While the Main Event drew to its climax after many days of competition, at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Vegas, there were another six bracelet events being contested during the conclusion of this 2006 World Series of Poker.

Events #40-45 were all No-Limit Hold'em events, with the first featuring a $1,000 buy-in and the next five tournaments $1,500.

Although obviously not as prestigious as the big money Main Event tourney that ran alongside, these tournaments provided the opportunity to win money, not to mention those all-important WSOP gold bracelets. And for players like Phil Hellmuth Jnr. that is all the incentive required.

Event #40 saw a UK winner, Praz Bansi from London who was the aggressor during heads-up action forcing his opponent Anh Lu to fold four times after reraising pre-flop.

Crippled, Lu could only go all-in with 8s-3s against Bansi’s ace-anything. An ace on the river gave Bansi the victory. “Amazing,” replied Bansi when asked how it felt to be a WSOP gold bracelet winner. “I started with 1500 chips, and just threw some up… I got moves,” Bansi said with a grin.

Event #40
$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em
Final table results:

1. Praz Bansi, London, UK, $230,209
2.Anh Lu, Ohio, $120,120
3.Baktosh Gulzarzada, Ranch Cucamonga, CA $63,570
4.Fabrice Soulier, France, $50,050
5.Earl Coggin, Rockledge, FL, $40,040
6.John Buttifant, Columbia, SC, $35,035
7.Mark Petrillo, Indialantic, FL, $30,030
8.Nick Mehmeti, Brookfield, IL, $25,025
9.Vijayan Nagarajan, Malaysia, $22,523

Event #41 saw a win for self-confessed rank amateur Paul Kobel, who negotiated a field containing Phil Hellmuth Jnr. Mike Matusow and Steve Danneman, with an unorthodox, but ultimately successful brand of poker.

“I can’t believe it man!” Kobel screamed while throwing his hands up, before breaking down into tears after his victory. “I can pay the mortgage off on my house!” he exclaimed minutes later, tears still streaming down his face.

Event #41
$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Final table results:

1. Paul Kobel, Oakland, CA, $316,144
2. Tyler Andrews, Las Vegas, NV, $164,947
3. Rafael Perry, Las Vegas, NV, $95,532
4. Shayam Stinivasan, Toronto, Ontario, $68,728
5. Eric Deregt, Grenwich, CT, $54,982
6. Chris Solomon, Richmond, IL, $48,109
7. Shreeniwas Kelkar, Kirkland, WA, $41,237
8. Jonathan Stamm, Glenview, IL, $34,364
9. James Henson, Lake Jackson, TX, $30,927

Jim Mitchell of Newport Beach, California scooped a first place prize of $153,173 in Event #2, which had a total of 362 players and a combined prize pool of $494,130.

This Event was also notable as PokerPlayer’s own Shelley Rubenstein managed a WSOP cash, finishing just in the money in 37th grabbing $659 for her trouble. So well done to her.

Event #42
$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Final table results:

1. Jim Mitchell, Newport Beach, CA, $153,173
2. Stuart Fox, Birmingham, UK, $79,061
3. Oter Stevn, Israel, $39,530
4. Todd Witteles, Las Vegas, NV, $34,589
5. Andrew Dean, The Woodlands, $29,648
6. Robert Wing, Jacksonville Beach, FL, $24,707
7. Koble West, Deptford, NJ, $19,765
8. Terry Leger, Vancouver, BC, $14,824
9. Mark Mccluskey, London, England, $9,883

Kevin Cover from New York state was the winner of Event #44

Event #44
$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Final table results:

1. Kevin Cover, Oyster Bay Cove, NY, $196,968
2. Joseph Brandenberg, Portland, OR, $105,707
3. Joshua Tieman, Lake Zurich, IL, $52,525
4. Jim Nguyen, St. Petersburg, FL, $45,960
5. Marcus Collins, Australia, $39,394
6. Eric Baldwin, Beaver Dam, WI, $32,828
7. Tommy Chaney, Marble Falls, TX, $26,263
8. Matthew Helyer, Deluth, GA, $19,697
9. Robert Perry, Highland Beach, FL, $13,131

Please check back for the results of of the final two tourneys, Events #43 and 45.