HORSE Event at World Series of Poker

This is a post about the World Series of Poker, but there are no spoilers in it

Today began one of the most interesting events at the World Series of Poker, the HORSE event. One of the complaints about the growth of the WSOP over the last few years is that the main event, with so many players involved, has become much more of a crapshoot and thus led to a dimunition in the importance of poker skill. But if you're looking for a real test of who is the best player in poker, this event is more likely to provide it. The buy-in is $50,000 and it's a mixed game. In regular intervals, the game changes, rotating between Hold em, Omaha, Razz, Seven card stud and Seven Card Stud Eight or Better (also known as hi-lo).

Because of the high entry fee and the difficulty of playing so many different games, this tournament is pretty much limited to the most successful poker players in the world. Take a look at the table assignments (scroll down a ways) for the start of this tournament and you'll see that, with only 143 players ponying up the cash to play, there isn't any dead money here at all. Every table is like a murderer's row of great players. The other quirk about the HORSE event is that it starts out as a limit event and then becomes no-limit in the later stages. That really puts the emphasis in skill rather than luck because players can afford to pick their spots and play patient, solid poker as they accumulate chips for the later rounds. A lot of pros really like that format. If anyone has the justiification to call themselves the world champion of poker, it's the winner of this tournament.

There was some controversy right out of the gate when Andy Bloch noticed a marked card in the game. He demanded that the dealer fan out the cards and he picked out several that had markings on them (they apparently didn't use new decks of cards) from previous play and he bent each marked card so they would have to bring in a new deck. The floorman told him not to do that and a minor row erupted that ended with Bloch getting a ten minute timeout. But a short while later, Annie Duke found a marked card at her table as well, followed by more marked cards at another table. The players were quite unhappy about it and demanded new decks of cards for all the tables.

There has also been some funny things happen, primarily because the poker gods saw fit to put Mike Matusow and Phil Hellmuth at the same table. At one point, Matusow was needling Hellmuth about being a terrible stud hi-lo player and he loudly announced that he would stake anyone in the audience watching in a stud hi-lo match against Hellmuth, even if they don't know how to play the game. Then there was this exchange:

"I will run through the Amazon Room buck naked if Phil Hellmuth wins this tournament." - Mike Matusow, about Phil Hellmuth's chances to win the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event

"You're now my second-favorite pick to win the tournament." - Greg Raymer to Phil Hellmuth moments later

This one should really be fun to watch on TV. Because of the limit format, only about 15 players were knocked out last night. Play continues tonight. Paul Phillips is playing in this event, the only event he'll play this year at the WSOP, but he's struggling and is near the bottom with just over $23,000 in chips. Hopefully he can go on a run tonight.