Besides the Main Event, all eyes at the World Series of Poker gaze with fascination towards the $50,000 buy-in HORSE Championship. This five-day event has become a staple of the WSOP since its introduction in 2006. With a buy-in that is five times the size of the Main Event’s price tag, the $50K HORSE event at the 2008 World Series of Poker attracted a field of 148 players. Making the eight-man final table was a lineup of elite poker players. In the end, Scotty Nguyen took down his fifth World Series of Poker bracelet, emerging victorious in one of the most heralded events in WSOP history.
Past winners of the $50,000 HORSE Championship include the late Chip Reese (2006) and Freddy Deeb (2007). On Sunday night, Nguyen became the third winner in this high-stakes event, winning nearly $2 million, the largest payout by far to any victor at this year’s WSOP. The owner of five WSOP bracelets, Nguyen is one of the most experienced poker players in this galaxy. He won his first bracelet in a Limit Omaha Hi/Lo tournament during the 1997 WSOP. The next year, he was Main Event champion. He’d also capture a pair of Omaha bracelets in the 2001 World Series of Poker. He’s made final tables in Limit Deuce to Seven Triple Draw Lowball and Limit H.O.R.S.E events, cashing for $4.8 million in his WSOP career.
Erick Lindgren, one of the young guns of poker, also made the final table of this event and finished third. Lindgren won two events during Season II of the World Poker Tour, the UltimateBet Poker Classic and PartyPoker Million. He also finished third at the Borgata Poker Classic during Season IV. Lifetime, he’s racked up $2.4 million in earnings from the World Poker Tour circuit.
Matt Glantz logged his second final table of this year’s World Series and finished fourth. The other came in the World Championship Mixed Event (Event 8), which also requires an innate understanding of the major varieties of poker. He finished third in last year’s United States Poker Championship and has improved his overall game tremendously after logging his first five WSOP cashes in hold’em events.
Lyle Berman finished fifth. The chip leader after Day Two of the five-day affair, Berman won bracelets in 1989, 1992, and 1994. As is common among successful HORSE players, his wins came in completely different events: No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball, No Limit Hold’em, and Limit Omaha. Berman’s $444,000 cash puts him over the one million dollar mark lifetime from the World Series of Poker.
PokerStars pro Barry Greenstein finished sixth. He entered the final table third in chips. Greenstein won his third WSOP bracelet in Event 26 ($1,500 Razz) during this year’s World Series. His other two bracelets have come in Seven-Card Stud Hi-low Split and No-Limit Deuce to Seven Draw. Greenstein’s very first WSOP cash was in 1992, when he finished 22nd in the Main Event.
Also at the final table was Huck Seed, who finished seventh. The 1996 Main Event champion, Seed is the proud owner of four WSOP bracelets. Two of his bracelets came in Razz (the R of HORSE), one came in Pot Limit Omaha, and his final piece of hardware came in hold’em. Seed has been quiet during the last two World Series of Poker seasons. He had one cash in 2007; the $50K HORSE event marked his first cash in 2008.
Sixteen players total cashed in the $50,000 HORSE event. They included Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey (12th for $159,840), Daniel Negreanu (13th for $142,080), Andy Bloch (15th for $124,320), and DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson, who cashed for $124,320 and 16th place. Nine of the top 16 players are Vegas residents, illustrating the “old school” feel of this event.
