To say that the remaining field in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 HORSE Championship is stacked would be a severe understatement. Cuong Do, who finished 30th in last year’s Main Event, owns the top spot on the leaderboard with 23 players remaining at 720,000. Right behind him in the chip counts for Event #43 is online poker veteran Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson.
Former CardRunners instructor and former Full Tilt Poker Red Pro Brian Townsend sits in third holding a stack of 616,000. Fifth place belongs to Carlos Mortensen, the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) all-time money leader and 2001 WSOP Main Event champion. Mortensen will come armed to Friday’s play in the HORSE Championship with a stack of 503,000.
Richard Ashby, one of five British bracelet winners in 2010, is poised to make it six for the U.K. in the HORSE event. Ashby is in seventh on the leaderboard at 441,000 and took down a $1,500 buy-in Seven Card Stud event (#21) earlier this year for $140,000 and his first WSOP bracelet. Just behind Ashby is Nick Schulman, a WPT champ and WSOP bracelet holder. Schulman won the 2005 WPT World Poker Finals for $2.1 million and took down the tour’s Battle of the Champions one year later. His bracelet came in last year’s 2-7 Lowball World Championship for $279,000.
Robert Mizrachi has already made two final tables at this year’s World Series, including a fifth place finish in the $50,000 Player’s Championship. Mizrachi holds down the fort in 10th place entering the finale of Event #43. Two-time bracelet winner Scott Fischman, whose last WSOP final table came in London in 2008, sits in 11th after two days of play in the HORSE Championship.
Also a part of the talented lineup in Event #43 are Marco Traniello, Full Tilt pro Brandon Adams, DoylesRoom pro Todd Brunson, Matt Glantz, Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler, John “World” Hennigan, and Scotty Nguyen. Yikes. Here’s a full list of chip counts:
1. Cuong Do – 720,000
2. Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson – 626,000
3. Brian Townsend – 616,000
4. Eugene Katchalov – 525,000
5. Carlos Mortensen – 503,000
6. Ian Gordon – 483,000
7. Richard Ashby – 441,000
8. Roman Yitzhaki – 429,100
9. Nick Schulman – 402,000
10. Robert Mizrachi – 364,000
11. Scott Fischman – 347,000
12. Marco Traniello – 323,000
13. Brandon Adams – 310,000
14. Todd Brunson – 274,000
15. Matt Glantz – 200,000
16. Michael Chow – 180,000
17. Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler – 104,000
18. Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis – 89,000
19. Pawel Andrzejewski – 80,000
20. Abe Mosseri – 71,000
21. Al Barbieri – 65,000
22. John “World” Hennigan – 60,000
23. Scotty Nguyen – Did Not Report Chip Count
Poker News Daily Hijack Seat host and Guest Columnist Bernard Lee is the short stack entering the final day of play in Event #42, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em. Lee will be on life support when play resumes at 2:30pm PT, as he’ll have just four big blinds to work with. However, he’s assured a payday of at least $17,000 and a total of 25 players are still in the mix.
James Schaaf and Ryan Hemmel own a commanding lead over the competition at 1.26 million and 1.08 million, respectively, in Event #42. Dean Hamrick, who took fifth in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event last year, sits in third on the leaderboard entering Friday’s finale at 858,000. Perhaps the most decorated player left in the field is PokerStars front man Humberto Brenes, a two-time Costa Rican bracelet winner. Brenes has made three WPT final tables over the course of his career.
The lone bracelet awarded on Thursday in Las Vegas went to the U.K.’s Steve Jelinek, who won Event #41, $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better. In the tournament’s final hand, Jelinek’s As-Ah-Qd-4h bested John Gottlieb’s Ad-Kh-9d-5c. Jelinek’s wired pair of aces was enough to capture his first bracelet and $245,000. He became the fifth U.K. player to win gold this year, joining Praz Bansi, James Dempsey, Ashby, and Mike Ellis.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the 2010 World Series of Poker.
