WSOP Updates �C Event #39, $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. �� Final Table Set; Filippi Holds Lead
The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship tournament ended the day's play the same way it started �� with Amnon Filippi in the lead. In the middle were bustouts, suckouts, bad beats and bad singing as the 21 remaining poker luminaries played down to the final table of eight, all vying for the bracelet, the $2,276,832 first place money and the unofficial moniker of best poker player in the world. The young New Yorker, Filippi, watched as champions departed on Day Four, including Greg Raymer, Daniel Negreanu and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow.
Max Pescatori and Pat Pezzin started the day as the shortest stacks, but doubled through Chris Reslock and Mark Gregorich, respectively, to stay alive. Instead, Daniel Negreanu got it all in on fifth street in Stud against Bruno Fitoussi with the lead, showing J?3?8?8?J? for two pair, jacks up, which held until seventh street when Fitoussi caught the 3? to go with his hand of A?A?3?4?Q?10?, giving him aces up and sending Negreanu to the rail in 21st place.
Pezzin exited next when Mark Gregorich caught a diamond on seventh to make an A-high flush to top Pezzin's own J-high flush. Max Pescatori's luck ran out shortly after when he ran into Chris Reslock's aces in Hold 'Em. That claimed most of Pescatori's chips, and Pescatori was eliminated when he was all-in with K?8? the next hand and beaten by Kenny Tran's flopped pair of aces. Pescatori finished in 19th place.
Justin 'ZeeJustin' Bonomo went out just before the bubble in 18th after getting all-in pre-flop with Bruno Fitoussi and Greg Raymer. Fitoussi flopped a set of fours with his 4?4? on a board of K?5?4?, and Bonomo was drawing thin with his pocket sevens. The A? turn and 5? river completed Fitoussi's full house and sent Bonomo packing in 18th. Raymer took a hit on that hand as well, calling Fitousi on every street and mucking when Fitoussi revealed his boat. Noah Jefferson was eliminated shortly thereafter by Tim Phan to burst the 16-player money bubble and cut the play down to two tables, which after the redraw looked like this:
(FEATURED TABLE)
Seat 1: Chris Reslock �� 227,000
Seat 2: Amnon Filippi �� 2,352,000
Seat 3: Dewey Tomko �� 340,000
Seat 4: David Singer �� 948,000
Seat 5: Kenny Tran �� 1,900,000
Seat 6: Steve Wolff �� 731,000
Seat 7: Mike Matusow �� 75,000
Seat 8: Barry Greenstein �� 1,091,000
(TABLE 66)
Seat 1: Bruno Fitoussi �� 1,800,000
Seat 2: Mark Gregorich �� 700,000
Seat 3: Greg Raymer �� 750,000
Seat 4: Tim Phan �� 1,100,000
Seat 5: Thor Hansen �� 500,000
Seat 6: Gabe Kaplan �� 500,000
Seat 7: Freddy Deeb �� 1,100,000
Seat 8: John Hanson �� 280,000
Matusow made the money but was the first victim at the final two tables, finishing in 16th for $88,800. On a flop of 5?4?2?, Wolff called Matusow's all-in with a flopped wheel, showing A-Q-6-3 for the nut low and a straight for the high. Matusow's A-Q-9-2 needed a three to chop the low and survive, but the A? turn and 8? left 'The Mouth' on the rail in 16th.
Chris Reslock exited next, all-in in Razz after taking a big hit to his chip stack in a hand with Dewey Tomko. With a up-card five, Reslock moved all-in on third street and was called by Barry Greenstein and Amnon Filippi. Reslock bricked out, with his final hand showing (4-2)5?10?10?10?Q?, while Greenstein made a 7-low. Reslock's 15th-place exit was worth $88,800.
Two next two rounds, Stud Hi and Stud Hi/Lo, passed with no more knockouts. Greg Raymer was eliminated in 14th place halfway through the next round of Hold 'Em when his A?7? went unhelped on a 9?5?3?4?Q? board against John Hanson's pocket eights. Raymer collected $103,008.
The knockout pace picked up during the subsequent Omaha Hi/Lo round, when Tim Phan and Steve Wolff departed. Phan was left holding air when Gabe Kaplan and Freddy Deeb split a pot, sending Phan out in 13th ($103,008). Wolff moved all-in after a flop of 10?3?2? in a multi-way pot against Dewey Tomko and Kenny Tran. Tomko called, Tran raised, and Tomko called Tran's raise. Both players checked the side pot when the turn brought the 10?, and Tomko fired at the pot when the river brought the A?. Tran called and showed 6-4 for a low of 6-4-3-2-A; Tomko turned over A-10 for the full house for the high, and Wolff was eliminated in 12th place ($117,216).
Mark Gregorich went out in the first level of Razz after the dinner break, having nursed a short stack all day. Drawing to a six with a 10-3-5-6, Gregorich bricked on fifth and seventh, pairing his ten and catching a jack to leave him with a 10-6-5-3-A, not enough to survive against John Hanson's 8-7-4-3-2. Gregorich finished in 11th for $117,216.
2006 final tablist Dewey Tomko also fell during Razz when Amnon Filippi caught near-perfect to make a 7-low and send Tomko to the rail. Filippi completed with an ace in the door, Tomko raised, Filippi re-raised and Tomko called all-in. With a 9-7-5, Tomko was behind Filippi's 7-6-A, but made a 9-low on fifth street, giving him the lead with 9-7-5-8-4. Filippi caught a 3-4 for his last two cards to make a 7-6-4-3-A, while Tomko bricked to leave his 9-low unimproved. Tomko collected $131,424 for the tenth-place finish.
The final table bubble lasted for over an hour as players jockeyed for position, After a rough hand with Freddy Deeb in Stud Hi/Lo, "High Stakes Poker" and "Welcome Back, Kotter" star Gabe Kaplan was eliminated in a hand with Deeb and Thor Hansen that moved Deeb into a strong position for the final table and left Hansen crippled.
With Kaplan all-in on fourth street, a big side pot developed between Hansen and Deeb, as Deeb bet on every street, including a raising war on seventh street that left Hansen with only 40,000 behind. Deeb turned over three buried sixes for quads to bust Hansen's full house and send Kaplan to the rail in 9th. Deeb's final board was (6-6)-5-6-K-J-(6) to Hansen's (3-3)-3-J-Q-4-(4). Kaplan departed with $131,424 for his efforts, setting a final table that will look like this:
Seat 1: Kenny Tran �� 2,445,000
Seat 2: David Singer �� 1,330,000
Seat 3: Bruno Fitoussi �� 895,000
Seat 4: John Hanson �� 1,995,000
Seat 5: Freddy Deeb �� 3,500,000
Seat 6: Thor Hansen �� 40,000
Seat 7: Amnon Filippi �� 4,015,000
Seat 8: Barry Greenstein �� 750,000
Join PokerNews.com's 'Live Reporting' of Event #39, $50,000 H.O.R.S.E., at 2pm PDT for final-table coverage. Amnon Filippi remains atop the field in search of what would be his first WSOP bracelet, and David Singer is the only player to return from last year's final table. The winner receives a custom WSOP bracelet made especially for this event, a Corum watch, and $2,276,832.
