ESPN have alas been granted their wish of a star-studded WSOP final. However, it's not the Main Event, rather the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E, clearly introduced in the hope of creating such a 'celebrity' final.
With the field being flooded with 'names' such as Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Barry Greenstein, Howard Lederer, Greg Raymer, Todd Brunson, Gus Hanson, Carlos Mortensen... basically the whole damn kaboodle, it was inevitable that there would be a few welcome faces making the last nine.
And those faces include the legendary Doyle Brunson, the highly respected Andy Bloch, cash game specialist Chip Reese, and the one and only Phil Ivey - a mouth-watering prospect indeed.
Heading into today's potentially explosive final, the chip counts are as follows:
Chip Reese -- 1,756,000
Doyle Brunson -- 1,227,000
Andy Bloch -- 934,000
Phil Ivey -- 885,000
Jim Bechtel -- 841,000
David Singer -- 745,000
Dewey Tomko -- 438,000
T.J. Cloutier -- 351,000
Patrik Antonius -- 13,000
Whilst it's an exciting line-up, the eye-opening aspect of this final has to be the fact that they are moving permanently into No Limit Hold'Em after playing Limit Hold'Em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Stud, and Stud Eight or Better throughout the whole tournament.
My view is that making it No Limit will not only remove some of the skill factor that players have displayed to reach this final, but also result in the winner of the table being partly the No Limit Champion, rather than the H.O.R.S.E. At the moment, in my humble opinion, we have several H.O.R.S.E champions - it seems unbalanced to suddenly introduce a whole new game.
In this final, we have Reese, Ivey, Brunson, Antonius, Cloutier, Tomko, and Bethchel (who many don't know is a Main Event winner). Bloch is darn handy too. But what this shows us is that the cream really has risen to the top, making this event a much better depiction of which players are the strongest.
Having said this, this will undoubtedly be an entertaining final, and one in which many many people will be following with a keen eye.
If you are one of those people, then make sure you follow the action on blonde by clicking the link below:
$50,000 H.O.R.S.E FINAL: LIVE UPDATE (INTERACTIVE) - CLICK HERE
$50,000 H.O.R.S.E FINAL: LIVE UPDATE (AT A GLANCE) - CLICK HERE