2008 World Series of Poker HORSE Event Final Table

by Jake Gosselin | Jun 30 2008

The 2008 WSOP HORSE Championship lived up to all the hype as being an all-star game for the world's top poker pros. As most who follow poker know, HORSE (Holdem, Omaha, Razz, Stud and 8-or-better) is considered by many to be the true Main Event of the WSOP because of the versatility required to play all five of the games involved.

2008 marks the third WSOP HORSE Championship to date.

The WSOP acknowledges this fact as well by giving the HORSE Championship the biggest buy-in at $50,000. This also helps trim the fat from the field and what is left is one hell of stacked tournament.

Which is why this was probably the last place you'd expect to see an unfamiliar face going into a heads-up situation in the final, but that's exactly how it went down when Michael DeMichele squared off against the "Prince of Poker," Scotty Nguyen, with $2,000,000 and the most coveted bracelet in poker on the line.

It wasn't easy to get to that point though. The five-day tournament (technically six since it ended at 5:30 a.m.) was an endurance test as much as anything with a gauntlet of the best poker pros competing for the most prestigious of WSOP bracelets. DeMichele's demeanour at the final table indicated that he was happy just to be there, especially since he was the second shortest stack coming into the final table with 905,000, just ahead of Patrick Bueno's $695,000.

Patrick Bueno – Eighth Place

Bueno, shortstack and the only non pro player at the final table, was not surprisingly also the first player eliminated. However, Bueno is a seasoned player, with this being his third WSOP final table and his third WSOP cash so far this year. He placed 26th in the Limit Holdem Championship for $20,492 and 28th in the Pot-Limit Holdem/Omaha event for $6,307. He made $230,880 for his eighth place finish in the WSOP HORSE Championship.

Huck Seed – Seventh Place

Next to go would be Huck Seed. Seed had looked like a serious contender from the start of this tournament and consistently hovered among the chip leaders for all five days. It shouldn't be too surprising that Seed made the HORSE Championship final table. Not only did he win the WSOP Main Event in 1996, finished sixth in the Main Event in 1999, has three WSOP bracelets and almost $4 million in tournament winnings, but he has been running hot recently too. He came in third at the NBC National Heads-Up Championships and won the Canadian Poker Open. This was Seed's 20th WSOP final table. He entered the final table sixth in chips with $1,200,000 and made $284,160 for seventh place.

Barry Greenstein – Sixth Place

Seed's exit was soon followed by a player that was a huge fan favourite, Barry Greenstein. Greenstein went out in a hand against Scotty Nguyen when his 2 pair, aces and 4s failed to hold up against Nguyen’s flopped set of 7s. Greenstein brought a huge amount of experience to the final table with three WPT titles and three WSOP bracelets under his belt. He is almost as well-known for the fact that he donates a large portion of all his poker tournament winnings to charity (primarily Children Incorporated) as he is for being a legendary poker player. He is also the author of the seminal poker advice classic, Ace on the River. Greensteein entered the final table third in chips with $1,955,000 and cashed for $355,200.

Lyle Berman – Fifth Place

Next out was the man most famous for being a cofounder of the WPT and helping generate the poker boom through the introduction of hole card cameras on TV, Lyle Berman. Not only is Berman an accomplished business man, but he has over $1.5 million in tournament winnings. He hit the rails after getting all his chips in a hand with Nguyen and DeMichele. DeMichele bet it all the way to the river with Nguyen called. The cards were flipped and DeMichele came out on top, scooping the pot and eliminating Berman. Berman entered the final table fifth in chips with $1,430,000 in chips and made $444,000.

Matt Glantz - Fourth Place

Matt Glantz is a poker pro who plays most of his tournaments in Atlantic City, N.J. He finished third in the U.S. Poker Championships last year and cashed for $160,000. More recently, he took another third in the 2008 $10,000 WSOP Mixed Championship Event. The HORSE final table made for his third WSOP final table. Glantz entered the final table fourth in chips with $1,445,000 in chips and made $568,320 for his fourth place finish.

Eliminations slowed down significantly when it got down to the final three: Nguyen, Eric Lindgren and DeMichele. Initially, Lindgren was crippled with less than $1,000,000 and it was around then that he hovered for about an hour before he started to gain ground. Eventually, he climbed his way back until all three players were more or less even. It wouldn’t be until almost 200 hands and nearly five hours went by that play finally collapsed to a heads-up.

Eric Lindgren - Third Place

Stud proved to be Lindgren's final hand when he got into it with Nguyen. Lindgren completed on Third Street with the 8c, and Nguyen raised with the 9c showing and Lindgren called. Nguyen bet out on Fourth Street with 9c-Qh showing while Lindgren had 8c-7h and called. Lindgren got the Ks on Fifth Street for the high board, and he bet. Nguyen, adding 2c to his 9c-Qh and put Lindgren all-in. Lindgren called, showing an As-8h with the 8c-7h-Ks for a pair of 8s, while Nguyen showed a pair of 9s.

Sixth or Seventh Street were no help to "E-Dog" and he was eliminated in third place for $781,440. Lindgren started the final table in the chip lead with $3,680,000. His third place finish pushed him to first on the WSOP Player of the Year points list.

With Nguyen going into heads-up with over a 4-1 chip lead over DeMichele, it didn't take him long to lock it up.

Michael DeMichele - Second Place

After five hands of heads-up play, DeMichele was dealt A-3 in a round of Holdem and raised it pre-flop. Nguyen saw A-10 and raised while quoting himself by saying, "It's gonna be all over, baby." DeMichele called all-in. An ace on the flop gave both players top pair, but with no 3 to come on any street, DeMichele was eliminated in second place.

This would be 22-years-old Demichele's second final table of the year, with his first coming when he placed fourth in the $10,000 Mixed Event for almost $140,000. He has been playing poker for only four years and is primarily a live cash game player, although he did cash in two events in the 2007 WSOP: the $2,500 HORSE event and the $3,000 Stud 8-or-better event.

Scotty Nguyen – Winner

Everybody who plays poker or even just watches it occasionally on TV know the "Prince of Poker" and his famous words, "You call, it's gonna be all over, baby," from when he won the 1998 WSOP Main Event.

Some may also remember how he blew a huge chip lead coming up to the final table in last year's WSOP, leaving him to bust out in 11th place. Apparently, this failure to capitalize on his lead left him distraught for months and barely able to eat. Part of his rehabilitation was promising himself that he would win either the HORSE Championship or the Main Event in 2008. Hopefully, he'll have his appetite back after taking down the most prestigious victory in poker as well as the $2 million that went with it. Nguyen entered the final table with the second most chips at $3,535,000.

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