Six Millionaires and It is Only March

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2006 Might Break Last Year’s Record of 34 Millionaires

March just started, and live tournament poker has already generated enough prize money to make six players millionaires. Not that they weren’t already millionaires before 2006 began.

With his win at the L.A. Poker Classic, Alan Goehring tops the early money list with $2,391,550. That is the only tournament he cashed in so far this year.

Michael Mizrachi is second on the 2006 money list with $1,864,127, thanks to a great three weeks he had starting at he end of January.

First, he finished second at the Gold Strike World Poker Open for $566,352. About a week later, he won the Borgata Winter Poker Open for $1,173,373. He then finished second in the $2,500 no-limit event at the L.A. Poker Classic for another $124,402.

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Mizrachi’s the current Card Player Magazine Player of the Year points leader.

The next three millionaires got there by winning single tournaments.

With the $1,388,600 Steve Paul-Ambrose took home for winning the PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure, he’s third on the money list.

Nam Le just vaulted to fourth on the list by winning the Bay 101 Shooting Star and its $1,198,300 first-place prize last week. The win was also good enough to put him in a tie with Goehring for second in the PoY race.

Daniel Quach follows Le on the winnings list with the $1,162,560 he won for taking second at the L.A. Poker Classic.

The Classic, held at the Commerce Casino, attracted 692 players and generated a prize pool of $6,643,200, by far the largest tournament of the year to date.

Scotty Nguyen won the Gold Strike World Poker Open and its $969,421. He also has a fourth-place finish in a $3,000-buy-in event for $18,434 and finished in the money at both the Borgata Winter Poker Open and the L.A. Poker Classic for $1,020,720 won so far on the tournament circuit.

Last year, 34 players won at least $1 million on the tournament circuit. In 2004, 22 players accomplished that feat.

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