EVENT #51 $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

We will be picking up the action on the final table of today’s $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. Event as the Great Phil Hellmuth Jr. looks to add to his record eleven bracelets, and for those of you who are not aware this one would be among the most special as all of his bracelets are in hold’em events only. The day started with 20 players as they couldn’t get down to the final 8 last night. It took four and half hours to lose the twelve players required to make the final table, now that this has occurred they tournament staff have given all players a one hour break. When the players return the chip counts and seating assignaments will be as follows:

Seat 1 James Schaaf - 392,000
Seat 2 Matt Grapenthien - 46,000
Seat 3 Sam Silverman - 310,000
Seat 4 Phil Hellmuth - 400,000
Seat 5 Jason Dollinger - 346,000
Seat 6 Tommy Hang - 680,000
Seat 7 Victor Ramdin - 78,000
Seat 8 Esther Rossi - 166,000

As the final table kicks off they will be starting with the seventh hand of Texas Hold’em, they play eight hands of each of the five forms of poker. It didn’t take long for Phil to start controlling this table as on the second hand of the final table he got Sam Silverman to call a raise preflop and a bet on the flop and turn, before winning on the river. It took only eight hands for our short stack Matt Grapenthien to find his way to the exit, on a hand of Omaha-8. Matt limped to the flop and Tommy Hang called the SB and Victor Ramdin checked and the three of them took in a flop of As Kd Qs. Everyone checked the flop and when the Ad came off both Tommy and Victor checked to Matt who bet out and was raised by Tommy, Victor folded and Matt called all-in and the two players tabled:

Matt:3h 6s Js Ah
Tommy: Ks Kh 8h 2c

Leaving Matt drawing to only a 3, 6, or Jack to stay alive and when the river landed the 10s Matt was done but left with an impressive $28,511. With the end of that hand the limits have increased to 8k/15k in Hold’em and Omaha and 15k/30k with a 3k ante and 5k Bring-in for 7 card formats.

As this final table continues on the action has been dominated by Esther Rossi, Phil Hellmuth and Tommy Hang, leaving the other 4 players wondering what they need to do to get in on the winning ways. It didn’t take long for us to lose our next player as PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin couldn’t build on his short stack and found himself done in 7th after losing on a Seven Card Stud hand. Victor was super short stacked and completed all-in with a 4h and gets two callers in the form of Sam Silverman and James Schaaf. Schaaf bet 4th street and was called then again on 5th this time Silverman folded and when the hands were all said and done Schaafs’ 2 pair of 10’s and 2’s bested Ramdins’ 9’s.

As the level ran out and we entered level 24 there wasn’t much action until the 2nd last hand when Sam Silverman got it all-in pre-flop with Jason Dollinger when the cards were tabled Silverman wasn’t in good shape, the cards read:

Silverman: 3d 3h
Dollinger: 7h 7s

Leaving Silverman needing a 3, a straight or a diamond flush, however when the flop came 10d Js 10s, he had only running cards to a chop or a 3 for the win. The King of hearts on the turn ended any chop outs and left Silverman with a 2.1% chance to win hoping to see either the 3s or the 3c however to his disappointment it was the 8s and his run is done. He leaves today with $42,966.

Until hand #38 all we saw was some chips move around but no player actually stand out. This is quite typical in a limit format event. Level 24 begins with 20k/40k limits for Hold’em and Omaha and 20k/40k limits with 5k ante and bring in for Seven Card formats.

It took #51 hands for Hellmuth to show any signs of a mounting tantrum after pairing up on 7th street in a Razz hand with Tommy Hang who takes the pot down after calling every street but one and raising 7th street leaving him just over a million chips. A Hellmuth moment should follow soon.

Twelve hands later unfortunately we still hadn’t seen a Phil esc moment which is indicative of the fact that this bracelet is so important to him to solidify he legendary status. However James Dollinger helped Phil’s quest when he was ran out in 5th for $54,804 after a hand of Seven Card Stud against Tommy Hang. On 3rd street Dollinger completed with the Kc after the bring in and is raised by Hang showing the 9c. Dollinger then 3 bet the hand and was called by Hang. 4th street brought Dollinger the 4c and Hang the 7c, leading to a bet from Dollinger and a call. 5th street gave Dollinger the Kh for open King’s and induced a bet from James which led Tommy to tank for a considerable time, when he eventually made a raise to commit James all-in. When the cards were tabled Tommy was delighted to see the hole cards of 10h 4h for 2 pair to his rolled up 7’s. After bricking out with the Js-X James is done and Tommy further increases his lead.

Phil is continually finding himself on the short end of the stick as he is either getting to show down and losing or being forced to muck after putting in a few bets, in one case he was forced to bring in with a 8h and once the hand was completed by Hang he made a little comment saying “Just going to run over, huh” and mucked. With #70 hands in the books Phil finds himself in a tough spot with only 130k left.

All players will now take a 20 minute break and when they return the limits will be 25k/50k in Hold’em and Omaha and 25k/50k with a 7k bring in and a 5k ante in Seven Card formats. With a bunch of the Ultimate Bet guys hanging around trying to spur on a comeback by Phil they got part of there wish shortly after when on hand #79 he doubled up after getting it all-in preflop against Schaaf, Phil’s 8h 8s was way out in front of 9d 4d of Schaaf but he’d still have to sweat it out especially after a flop of Qc Qh Qs but fortunately no 9 or running over pair came and Phil now sits at just over 200k.

The comeback is still going strong after Phil tabled 9d 6s 7c 2s on a Qh 8h 7d 6h 3s board for the scoop with 2 pair high and a 76 low. Over the next he won the blinds, made a chop and picked up a hand on the turn after 2 callers preflop. However lady luck ran smack into the lady of the table and after calling a raise on 3rd street and a bet on 4th and 5th he was forced to muck on 6th showing 8x 5x Ax 5x to the 4x 8x 6x Ax of Esther, leaving Phil back down to 190k. The very next hand Phil again called a raise on 3rd and a bet on 4th before laying it down on 5th and then taking it out on his sunglasses as he slams them down in disgust. Is the temper tantrum building .

Over the course of 3 hands Phil first got a double up then got Esther to muck on 5th street after putting in a few bets. Followed by Schaaf folding after putting in a few bets on 6th street. Phil’s cheering section is getting louder and stronger as he’s once again chipping up and to our dismay settling down .

With the start of level 26 it has now been over 40 hands since our last departure and one would think another one or two players will be heading home soon as the levels are starting to get large, especially considering the average stack is only 10 big bets @ 600k.

Hellmuth continues to chip up in a bunch of small pots and is trying to limit the amount of chips he gives away every time he’s forced to muck, a busted draw. As was expected it didn’t take long to find our next victim of the limits as the lone female at the final table Esther Rossi found herself heading to the rail on hand #120. when in Hold’em she picked up Jh 9h and made it 3 bets to go from the big blind against Phil Hellmuth who raised from the button and made the call. When the hands hit there backs on the table Phil’s Ks 8h was essentially a coin flip against Esther. However once the flop hit Phil had nearly half the deck to sweat as the flop came:

Flop: 2h 4h 4s

Leaving Esther with 14 outs to win as well as running chop outs. However when the 10s hit the turn Phil was able to breathe a little easier and was quite relieved to see the As on the river and Esther finds her self going home but with a few dollars to help ease the disappointment. She is taking home $68,505 for her 3 days of work.

Only 9 hands later we found ourselves with just 2 men standing in this event that saw 803 players try and chase down the bracelet. Because on hand #129 in Omaha-8 Phil limped from the SB and was raised by Tommy Hang on the BB, Phil called all-in. The cards were tabled and Phil looked to be in great shape with a 37% chance of a scoop, 34% chance for a low, and a 50% for the high.

Flop: Js 7h 5h

With that flop Phil wasn’t in the best of shape as he needed running cards to the low running cards to a flush or straight, but could still take the Ace or King for a better 2 pair which would also leave Hang drawing dead as then a Queen on the river would give Phil Broadway. The flop left Tommy a 60% favorite for the high and a 43% for the whole pot he’d need a very nice brick out and that is partly what he received when the board paired with the 7c. With that card Phil found himself a 5 to one dog and with the 8d on the river his run was over. However this should take some of the discussion away as to whether Phil can play the mixed games, might I add that this discussion is only amongst those who don’t really know much about poker other then what we see on T.V. as all the top players in the world know that Phil can in fact play every form of Poker. With the 3rd place finish he will add to his record number of final table appearances and creep ever closer to Men The Master for most cashes ever, the pay day was worth $93,168.

As we begin heads up James Schaaf has 880,000 to Tommy Hang’s 1,529,000 almost a 2 to 1 advantage. Over the course of two Razz hands Schaaf pulled even with Hang when he showed a 7-5-3-2-A holding A-3-7 in the hole, 10-8-3-5 showing for Hang. On the next hand he won a raising war on 3rd street.

However Tommy Hang took 2 big pots shortly after one in Razz with a bet called on every street but 7th, and the next on a Stud High where Schaaf led on 3rd and 4th only to check call 5th and then fold to a bet on 6th street.

As we headed into a big confrontation on hand #142 the counts were 1.52 for Hang to 1.449 for Schaaf. However that all changed when Schaaf completed with a Jh and was called by the Jc by Hang, on 4th street Schaaf checked the Ad and in turn Hang checked with the 10d. Schaaf led out with the 10h on 5th and was called by Hang after receiving the 3h, Sixth street saw the same action with Schaaf getting the 7s and Hang the 7d. And as the player received 7th street in the hole the fireworks began. Schaaf again led out but only to quickly 3 bet following Hang’s raise, this led to a tank job from Hang who eventually called resulting in a muck from Schaaf with out even seeing Hang’s cards. Unfortunately for Hang he gave back most of the chips on the very next hand, when Schaaf showed a Ace high flush. Schaaf took a small lead after taking some small pots and as we head into level 27. The levels will sit at 40k/80k for Hold’em and Omaha and 40k/80k with a 10k ante and bring in for the Seven Card formats.

On hand #156 Schaaf finally takes a hold in the match as he has picked up a couple pots preflop and flop then on this hand it only got to the flop but a few bets got into the middle before the fold. Hang raised from the button to get 3 bet by Schaaf after calling the flop came down:

Flop: 9c 5s 2c and Schaaf put in a bet and Hang was forced to lay the hand down leaving him at only 620,000 chips and in trouble with less then 10 big bets.

After quite a few hands in which Hang would chip up and then drop right back down, even a pep talk from friend JC Tran couldn’t help as he finally was eliminated in a Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo hand in which called a raise with the Jc to Schaafs 6h, Hang led out with the 2h on 4th to be called by Schaaf with the 8c, on 5th the action flopped as Schaaf led with 9h and was called by Hang’s 7h. Sixth street Schaaf led with 8h for an open pair and quickly Hang raised all-in with the 7s and Schaaf called. The hands were tabled and was in bad shape with trip 7’s to Schaaf’s trip 8’s and when Hang peeled the river he found a brick in the shape of a 5 of hearts and Schaaf found himself with the chips and the bracelet. Leaving Hang with $158,933 for his second place finish and Schaaf will go home with $256,412 for his efforts as well as Corum’s little piece of history the bracelet.

I would like to thank everyone for reading this review I would also like to thank David Chiu as he eliminated me from this very tournament on day 1. For everyone who continues to follow my reviews thank you and good luck to everyone out there may your best hand not lose to runner runner.

By Staypuff.