The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event reached its final 24 players and stopped play late Friday evening during Level 17. Action will pick back up at 3:00 PT Saturday and won’t end until the final table of eight is decided.
Michael DiMichelle (1.35 million), Barry Greenstein (1.31 million), Daniel Negreanu (1.22 million), Ralph Perry (1.04 million) and Scotty Nguyen (1.03 million) will enter Day 3 as the chip leaders and the rest of the field will be playing catch up.
Of those still playing Barry Greenstein, Gabe Kaplan, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey and Andy Bloch have reached the final table in past $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. events. Greenstein and Kaplan reached the final nine last year, with Barry finishing seventh and Kaplan ninth. In 2006, Brunson earned an eighth place finish while Ivey took third and Bloch lost a heads-up battle to the late Chip Reese – the longest heads-up match in World Series History (seven hours and ten minutes). It would only be fitting for Bloch to take home the first ever Chip Reese Memorial Trophy that goes to the winner of this year’s champion, but Bloch has his work cut out for him Friday as he sits down with 421,000 chips.
Phil Ivey is one of the short stacks but nobody is considering him dead quite yet. Ivey is rumored to have over a million dollars riding on prop bets during the World Series and with the number of events thinning as we close toward the Main Event, his chances at earning a bracelet dwindle by the day. The man considered by many as the best in the world has 141,000 chips. Only Chad Brown has fewer (85,000).
Twenty-three year old Max Greenwood of Toronto, Canada was the champion of the $1,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em with Rebuys (Event 44) on Friday. Greenwood beat Rene Mouritsen heads up to earn $693,444. The final hand: On a jack-high flop with three spades, Greenwood check-raised Mouritsen. Mouritsen then moved all in and received a quick call from Greenwood, who showed ace-jack to Rene’s king-jack. Neither player had a spade and the board ran true for Greenwood.
Greenwood followed in the footsteps of greats such as Phil Hellmuth, Allen Cunningham and Mike Gracz by winning Event 44. Last year’s winner, Michael Graves, did not register this year. Greenwood graduated from the University of Toronto two weeks ago with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He plans on staying in the Toronto area and using his winnings to purchase a home.
Mouritsen ($445,523) picked up his third runner-up finish in the past two years at the World Series. That total is more than any other player. Other notable finishes at the final table were Scott Freeman in fourth place ($223,572) and Alex Bolotin in ninth ($63,183).
The tournament staff running the $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Low suspended play early Saturday morning as players began complaining about fatigue. The 13 players left will play all the way down until the bracelet is won when they begin at 3:00 PT Saturday. Jonas Klausen is the chip leader with 346,000. James Richburg, (274,000) Margaret Macre (174,000), Alessio Isaia (173,000) and best-selling poker author David Skalansky (110,000) are on his heels.
The $5,000 No Limit Hold ‘em six-handed event played down to its final six early Saturday morning – 5:30 a.m. PT to be exact – after 14 hours of grueling play. On the final hand of the day, Will Failla moved all of his remaining chips in over the top of a raise and flat call from Richard Lyndaker and Ed Ochana. Lyndaker quickly called Failla with pocket aces, which ended up holding against ace-king. Failla earned $82,858 for his seventh-place finish.
The six tired souls returning for Friday’s final table are Lyndaker, Ochana, Joe Commisso, Sam Trickett, Tom Lutz and Davidi Kitai. Kitai has only 245,000 chips, a miniscule number compared to the other five, but should he manage to pull off the unthinkable and win the event it would be his second bracelet in eight days.