The $50,000 World Championship of H.O.R.S.E. is regarded by many to be the toughest tournament at the World Series of Poker.  That’s because the high buy-in usually keeps lesser players out while only attracting the most successful pros in the business.  Unfortunately, the high buy-in seemed to keep just about everybody out of the 2009 World Championship of H.O.R.S.E. since only 95 players entered it.

Of course David Bach wasn’t complaining about the low turnout since he made his way through the 95 person field and won the tournament.  However, Bach had to go through an always tough H.O.R.S.E. championship crowd which included the likes of Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, and Erick Lindgren.  None of these three were around towards the end though, but Erik Siedel, Huck Seed, Gus Hansen, John Hanson, and Vitaly Lunkin were.

Gus Hansen busted out in 9th place while Erik Siedel fell short in a bid for his 9th gold bracelet and finished in 8th place.  Huck Seed and Vitaly Lunkin also made strong bids for the win before being knocked out in 5th and 4th place.  By the end of the tournament, only John Hanson and David Bach remained.

And this would be a long ending too since Hanson and David Bach battled with each other for over 7 hours before Bach emerged the victor.  David Bach commented on his victory afterwards by mentioning how his professional bowling experience helped him survive the marathon heads-up session.  He said, “In bowling, you have to control your body and your mind at the same time.  In poker, you only have to control your mind.  So, all that training of controlling the mind and body helps make the pressure of poker much easier.”

After winning the H.O.R.S.E. Championship and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, Bach pocketed $1,276,802.  However, this is a far cry from the $1,989,120 that Scotty Nguyen won in the 2008 World Championship of H.O.R.S.E. when 145 players entered.

Brandon Cantu became a multi-WSOP gold bracelet holder after he took his second one in winning Event #48.  It wasn’t easy for Cantu though since he had to battle a field of 762 players in this $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo (8’s or Better) event.

Perry Friedman jumped out to the early lead on Day 1 with 144,500 chips, but Brandon Cantu wasn’t trailing by much as he was sitting in 4th place with 105,000.  Of course Friedman would give way to Cantu on Day 2 as Brandon jumped out to a huge chip lead going into the final table at 1,025,000; the next closes person to him going into Day 3 was Mathieu Jacqmin with 552,000.

Unfortunately for Cantu, his nearly 2-to-1 chip lead over the rest of the field would dissipate over the course of the final table.  Cantu hung in though, and was able to survive long enough to face off against Lee Watkinson and Jacqmin in the end.  Watkinson would receive a huge boost to his chip stack when he busted Jacqmin out with a set of queens.

Going into heads-up play, it was Watkinson holding the commanding 2.5-to-1 chip lead over Cantu as he had 2,485,000 chips to Cantu’s 945,000.  Amazingly though, Cantu was able to battle back and even take the lead at some points before taking the lead for good on a hand where he only held a pair of 6’s.  The final hand saw Cantu hit trip 4’s which Watkinson couldn’t come close to beating, and Cantu had earned his 2nd bracelet along with $228,867 for the victory.

This win was sweet for Cantu since he just missed getting his second bracelet in Event #39 while Watkinson is definitely disappointed after missing out on his second bracelet, but will still pocket $141,873 for getting 2nd place.