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2008 World Series of Poker Europe: £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. - Day 1

While the final table of the £1,500 No Limit Hold'em event plays out here, you'll find updates, chip counts, photos and videos from Day 1 of the £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event right here.

Play is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. local time (9:00 a.m. EST) and, pending all goes as planned, should carry into the early hours of tomorrow.
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Play Comes to an End

The longest day at this years WSOPE has come to and end. Sixty-eight players managed to last the full twelve-and-a-half hours.

This star-studded field has had to contend with five different varieties of the game we love. The majority managed it just fine, but some of the dealers did get confused at times. But they've done the long slog too today, and when pots are being halved and quartered it's enough to put anyone's mind into a spin.

Tomorrow could be an even longer day as we try and whittle our way down to a final table of nine. If this isn't possible, then the minimum we will stop at tomorrow will be 16 players, where the money starts.
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End of Day 1 Chip Counts

Phil Ivey - 59,200
Phil Hellmuth - 54,200
Woody Deck - 37,500
Bruce Yamron - 34,700
Erik Albinsson - 32,400
Adam Osborne - 31,900
Yuval Bronshtein - 31,900
Joe Beevers - 31,300
Isaac Haxton - 30,800
Raul Paez - 30,700
Gus Hansen - 30,600
Daniel Negreanu - 30,200
Howard Lederer - 29,500
Andreas Krause - 28,600
Mark Gregorich - 28,400
Ivo Donev - 27,900
Kelly Kim - 27,200
Sherkhan Farnood - 27,100
Barny Boatman - 25,300
Patrik Antonius - 24,500
David Williams - 23,500
Max Pescatori - 23,000
Jeff Duvall - 21,900
Jean-Robert Bellande - 19,900
Robert Williamson III - 19,700
Brandon Cantu - 18,700
Kristian Eriksson - 18,500
Paul Jackson - 17,700
Marc Goodwin - 17,600
Torstein Iversen - 17,500
John Kabbaj - 17,200
Simeon Tzonev - 16,000
Spencer Lawrence - 15,700
Andy Bloch - 13,800
Dario Alioto - 13,700
Hugo Martin - 13,600
Adam Heller - 13,100
Jeff Madsen - 12,600
Martin Vallo - 12,000
Jeff Lisandro - 11,900
John Juanda - 11,800
Greg Howard - 11,300
Jason Gray - 11,200
Luke Cahill - 11,000
Chris Bjorin - 9,900
John Phan - 8,800
Jan Lundberg - 8,000
Bruno Fitoussi - 6,700
Markus Golser - 6,100
Barry Greenstein - 4,900
Gary Jones - 4,800
Andreas Hoivold - 4,400
Josh Gould - 3,800
Dan Rasmussen - 3,600
Richard Ashby - 3,200
Mike Matusow - Did not report
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2008 World Series of Poker Europe: £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. - Day 2

56 players, eight final table seats. Welcome to Day 2 of the £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event at the World Series of Poker Europe.

48 players will be eliminated today and we'll be here to tell you about each and every one of them. Leading the way are a pair of Phils. Royalty in this business, Sir Ivey and Sir Hellmuth enter Day 2 with 59,200 and 54,200 in chips respectively and are 1-2 atop the leaderboard.

Play will recommence at approximately 2:00 p.m. local time (9:00 a.m. EST). Please join us for our continued coverage of the WSOPE, as we (attempt to) play down to a final table!
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Table Draw

Table 1:

Seat 1: John Phan --8,800
Seat 2: Spencer Lawrence -- 15,700
Seat 3: Dario Alioto -- 13,700
Seat 4: Barry Greenstein -- 4,900
Seat 5: Max Pescatori --23,000
Seat 6: Hugo Martin -- 13,600
Seat 7: Barny Boatman -- 25,300
Seat 8: John Juanda -- 11,800

Table 2:

Seat 1: Marc Goodwin -- 17,600
Seat 2: Richard Ashby -- 3,200
Seat 3: Andy Bloch -- 13,800
Seat 4: Jean-Robert Bellande -- 19,900
Seat 5: Yuval Bronshtein -- 31,900
Seat 6: Ivo Donev -- 27,900
Seat 7: Jeff Duvall -- 21,900
Seat 8: Jeff Madsen -- 12,600

Table 3:

Seat 1: Bruno Fitoussi -- 6,700
Seat 2: Isaac Haxton -- 30,800
Seat 3: Jason Gray -- 11,200
Seat 4: Kristian Eriksson -- 18,500
Seat 5: Gus Hansen -- 30,600
Seat 6: Mike Matusow -- 9,200
Seat 7: Martin Vallo -- 12,000
Seat 8: Bruce Yamron -- 34,700

Table 4:

Seat 1: Howard Lederer -- 29,500
Seat 2: Sherkhan Farnood -- 27,100
Seat 3: Gary Jones -- 4,800
Seat 4: Adam Heller -- 13,100
Seat 5: Greg Howard -- 11,300
Seat 6: Mark Gregorich -- 28,400
Seat 7: Paul Jackson -- 17,700
Seat 8: Phil Hellmuth -- 54,200

Table 5:

Seat 1: Woody Deck -- 37,500
Seat 2: Josh Gould -- Eliminated
Seat 3: Andreas Hoivold -- Eliminated
Seat 4: Patrik Antonius -- 27,500
Seat 5: Erik Albinsson -- 32,400
Seat 6: Daniel Negreanu -- 30,600
Seat 7: Robert Williamson -- 19,700
Seat 8: Kelly Kim -- 27,200

Table 6:

Seat 1: Adam Osborne -- 31,900
Seat 2: Joe Beevers -- 31,300
Seat 3: Torstein Iversen -- 17,500
Seat 4: Dan Rasmusson -- 3,600
Seat 5: Raul Paez -- 30,700
Seat 6: Chris Bjorin -- 9,900
Seat 7: Jan Lundbers -- 8,000
Seat 8: Andreas Krause -- 28,600

Table 7:

Seat 1: John Kabbaj -- 17,200
Seat 2: Phil Ivey -- 59,200
Seat 3: Luke Cahill -- 11,000
Seat 4: Marcus Golser -- 6,100
Seat 5: Brandon Cantu -- 18,700
Seat 6: Jeffrey Lisandro -- 11,900
Seat 7: David Williams -- 23,500
Seat 8: Simon Tsonev -- 16,000
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Farnood Turns \'The Italian Pirate\' into \'The Italian Bubble Boy\'

Stud 8:

Sherkhan Farnood has just eliminated Max Pescatori from the tournament, bursting the money bubble and leaving us with 16 players, seated across two tables of eight.

Phil Ivey kicked things off by completing to 2,000 showing the . Farnood called with the showing, as did Pescatori who held the .

(4th Street)
Ivey:
Farnood:
Pescatori:

On fourth street, Ivey passed to Farnood who led out with a 2,000 bet which was called by both Pescatori and Ivey.

(5th Street)
Ivey:
Farnood:
Pescatori:

Farnood continued to push his hand on fifth street, betting 4,000, though Pescatori opted to make a stand, raising it up to 8,000. Ivey folded and Farnood flat called.

(6th Street)
Farnood:
Pescatori:

On sixth street, Farnood fired one last bet that put Pescatori all in (3,300), and then the hands were turned over:

Farnood: [ ]
Pescatori: [ ]

Farnood\'s seventh street card -- the -- was the one that forced The Italian Pirate over the plank, as it gave him a 6-5 low to go with his made straight, enabling him to scoop the pot.

After Farnood added Pescatori\'s chips to his own stack, he piled up just over 110,000 in chips and the tournament took a brief intermission to redraw the final two tables.
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David Williams Eliminated in 16th Place (£4,812)

Omaha 8:

Yuval Bronshtein called from early position before Raul Paez raised to 4,000. David Williams called from late position as did Bronshtein.

The flop came .

Bronshtein led out for 2,000, Paez raised to 4,000 before Williams called and Bronshtein made it 6,000 to play. Paez called before Williams went all in for a few hundred more. Both players called and the turn came .

With a 1,200 side pot on offer Bronshtein bet 4,000 and Paez called.

Bronshtein opened up for a full house. Paez showed how unlucky he thought he was with in the hole. Williams just mucked and said his goodbyes.
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Marc Goodwin Eliminated in 15th Place (£4,812)

Stud:

Marc \"Mr. Cool\" Goodwin has become our latest in-the-money eliminatee, a victim of Mark Gregorich who was holding a very respectable full house. Goodwin bet out on fifth street only for Gregorich to raise him. Said Goodwin, \"I reckon he\'s got me done,\" but with most of his meager stack in the pot already he called, and then called all in on sixth street.

Gregorich: with
Goodwin: with and two more cards that he showed to Gregorich, but not, alas, to this blogger.

Maintaining his cool to the end, Goodwin made a gentlemanly exit and went to collect his cash.
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Phil Helllmuth Eliminated In 12th Place (£6,188)

Hold\'em:

With 30 seconds left on the clock, Sherkhan Farnood raised, and a now thoroughly angry Hellmuth, forgetting that they were playing limit, announced that he was all in and threw all his chips in the middle. Farnood agreed to raise to cover Hellmuth, and it was a coinflip.

Farnood:
Hellmuth:

Board:

Thus our day three will most likely be quieter than it might otherwise have been, as a livid Hellmuth leaves the table to complain about Farnood and the dealer to a gentleman holding a video camera.
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Play Has Ended

Play has come to an end here in Leicester Square just over 14 hours since we started. Two late eliminations means we have to play from 11 down to a winner tomorrow. Play will resume at 2.30pm local time.

This is thirty minutes before the third tournament in this series, the £5,000 PLO, starts. A few of our short stacks might use this time to try and spin up a big stack in an attempt to try and put themselves in a position to win this or try their luck at the PLO instead.
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2008 World Series of Poker Europe: £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. - Day 3

As expected, last night's Day 2 action ran late into the morning hours and play was called with 11 players still alive in the tournament. Because of the late finish, the players were instructed to return at 2:30 p.m. this afternoon rather than 2:00, perhaps to give them an extra half hour of sleep.

Just past 4:00 a.m. this morning, Phil Hellmuth became our 12th place finisher after executing a very Matusow-like blow-up. Sherkhan Farnood was the man who eventually did him in, winning a race with pocket threes against Hellmuth's ace-king. Fittingly, Farnood was the guy Hellmuth referred to as, "The worst player I've ever seen in my life," earlier that day.

Howard Lederer owns the top spot on the leaderboard with 208,500 in chips followed not so closely behind by Farnood, who will bring 141,500 to the table when we restart later today.
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Start of Day Chip Counts

After a torrid day two in which players had to battle like Spartan warriors to survive, a battered and bruised 11 remaining players are set to jump back on the saddle as we near that potentially star-studded final table.

The current chips counts are:

Raul Paez (Barcelona, Spain) -- 17,500
Erik Albinsson (Falun, Sweden) -- 43,000
Sherkhan Farnood (Dubai City, Dubai) -- 141,500
Ivo Donev (Lochau, Austria) -- 78,000
Jeffrey Lisandro (Salerno, Italy) -- 82,500
Mark Gregorich (Las Vegas, NV) -- 62,500
Howard Lederer (Las Vegas, NV) -- 208,500
Yuval Bronshtein (Atlanta, GA) -- 133,500
Phil Ivey (Las Vegas, NV) -- 114,500
Jeff Duvall (London, UK) -- 112,000
Spencer Lawrence (London, UK) -- 88,500
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Phil Ivey Eliminated in 6th Place (£13,750)

Stud:

Ivey (X) (X) (X)

Gregorich (X) (X) (X)

Mark Gregorich led at Phil Ivey the whole way, even betting dark on seventh street. As Ivey peeked at his final down card, he let out a sigh, shuffling his last few red 500-denomination chips and made the call, resigned to his fate.

Gregorich revealed in the hole for queens up and Ivey mucked, his quest for a sixth WSOP bracelet at an end, at least for today.
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Jeff Duvall Eliminated in 4th Place (£22,000)

Omaha 8:

After a dogged performance that would have made Rocky look like a quitter, Jeff Duvall has finally bellowed out a few swan-related lyrics and exited in the fourth spot.

After a bet and two calls on a flop (I didn\'t catch who the aggressor was), all three players checked the turn before Duvall led for 16,000 on the river. Lederer made it 32,000, Sherkhan Farnood stepped out of the way, and Duvall called all in.

As The Professor revealed for an A-2-4-6-7 low and a rivered nut flush, Duvall simply nodded his head and said, \"That\'s good.\"

With Duvall de-saddled, three remain.
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Howard Lederer Eliminated in 3rd Place (£30,250)

Stud 8:

With just 27,000 in chips, I lurked over the shoulder of Howard Lederer, notepad poised as I awaited his exit like a bloodthirsty vulture.

The first hand he survived, whipping up the antes early doors by making it 12,000 with the showing. Ivo Donev seemed tempted with the , but ultimately conceded his hand.

On the next hand, Lederer made the same move, bumping it up to 12,000 with the showing. This time, however, his opponents were less accommodating.

Howard Lederer =
Sherkhan Farnood =
Ivo Donev =

After Lederer had made it 12,000, Farnood reraised to 24,000, Donev called, Lederer pushed for 9,000 more, Farnood raised again (he sought permission first), and Donev called.

\"Good luck, my friend,\" said Farnood as Lederer sat back in his seat.

Fourth street: Farnood bet 12,000, Donev called.
Fifth street: Both players checked.
Sixth street: Farnood led for 24,000, and Donev called.
Seventh street: Check, check.

With Lederer\'s sweet nothings to the Poker Gods falling on deaf ears, the remaining two players chopped the pot, with Farnood showing and two pair for the high, and Donev tabling and a 2-4-5-6-8 for the low. Lederer mucked.

Bugles at the ready, the bracelet is on its way.
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Heads-Up Chip Counts

Ivo Donev 654,000
Sherkhan Farnood 448,000
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Sherkhan Farnood Wins Event #57 (£2,500 H.O.R.S.E.), Ivo Donev Eliminated in 2nd Place (£48,125)

Stud:

Ivo Donev got the last of his chips in on third street and Sherkhan Farnood made the call

Farnood: () () ()

Donev: () () ()

Though Donev picked up a flush draw on sixth street, he blanked out on seventh, while Farnood made two pair, queens and eights, to eliminate Donev and capture his first WSOP bracelet.

Donev will take home £48,125 for his runner-up finish.
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Congratulations to Sherkhan Farnood, Event #57 Champion! (£ 76,999)



It took over 14 hours of final table play for Sherkhan Farnood to emerge as the WSOP's newest bracelet winner. Coming into the final eight as the second-shortest stack, Farnood outlasted some of the game's most celebrated and decorated players like Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, and Jeffrey Lisandro to take the bracelet home to Afghanistan. He was never intimidated by them in the least on his way to victory.

Farnood had come close to a bracelet several times before, making the final table of the £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event at last year's WSOP-Europe and finishing second in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys at the 2006 WSOP.

The Kabul native pointed out in his post-game interview that this was not the first bracelet to be won by an Afghan, but the second (Qushqar Morad won the $5,000 Seven-Card Stud Event in 2002). He was also eager to remind us that he is not a professional player, but a businessman, and sent his love out to his wife who had been diligently following the action from Dubai.

Congratulations to Sherkhan Farnood, on a game (and a marathon one at that) well played!
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Buy In: £ 2,500
Fee: £ 150
Total Prizepool: £ 275,000
Entries: 110

Place Prize Winner

1 £ 76,999 Sherkhan Farnood

2 £ 48,125 Ivo Donev
3 £ 30,250 Howard Lederer
4 £ 22,000 Jeff Duvall
5 £ 17,188 Mark Gregorich
6 £ 13,750 Phil Ivey
7 £ 11,000 Jeff Lisandro
8 £ 8,938 Spencer Lawrence
9 £ 6,875 Erik Albinsson
10 £ 6,875 Yuval Bronshtein
11 £ 6,188 Raul Paez
12 £ 6,188 Phil Hellmuth
13 £ 5,500 Isaac Haxton
14 £ 5,500 Daniel Negreanu
15 £ 4,812 Marc Goodwin
16 £ 4,812 David Williams
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