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Freddy Deeb Wins H.O.R.S.E. Event $2.3 Million Prize Money

On June 29, 2007, Las Vegas based poker pro Freddy Deeb won the $2.3 million in the $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. Event after a 15 hour final that began at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, beating out a player field of 148 players.

Deeb's purse was the 5th largest in WSOP history, falling just a little short of the $2.5 million Chris Moneymaker won when he joined the event as an online poker qualifier back in 2003.

Tournament Media Director, Nolan Dalla, said that they have ensured that the prize money will be big this time around because all of the participants in the event are well-known players and they want to make sure that they will go home satisfied.

Some of the top poker pros in the event included Phil Hellmuth, Barry Greenstein and Annie Duke. The 2007 WSOP Main Event will begin next Friday. It is the 2nd bracelet won by Deeb, who won his first in a deuce to 7 lowball event in 1996.

French poker pro, Bruno Fitoussi, won $1,278,720 for finishing 2nd in the event. New York stock options trader, John Hanson, finished in 3rd place, taking home $852,480. Hanson said that there are many similarities between stock trading and playing poker.

H.O.R.S.E., which stands for the five variations of poker that are played in turns, Hold'em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Eight or Better, test the skills of the player to become an all around player compared to the No Limit Hold'em game.

The H.O.R.S.E. event was also played along with wagering limits, meaning that the all in option was removed in favor of showing the players' skills. At the final table of the event a year ago, tournament organizers ignored the 5 game format in favor of the No Limit Hold'em poker format.

According to Deeb, who at one point in the tournament was down to just 300,000 in total chips, this year's tournament format proved to be the main difference in his win.

Deeb said that he was lucky enough to take a few bad calls or beats and have enough chips to make a comeback in the game. If your opponent played a beat against you, it is only a temporary setback, not a permanent knockout in the game. In the important 2nd last hand for the 8 or better, a 7 card in a stud game in which the prize pot is divided into a high and low hand, Deeb led the wagering until he had a 5, 6, 7 and a jack in his possession while Fitoussi has a pair of 2's, a 6 and 9.

Fitoussi then folded when his 3 hole cards did not help his pair and gave him no low hand in his possession. Afterwards, Deeb showed that he had a 5 and 7 in the hole, giving him 2 pair cards.

Fitoussi was then left with enough chips to call an all in on the next card hand, which he ended up losing with just an ace and no low hand in his possession against Deeb's pair of 5 cards and a low hand to the 8.

07/22/2007, Sunday
Sherry Barlow

Freddy Deeb Wins H.O.R.S.E. Event $2.3 Million Prize Money

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