John Spadavecchia Captures the Title at the WSOP Circuit Event 2006-05-11 After three days of intense poker, the field at the World Series of Poker main event was whittled down from 209 to the final nine.  Those nine battled today at Caesars Palace in hopes of taking down the first place prize of $648,320. It took two hours of play before the first player was eliminated.  Blair Rodman was knocked out in 9th place and earned $39,292.  After the elimination of Rodman, the play picked up quite a bit.  Tony Cousineau was eliminated shortly after followed by Tom Schneider and Bob Bright. Bill Baxter was eliminated in 5th place when his pocket queens failed to hold up against the pocket sixes of John Spadavecchia when Spadavecchia turned a six for a set.  Just minutes later, Danny Fuhs was knocked out in 4th by Ralph Perry when Perry hit a full house on the river to beat Fuhs’s flush. With only three players remaining, it seemed that John Spadavecchia and Ralph Perry were playing every pot with each other.  Sean McCabe sat back and watched the two go at it.  Eventually, John Spadavecchia got the best of Ralph Perry when Spadavecchia caught a king on the flop with K-9 to beat the pocket queens of Perry.  Perry earned $196,460 for his 3rd place performance. Sean McCabe was the chip leader going into the final table. However, by the time he got heads up with John Spadavecchia, Spadavecchia had taken over a three to one chip lead.  The two battled for a bit, and Spadavecchia consistently increased his chip lead.  Finally, McCabe was able to pull down a large pot and double up once to around $600,000.  However, Spadavecchia still held a huge chip lead. Finally, Spadavecchia was able to accumulate McCabe’s last few chips.  For his second place finish, Sean McCabe earned $357,557.  John Spadavecchia took home the first place prize of $648,320 as well as the WSOP ring that is awarded to the winner. -  Story by Jay Newnum