2009 World Series of Poker
Event 49 - $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E.
Day: 1
Event Info
2009 World Series of Poker
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Buy-in
$50,000
Entries
95
Level
29
Blinds
0 / 0
Ante
0
Players Left 1 / 95
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Frank Kassela (X)(X)
(X)Eli Elezra (X)(X)
(X)Elezra completed on third street, Kassela raised and Elezra called. Kassela led on fourth street and Elezra called, then check-called a bet on fifth. Both players checked on sixth and seventh streets.
Kassela revealed
in the hole for a mere pair of fours. Elezra mucked and Kassela won the pot. "I might have the most raggedy scoop all day," quipped Kassela as he stacked up his chips.
Freddy Deeb (X)(X)
(X)Erik Seidel (X)(X)
(X)Deeb completed on third street and Seidel made the call. Deeb led out on fourth, Seidel called, and both players checked on fifth. Sixth street brought a bet from Deeb and a call from Siedel. Same story on the river.
Deeb showed
for a pair of kings and raked in the pot.
When David “Chip” Reese emerged triumphant we all went home more than satisfied. A humble, quiet man, Reese didn’t always attract the same media attention as some of his colleagues. However for most pros, his victory only confirmed what they already knew – that Reese was the best all-around player in the world. His victory was reward for years of grinding the big games, and justification for the H.O.R.S.E. event itself.
With 143 entrants, it was a memorable final table that included Doyle Brunson, Dewey Tomko, TJ Cloutier and Phil Ivey, however it will be most remembered for the epic heads-up battle between Reese and eventual runner-up Andy Bloch. The seven-hour battle went into the wee hours of the next morning before Reese finally secured the title and $1,784,640 in prize money.
Reese’s victory laid the foundation for the future of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship, and following his passing in December of 2007, the trophy was named in his honour; players now compete for the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.
Steve Sung (X)(X)
(X)Andy Black (X)(X)
(X)We picked the hand up on fifth street with Sung leading out, Black raising, and Sung making the call. On sixth street Sung check-called a bet from Black, then check-called another on the river.
Black turned up
for quads and took it down.
After Daniel Negreanu raised preflop from under the gun, Bruno Fitoussi made the call in the big blind and they saw a flop of
. Fitoussi checked, Negreanu bet and Fitoussi called.The turn was the
and this time Fitoussi check-raised over the top of Negreanu's bet. Negreanu called before they both checked down the 
river.Fitoussi showed pocket kings for a set to scoop as Negreanu mucked.
Negreanu was overheard commenting to Dan Shak about the drop in numbers this year. They came to a consensus that a big factor in the smaller field was the fact that this was not a televised event this year.
Billy Baxter raised, Johnny Chan three-bet and Baxter called. The flop came down
. Baxter checked over to Chan, who bet. Baxter called and they both checked the on the turn. The river was the . Baxter bet out and Chan called. Baxter's
led until the river, where Chan made trips with 
. Chan took down the pot.
Interestingly, the numbers for the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. have been very consistent in its short history. The inaugural event attracted 143 players in 2006. That increased to 148 in 2007, before the same number fronted up in 2008.
This year has been an interesting one for prop betting on the size of fields. Tough economic times have seen a marginal decrease in numbers across most events, but does the state of the economy really have much effect on guys with this kind of bankroll?
You’d expect the number to decrease from last year's number, and the question is by how much? At the moment, we have around a dozen tables in action which suggests we’ll be somewhere around the 100 player mark. However, we're only at 70 registrations.
Table 60 - James Van Alstyne, Rob Hollink, Nick Schulman, Ralph Perry, Jim Bechtel, Johnny Chan
Table 62 - Cory Zeidman, Abe Mosseri, David Grey, Jeff Lisandro, Jon Turner, Mike Matusow
Table 64 - Jennifer Harman, Scott Clements, Kirill Rabtsov
Table 66 - Steve Billirakis, Jason Gray, Jerry Buss, Brett Richey, Justin Bonomo, John Hennigan
Table 68 - Fabrice Soulier, Farzad Bonyadi, Scotty Nguyen, David Singer, David Benyamine
Table 70 - Bryan Colin, Zac Fellows, Dan Shak, Thor Hansen, Bruno Fitoussi, Daniel Negreanu
Table 72 - Freddy Deeb, Andy Black, Erik Seidel, Matt Hawrilenko, Pat Pezzin
Table 74 - Jani Sointula, Justin Smith, Eli Elezra, David Chiu, Alexander Kostritsyn, Frank Kassela
Table 76 - Mike Wattel, Doyle Brunson, Chad Brown, Vitaly Lunkin, Greg Mascio, Ville Wahlbeck
Table 79 - Todd Brunson, Yan Chen, David Bach, Chau Giang
