| THE HORSE WHISPERER
In the 'They-Can't-Take-That-Away-From-Me' category, our winner today will always be known as the First WSOP H.O.R.S.E. Champion.
There were 156 entrants in the inaugural $2,000 H.O.R.S.E. for a total prize pool of $293,280. Two tables were paid, a total of 16 players.
Since this is the initial H.O.R.S.E. at the World Series of Poker, it might be historically interesting to record some of the notable poker names that played in the event: Eli Balas, Chris Bjorin, John Cernuto, David Chiu, Eskimo Clark,
TJ Cloutier, Chris Ferguson, Ken Flaton, Chau Giang, Stan Goldstein, Thor Hansen, Dan Heimiller, Jay Heimowitz, Phil Hellmuth, Frank Henderson, Randy Holland, John Juanda, Mel Judah, Kathy Liebert, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, David Pham, Young Phan, Erik Seidel, Mike Sexton, David Sklansky, Max Stern, Syracuse Chris and Robert Turner.
To setup the Final Table Saturday night, that great R & B artist Al Green won't be singing "I'm Still In Love With You" to Brent Carter again soon. Playing RAZZ, Green caught two pair all-in against Carter's made 9 7.
THE FINAL TABLE 32 mins left of 45. The ante was $300, bring-in $600. Playing $2,000-$4,000 RAZZ
Seat--- Player-------- Hometown----- Chip Count
Seat 1) Stephen Wolff - Irvine, CA. $43,900
Seat 2) Ron Long - Fort Wayne, IN. $28,700
Seat 3) George Shah - Paramount, CA. $49,700
Seat 4) Men Nguyen - Bell Gardens, CA. $31,400
Seat 5) Brent Carter - Oak Park, IL. $9,700
Seat 6) Ben Tang - Scottsdale, AZ. $15,900
Seat 7 John Hennigan - Las Vegas, NV. $102,800
Seat 8 Phil Ivey - Atlantic City, NJ. $30,100
No one can accuse Phil Ivey of timidity. Winner of two bracelets at 25 years of age, he was heard joking afterward, "I should have won 18 of these." Like TJ
Cloutier, Ivey is a player who always seems to have lots of chips. In only the 10th event this year, Phil has already made three Final Tables and has won the Stud. Besides that, he is in the 3rd round of Event #9 the Gold Bracelet Match Play. Where he's dusted off former Champion Jim Bechtel and world class bluffer David 'Devilfish' Ulliott.
Yet for all his success this year, Phil has also been one of the first ones off two tables. Last time it was because he only had $3,500 in chips. This time, starting fifth with $30,100, Phil was out in only a few minutes. Playing RAZZ,
Phil couldn't call on the river with his first two hands against chip leader John Hennigan losing nearly $30,000 in the process. With only a few hundred dollars left, Ivey went all-in against George Shah and finished 8th when Shah
made an 8 7. Funny, there's probably a good chance we'll be seeing Mr. Ivey again soon.
John Hennigan went on such a tear late Saturday night that he finished the evening with twice as many chips as anyone else. His aggressiveness continued when play resumed at the Final Table on Sunday afternoon. It was John's betting
that sent Phil Ivey to the sidelines without even a call on the river, now he could take a break and let some others bust people.
Brent Carter needed to win today to become the 27th WSOP millionaire. He has over $900k in winnings with one bracelet and 27 cashes. Brent's million will have to wait for another day. He didn't win a hand here. Carter went all-in on a four-way pot hoping to gather some chips. By the end he had a pretty good Stud high hand, but they were still playing RAZZ. Two Aces with a King and Jack won't win too many RAZZ hands. George Shah did the dirty with a 9 8.
It don't mean a 'Thang' if it ain't got that Tang. Ben Tang doubled up twice before the RAZZ was done by personally destroying the stack of the great Men 'The Master' Nguyen on late gutshot low cards. Starting the Stud High portion
of H.O.R.S.E. Ben had become second chip leader and he finished Nguyen off in 6th with Queens and Jacks to Men's all-in straight draw.
Everyone managed to survive the Stud Hi-Lo Horse's behind, but Ron Long, Stephen Wolff and George Shah were on the up and down escalator. Wolff and Shah managed to get off on the upside, but Ron Long wasn't able to. Playing Hold'em,
Ron wasn't Long on chips. He raised $8k with pocket 9's and was reraised all-in by that chip bully John Hennigan with pocket 10's. It wasn't a Long story, Ron left in 5th.
"Don't you guys believe in mercy killing," Stephen Wolff joked. Wolff would stand up, put on his jacket then win his all-in hand and have to sit down again. Finally, playing Omaha Hi-Lo now, Ben Tang allowed Wolff to go home
a-lone when Tang caught a third trey to crack Stephen's flopped two pair.
Quietly George Shah (Shahrenzy) is having a fine WSOP. A resident of Southern California, George has the opportunity to play highly competitive tournament poker every day. The experience is paying off, as this is Shah's second high
finish this year. George had fought the good fight against the two giant stacks of John Hennigan and Ben Tang, but inevitably they wore him down. Still in Omaha Hi-Lo, George went all-in with A 3 4 Q. John Hennigan with A 4 8 8. Shah
had lots of outs to survive one more time with the board J 2 7 J, but a King on the river killed George's nut low draw and gave Hennigan two pair.
Normally when a player doubles up three times at a Final Table, they win the event. Unfortunately for Ben Tang he started too far behind John Hennigan. It took all of Tang's skill and luck just to close the enormous distance between
him and the starting chip leader. Almost like a runner who started his sprint too soon because he had to catch up, Ben Tang kind of ran out of gas at the end. Heads up, Hennigan had just over a 3-2 chip lead on Tang. But Ben barely
won a hand between the two and it was over quickly. First with the nut straight in Omaha then switching to RAZZ, a 10 9 to Ben's made Queen, John Hennigan became the first WSOP H.O.R.S.E. Champion. He can shout it out if he wanted, he
doesn't have to be a H.O.R.S.E. whisperer.
|
