$1,500 H.O.R.S.E. - End of Day 1
Jun 29, '08
Big Hands and Storylines:
An astounding 803 players entered today’s $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event, surpassing all expectations. Eliminations were hard to find in the first two or three levels, but the pace picked up in the second half of the day. By the conclusion of day 1, only 184 players were left with a chance of taking home the World Series bracelet.
A very familiar name sits atop the leaderboard: Phil Hellmuth concluded the day with an impressive 43,000 chips. Winning this event would give Hellmuth a 12th bracelet, further distancing him from Brunson and Chan. In addition, this would be Hellmuth’s first World Series win in a non-hold’em event.
Other big names that Hellmuth will need to contend with to take the title down include:
Joe Hachem - 25,000
Thomas Hunt - 25,000
Victor Ramdin - 23,600
Chad Brown - 22,000
Keith Sexton - 22,000
Arash Ghaneian - 21,000
Michael Craig - 20,000
Esther Taylor - 20,000
Perry Friedman - 18,500
Average Stack: 13,100
Action will resume tomorrow at 3 p.m and play will continue until the final table is reached.
Here is one final hand from day 1 action:
Stakes:
Hold’em/Omaha: 300-500 blinds
Stud/Razz/Stud8: 100 ante, 200 bring in, 500-1,000 stakes
Hold’em
Matusow Gets An Unexpected Out
Mike Matusow raised from late position and was called by a player in the cutoff. The flop came down 10
8
4
. Matusow checked and the cutoff checked behind. The turn was the 2 and Matusow bet out. He was raised by the player in the one seat and he quickly called. The river was the 7 and both players checked without much thought. Matusow showed 75 for a pair of sevens. His opponent tabled A-Q and Matusow’s hand stood up despite missing both his straight and flush draws. That hand brought Mike Matusow up to 11,000 at day’s end. Matusow summed up his day succinctly when he said, “I couldn’t have played better and I couldn’t have felt worse.”
Player Tags: Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Victor Ramdin, Arash Ghaneian, Keith Sexton, Perry Friedman, Thomas Hunt III, Michael Craig, Esther Taylor
Amit Mkhija eliminated Esther Taylor when his A-K spiked a king on the flop against Taylor's pocket queens. Makhija grew his stack to 340,000 after the hand, and he now has 340,000, which is good for third place.