After ten gruelling days of play, the record 8,773-strong field of 2006’s WSOP main event had finally been reduced to two. From the outset, Jamie Gold, a 36-year-old TV producer from California, had showed an invincibility never witnessed in the long history of the WSOP.

The only thing stopping him from laying claim to the status of World Champion and the m mountain of 0 bills cascading over the baize was 25-year-old pro Paul Wasicka. It didn’t seem like a fair fight though – Gold had hoovered up around 78,975,000 of the total 90 million chips in play and it would take several minor miracles to wrest those chips from his grasp.