World Series of Poker -- World H.O.R.S.E. Championship Day OneHasan Habib Leads After Day One |
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The much anticipated $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship made its fourth appearance on Friday at the 2009 World Series of Poker and the big story of the day focused on the field, or lack thereof. A disappointing 95 players entered what many consider to be the most prestigious tournament of the year, well short of many players’ expectations.
In the tournament’s first year, 2006, a total of 143 players bought in. In 2007 and 2008, the field maxed out at 148. This year’s drop in attendance represented a nearly 35 percent decrease.
Despite the decline, the tournament will still award a seven-figure payday to the winner. The final 16 players will make the money, with $72,914 going to those who just squeak by. The winner will take home $1,276,802, almost $700,000 less than Scotty Nguyen earned in 2008.
For the first time in its four-year history, the event will not be airing on ESPN. Many blamed the decision for the lousy numbers and Daniel Negreanu elaborated, saying, “Next year, we’ll switch it back to no-limit hold’em at the final table, then we’ll have all those extra sponsored players and we’ll be back to 150 if not more next year.” You can read more about the story by clicking here.
Perhaps the most notable absent player was last year’s runner-up, Michael DeMichele. The young pro made several appearances throughout the year in various events on tour, but did not show up despite winning $1,243,200 for his runner-up performance. Other notables who did not play in this event but have cashed before included Lyle Berman, Amnon Filippi, Kenny Tran, Dewey Tomko, Mark Gregorich, T.J. Cloutier, Gavin Smith, Tim Phan, Chris Reslock, Raymond Davis and Robert Williamson III.
Phil Hellmuth also declined to participate in the event because he was still in the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better event going on just a few feet away. Hellmuth made a deep run, but ultimately busted out in 14th place.
Though the poker brat declined to pull double-duty, Barry Greenstein, perhaps the most successful player in the history of the $50K H.O.R.S.E., decided he would run back and forth between the star-studded affair and his own final table in the $2,500 mixed hold’em event. Greenstein finished in fifth place there for $57,671, enough to cover his buy-in at least. In the three years that the event has been played, Greenstein has cashed every time, finishing in 12th, 7th and 6th, respectively.
The players began with 150,000 in chips and played six 90-minute levels before stopping for the day. In 2008, eight players were eliminated on day one. This year, 5 players hit the rail, including Steve Zolotow, who was given the unfortunate title of first player out when he busted in the fourth level. Other players who were eliminated included Alexander Kostritsyn, David Singer and Daniel Shak.
The 90 surviving players will return on Saturday at 4:00 PDT to play five more levels.
Here are the top ten chip counts heading into day two.
1. Hasan Habib — 387,000
2. Martin Vallo — 347,200
3. Matthew Glantz — 300,000
4. Patrick Buneo — 289,500
5. David Benyamine — 282,200
6. Andrew Black — 264,700
7. Chris Ferguson — 240,600
8. Michael Saltzberg — 252,400
9. Justin Smith — 246,100
10. Farzad Bonyadi — 241,000
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