H.O.R.S.E. Play
2008-06-27 18:40:51
By: Gene Bromberg
I don't need to tell you that $50,000 is a lot of money.
Nor do I need to tell you what you can do with fifty grand. Let you imagination go and see where it takes you. There isn't much in life you can't purchase for fifty thousand dollars. Or at the very least put down a tidy down payment.
This past Wednesday 148 poker players each spent that much money for a chance to win the most prestigious tournament in the world--the World Series of Poker $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. The best players in the world. Playing five different variations of the game. The tournament spaced out over five days, with longer levels and more time for the game's brightest lights to display their talents. The Amazon Room was reconfigured so there's more room between the tables for the hordes of reporters and photographers covering the event to move around. It also extends the length of the rail, so the mobs of spectators watching the action can walk around and get a good look of their favorite player.
Unfortunately for fans of Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, they didn't get as much chance to cheer them on as they would've liked. I think this picture pretty much sums up Phil's tournament:
What went wrong? Everything. What didn't go right? Everything. Phil was one of the few players eliminated on Day 1 and as he left the tournament area he was heard to say, "They said it was almost impossible to get knocked out on the first day. I like to do things that people say are impossible".
Annie Duke found herself with a tough table assignment on Day 1, sitting to the right of a gentleman named Doyle Brunson. As the tournament started Annie handed out Ante Up for Africa patches that most of the players affixed to their shirts (and most are still wearing throughout the tournament). Once that good deed was done it was time to buckle down and play her best against the best:
But though Annie made it to Day 2 she only started with around 67,000 of her original 100,000 stack, and those chips didn't last long. She was finally eliminated by Allen Kessler during a Hold-Em hand where, on a Queen-high board, Annie committed the last of her chips holding Q-10 and was outkicked by Kessler's A-Q. And that brought an end to her day.
Still, for Phil and Annie (and for everyone who doesn't cash in this year's H.O.R.S.E. event) there is a consolation prize. Before every WSOP event players arrive to find a bottle of water waiting at their seat. But for the players in the $50K H.O.R.S.E., there was an added bonus:
Yes, that is a World Series of Poker-branded insulated coffee thermos. Given to each and every player who was good enough to pony up FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS to play in the event. And as you might expect, the players treasured this most august gift. A woman who was watching Phil Hellmuth play noticed that Phil had stashed his thermos under his seat.
"Phil," she said, "are you going to keep that?" And she pointed to the mug. Things weren't going good and Mount Hellmuth was rumbling. She said that she'd watched him play in an event last year when he did well (was that the tournament he won? His other final table? His other cashes?) and she said that she'd brought him good luck. And now she was here rooting him on again!
Phil smiled and said, "Thank you". But before I walked away I noticed that he hadn't given up his thermos. Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. When I saw him leave the room he wasn't carrying it in his hand. Still, when you spend $50,000, you like to come away with a little something at the end.
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