H.O.R.S.E. TOURNEY AT WSOP CLOSE TO FINAL TABLE

29 June 2007

With a $50 000 buy-in and major prizes, event 39 attracts almost Main Event attention

Play in the World Series of Poker tournaments continued this week, but it was the H.O.R.S.E. (Hold'em, Omaha, Razz, Stud Hi and Stud Hi/Lo) competition that everyone was watching. With a $50 000 buy-in, a mixed game format, massive prizes and top names this contest almost rivals the Main Event in spectator and publicity terms.

This year's event has a five day timeframe and as we went to press day 3 had been completed and 21 of the original 148 starters had survived. With a main prize of $2 276 832, no quarter was being asked or given by the many professionals who bellied up to the tables each day, playing at the top of their skills.

Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Darrell 'Gigabet' Dicken, John Phan, Carlos Mortenson, Chau Giang, Thor Hansen, Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson, Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow, Tony G, Barry Greenstein and many others started day one, with the field down to 127 by day 2 and Eli Elezra holding command of the leader board with 561 000 in chips.

Notable departures on Day 1 included Josh Arieh, Jeffrey Lisandro, Nick Schulman, Sam Farha, Mark Vos and 10-time bracelet winner Johnny Chan, together with Andy Black, Lyle Berman and David Pham.

By the end of Day 2 there were only 52 players left, and Elezra in the top ten in chips, although he had slipped to number 3 on the leaderboard. Among the big names sent packing were TJ Cloutier and Doyle Brunson. They were joined at the rail later by Mickey Appleman, Patrik Antonius, Ted Forrest, Michael 'The Grinder' Mizrachi, Howard Lederer, Darell 'Gigabet' Dicken, Marco Traniello, Jennifer Harman Traniello and Chris Ferguson.

At one stage, as players exited and tables were rearranged, one table sported Eli Elezra, Erik Seidel, Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, Chad Brown, Cyndy Violette, Chip Reese, and Carlos Mortensen, representing the history of 3 world championships, 26 bracelets and over $39 million in career earnings!

Day 3 of the H.O.R.S.E. whittled the field down even further - to 21 players at the close of play. Amnon Filippi is the top man in chip counts on 2 343 000, pursued by Kenny Tran (1 959 000) and Bruno Fitoussi (1 248 000)....and two days of tough poker still lie ahead.

Dewey Tomko, David Singer (who also made last year's final table in this event), Freddy Deeb, Barry Greenstein, Mike Matusow, Gabe Kaplan, Greg Raymer and Daniel Negreanu are still in contention.

Day 3 eliminations have included Phil Hellmuth (who fell in the last hour of the day's play), Huck Seed, Eli Elezra, John Juanda, Isabelle Mercier, Erick Lindgren, Allen Cunningham, Phil Ivey, Annie Duke, Erik Seidel, Scotty Nguyen, David Williams, David Sklansky, Tuan Le, Toto Leonidas, Mike Wattel and Cyndy Violette.

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