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.
Tags: Live Tourney, Winner, WSOP
$1.9 vs $1.2 is merely an indicator of the ecomony last year compared to this year. Make no mistake about it this event crowns the true world champion and all around best poker player in the world. Thats why the top pro’s in the game like Texas Dolly,kidpoker,E-Dog,Scotty, Jennifer, Gus, & the professor covit the Chip Reese trophy
over the main event which some say more resembles a glorified bingo tournament.