Event 43 - $10k HORSE Championship - Live Updates

With the blinds getting increasingly meaty, it was likely the contest could come to an abrupt end at any moment and that proved the case - two quick eliminations sealing the victory.

Here's how it went down.

Katchalov Conquered (3rd)

The Limit Hold'em round saw the end of Katchalov. In a four-bet pot pre-flop versus Ian Gordon, Katchalov fired the rest of his chips in on an all diamond with pocket sevens, only to discover the harsh truth that Gordon had flopped the effective nuts with K♦ J♦.

No runner runner redemption and just like that, we were heads-up!

Katchalov received $248,831 for third but Richard Ashby and Ian Gordon were left battling for the bracelet.

Gordon Wins The $10k Horse!

With a sizeable chip lead, it was always likely that Ashby would have a hard time catching Gordon and that proved the case as the pair of them went to war pre-flop in the Limit Hold'em, both four-betting.

The flop fell ten high and Ashby was too invested with his ace-jack to escape his fate - Gordon holding pocket nines.

The last of Ashby's chips went in on the ten turn and when the river blanked, he was eliminated in second place, denied his second bracelet of the series, although $378,027 richer for his efforts.

Meanwhile, Ian Gordon was the champ!

He picks up $611,666 for the win and claims the much-coveted championship bracelet, following a hard-fought final table.

That was it! It's been a tough battle for the bracelet and an excellent tournament. We hope you've enjoyed the coverage from PokerListings.

We'll have a full recap of the day up shortly but for now thanks for following and we'll see you tomorrow for a fresh batch of WSOP goodness.

Goodnight all.

It looked for all the world as if Marco Johnson would be the next to fall but he has nimbly averted disaster - at least temporarily. He's certainly managed to ladder up one more payout slot as we have seen one more non-Johnson elimination in recent times.

Here it is.

Matt Finish (5th)

Matt Glantz was crippled in a hand versus Ian Gordon where his opponent made a backdoor flush to garner most of his stack and when he looked down at an ace, that was all the encouragement he needed to ship the rest of his stack into the middle.

Holding queens, RIchard Ashby was going nowhere, leaving Glantz to admit he hadn't checked his kicker. Lucky boy, it was a king and the race was on.

Sadly that was where his luck ended as neither bullet nor cowboy spiked on the flop and he was removed from proceedings in 5th spot, $135,040 his reward for placing so high.

Players in the $10k H.O.R.S.E. Championship just took a twenty minute break before resuming five-handed play.

All five players remain, though Richard Ashby is on the rise while Marco Johnson appears to be on the way out.

Eugene Katchalov seems to be playing the most consistent poker, while Matt Glantz can't be ruled out due to his tendency to scoop huge pots. It should be a battle to the finish - a finish we don't anticipate witnessing until after the sun comes up this morning.

Johnson Wants a Mulligan

There are times in poker when your whole tournament can be defined by one call. Or in the case of Marco Johnson, the tournament can be defined by one fold.

At the moment, Johnson is inconsolable after making the wrong lay down in a pot against Matt Glantz.

It was 7^th street of a stud high hand and the pot had been bet on nearly every street. Johnson showed a board of Q♥ J♦ 6♦ 2♦ while Glantz showed 9♦ 7♠ 4♠ 3♦. Glantz put Johnson to the test for a max bet of 160k.

The call would have left Johnson with only a couple of blinds to go. After tanking for a few minutes he finally released the hand only to have Glantz inform him that he was probably a 60% favorite. Glantz flipped over his hand and revealed a stone cold bluff after he missed all his draws on 7^th.

Johnson looked like a man who had just lost a loved one or been cheated on by his wife. He could see his entire tournament life come crashing down with that missed opportunity.

Johnson said the final deciding factor in making the decision to fold came when he noticed Glantz had one of his down cards slightly offset from the other two-Johnson mistook that as a sign of strength and made the wrong decision.

After the laydown Johnson went to be consoled by his railmates while the rest of the table discussed the hand.

"It was a tough call," said Glantz.

Richard Ashby disagreed. "It wasn't a tough call, it was an easy call," Ashby said matter-of-factly. "That was his tournament life, this isn't a cash game."

Johnson is now left crippled as players take a 20 minute break. His stack is down to 150k while the rest of his competitors have well over one million.

So nice he might do it twice.

 

Four Snowmen

The stars might be aligning for Richard Ashby as the Brit seeks bracelet number two of the 2010 WSOP.

Ashby battled through a short stack early in the day and now finds himself only slightly behind chip leader Eugene Katchalov.

In one of the bigger hands of the night Ashby made quad eights in a seven card stud pot against Katchalov and improved his chip stack by more than 300k.

The British rail support is growing, though it's not approaching the boisterous following that James Dempsey or Praz Bansi had early in the tournament.

Chip Count

Carlos "El Matador" Mortensen had a bad couple of orbits and found himself on the rail in a hurry. Nick Schulman departed just before that as the Full Tilt pro couldn't get any momentum going at the final table.

Now we are down to five in the $10k H.O.R.S.E Championship. Each of the remaining players is guaranteed at least $135k for their efforts.

Blinds are getting up there as we're now around the 30k/60k mark. Still, with more than 7 million chips on the table and average stacks in the 1.5 million range, players aren't going to be forced into any decisions.

Nick Schulman - 7^th Place

Nick Schulman managed to get the last of his 120k into the pot with a pretty decent LHE starting hand.

He reraised all in holding A♣ J♠ but was called down and dominated by the A♠ K♥ of Marco Johnson. Schulman bricked out on the flop and was sent packing.

Don't feel too bad for Schulman as he departed $70k richer with a beautiful girl on his arm. We have a feeling he'll be fine.

Carlos Mortensen - 6^th Place

Carlos Mortensen picked his poison and its name was razz. Mortensen was a massive chip leader at one point in the day but saw his stack slowly dwindle throughout.

The final hand of the tournament for Mortensen saw his ace-three starting hand go down to the deuce-six of Eugene Katchalov as Katchalov caught his hand on sixth street and Mortensen never improved.

El Matador will collect $102,237 for his final table showing.

Ashby hoping to double up on WSOP hardware.

 

Brit Rally

Richard Ashby is quietly making a rally at the final table. At one point Ashby was the short stack but he has rallied and now finds himself in second position.

During one game of stud h/l Ashby and Katchalov traded bets during each round and it looked as though we might have two monsters. In the end Ashby turned over Q♠ 10♦ 7♥ 5♦ 4♣ 4♦ and Katchalov couldn't beat the pair of fours - much to everyone's surprise.

Katchalov had the look of a person who just stepped in something unsavory at the conclusion of the hand. Meanwhile Ashby closes in on his second bracelet of 2010 and a record sixth victory for the British contingency.

Chip Count

We've got a new chip leader and one fewer player in the $10k H.O.R.S.E. Championship.

Within the last hour players have moved from the middle of the Amazon Room over to the televised feature table area and the rail birds have wandered over in greater numbers.

Nick Schulman is the new short stack and figured to be the next eliminated with less than 200k in chips.

Marco Traniello Busto

Marco Traniello had his work cut out for him. He got to the final table with only about 85k in chips when the average was closer to 500k.

It looked like he might have a chance as he managed to triple up within the first thirty minutes of play. His 10♣ 10♠ held up during limit hold'em play, but he wasn't so fortunate when play shifted to Omaha/8 and was ultimately eliminated by Ian Gordon.

Schulman Short

Marco Johnson made the completion bet on a stud hand, which Nick Schulman raised.

Matt Glantz then reraised and Johnson got out of the way. Schulman called bets up until sixth street before he finally went in the tank as he saw his tournament life on the line. Facing yet another bet from Glantx, Schulman finally released his hand that showed Q♦ 10♦ 5♠ 3♥.

Glantz is now the chip leader as Schulman is hanging by a thread.

Schulman getting desperate for a double.

 

Random Observations

Carlos Mortensen and Nick Schulman are competing for "best looking rail bird follower" with the beautiful Mrs. Mortensen on hand to support her husband and Schulman's girlfriend also in attendance.

On the felt the three most active players seem to be Mortensen, Glantz and Marco Johnson. We wouldn't be surprised to see any of those three take home the bracelet.

Playing 'Til the Break of Dawn

Given the propensity of limit games to stretch on into the night and the reality that this event was running behind schedule heading into today, it's conceivable that tonight's action will spill well into the morning.

Faced with that reality, players were given the option to play down to eight players and return tomorrow for the final table. They were hearing none of it. The idea was soundly and unanimously rejected with the general consensus being that they wanted to play it out today.

So, play presses on and will continue until a champion is crowned.

Chip Count

For those of you wondering if the WSOP was cancelled tonight, we can confirm it was not.

We apologize for the lack of updates over the last couple of hours, the internet connection here at the Rio was offline for that time and only just got restored.

Luckily, the players in the H.O.R.S.E. Championship have been on dinner for the last hour and only just returned, so the action missed was minimal. Now the eight remaining players have moved to the feature table to battle it out for the top prize of $611,666.

The last few players to be eliminated include Scott Fischman in 9^th, Brian Townsend in 10^th and Steve Billirakis out in 11^th.

Stayin' Alive

Marco Traniello staved off elimination for the time being. During a game of Stud/8 Traniello made the completion bet with an A♦ showing. He improved with a K♦ on second street and got the rest of his chips into the middle.

By the time all the betting was done Traniello had made aces full, showing A♦ A♠ A♣ K♦ K♥. Traniello will need some more help as he remains the short stack with just 85k.

The Matador Gets There

Nick Schulman just lost a big, and apparently painful, hand to Carlos Mortensen. It came in a game of LHE, and Schulman started with a preflop raise utg.

Mortensen called and the flop came 10♥ Q♠ 5♦. Mortensen checked to Schulman who fired out 36k. Mortensen called and the turn came 3♥. The action once again went check-bet-call and the river card brought a 9♣.

This time Mortensen led out into Schulman for 36k, which was snap called. Mortensen flipped over 9♥ 9♠ for the winning set. Upon seeing that he was ahead all the way until the river, Schulman let out a long string of obscenities to show his disgust.

They don't call him "Crazy" Marco for nothing.

 

My Bad

Note to dealers: Do not get on Marco Johnson's bad side. Johnson just raised the pot during a hand of stud and Marco Traniello folded to his left. The dealer inadvertently mucked Johnson's cards when he grabbed Traniello's cards, which sent Johnson into a brief tirade.

Nick Schulman tried to calm the situation with a joke and the hand was ultimately declared dead with Johnson getting his raise back. Still, he was not happy and he let the dealer know with an unrelenting scowl for the next few hands.

Scott Fishman offered his take on the situation. "Protect your cards at all times and you'll still get f***ed." It was an unfortunate situation for Johnson, but not much could be done to amend the situation once the mistake had been made.

From the Felt

"We should have some more fun during PLO/8," said Brandon Adams of the impending switch to a new game. "I don't really know what I'm doing in that game, so we'll see."

Chip Count

Players went on a 20 minute break at the start of the hour.  When they came back, blinds were at 8,000/15,000, and there were 19 players remaining. 

Nguyen Doesn't Win

Scotty Nguyen was knocked out just prior to the break when he started with a five-seven-four in Razz.  He had gone all in on third street.  Mortensen called his all in with a seven-six-deuce. 

Mortensen completed his low with an ace-four while Nguyen drew a pair and high cards. 

Chop It Up

In Stud 8 or Better, Marco Traniello raised with a 9♣ showing.  Cuong Do reraised with the A♣ showing.  Traniello made the call. 

Do took the lead on 4^th street and bet all the way to 7^th street.  Traniello check called to 7^th street.

Do: (3♣ 6♦)/A♣ 5♦ Q♦ 9♥/(7♥)

Is Robert Mizrachi Superman?

 

Traniello: (3♦ A♠)/ 9♣ 4♣ K♠ 2♥/(5♣)

Do took the high, and Traniello split it with the low. 

Mizrachi Sees Through The Cards

There was a bit of a scuffle on table #375 when Robert Mizrachi said that he could see the card on the bottom of the deck.  The dealer insisted that there was no way that this could happen. 

"I can see it because of the way you bend the cards when you shuffle," said Mizrachi. 

Mizrachi was showing the A♦ in Stud 8 or Better, and he was arguing for a misdeal.  The floor finally ruled that it would be a misdeal even though he didn't think that he really could see the bottom card of the deck.

"I wouldn't joke about something like that," responded Mizrachi as he threw his ace up into the muck. 

Top 10 Chip Counts

Courtesy of www.WSOP.com

_________________

Welcome back to more coverage of the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E Championship.  Of the 241 players that entered the event, 23 returned to play out Day 3.  Yesterday left a few short stacks holding out to play today.  It won't be a surprise to see a few of those short stacks take a chance to double up or head out. 

Itching To Get The Short Stack

In Stud 8 or Better, Steve Bilirakis limped under the gun.  Carlos Mortensen and Brandon Adams also limped in leaving the Marco Johnson in the big blind to check.  Johnson checked even though he showed deuces.  Bilirakis bet 12,000, Mortensen called, and Adams called.  Johnson folded his hand.

Bilirakis continued to bet all the way through until he was all in on 6^th street.  Mortensen and Adams called all the way down.  On 7^th street it was heads up between Adams and Mortensen.  Adams bet, and Mortensen folded his hand.

Bilirakis: (9♥ 9♣)/ 9♠ T♥ T♣ J♣ / (5♦)

Mortensen: (X X)/ 8♠ 8♦ 2♦ J♥ /

Adams: (X X)/ 8♥ 5♣ 6♣ 5♣ / (X)

Bilirakis showed nines full, and Adams was unable to beat it with his six's full and no low.  Bilirakis was able to almost triple his stack. 

Kessler All Chopped Up

 

Kessler Tries to Double

Alen Kessler came into Day 3 with a short stack.  He got it all in preflop in Stud 8 or Better against John Hennigan.

Kessler: (A♦)/ K♠ K♣ 3♦ 8♠ A♥ / (A♦)

Hennigan: (A♠)/ K♥ 6♥ 6♠ 7♠ 4♥/ (K♦)

Kessler took the high with a full house, and Hennigan took the low for a chopped pot. Kessler goes out in 23rd place

Up And Out

A few hands later Kessler pushed in the small blind of Limit Hold'em when it folded around to him.  He got a call from Abe Mosseri.

Kessler: J♦ J♥

Mosseri: K♦ 8♥

The board came out A♣ 3♥ T♥ K♠ 3♣ to give Mosseri the win.  Mosseri is our 21st place finisher.

Bitter Sweet

It was a bitter sweet win for Mosseri when he was able to knock Kessler out.  He was still the short stack and ended up pushing all in during the Limit Hold'em round.  He was met with a swift call from Matt Glantz.

Mosseri: A♦ 9♥

Glantz: A♠ K♣

The board didn't offer any help to Mosseri when it came 7♠ Q♣ 6♦ 4♥ T♠.

Top 10 Chip Counts

Courtesy of www.WSOP.com