Posted on 06/29/2007 7:53:34 AM PDT by SubGeniusX
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Las Vegas pro ______ ____ won $2.3 million early Friday morning, beating out a field of 148 players in what is considered one of the most coveted bracelets in the World Series of Poker.
____ won the $50,000 buy-in HORSE event after a grueling 15-hour final table match that began play at 2 p.m. Thursday.
Joking throughout the match, ____ kept up the humor until the 5 a.m. finish.
"You know what did it? The lucky shirt," he said.
The winner's purse was the fifth biggest in World Series history, falling just short of the $2.5 million that Chris Moneymaker won when he emerged from an Internet qualifier to beat a field of 839 in 2003.
There were five more players than last year's HORSE event, which contributed an extra quarter of a million dollars to the prize pool. Organizers also skewed the payouts to favor the final winner, a top heavy format aimed to please the many players for whom the $50,000 buy-in is mere pocket change.
"These are all accomplished players," said tournament media director Nolan Dalla. "If they're going to play five days, they want the big money at the end."
Top names including Phil Hellmuth, Barry Greenstein and Annie Duke sat down to play the marathon event Sunday in a field that had more World Series bracelet winners than not.
It marked the second bracelet for ____, who won his first bracelet in a deuce-to-seven lowball event in 1996.
Second place finisher, French poker pro Bruno Fitoussi, finished with a $1,278,720 payday.
Third-place and $852,480 went to John Hanson, a New York stock options trader, who said he was drawn to the pro-filled event by the challenge of trying to "beat them at their own game."
He said his trading experience helped him to the biggest tournament win of his life.
"There's a lot of similarities between trading and playing poker. I think both are governed by fear and greed and you have to balance the two to do well," he said.
HORSE, which stands for five games of poker - Hold'Em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Eight or Better - tests the all-around player more than the No Limit Hold'Em game, which was born in Texas and has become the most popular poker game worldwide.
The event was also played with betting limits, meaning dramatic "all-ins" were eliminated in favor of skills honed over longer sessions of play.
Poker Ping ———
What's amazing is that last night, Deeb was down to his last chips and all-in about three times with five or six players remaining. To be in that situation and actually come all the back and win the whole thing is pretty awesome.
Heh....
I love Freddy’s shirts also ....
After I posted with Freddy’s name redacted, I realized that the “Lucky Shirt” made it into the article intro and knew it would be a give away as to the identity of the winner ...
This tournament is the new Main Event
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.