The King of Poker

The winner of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. world championship at the World Series of Poker can rightly be called the king of poker players for a year. While the main event has become largely a creature of luck with its average field size of 6,899 during the last four years, the H.O.R.S.E. event has remained the domain for only the most experienced of players. The $50,000 buy-in and the multiple disciplines of limit hold'em, Omaha eight-or-better, razz, seven-card stud, and seven-card stud eight-or-better that a player has to master to win truly make it the king of poker events every year for the most hardened professionals.

Some have referred to it as the new world championship; others refer to it as the players' championship. In 2008, the trophy was named for the first player who won the event -- Chip Reese. Reese won the inaugural event in 2006 and was truly a champion of poker players everywhere. Sadly, he passed away on Dec. 4, 2007. This terrible news inspired Harrah's to create the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy. Each year, the winner of the H.O.R.S.E. event will have his name engraved at the trophy's base, so the question on everyone's mind this year when day 1 began was whose name would be the third to sit alongside those of the first champion, Reese, and the 2007 champion, Freddy Deeb.

Days 1 and 2: A Tournament Filled With Big-Name Players

In 2007, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. world championship drew 148 players, and this year it drew the exact same number of participants. The steep price of entry has limited the number of entrants, the same way that a $10,000 buy-in did in the early years of the main event. In fact, to find the last time that a main-event field was comparable in size, you would have to look back to 1987, when Johnny Chan won his first world championship and just 152 players were in the main event.

The list of players on day 1 of the H.O.R.S.E. event is impressive each and every year. The massive starting stacks relative to the blinds also make this the slowest tournament day of the year in regard to eliminations. Only eight players hit the rail on day 1, and among them were Phil Hellmuth and Amnon Filippi (fourth place in 2007). Day 2 proved to be a chopping block for the field. Many big names fell, including Freddy Deeb. David Singer ended his quest to become the only player to make three consecutive final tables of the H.O.R.S.E. event when he also fell on day 2. Other notables included 2007 runner-up Bruno Fitoussi, and two top-10 finishers from the first H.O.R.S.E. event, Patrik Antonius and T.J. Cloutier. At the end of day 2, just 67 players remained in their seats, and players who charged to the top included Barry Greenstein (473,000) and Patrick Bueno (485,500), while Lyle Berman led the field with 507,000 in chips.

Days 3 and 4: Getting Down to Business

Doyle Brunson began day 3 with 366,000 in chips, and everyone in the room kept an eye on him throughout the day. It is no secret that Brunson covets the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. title; it would be the perfect touch to the most storied poker career in history. It has to mean even more to him now that the event is named in honor of his longtime friend Reese. Brunson played well throughout the day, and he ended the day in the top 10 with 777,000. But he still had his work cut out for him, as Michael DeMichele paced the field with 1,351,000 and was followed closely by Greenstein (1,311,000) and Daniel Negreanu (1,226,000). Day 3 also proved to be the day when the blinds and antes began forcing action; the field shrank from 67 to the mandated stopping point of 24 players an hour and a half early. Lost during those fast times were two of the top five from 2007, Kenny Tran (fifth in 2007) and John Hanson (third in 2007).

The excitement of the tournament reached a fever pitch during day 4, as the rail was lined with fans for the entire day. The final three tables were spread far apart on the tournament floor and stood as islands unto themselves. Brunson managed to cash for the second time in the event, although he was the first player to get paid after finishing 16th for $124,320. Andy Bloch was the next to fall, in 15th place, recording his second cash in the event that he almost won in 2006, after the longest heads-up battle in WSOP history with Reese. Joseph Michael exited in 14th place, and then two of the biggest names in the game of poker fell in succession. Daniel Negreanu was eliminated in 13th place and was followed to the rail by Phil Ivey in 12th place (his second cash in the event). David Bach fell next in 11th place and Raymond Davis in 10th place before the field took a collective breath on the bubble for the most prized final table of the year. It then took only a few minutes longer for Ralph Perry to fall in ninth place and day 4 to come to a close. Erick Lindgren was on top with 3,680,000, but nipping at his heels was the "Prince of Poker," Scotty Nguyen, with 3,535,000. Greenstein also had survived the day, making him the second player ever to make back-to-back H.O.R.S.E. final tables and the only player to cash in the event each and every one of its first three years.

The Final Table: Playing for Chip

Here were the chip counts at the start of play at the final table:

Seat 1: Matthew Glantz, 1,445,000
Seat 2: Huck Seed, 1,200,000
Seat 3: Patrick Bueno, 695,000
Seat 4: Lyle Berman, 1,430,000
Seat 5: Scotty Nguyen, 3,535,000
Seat 6: Barry Greenstein, 1,955,000
Seat 7: Michael DeMichele, 905,000
Seat 8: Erick Lindgren, 3,680,000

After Lindgren won his first bracelet at the 2008 World Series of Poker, he said that he would be happy with his poker career if it was one that Reese could be proud of. The chance to boost his already impressive career had to be on his mind at the start of the final table. He had experienced a meteoric rise in the tournament on day 4, as his stack grew from 485,000 to 3,680,000.

It took just 10 hands of play for the short stack at the table, Patrick Bueno, to make an exit. Before fourth street even hit the table during a razz round, Bueno found himself all in against Lindgren, and to make matters worse, he paired a 4 on fourth street. Lindgren went on to make an 8 low, while Bueno picked up yet another 4 on his way to the rail in eighth place ($230,880). The next elimination took considerably longer, as a period of 55 hands transpired before Michael DeMichele faced Huck Seed during a hand of seven-card stud eight-or-better. The two players got involved in a series of bets and raises that found Seed all in on seventh street for 45,000. DeMichele called and showed down three diamonds and a low card to go with his exposed cards of the 3 2 5 6 to scoop the pot. Seed was eliminated in seventh place, for which he was awarded $284,160.

Greenstein was on a short stack at that point, and didn't manage to make it out of the seven-card stud eight-or-better round alive. Six hands after Seed had left the tournament, Greenstein went all in for 160,000 on seventh street in a hand against Nguyen with the 4 A A 10 exposed. He turned over another 4 for aces up, but Nguyen revealed (7-7) 7 3 4 K (6) to take down the hand with a set. Greenstein was eliminated in sixth place, and took home $355,200. Nguyen then won a monster hand during a round of Omaha eight-or-better that gave him almost 5 million in chips and put him in second position behind DeMichele, who held 5,455,000. Nguyen had been called down by both Lindgren and Matthew Glantz on a board of K 9 4 3 6, and he revealed A-K-5-2 for the nut low and a 6-high straight to scoop a monster pot.

Berman, who never strayed too far from the top of the leader board, saw the end of his tournament story come in fifth place, which was good for $444,000. Berman picked the wrong place and the wrong time to move all in during razz against both Nguyen and DeMichele, who both made the call. Berman could only watch and wait for his likely elimination while the two chip leaders made a massive side pot that was won by DeMichele, along with the pot that contained the last of Berman's chips, when he turned over 8-7-5-4-3.

Glantz then watched his stack plummet to 800,000 before he battled back to 2 million during rounds of seven-card stud and seven-card stud eight-or-better. However, those chips were not enough to save him when he ran into Nguyen during another Omaha eight-or-better round. On a flop of Q 6 5, Glantz got his remaining chips into the middle against Nguyen. Glantz held the K J 10 10, and Nguyen showed down the A K 2 7. The turn was the A, guaranteeing Nguyen the low and giving him the lead in the hand for the high. Glantz needed any king, jack, or 10 that wasn't a club to salvage the high half of the pot, but the river was the 5, giving the scoop to Nguyen and eliminating Glantz in fourth place ($568,320). This shot Nguyen up to 7 million and gave him the chip lead.

The final table then took on epic qualities as three-handed play advanced for the next 178 hands. Lindgren began this period on the short stack with just 1 million. He dug down deep and battled for his tournament life. He built his stack back up to 4.5 million after a timely double-up against Nguyen during seven-card stud eight-or-better. Lindgren made his final stand, once again against Nguyen, on the 303rd hand of the night. With his exposed cards reading 8 7 K 4 during seven-card stud, Lindgren turned over his holecards to reveal the A 8, and Nguyen showed a pair of nines. Lindgren needed to improve to stay alive, but the final card was the 2, and he was eliminated in third place ($781,440). Nguyen's third knockout punch of the evening gave him a huge lead heading into heads-up play:

Nguyen: 12,140,000
DeMichele: 2,660,000

The more than 4-to-1 chip lead for Nguyen all but ensured that the real battle for the bracelet had taken place during the three-handed marathon. Just 11 hands into heads-up action, DeMichele committed the last of his chips preflop during a hand of limit hold'em. DeMichele held the A 3, but he was dominated by Nguyen's A 10. The final board ran out A 9 6 7 4, and Nguyen held all of the chips in play. DeMichele was eliminated in second place, and banked $1,243,300 for the strong showing. He was another player who found himself near or at the top of the leader board for the majority of the tournament. Nguyen was very gracious after the win, and he thanked just about every person in the room, but no one more than Reese as he accepted his trophy. Nguyen also was awarded $1,989,120 and a place in poker history with an eternal spot on the Reese Trophy as the 2008 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. world champion. Nguyen is now the only player in the history of poker to win the WSOP main event (1998), a World Poker Tour event (2006 World Poker Open), and the WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. world championship. The title for this prestigious event once again went to a high-profile professional, and this year it helped the Prince of Poker become the King of Poker.

An Interview With the Players' and People's Champion

Card Player: How important is the support of your fans to you in such a big tournament?

Scotty Nguyen: The fans are number one for a poker player. Without the fans, I would never be who I am now. We would never have Scotty Nguyen or Phil Hellmuth or Layne Flack; the fame is so important. It's so important to give the fans what they want and what they need, the good story, the good game.

CP: How much happiness do you feel right now compared with the disappointment of just missing the main-event final table last year?

SN: People ask me a lot how that affects me, and I tell them it's not how you start out, it's how you finish it. If I win the H.O.R.S.E. event and the main event, I will erase the bad memory from last year, from the mistake I made last year. Last year, the reason I didn't win was because I made a mistake. I blew it, I was angry, I got personal, and you can't make things personal when you play the game. You have to enjoy it; you've got to be happy.

Last year, I wanted to knock one player out so bad, but instead of knocking him out, I gave him more money. This year, I said no more personal [grudges]. I don't care who it is, if you make me mad, I'm going to walk away. I walked a lot. If it comes to the point that I blow up, I walk. I'd rather miss 10,000 here, 20,000 there, or the blinds and the antes, but I talk to myself, "Come back, don't make the same mistake as last year."

You've got to come back strong; last year is gone, baby, it's done now. I've got to focus on 2008. The main thing was the H.O.R.S.E. [event], Chip Reese, baby, something I wanted to win … I dreamed of. When you grow up, you want to be the one and only; I'm the one and only to win the main event of the World Series of Poker, a World Poker Tour [event], and the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. [event], baby. I'm the only man who has done that. That's something that my kids and grandkids ... 100 years from now, they'll remember that -- their grandfather, the only man who has ever done that. That feels so good, because I can taste it; it was my dream to win this event for the past two years.

CP: Even when you walked out to take a break, there were people who wanted to take photos with you, and you stopped and did it even when you were trying to blow off steam. Why did you do that, even then?

SN: The reason I stop and take pictures with them and sign autographs, the fans … they fly in from all over the world, it's not just [from the U.S.]; they fly here from Germany, Australia, London, and Paris just to come and see you and ask you for pictures and autographs. You can't say no to them. That's why the fans are so important to me. That's why wherever I go, I'm the home team, baby. I'm the fan favorite, baby.

CP: Who was your toughest opponent at the final table?

SN: E-Dog [Erick Lindgren], baby. E-Dog's got to be the toughest one; but no, Barry Greenstein's got to be the toughest one. When he was gone, it was E-Dog; I focused on him. When E-Dog was gone, baby … not even 20 minutes and it was done. E-Dog would be different; he would have challenged me. Some hands I got no hands at all, and I raised this kid and he just mucked it. E-Dog, he might play back at me, and things would be different there. When Barry Greenstein was out of the way, I didn't think anybody could stop me, even E-Dog. He might stop me for an hour or two, but he's not going to stop me; 148 players started, the toughest field in the world, the biggest event ever and the toughest field. If I can knock out Phil Ivey, baby, nobody can stand in my way [laughing].

CP: Now that you, Freddy Deeb, and Chip Reese, all three world-class players, have won this event, do you think that helps grow the legacy of this tournament?

SN: Yes; people think that all the professionals can't win the big events no more. I proved them all wrong, you know, baby. Daniel [Negreanu] won a few days ago, Erick Lindgren won a few days ago, and now me. You know, the best player will come through no matter what. The good players, baby, they will find a way to get there, and we proved that to you guys this year. Nothing but the pros have won, and we are going to do that again, and this main event, baby, one of the pros is going to win, and it'll be me.

Three-Handed Nightmare
Scotty Nguyen Uses Position to Whittle Down Michael DeMichele and Keep Erick Lindgren at Bay
By Julio Rodriguez

The final table of the world championship of H.O.R.S.E. was epic for more than just the obvious reasons. It proved to be an epic battle of stamina and endurance for the final three players, who accounted for more than half of the table's 314 hands.

With Erick Lindgren handcuffed on the short stack, Scotty Nguyen and Michael DeMichele spent most of the shorthanded affair taking shots at each other after trying to pick up dead blinds and antes. In the end, Nguyen's position on the young cash-game pro proved to be the deciding factor, as he won two key monster pots to take an overwhelming lead in the match and force his opponents to play for second.

In the first hand, with the limits at 150,000-300,000 in Omaha eight-or-better, Nguyen raised from the button, as he had been doing nearly every rotation, and DeMichele three-bet him from the small blind. Nguyen made the call and the two players saw a flop of 9 7 2. DeMichele continued with a bet, and Nguyen called. The turn was the 5, and DeMichele bet once again. This time, Nguyen studied his opponent and his stack before making the call. The river paired the board with the 5, and DeMichele fired yet again. Nguyen instantly raised, and after getting called, he revealed A-8-6-3 for the nut low and the nut straight. The massive pot took 1.5 million out of DeMichele's stack and forced him to tighten up a bit as Nguyen continued to control the table.

The hand that vaulted Nguyen to his unmatchable lead came in limit hold'em, with the same betting structure. This time, Nguyen got aggressive earlier in the hand, when he was out of position. DeMichele raised from the button and Nguyen called from the small blind with the Q 10. The flop came 9 6 2, and Nguyen checked. DeMichele bet, and Nguyen didn't hesitate to check-raise with his flush draw and two overcards. DeMichele called. The turn was the J, giving Nguyen even more outs with an open-end straight draw. He bet and DeMichele called once again. The river was the Q, and Nguyen put in yet another 300,000. DeMichele made the call and dejectedly mucked when he saw Nguyen's hand. Just like that, another 1.2 million was gone from DeMichele's stack, and suddenly Nguyen held more than 80 percent of the chips in play.

From that point on, Nguyen played Lindgren and DeMichele against each other, with neither wanting to bust out in third place and miss the nearly $500,000 in prize money differential. After Lindgren faltered, it took only 11 hands for the larger-than-life Nguyen to claim victory.

In the end, the "Prince of Poker" used a combination of his cards, position, aggression, and a little bit of fear to earn his fourth career bracelet, and as a result, he now holds two of the most prized titles in poker.