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
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.
Mike Paulle
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