WSOP 2006 - H.O.R.S.E

Wed 12/Jul/06 - Sat 15/Jul/06
USA,
by Jen Mason
Submitted by: jen on Wed, 19/07/2006 - 7:53am
Game Type:Limit
Buy-in:$50,000
Entries:143

It was the players’ idea, apparently, to host a new event this year in Las Vegas, a super-high buy-in all-rounder’s Limit event which would showcase the talents of poker’s elite.  It looked like despite some reservations (hefty juice, usurping of Main Event’s place etc.) a whole pack of the biggest names around just couldn’t resist being a part of the inaugural giant H.O.R.S.E – 143 in all, nearly 50% more than even James Dempsey’s guess that it might break the 100 mark.  A buy-in which would effectively drain the tank of a lot of pros was no bar to those sponsored players whose profile and ability warranted the cough-up, and surely it was all about profile, what with there being little value at the tables.

Elders of the game like Doyle Brunson, TJ Cloutier and Jim Bechtel took their seats with their younger counterparts Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu and assorted Full Tilters, Big Game players and high-rollers, for what they may have guessed would be a true marathon of a tournament.  50,000 chips, blinds of 25/50, and five Limit games add up to three long days – a test of stamina, truly, as well as of poker ability.  In fact, it was a good eight hours before any player obligingly dropped from the field – Arturo Diaz received the first slow clap, just when we thought all of Day One would pass without an elimination.

As for Europeans – they were a tiny proportion of the field, but with Ram Vaswani getting off to a good start (despite admitting that this was his first H.O.R.S.E tourney, and his Razz experience was basically non-existent) and Tony G, Patrik Antonius, Jan Sorensen, Jason Grey, Marcel Luske and Tony Bloom flying non-American flags, there was reasonable hope that we could get at least one member of the final table who didn’t state their hometown as LV, NV.  Actually, Patrik Antonius, second in chips going into Day Two, scraped into the final – but he’s moved there, so he doesn’t count any more.  Oh, sod it, he counts – he’s Finnish.

Brief pause to clarify H.O.R.S.E – it was a round (40 mins) each of Limit hold’em, Omaha 8/b, Razz (low stud A-5, flush irrelevant), Stud, and Stud 8/b.  With an imbalance in favour of the seven-card games, it’s not surprising that the players who fared best were all-rounder cash game players, many from the days before Texas hold’em skyrocketed in popularity and eclipsed the previous Stud standard.  When Doyle Brunson, who finished Day One with $54,000 – right in the middle of the pack, sort of took the brakes off and started accumulating, it proved his status as Poker Legend, as he resignedly played on through the extraordinary 20 hours of the second day.

A word about this – it’s fair enough that a new hardcore event may have structural teething problems.  Three days, as it turned out, wasn’t enough.  Watching TJ Cloutier get a bit grumpy in the 19th hour of play, and hearing the grumbling about the forced marathon being run in order to keep the ESPN filming schedule on track, we tireless (OK, tired) updaters were wondering what was going through the minds of players and organisers.  There can be no doubt that there were some errors of exhaustion late in the morning of the Day 2-3 overlap, but when they were ten-handed and the suggestion was made that they bring all ten back for the final, it was quashed by Phil Ivey and Chip Reese.  When you’ve played one day straight, pretty much, what’s another half an hour?  Having said that, watching Doyle Brunson hum around on his scooter thing, using a walking stick and generally being in his seventies while concentrating for a full day just proves that his iconic status is deserved.  He comfortably made the final, while looking relaxed and making quiet quips all the way to the end. 

I will omit the lengthy hand histories – without the benefit of the little pictures of cards I imagine there’s another whole article about the intricacies of limit betting (and non-flop games) necessary to make those interesting at a glance.  Suffice to say that there were the occasional fits of frustration as drawing players got there, or people down to the felt found themselves forced to bet all-in on a flop they’d totally missed having capped the betting preflop to signify their intentions.  Razz, especially, looked like it could drive one round the bend – perhaps all those players who throw fits when outdrawn at pot limit games would need an extra dose of sang-froid to play H.O.R.S.E. 

Two players not known for their quiet, Stoical approach to the game, Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow, were on either side of the dealer on one table for a good while.  Now that was fun to watch.  Especially when the stacks are altering at the same rate as the cliffs of Dover are eroding, it’s great when the banter flows (although you have to dodge the cameras).   Matusow baited Hellmuth (“I’ll stake anyone on the rail to play hi-lo Stud with Phil!”), Hellmuth baited Matusow, and they both took shots at Marcel Luske (“You read a book or something?  You used to be really bad, now you’re just bad.”).

Neither of those made the final, but those who’d bet on SuperPlayer Ivey weren’t disappointed.  The lineup in full:

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

And that payout (less ridiculous jumping than some other WSOP events at the top end)

1st -- $1,784,640
2nd -- $1,029,600
3rd -- $617,760
4th -- $549,120
5th -- $480,480
6th -- $411,840
7th -- $343,200
8th -- $274,560
9th -- $205,920

Now in the media circus (OK, Cardplayer and ESPN circus – the side acts like us were Behind the Rope), the final table was played as No-limit hold’em.  A lot of interesting discussion was spawned on the blondepoker forum as to whether this was really in the spirit of a mixed limit game tournament (for which people had paid a tidy sum), but the players knew what they were getting, and they were all no-limit veterans.  It also gave Patrik Antonius a shot at spinning up his tiny stack, but after one double up he was out the next hand.  This left eight playing their 90 minute levels, surrounded by televisual equipment, live radio broadcasts, three stands of spectators and us craning from the back.

Doyle Brunson must have been feeling the effects of the draining three days, and after making a couple of decent sized raises, getting a caller, betting the flop and facing big re-raises which pushed him to fold, he eventually got in a big confrontation with TJ Cloutier.  He took on Cloutier’s 10 10 with KJ, no improvement.  Then the next hand the chips went in on an 8d 2s Qs flop with his surprising Jh 6c.  David Singer’s Ac Qd was, and remained, good.  The Brunson/Ivey final many were predicting was not to be (especially since Ivey was to finish third).

Chip Reese’s chip lead showed no sign of diminishing through the first levels played – he avoided big confrontations while hardly sitting on his hands.  But it was Andy Bloch who shortened the field, eliminating Dewey Tomko in 7th with QQ against 88, and then TJ Cloutier in 5th with 10 10 against 7 7.  In the latter hand TJ, having recently seemed to ‘wake up’ and get involved in a few pots, raised again, to 90k, and found Andy moving in over the top.  It was a pretty speedy call for the rest of his chips, and he can’t have been pleased to see the very hand he took most of Doyle Brunson’s chips with eliminate him from the tournament.

In between, Chip Reese’s JJ took out short stacked David Singer’s A10, and then it was back to Andy ‘the destroyer’ Bloch, in a weird déjà vu hand, to eliminate Jim Bechtel in fourth.  Jim raised preflop, got a 200k raise back at him, but then put Andy’s 10 10 (again) to the test with a 750k all-in re-raise.  It was understandable that Mr. Bloch dwelled before calling, and was rewarded with a second sight of 77!

So down to three in what seemed like double quick time (especially after two gruelling days of Limit HORSE) and we thought the winner would be bejewelled in minutes.  The (now) short-stacked Ivey was eliminated in third place with Ac 7h on a 7d 3d Qh flop when Andy Bloch went for it with the 4d 5d flush draw and hit immediately on the turn.  We had moments later seen him queuing for a snack in the hotdog eatery tent outside the Rio convention centre (no special treatment for one of poker’s superstars here), and there were quite a few disappointed supporters when that third diamond hit. 

But never mind, there were still two top players left, Chip Reese and Andy Bloch, both clearly skilled all-rounders with plenty of No-limit experience under their belts.  We prepared for a sharp, aggressive battle of wits, and were rewarded with a seven-hour marathon heads up match, breaking WSOP records and leaving us crawling back and forth from the main room in exhaustion.  Again we saw the (beautiful) desert dawn break as the limp-check-bet-fold type stuff kept them fairly even.  Twice Andy Bloch slowly stretched out a chip lead, and got his opponent all-in with Tc 5c vs his 7s 2d (yes, 72 offsuit) – correctly figuring he was ahead on the 3h 7h 4c flop.

The crowd got to its collective feet, anticipating an extraordinary final couple of hands, but the turn was the gutshot 6d giving Chip Reese his stack back and breathing space to play once more.

Another two 90 minute blind levels fell by the wayside as Andy regained a chip lead (almost 3:1 at one point) but another Chip double up came when Andy put him all-in holding Ks Js, and there was a call with As Td.  The 9d Kd Jd flop kept the tension high, until the Ad Ah filled out the board.  Then after another quick double up with KK vs 99, Chip Reese eventually took the upper hand with another flush draw which came good – and that was that, there was no returning from under 500k for Andy Bloch.  Seven hours after they got heads up, the WSOP title went to the long-time top pro Chip Reese, although any at the final table could have won with little surprise being registered by most.

This was definitely the oddest event Snoopy and I have covered to date – there not being many high buy-in Limit events held in the UK, but seeing such a field battle each other is clearly an experience…and it makes even the largest No limit field seem like it goes at light speed.  Back to the Hold’emocracy which is the majority of the series.