Day One of the $50,000 Hold'em, Omaha 8, Razz, Stud, Stud Eight or better tournament is in the books. Event #45 of the 2008 World Series of Poker is the fifty thousand dollar World Championship H.O.R.S.E. tournament, which is perhaps even more anticipated than the main event starting next week. The 50K HORSE is a very unique event at the World Series of Poker, here are some random observations from Day One of this truly unusual tournament.
Exactly 148 players started last year's $50K H.O.R.S.E. and the same number of runners turned out this year. The over/unders bets year-to-year were a push. Although the betting lines this year were for many more players, I pushed my year over year bet but cleaned up on the pros who were so sure the numbers would reach 175 or even 200, silly rabbits.
Only eight players busted on Day One and I would venture to wager all of these eight got bad beat more than once. The event is simply too deep stacked with 100,000 starting chips for any professional to play loose. Phil Hellmuth is out, so are David Williams and Amnon Filippi. Three players managed to double their stacks to over 200,000 but remember this is a five day event for a reason.
One entire quarter of the main tournament room is being used for the eighteen tables of the H.O.R.S.E. event. There is a lot of rail space for spectators and at least three meters between each table. Lots of room for players to wander about and chat; plenty of room for media. The accommodations for this event are superior to any tournament I have ever covered.
Payouts will be similar to last year, with the top sixteen being paid. I find it very interesting that the top professionals playing this event consider a "deep run" in this event to be not just "in the money" but making it to the last four tables or the top 32. A clear recognition by the players of how truly elite this field is.
The early buzz on media row was about the number of new faces we collectively did not recognize and the players who are playing the $50K H.O.R.S.E. for the first time and those players who played last year but are taking a fifty thousand dollar pass this year. Missing from the field '08 over '07:
Gavin Smith
Josh Arieh
Mark Vos
Darrell Dicken
Tuan Le
Kirk Morrison
John Phan
Carlos Mortensen
Erik Seidel (he has an Omaha final table today)
and the ladies contingent is way down this year, missing from last year:
Kristy Gazes
Jerri Thomas
Maureen Feduniak
Cyndy Violette
And finally, here are the top sixteen from last year:
1. Freddy Deeb
2. Bruno Fitoussi
3. John Hanson
4. Amnon Filippi
5. Kenny Tran
6. David Singer
7. Barry Greenstein
8. Thor Hansen
9. Gabe Kaplan
10. Dewey Tomko
11. Mark Gregorich
12. Stephen Wolff
13. Tim Phan
14. Greg Raymer
15. Chris Reslock
16. Mike Matusow
