World Series of Poker Europe review

We’ve witnessed the epic $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament in Las Vegas twice now. And it’s clear that beyond the Main Event it’s the tournament all the pros dream of winning. In terms of poker superstars per square inch nothing else comes close.

Cut to London early September and as we trudged towards Leicester Square past the familiar lunchtime crowd we couldn’t muster the same sort of enthusiasm for the inaugural London event.

Then we turned the corner onto Dean Street and bumped into Chris Ferguson in full trenchcoat and hat regalia. Even by Soho standards he looked out of place, but it set the scene perfectly… Because as we entered the Empire casino, it soon transpired that although the surroundings were cramped and more Blackpool than Bellagio, the field was going to be every bit as tough as the tournament many call the ‘true world championship’.

Day 1

After the structure of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at this year’s WSOP was criticised by a number of highprofile players, changes were made for this tournament, with eight hands of each game played in rotation starting with limit Hold’em and moving through Omaha 8-or-Better, Razz, Stud and Stud 8-or-Better.

Instead of timed levels as in previous WSOP H.O.R.S.E. events, blinds and bets only increased after one complete rotation of games (40 hands). Starting stacks were 10,000 and initial betting levels were 150/300, which meant – with only 33 big bets from the off – the early levels actually mattered.

This proved the case as early as the second betting round as the first person to get knocked out of the WSOPE was, ironically, one of the players tipped for glory – Marcel Luske. His two-pair tangled with Gus Hansen’s Queen-high flush and the Dutchman was gone.

Meanwhile, a few tables across, we noticed that Doyle Brunson was bedding in for the long haul by taking catnaps in between the action. Towards the end of Day 1, we found out that father and son combo Barry Greenstein and Joe Seebok hadn’t even shown up to play. Both had registered, both had paid their money and both were blinded off. They were joined by Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson and Phil Gordon. At the end of Day 1, in-form player Kirk Morrison topped the 51 survivors, closely followed by Jennifer Harman, with British hopes being led by Marc Goodwin.

END DAY 1 CHIP COUNTS
Kirk Morrison 40,000
Jennifer Harman 37,500
Yuval Bronshtein 35,400
Jan Sorensen 33,000
Scott Fischman 33,000
Alex Kravchenko 31,500
Pascal Perrault 31,200
Marc Goodwin 30,000

DAY 2

The limits kicked up a notch and punished the shorter stacks. A lot of the early runners and big names fell, including Gus Hansen, Annie Duke and Allen Cunningham. British pro Marc Goodwin hung onto his chips long enough to cash in 15th place for £5,250.

Meanwhile chip leaders Morrison and Harman managed to keep their big stacks intact and were joined towards the end of the day by UK players Gary Jones and Hendon Mobbers Joe Beevers and Barny Boatman. Boatman dragged himself towards the top – helped in no small part by hitting quad Aces – but then suffered a couple of big losses and eventually went out just before the final table in 12th, winning £6,562.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS
Seat 1: Jennifer Harman 204,000
Seat 2: Gary Jones 30,000
Seat 3: Joe Beevers 74,500
Seat 4: Kirk Morrison 172,500
Seat 5: Thomas Bihl 130,500
Seat 6: Yuval Bronshtein 185,500
Seat 7: Alex Kravchenko 114,500
Seat 8: Chris Ferguson 142,500

DAY 3

Unfortunately, British hopes faded early on Saturday as both Jones and Beevers – short stacks at the final table – dropped out in order of stack sizes.

With the two Brits out, the table still boasted nine WSOP bracelets and a lot of the time it resembled a home game more than a final table, with an amazingly chilled atmosphere and drinks flowing fairly freely. Daniel Negreanu joined the party – albeit from the rail – and, in between supporting his friends Morrison and Harman, he regaled anyone who came close about his troubles with British Airways (‘I’ve flown twice with BA and guess how many times they’ve lost my luggage? Three times!’).

In the end – after over 350 hands and more than 14 hours of play on the final table – Betfair pro Thomas Bihl beat Jennifer Harman heads-up. Earlier Harman had been down to the felt but managed to scrap her way back before eventually succumbing to German Thomas Bihl.

RESULTS
1. Thomas Bihl £70,875
2. Jennifer Harman £40,688
3. Kirk Morrison £26,250
4. Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson £21,700
5. Alex Kravchenko £17,850
6. Yuval Bronshtein £14,438
7. Joe Beevers £11,812
8. Gary Jones £9,188