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The final table of the 2009 50K H.O.R.S.E is set after Full Tilt Poker Pro Gus Hansen was eliminated in 9th place. Gus did an amazing job of playing the best limit players in mixed games after playing heads up Pot limit Omaha Hi the whole winter and spring. The Full Tilt Poker Pros are abundant at the final table with Huck Seed, Vitaly Lunkin, Erik Seidel, and Chau Giang.

Seat 1 – Ville Wahlbeck 645,000

Seat 2 – Erik Sagstrom 3,675,000

Seat 3 – John Hanson 1,700,000

Seat 4 – Huck Seed 1,380,000

Seat 5 – Vitaly Lunkin 2,490,000

Seat 6 – David Bach 2,345,000

Seat 7 – Erik Seidel 965,000

Seat 8 – Chau Giang 1,075,000
Source Poker News

Eric Seidel is looking to get his 9th Bracelet and sneak up on Johnny, Doyle, and Phil Hellmuth. Chau Giang is an accomplished Bobby’s Room player and most likely has the most high stakes poker experience out of the final table. Vitaly Lunkin is looking for his 2nd Bracelet of the series after having won the 40k Holdem and 2nd in the 10k Pot Limit Omaha. Huck Seed won the National Head up competition this year for $500,000. I’m really pushing for Vitaly Lunkin to win this and become immortalized as one of the greats.

David Bach is no joke and will be one of the players to beat. Erik Seidel is a very aggressive but is at less then a million chips so I’m wondering if it will tone him down. Erik Sagstrom aka Erik123 is a less experienced but has been playing a ton online since the 90’s. Erik Sagstrom, Tony G, and Gus Hansen had created an online poker room a few years back called Pokerchamps.com. John Hanson finished 3rd in the 50k Horse back in 2007 for around $850k. Ville Wahlbeck already has 5 cashes and 1 bracelet in this years WSOP which is amazing by itself. It would be very interesting to see Ville Wahlbeck VS Vitaly Lunkin for the bracelet.

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Full Tilt Fantasy League

Right now I’m steaming because most of my picks to win the 2009 50K H.O.R.S.E are felted. What has me really fired up, is they were the chips leaders after day one. Justin Smith AKA bostedJ was my number 2 pick in the event and he was doing very well on day one. Andy Bloch is out… How does this happen? I think Huck seed is the only person left from my predictions for the 50K H.O.R.S.E./ I do have people in my Full Tilt Poker Fantasy league that are left in the event. Jon Turner AKA PearlJammer was also one of my picks and he was doing well day 1. I wait all year for this event and I’m really pissed off about about the number of buy ins. ESPN should have done TV coverage of the event and there would have been at least 200 entries, instead there were 97. I really don’t think it’s the economy that effected the event, I think it was absence of TV cameras. The event was headed to be the “new main event” since over 5000 people were playing in the real main event making it a 10k “LOLdonkament” as Barry Greenstein would say. OK Freddie Deeb was one of my picks, so I have at least 160k since he was in B section.

I really made a couple “dark horse” picks that should have made the final table. One was Justin Smith as I mentioned, and the other was Jon Turner. You might not think Jon Turner to be a dark horse, but hes not a household name in poker yet, and when I made my predictions
it was before the start of the WSOP. I also mentioned another dark horse “Yuval Bronshtein” in the article and he was playing strong. I was unsure if he was going to buy into a 50k event , so I didn’t put him on the list. Be sure to look for Yuval Bronshtein in future live H.O.R.S.E events as he dominates them online. David Benyamine was was one of my top picks and he was the chip leader for some stretches.

2009 50k H.o.r.s.e Update

To my surprise Gus Hansen is the chip leader. He wasn’t even playing in any WSOP events and he finally made an appearance. I did not peg him to even be in it at this point since he’s playing so much heads up Omaha Hi. I figured he’d have tough time adjusting to the 8 person limit tables. I once again under estimated the Great Dane and his ability to acclimate to any poker table.

The Russians are looking to take over the poker world once again with several contenders. I want to call Mikhail Tulchinskiy a pot limit Omaha specialist but can’t because of his NL Holdem and H.o.r.s.e finishes. Vitaly Lunkin won the 40k NL Holdem event and is aiming to win the H.o.r.s.e. That would be the sickest poker accomplishment. Oh BTW, he finished 2nd this year in the 10k Pot Limit Omaha.
Full Tilt Poker pro Vitaly Lunkin is on a hot streak like many of the seasoned pros at the 2009 WSOP. There are several players with multiple bracelet wins and Lisandro won 3 this year. This is definitely
the year of the pros and I think it’s because of the economy. I don’t think the fish are able to afford to buy in these tournaments and the sharks are eating the donks that did enter real fast.

As I said earlier, I totally think the low turn out for the 50k H.O.R.S.E is from ESPN not airing the event on TV. I don’t think Phil Hellmuth even enter and surely he would enter if it was televised. IMO the WSOP is well run, but they should have advised ESPN to keep airing the 50k until in gained momentum. They didn’t give it a chance. I also disagree with Daniel Negreanu wanted to make the final table of the 50k NL Holdem again. Horse is Horse and not NL.

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Jeff Lisandro is red hot in the 2009 WSOP! He just won his 3rd bracelet of the series making this one of the greatest poker accomplishments of all time. He just beat Full Tilt Poker blogger and writer Michael Craig heads up in Event 44 – $2,500 Seven Card Razz. Jeff Lisandro dominated the final table with a monster stack to earn his 4th bracelet and 3rd this year. Jeff Lisandro came to the final table with double the next highest stack with 814,000 in chips.

Seat 1 – Michael Craig 343,000
Seat 2 – Warwick Mirzikinian 271,000
Seat 3 – Steve Diano 96,000
Seat 4 – Allen Bari 55,000
Seat 5 – Ryan Fisler 412,000
Seat 6 – Jeff Lisandro 814,000
Seat 7 – Kenna James 210,000
Seat 8 – Eric Rodawig 171,000

Lisandro is silently becoming one of the greatest players of all time with over $4,000,000 in tournament winnings. Will Jeff Lisandro take down the 50k H.O.R.S.E next? This would undoubtedly be in the top five of all time poker achievements if he takes a 4th bracelet of the series in either the main event or the 50k H.o.r.s.e.. And btw, I had him as my a list choice in the Full Tilt Poker fantasy league! I think I had Michael Craig picked for my list and changed at last second . Micheal comes up with a big second place win that is much deserved. The $116k prize will help ease the pain of not taking 1st.

Good Luck to Jeff Lisandro to win his 4th of the series!

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Miami John Cernuto has collapsed at the World series of Poker of what seems to be a heart attack or a stroke. Several poker pros are reporting via Twitter that Miami John Cernuto is moving but seemingly unconscious from a possible heart attack! Our prayers go out to Full Tilt Poker Pro Miami John Cernuto and his family and friends.

Editor’s Note
John was conscious and waving to crowd when leaving the WSOP with help of Paramedics. It was reported on Twitter that it looked like Heart attack. However, it is most likely exhaustion or something like that.

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