The WSOP $1,500 HORSE Event #15 saw a field of 862 participants, of whom 21 survived to participate in day three on Sunday. After the dust had settled, Tom Schneider emerged as the victor, earning $258,960 and adding a third bracelet to the two that he had won in previous years.
HORSE is a mixed game, consisting of rounds of Hold’em, Omaha Eight, Razz, Stud Hi, and Stud Eight. A player must be skilled in many forms of poker in order to perform well, which is perhaps why some of the best players enjoy playing a mixed game like HORSE, where some of their opponents are not good in all the games.
The final table bubble was burst when George Rechnitzer lost an all-in pot against Frankie O’Dell. Rechnitzer’s 9th place finish gave him a $16,629 prize. The remaining 8 players continued to the final table with the following chip stacks:
1. Tom Schneider – 880,000
2. Rep Porter – 580,000
3. Frankie O’Dell – 545,000
4. Viatcheslav Ortynskiy – 515,000
5. Eddie Blumenthal – 485,000
6. Scott Bohlman – 390,000
7. Mark Klecan – 375,000
8. Owais Ahmed – 320,000
Tom Schneider: Event # 15 Champion
Mark Klecan was the first to be knocked out of the final table, less than 10 minutes after it started. Viatcheslav Ortynskiy scooped a pot against Mark in the Omaha Eight round, sending him packing in 8th place with $21,679. Next, Eddie Blumenthal got it in with Rep Porter on 3rd street in Stud Eight with 6
4
/ 8. Porter held the 7 3 / A and got lucky when running sevens made him a set. Blumenthal caught a pair of queens, but this was not good enough to win the pot, and he was eliminated in 7th place, winning $28,778.
Scott Bohlman’s run was ended by Tom Schneider during a hand of Razz. The hand was all in on 6th street, with Schneider showing AT54A9 for a 9-draw. Bohlman had 23787J for an 8-draw. Schneider got there on the river, catching a 6 to improve his hand, while Bohlman caught a T to make a worse hand. Scott Bohlman left the table in 6th place with winnings of $38,949.
Frankie O’Dell proceeded to lose a big pot in the Stud round to Owais Ahmed. Frankie’s pair of kings was no match for Ahmed’s aces up. O’Dell then put his few remaining chips in against Ortynskiy during the Stud Eight round. Ortynskiy scooped the pot, eliminating Frankie O’Dell in 5th place with $53,739.
Ortynskiy felt like gambling again about an hour later, as he got it in against Porter’s shortstack on 3rd street while playing Stud. Ortynskiy revealed his starting hand: 6
78. Porter was ahead with T
QJ. Ortynskiy caught a 4 on 4th street, while Porter received an A, giving both players gutshots. 5th and 6th streets were complete bricks, but Ortynskiy filled his gutshot on the river with the 5, busting Porter out of the tournament. Porter’s 4th place showing made him $75,652.
Tom Schneider quickly dominated the three-handed table, winning huge pots against Ortynskiy in Razz and Owais Ahmed in Stud Eight. After decimating his opponents’ stacks the chip counts looked like this:
1. Tom Schneider – 3,150,000
2. Viatcheslav Ortynskiy – 430,000
3. Owais Ahmed – 300,000
Both Ortynskiy and Ahmed had an uphill battle against the commanding position of Tom Schneider. Unfortunately for Ortynskiy, his time at the table was about to come to an end. He got all in versus Schneider during the Stud round, on 5th street. When all the cards were out, Schneider held two pair for high and no low hand. Ortynskiy only had a single pair of eights for high and also had no low hand. Ortynskiy had to be content with the $108,701 third place money as Schneider and Ahmed began heads-up play.
Ahmed doubled up when he flopped top pair in Hold’em against Tom Schneider’s bottom pair, but this respite was short-lived. During the Razz round, Schneider completed with the 4, and Ahmed called with the T in the door. 4th street brought the 9 for Schneider and the 8 for Ahmed. Schneider bet out and again Ahmed called. Fifth street gave both players deuces, and Schneider checked. Ahmed fired a bet out, while Schneider tanked and finally check-raised. Owais Ahmed, perhaps feeling pot committed at that point, called. Both players saw their sixth street cards: the 5 for Schneider and the 9 for Ahmed. Schneider led sixth and Ahmed called. The action on the end was identical to sixth street, and Ahmed’s final call (in more ways than one) put him all-in. The player’s boards before the showdown were:
Ahmed: T 8 2 9
Schneider: 4 9 2 5
Schneider showed his hole cards: 7 A 7, making him a 7-5 low. Ahmed couldn’t beat that, and thus ended the brief heads-up confrontation. Ahmed walked away with $159,950 for his 2nd place finish.
Tom Schneider, a professional player hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, was the winner of this HORSE event. For his skillful play, he earned the $258,960 1st place prize. This was Schneider’s 3rd WSOP bracelet and his 29th WSOP cash. Oddly, all of his bracelets are from events that featured Stud Eight.
The complete list of final table payouts is:
1 Tom Schneider – $258,960
2 Owais Ahmed – $159,950
3 Viatcheslav Ortynskiy – $108,701
4 Rep Porter – $75,652
5 Frankie O’Dell – $53,739
6 Scott Bohlman – $38,949
7 Eddie Blumenthal – $28,778
8 Mark Klecan – $21,679