Event 21 - $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. - Live Updates

It's all over in the H.O.R.S.E. and Zac Fellows is the man to take the plaudits and glory!

James Van Alstyne collects $192,866 for 2nd place, but he will perhaps be disappointed at his heads-up performance after being mercilessly bullied and out-played by Fellows.

Alstyne didn't seem to adjust to the heads-up format and Fellows unrelenting aggression earned him the title as he just ground down his opponent.

Fellows earned his bracelet after battling back from the brink, reduced to dust in the midpoint of the final table. 

It's Canada's first bracelet and all of Canada will be proud of their man wearing the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles t-shirt.

Fellows picks up a chunky $311,899 for first. Congratulations sir!

That's the $3k H.O.R.S.E. wrapped!

Join us shortly for our re-cap of the day but for now thanks for following and we'll see you back at the felt tomorrow for the rest of this exciting World Series.

Two more H.O.R.S.E.s have neighed their last and we are in the home straight now.

The two remaining players, James Alstyne and Zac Fellows, are battling for the bracelet and are virtually even. 

This is the tale of woe that befell the other two players.

Michele-Shocked!(4th)

Michele Limongi was to fall victim during the Razz stages. He went toe-to-toe with Zac Fellows, who had earlier warned the table of his advanced Razz skillz but it seemed like Limongi hadn't paid attention.

Limongi succumbed to Fellow's ten-low when he bricked on seventh and the oldest remaining competitor bites the dust in 4th spot, winning $87,264.

Tim's Not Finne (3rd)

Tim Finne was about to be nick-named the barnacle, due to his short-stack ninja skills. He had been all-in multiple times, surviving every encounter until finally Zac Fellows had had enough and took him decisively in the Hold'em round.

Three-handed king-nine looked good to Finne, but when Fellows woke up with ace-king, he was in big trouble and sweating a nine to survive.

Instead Fellows made the nut flush to send him to the rail with a chunky $126,199 his reward for 3rd place.

So we're heads up and here are the current counts, the two remaining H.O.R.S.E.s neck-and-neck as they gallop up the home stretch.

Counts courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com. Thank you!

The above title suggests there are four left in this bracelet hunt, which is indeed the case!

Logically, that also implies that two players must have fallen. Also spot on.

The tournament is shaping up perfectly for James Van Alstyne, who continues to chip up and chip away despite rarely being involved in any bust-outs himself.

Here's the word from the H.O.R.S.E.'s mouth.

Eiking Put Out To Stud! (6th)

Martin Eiking looked to be treading water with his micro-stack and so when he was dealt split aces in the Stud section, he must have been itching to pounce on the opportunity to double-up.

Pounce he did, capping the action pre-flop with Zac Fellows before the rest of his chips went in on fourth.

Showing down (A♠ 9♣)A♣ 9♦ 9♠ 2♦ to Fellows' (J♣ J♥)4♥ Q♠ 8♦ 8♥ he was a big favourite on seventh with his nines full to Fellow's two-pair.

The rail, who had become quite subdued, were roused from their comatose slumber however when Zac flipped up the J♦ to make a bigger house, jacks-full.

The noise was almost deafening at what must be one of the harsher beats at this WSOP so far.

Eiking could still get out of it with an ace or nine on seventh, but he missed and Eiking bows out 6th for $63,536.

Amaral-ity Play (5th)

Chris Amaral was short in the Hold'em section and K♣ 3♣ looked good enough to roll with and roll he did.

When he got action from Tim Finne, he may have been thinking he needed to spike to win, but no, it turned out he held a narrow advantage, Tim showing down Q♥ J♣.

The flop and turn bricked meaning Amaral was almost home and dry for a double-through, but horror of horrors, a queen spiked on the river to draw his celebrations to a close.

Amaral looked slightly glum but shook hands with the players as he departed in 5th spot, collecting $63,536 for the result.

The players are on a short break to colour up chips but will be back shortly to continue their H.O.R.S.E. play.

We're down to six contenders for the bracelet now, with the elimination of one more player in the last level.

James Van Alstyne has galloped back into the lead he conceded to Michele Limongi a short while ago and is looking favorite for the bracelet right now.

Here's how the last hour's developments panned out.

Gabriel's No Angel (7th)

With a biblical name like Gabriel, one might have expected Gabriel Nassif to find a better hand than K♣ Q♣ J♣ 3♥ to ship his last few chips in. 

In truth, he had little choice, so shortstacked in the big blind that he was barely able to call Chris Amaral's raise in the Omaha-8 round. He did call though and his tournament life was on the line.

When Amaral flipped up a juicy-looking A♠ A♦ 4♥ 7♠, it looked bad for Nassif, but a flop of T♦ 9♥ 6♠ was very promising, giving him a wrap to pin his hopes on.

He was to be disappointed however as the turn and river bricked, Amaral's aces had held and Nassif found himself consigned to the leafy pastures in the sky.

He collects $38,947 for his performance.

Cheery Fellows

Zac Fellows has staved off elimination, doubling through in the Razz variant.

He was down to the felt but managed to squeeze out a seven-low to bust Eikeng's hand, when he made a full house, and no doubt wished he'd been playing stud.

Taking The Count

Here's the chip counts, showing Van Alstyne's growing domination.

Will he wrapping that shiny, gold bracelet round his wrist come the end of the day?

We're back from the break and one H.O.R.S.E. has been felled at the first hurdle.

This event may be playing second fiddle to the $10k 2-7 Championship Event and some of the other Hold'em tournaments playing out right now, but there is still an excited crowd thronged around the rail, eager to watch the riveting action play out.

Here's news of what's been going down along with that bustout.

Gim'Michele'ter

As the Rolling Stones sang in their infamous song, "Love, sister, it's just a kiss away" and for Michele Limongi it turned out the chip lead, sister, was just a pot away.

He won a Stud pot from Zac Fellows, betting out on seventh, his board showing (x,x) K♦ 4♣ 3♠ 2♥(x)

Fellows threw his hand away, perhaps fearing some monsters in the hole but a chuckling Limongi just showed a single pair of threes as he collected the pot and in doing so grabbed the chip lead from James Van Alstyne.

Hoss Pasture-ised (8th)

Matt "HossTBF" Hawrilenko is the first man to succumb at this final, the Razz round causing his demise. He made a promising 7-6 low versus Chris Amaral but when Amaral showed he had made 7-4 by seventh, it was all over including the singing for the Hoss.

He picks up $32,647 for 8th! Good game sir!

It's interesting to see how the players interact at these mixed game events. 

In the Hold'em events often you will see players posturing and criticising - bad blood seems commonplace - but here at the H.O.R.S.E. the players seem to have nothing but mutual admiration.

As Hawrilenko left the table, every single player stood to shake his hand, and he was even hugged heartily as he left the felt.

It's a pleasant experience to see players showing some respect to each other at the felt. Well played guys!

The players are back from dinner and it's James Van Alstyne who leads the way at present. This is Van Alstyne's second final table of the series having already finalled the $10k World Championship Mixed Event.

His impressive career record shows almost $3 million in tournament results, though he is still missing a bracelet off that resume.

He's been in the thick of the action following the hiatus in play.

Here's the news.

It's Not Ladies Night

Van Alstyne started the resumption in play brightly, calling a three-bet from Michele Limongi and going heads-up to an ace-high flop.

He called a bet and the two then checked down the later streets.

Limongi showed an out-drawn pair of ladies, whilst Alstyne's ace-ten was good for the pot.

Hawrilenko Doubles!

Things looked dire for Matt Hawrilenko with his small chip stack and though he barely has a few shekels to rub together, he has at least doubled-through to give himself a shot at getting back in the game.

Moments later though, he doubled up against the same man, Van Alstyne, going for broke in the Omaha-8 section with the pretty looking A♣ 2♦ 8♦ 4♥ versus Alstyne's A♠ Q♣ 9♣ 8♠.

Alstyne was less fortunate this time as he watched Hawrilenko make a full house and an eight-low to scoop the pot and move his chip stack to almost 200k.

The Chip's Lips

They say chips talk and if they could, Van Alstyne's stack would be shouting the loudest.

Here's the full counts, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com.