chau Giang and James Van Alstyne. The action began at noon with blinds at $50/$100 for the first level. Each level of play to last 90 min. Money will go to the top 27 players in the event. Here is the payout schedule for the final table:

1. $768,775
2. $459,080
3. $229,549
4. $131,170
5. $98,375
6. $76,515

1. Shawn Buchanan -- 158,075 chips
2. Tim Hebert -- 155,175 chips
3. John Juanda -- 112,325 chips
4. David Benyamine -- 110,375 chips
5. John Racener -- 108,550 chips
6. Jamie Gold -- 93,000 chips

Main Event -- Day 2
Today's action began at level 6 with blinds at $400/$800 with a $100 ante. The 108 survivors from Day 1 sat down at the tables at 12 noon for another five levels of play. An hour into the hands, J.C. Tran busted out after his Ac Kc could not overcome another players pocket Q's. He was followed by Allen Cunningham, Erica Schoenberg, Scott Fischman, Sean McCabe, Max Pescatori, Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak, Kathy Liebert, Joe Sebok and 2006 WSOP Main Event winner Jamie Gold.

John Juanda had a roller coaster ride of a day starting with 112,325 in chips, falling to 28,000 then rising to 227,300. On the last hand of the day, he eliminated Phil Laak when he hit a Ace high flush which outperformed Laak's two pair. Others who had a good day include chip leader Ryan Daut increasing his stack from 91,925 on Day 1 to over 320,000 chips on Day 2, Chris Bell going from 64,000 to over 267,000, David Levi from 55,000 up to 224,800, Barry Greenstein from 28,000 to 213,000 and Michael Mizrachi from 18,000 up to 188,000. Play for the day ended at 9:00 p.m. with 33 to move on to the next round. The top 6 with chip counts are:

1. Ryan Daut -- 322,300 chips
2. Shawn Buchanan -- 278,500 chips
3. Tim Hebert -- 277,300 chips
4. Chris Bell -- 267,400 chips
5. Juan Carlos Alvarado -- 229,500 chips
6. John Juanda -- 227,300 chips

Main Event -- Day 3
The third day started out with 33 players and continued down to 10. Official results have not been released yet, but here are the 10 that will move on to Day 4:

1. Jared Hamby -- 698,000 chips
2. Thayer Rasmussen -- 685,000 chips
3. Shawn Buchanan -- 658,000 chips
4. Juan Carlos Alvarado -- 541,000 chips
5. Danny Wong -- 465,000 chips
6. David Haddad -- 444,000 chips
7. Barry Greenstein -- 375,000 chips
8. Chau Giang -- 318,000 chips
9. Ryan Daut -- 217,000 chips
10. David Levi -- 158,000 chips

Main Event -- Day 4
Ten players sat down to see who would be one of the six at the final table for this WPT tournament at 12 noon. Fifteen minutes into play, Chau Giang went out in 10th ($26,235) after his pocket J's lost to Barry Greenstein's A K which was paired at the turn. Next to go was Ryan Daut in 9th ($34,980) after an all-in move from the button with Ah Jh lost to Thayer Rasmussen who turned his pocket 10's into a set. J.C. Alvarado walked away in 8th ($43,720) when the K J from Jared Hamby became two pair and ending Alvarado's hopes for a flush. Barry Greenstein busted out in 7th ($54,665) in a bad beat hand with Jared Hamby. Barry moved all-in preflop with K 10 and Jared called with pocket J's. The board showed A A A 4 9, giving Jared a full house and the win. Here are the final table players with chip levels:

1. Jared Hamby -- 1,764,000 chips
2. David Haddad -- 1,180,000 chips
3. Shawn Buchanan -- 853,000 chips
4. David Levi -- 334,000 chips
5. Thayer Rasmussen -- 273,000 chips
6. Danny Wong -- 185,000 chips

Main Event Final Table
Action started about 5:20 p.m. PDT at the Mandalay Bay. But within 30 minutes of play, Danny Wong's all-in move with pocket 3's was overcome by a pair of pocket 7's held by Thayer Rasmussen, resulting in a 6th place finish for Danny. Three minutes later David Haddad went out in 5th after his As Js met up with an Ac Kh held by Shawn Buchanan. Table showed Qh 5s 4c Kc 5h which was not in the favor of Mr. Haddad. Thayer Rasmussen laid claim to 4th place when his As 10h lost out to Ac Jd held by Shawn Buchanan. David Levi finished in 3rd after his pocket 7's could not outpace the pocket 9's of Jared Hamby.

At this point it is heads up between Shawn Buchanan (1,800,000 chips) and Jared Hamby (2,800,000 chips). The two went back and forth playing each hand carefully for 55 minutes until Jared Hamby, who at this point is at a 3 to 1 chip disadvantage, goes all-in with Shawn calling the move. Jared shows Kh 8h and Shawn has pocket 3's. Table produces Jh 7c 5c 4s As, allowing Shawn to come away from the table a WPT champion!

1. Shawn Buchanan -- $768,775
2. Jared Hamby -- $459,080
3. David Levi-- $229,549
4. Thayer Rasmussen -- $131,170
5. David Haddad -- $98,375
6. Danny Wong -- $76,515