Online Poker News Blog

$50K HORSE Event Kicks off at WSOP

The biggest buy-in event of the World Series of Poker kicked off this weekend, the $50,000 buy-in HORSE event. This event drew 148 players this year, up from 143 in last year’s inaugural event. The field was jammed full of top pros, including Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Gavin Smith, Phil Ivey and Barry Greenstein.

HORSE is a limit mixed-game tournament, where players compete in 30 minute rounds of Hold ‘Em, Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz, Stud and Stud Hi/Lo. In this WSOP tournament, the betting limits go up when the game type changes - Hold ‘Em and Omaha play at one level, then the levels increase for the three stud games.

Last year, David “Chip” Reese won the inaugural event after a 7-hour heads-up battle with Andy Bloch. This year, Reese will try to repeat his victory as he heads into Day two with a little over $150K in chips. Eli Elezra is a massive chip leader to start Day Two, with over $500K in chips. Phil Ivey and Gavin Smith are also among the Day Two chip leaders.