It’s mainly professionals who comprise the 143 starting players in one of the high points of the World Series of Poker that started this week – Event 20 – the $50 000 buy-in, H.O.R.S.E. tournament.
If you’re wondering what that equine acronym is all about, here’s the interpretation:
“H”: Hold’em
“O”: Omaha Hi/Lo
“R”: Razz
“S”: Seven-Card Stud
“E”: Eight or Better (Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo)
It’s arguably the most star-studded poker tournament in the history of the game. Anyone capable of fronting up the $50 000 can enter, but the huge buy-in – it’s 5x bigger than any previous event and the largest in World Series history, tends to restrict it to the elite group of poker pros who can afford to risk that sort of cash against a field of the world’s best. Every table has big names around it, and the audience is studded with others.
“We pack a full sports season into 48 days,” said WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. “There’s a beginning, an end, now there’s a middle, and that’s typically an all-star for other leagues.”
At Wednesday’s start the tables had names like Barry Greenstein, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Andy Bloch and David Grey all sitting at the same table. Elsewhere in the room Phil Ivey was seated with John Juanda and Greg “Fossilman” Raymer at one table, while Eli Elezra, Jennifer Harman, Phil Hellmuth and Steve Zolotow were at another.
HORSE works likes this: All games are limit varieties, and at the end of a set period of time, the game progresses to the next in line.
When the “E” (Eight or Better Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo) is completed, the cycle goes back to the start with “H” – the Hold Em game.
Stakes are raised each time through the cycle.
The rewards are significant; the first place prize is around $1.8 million. Second place will take home over $1 million, and 16 players will be in the bubble, with finishers 14-16 earning $137 280 each.
“When I got here last year, I heard from a lot of top players that there was some interest in an event that would have a little greater sense of exclusivity,” Pollack said. “This tournament is our answer to that request. I would have been pleased if we had 75 players turn out, so we’re thrilled.”
Look for players like Carlos Mortensen and Mike Matusow to add some fireworks to proceedings during the three-day event, with the first two days spent whittling the field down to that aggressive nine on the final table. ESPN, will be taping the finals, concentrating on the No Limit Texas Hold’em play.