The ever growing popularity of the H.O.R.S.E. game in poker took another step up up in Event #22 of the WSOP. 414 players paid the $3,000 buy-in so they participate in the tourney that reached a prize pool of $1,142,640.
And the growing popularity of this game brought plenty of stars to the felt as players like Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Annie Duke, Robert Mizrachi, Nenad Medic, and Hoyt Corkins all showed up.
One surprise in the early going was how well Shannon Elizabeth was playing. She was one of the top finishers on day 1 and joined people like Mike Sexton, Ivey, and Greg Raymer for the second day of play.
Here’s how the chip leaders looked going into day 2:
Rank/Player/Chips
1. Alexander Jung 54,300
2. Chris Gentile 50,300
3. Shannon Elizabeth 44,200
4. James Mackey 42,900
5. Todd Brunson 41,700
6. Marc Goodwin 41,500
7. Kevin Saul 36,800
8. Rostislav Tsodikov 36,000
9. James van Alstyne 36,000
10. Linda Drucker 36,000
Day 2 would be a long one for the players as the tournament officials sought to cut the field down to one final table. However, this wasn’t to be as the tourney went into the wee hours of the night and forced officials to stop play early.
People like Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, and Markus Golser all made a good run at getting past day 2 but came up short as all busted out in the 20’s. Marsel Luske ended the day in the lead with 350,000 chips.
Day 3 would see the final table comprised as eight players were, for the most part, quickly eliminated. Those that did make it to the last table are as follows:
Seat/Player/Chips
Seat 1: Rostislav Tsodikov 140,000 Chips
Seat 2: Doug Ganger 405,000 Chips
Seat 3: Jennifer Harman 271,000 Chips
Seat 4: Steve Zolotow 180,000 Chips
Seat 5: Jens Voertmann 485,000 Chips
Seat 6: Jared Davis 185,000 Chips
Seat 7: Hoyt Corkins 595,000 Chips
Seat 8: Marcel Luske 572,000 Chips
Action kicked off with Jennifer Harman trying to be the first female to win a bracelet in an event other than the Ladies only tourney. But her hopes were dashed when Doug Ganger eliminated her.
Next on the chopping block was Rostislav Tsodikov when his nines in Stud High were bettered by Jens Voertmann’s queens. Steve Zolotow was also a casualty of Stud High when Hoyt Corkins hit a spades flush to send Zolotow out in 6th.
Jens Voertmann eliminated another player when his trip aces were much better than Jared Davis’ hand. Hoyt Corkins would be sent packing by Marcel Luske after this.
Marcel Luske used these winnings to stay in the game for quite a while but not long enough as Voertmann knocked him out in 3rd setting up a duel between Voertmann and Doug Ganger.
Voertmann had a 2 to 1 chip advantage but this would soon disappear and Jens found himself trailing at one point. However, Voertmann battled back and hit a big two pair to beat Ganger and win the bracelet. He also took home $298,253 for the victory.
Here’s the rest of the results:
Rank/Player/Money
1. Jens Voertmann $298,253
2. Douglas Ganger $182,822
3. Marcel Luske $110,264
4. Hoyt Corkins $81,698
5. Jared Davis $61,702
6. Steve Zolotow $47,990
7. Rostislav Tsodikov $36,564
8. Jennifer Harman-Traniello $30,851
9. Paul Zimbler $25,138
10. Blair Rodman $25,138
11. Todd Brunson $19,424
12. Eric Froehlich $19,424
13. Mickey Appleman $13,711
14. Mallory Smith $13,711
15. David Levi $10,283
16. JJ Hazan $10,283
17. Farzad Rouhani $7,998
18. Tad Jurgens $7,998
19. Alexander Jung $7,998
20. Tom Schneider $7,998
21. Kevin Saul $7,998
22. Loi Tran $7,998
23. Marcus Golser $7,998
24. Phil Ivey $7,998
25. James Mackey $6,284