WSOP - $50k H.O.R.S.E. Tourney

[Talking Poker]

I have been psyched about this tourney. With more than 150 entries and a $50k buy in, this tourney really will be featuring the best of the best. That's going to be nearly an $8 million prize pool too!

Whoever wins this will really have something to be proud of. Not that winning any bracelet isn't impressive, but winning this one will impress me the most. Sure, it's a smaller field, but you have to be a master of five different games, and like I said, you're up against the creme of the crop.

We're finally under way. Updates:

[Talking Poker]

Wow:

Table Stacked with History
Table 150 has the winners of the past three years of the H.O.R.S.E. event sitting right next to each other (there was no H.O.R.S.E. tournament in 2005). Doyle Brunson (2003) in seat 2, Scott Fischman (2004) in seat 3 and John Hennigan (2002) in seat 4. The electricity at the table is palpable.

[Zybomb]

THIS is what truely should be the Main Event, as it would determine a poker champion much better and would be filled with only top notch players (in theory) with a master in all aspect of poker games

Stupid question, but the Hold Em and Omaha stages are Limit (as opposed to NL or PL) right?

[Talking Poker]

Correct - it's all limit.

And I mostly agree with you about this being the "Main Event." The problem is, even with the sick $50,000 entry fee (oh, to have a backer, like I know so many of the people entered do), the prize money is nothing compared to what is generated form the $10k NL Hold'Em tourney... plus, that tourney has been the "Main Event" forever - we didn't even HAVE a H.O.R.S.E. tourney last year!

[Talking Poker]

WOW! How great is this??? I have a lot of respect for Andy, and I think this ruling (the first one) is absolutely ridiculous. When a player finds a marked card, they are right (IMO) to bend it and ensure it is taken out of play.

I'd love to see exactly what these "markings" look like, meaning if they were intentionally marked, or just randomly scuffed. It doesn't matter either way, of course, but I'm curious.


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Andy Bloch Takes a Time Out
After spotting a marked card, Andy Bloch makes the dealer fan out the deck in an effort expose any more possibly marked cards. Bloch then proceeds to go through the deck and bend all of the cards he believes to be marked. The floorman tells Andy, "Don't you dare do that again." Andy stands up in protest and gives the floor man a lashing for allowing a used deck to begin play in the H.O.R.S.E. event. The floorman warns Andy that if he doesn't calm down or if he bends anymore cards, Andy will be given a 10 minute penalty. Andy then tells the floor man, "Go ahead, give me a penalty...I'm going to call the Gaming Commission on you. You don't start a tournament with marked cards!" After expressing his concern, Andy wallks away from the table and takes his punishment like a man.

Annie Duke Not Given A Timeout
Annie Duke just found a marked 5 card on table 149. She proceeded to bend the corner and ask for a new setup. After hearing that Andy Bloch was given a penalty for it, she expressed her concern for how ridiculous it was to punish someone who had not dropped the F-bomb. She believes that the player has a right to take those marked cards out of play, otherwise the casino would just recycle them back into play.

[Robbie Robb]

I can't believe that only one Phil is playing in it. No Hellmuth, no Gordon, no Laak. Only Ivey. That could very well hurt my standings since I have all four on the HORSE roster...D'oh!

The one I find most odd is the absence of Hellmuth. Is he too afraid to play against a field of nothin but pros? That doesn't really make sense since he won his first bracelet before there was anyone but pros playing. Very odd...

EDIT: Okay, it appears that Hellmuth is registered, just being his usual late self. Not sure of the others though

[johnp158]

What?? Either gank had a mad read and didn't want to waste any energy, he's a donk, or Cardplayer is wrong again.


Vaswani and Jungblut Split with Nut Full-Houses

OMAHA 8/OB

On a board of As K 6 K A Ram Vaswani makes one bet on the river and Brett Jungblut just calls and flips over the nuts with A K 10 10 for Aces full of Kings with no possible low on the board. Vaswani flips over the nuts as well with A K Q 8 and the pot is split.

[Talking Poker]

What in the world is going on???

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More Marked Cards
Max Pescatori and David Grey found more marked cards at their table, again on Andy Bloch's table. Bloch called the floor manager over again to resolve the problem and there was a discussion as to whether the table even got new cards like they'd asked for. Every other table got a new setup of cards taken out of the original plastic after the first dispute, but Bloch's table apparently didn't and got marked cards again. How ironic.

Marked Cards Turn Up Again
This time there are marked cards at John Hennigan's table as he pointed out a bent Ace of spades. Doyle Brunson and Scott Fischman both voiced their concerns that the table needed new cards and the situation was "terrible." Fischman commented on the situation that "All the cards are marked."

[johnp158]

Is this a $50,000 buy-in or $50?

[Robbie Robb]

I'm looking forward to hearing/watching what Negreanu has to say about this rash of marked cards in his blog. He's usually reserved, but still calls it as he sees it.

[BlibbityBlabbity]

I might go with the later....they seem to be a little confused with the wordings in the different events. Just a few below:

Tuan Le Scoops a Pot (Limit Hold'em)....you don't scoop pots in limit HE

Daniel Negreanu Takes another Pot (Stud)
After minimum bets through seventh street....what other type of bets do you make in a limit game?

GANK Hand: Outside of a cash game I am not sure why you wouldn't keep betting here. No rake you have the nut and if there is even a CHANCE that they have a lower FH get as much in as you can.

[johnp158]

I don't buy it.

First, I could see someone saying "scoop" just to refer to winning a pot. Maybe not, but it doesn't seem too weird to me.

Daniel's hand, they said "modest" betting. Which I took to mean there was action but just modest action. No raises, etc.

I don't think problems with wording are the same as the difference between calling and going back and forth with raises with the nuts.

[Talking Poker]

I'm leaning toward it being a CardPlayer typo/error as well. I just read an update that had a flop, a river, and then another river.

They are doing the best they can, but under the circumstances, they aren't going to get everything exactly right. When I was in Aruba and read their recaps from my table later on, they had made a number of significant errors, both in what hole cards people had, who raised preflop, etc. Like I said, it's to be expected under the circumstances, but take it with a grain of salt.

[BlibbityBlabbity]

I got those from Pokerwire not Cardplayer so there might PW may have been paraphrasing. None of those were to critical I just noticed them as I was reading through it and thought it was likely due to people writing them who usually only write about HE. Who knows.

It is amazing that they can keep up with all this information at all though. No sincere criticism of the update sites was intended.

[Talking Poker]

I'm not criticising either, but they should at least fix their BIG errors... like this one:

Um.... yeah. I don't think so.

[Tony Cheval]

My roommate's response to how the casino is handling the marked cards issue and player responses:

'At a $50,000 buyin, the only thing they should be worried about is if someone drops trou and shits on the felt.'

[GTDawg]

I'd punch the floorman in the face if he responded that way in a 50k buy-in tournament.

that is just unacceptable

[Talking Poker]

That would probably add another 10 minutes to your penaltly.

[GTDawg]

It's more relieving that cursing about the marked cards. I mean, c'mon...marked cards in a WSOP event

[Akverno]

I doubt hellmuth will really do that well in this tournament. I assumed everybody else knew this, but all of his bracelets come from hold em tourneys. If I remember right, only NLHE tournaments. He's a great poker player but his forte is definately hold em. In this tournament I would have taken david williams over hellmuth, phil ivey, johnny chan, hell I'd probably take annie duke over phil hellmuth here. Just my opinion.


Disclaimer: I don't have full tilt, and with my work schedule don't really have the time to try to work out a bracket for who I like in every tournament.

[Talking Poker]

Oh man, why couldn;t I be there for THIS:

Overheard
Mike Matusow offers to stake any single person watching the tournament from the rail in a heads up Stud 8/OB matchup against Phil Hellmuth.

[Talking Poker]

LOL again.

Overheard
"I will run through the Amazon Room buck naked if Phil Hellmuth wins this tournament." - Mike Matusow, about Phil Hellmuth's chances to win the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event

"You're now my second-favorite pick to win the tournament." - Greg Raymer to Phil Hellmuth moments later

[Robbie Robb]

Ew. I don't know that I'd want to see Matusow buck naked streaking through anywhere.

[Kurn]

I love mixed games, though Stud High is my weak spot, and Razz is nobody's strength.

I wanted to play in this but couldn't for a couple of reasons. One, I couldn't get the time offf from work, and the other has slipped my mind at the moment.

[Kurn]

If I were there, you woulda had to get through me.