Of all the poker formats in all the world, none tests the skill of the player as truly as HORSE. A combination of hold’em (H), Omaha (O), razz (R), seven-card stud (S) and seven-stud eights or better (E, for ‘eights’), this is a format that punishes the smallest weaknesses. You’re only as good as your worst game.
If there was any doubt of that, it was removed in the results of the $50,000 HORSE event at the 2006 WSOP. There, a cast of characters generally considered the finest final table of all-time, including Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey and eventual winner Chip Reese put on the show of shows. That’s why anticipation was so high about the HORSE events att he 2007 Series.
Event 16 - $2,500 HORSE, was the first of three HORSE events in the expanded format of the 2007 series, and it didn’t disappoint. Amongst those at the table were Tom Schneider, who would win two bracelets in the ’07 series, Robert Mizrachi, who’d win one big one and Ali Eslami, who’d make big news a month later with his match against Polaris, a poker playing bot. None of the three made it to the end though.
The finale came down to one lesser-known, Walter Browne, and James Richburg, who won a Razz bracelet a year earlier. In the end, it was Richburg who’d take down the win, fittingly doing it in Razz. They got the money all-in on the first round of betting, with Richburg holding (4-2)-3 to Browne’s (5-2)-7.
Richburg’s made 6-4-3-2-A on fifth street, clinching the pot against what would be Browne’s 10-low. He took home $239,503 for the win and cemented his status as one of the best players in the world, if not the best-known. A win next year would put him in the most elite of company.
Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com
