2009 50k Horse update

2009 50k H.o.r.s.e Update plus fantasy league

June 29th, 2009

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.