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Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008

Farnood win at WSOPE good news for Afghanistan

By Miguel Strother

The Afghan poker scene is going crazy with rejoicing right now. First question: Why? Second: Is there really an Afghan poker scene?

Sure, it's not exactly the biggest poker market in the world, but the country that's been so torn by war in the last several decades has something to cheer about, as native son Sherkhan Farnood won a World Series of Poker bracelet in the £2,500 H.O.R.S.E event at the World Series of Poker Europe last night.

Farnood, a 46-year-old dual resident of Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates, earned the bracelet after taking down a star-studded cast of card players at the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square in London, England.

Although he doesn't exactly need the cash (Farnood is reportedly one of the richest men in Afghanistan), the prestige of such a title was more than enough to humble the chairman of Kabulbank.

"It's fantastic. It was not easy. This is for the people of Afghanistan," Farnood said after the win. "Because [I won], all the people of my country have a gold bracelet with me."

Farnood has now cashed in six career WSOP events; this was his fourth final-table appearance. He also made it to the final table of last year's WSOPE Pot-Limit Omaha championship, where he wound up finishing sixth.

Chess whiz and WSOP gold bracelet winner Ivo Donev from Lochau, Austria actually had a 3-2 chip advantage entering heads-up play, but it was Farnood who found the right cards at the right time.

In a key Razz hand that wound up evening out the chip counts, Farnood showed J-6-5-3-A, which was good enough to beat Donev's J-7 low. The death blow came later that night while playing Seven-Card Stud. Farnood's two pair outlasted Donev's flush draw, and just like that Afghanistan had its second WSOP bracelet (Qushqar Morad was the first).

Ivey was in the hunt for a bracelet, but went out sixth.

Farnood and Donev were far from the most famous players at the final table, with Phil Ivey, Jeffery Lisandro and Howard "The Professor" Lederer all in the mix.

Ivey held the chip lead at several stages throughout the event but was sent packing after getting beat by Mark Gregorich and his two pair at Stud. Gregorich followed Ivey to the exit shortly afterward when Farnood's pocket fives held up against his A-J in a huge Hold'em pot.

Lederer actually held the chip lead going into the final day of play but wasn't able to steer home the win and capture his third World Series bracelet. Farnood mortally wounded the high-profile Full Tilt pro with a pair of eights in a big game of Stud, and he hit the bricks several hands later.

"I finished last in a three-horse race," said a dejected Lederer after the exit. "I put myself in position to win a bracelet and if you do that enough times you are going to come away with your fair share.

"My cards were running dry. I had both of them where they were almost out a couple of time, but that's limit poker. I feel like I played well, I gave myself a chance to win. But it's a limit tournament and it's always frustrating to go out."

The final day of play actually began with 12 players rather than the normal final table of just eight for a H.O.R.S.E. event. So here's how the final table plus the last few stragglers in the 2008 WSOPE £2,500 H.O.R.S.E turned out:

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Sherkhan Farnood	£76,999
2nd	Ivo Donev	£48,125
3rd	Howard Lederer	£30,250
4th	Jeff Duvall	£22,000
5th	Mark Gregorich	£17,188
6th	Phil Ivey	£13,750
7th	Jeffrey Lisandro	£11,000
8th	Spencer Lawrence	£8,938
9th	Erik Albinsson	£6,875
10th	Yuval Bronshtein	£6,875
11th	Raul Paez	£6,188
12th	Phil Hellmuth	£6,188