WSOP Event #26 - $5,000 H.O.R.S.E
Tuesday, June 19, 2007 | Adrian Milewski
After a gruelling Day two of this event which didn’t finish until 4am and had still failed to whittle down to a final table the players returned to complete the event.
The first task of the day was to narrow the Day 3 starting field of 12 down to the final table of 8 players.
Once this was complete the final table lined up as follows:
- Seat 1: Jeff Campbell — 38,000
- Seat 2: Alexander Jung — 314,000
- Seat 3: Ralph Schwartz — 332,000
- Seat 4: Robert Mizrachi — 382,000
- Seat 5: Thom Schultz — 112,000
- Seat 6: Yuebin Guo — 116,000
- Seat 7: Phil Ivey — 481,000
- Seat 8: Bill Gazes — 147,000
Fan favourite and widely respected Phil Ivey went into the final table as chip leader and most peoples favourite to add to his WSOP bracelet collection.
Jeff Campbell went into the final table as a critical short stack and in fact he didn’t last past the first hand, during the Razz section, his Queen low hand lost out to Ralph Schwartz’s 9 low hand. Campbell finished in 8th place and took home $20,755.
Fast forward to the Stud Hi/Lo section and Thom Schultz, who had had a torrid time so far at the final table was next to be eliminated when he missed his straight draw and was beaten by Ralph Schwartz’s two pair. Schultz finished in 7th place for a prize of $28,877.
Alex Jung was the next to depart during the Omaha Hi/Lo section, when in the space of two hands he lost all his chips, first to Phil Ivey and then finished off by Robert Mizrachi. Jung left in 6th place and won $37,901.
Down to five players and the chip stacks looked as follows:
- Yuebin Guo — 570,000
- Ralph Schwartz — 560,000
- Phil Ivey — 460,000
- Robert Mizrachi — 230,000
- Bill Gazes — 90,000
Shortstack Bill Gazes had to make his move fairly soon during the Razz section with blinds at 20k/40k and 5k antes he didn’t have much time. He got it in at the right time though and survived in a showdown with Robert Mizrachi and Gazes’ 8-7-6 low won the hand to eliminate Robert Mizrachi in 5th place for a prize of $49,632. By now Gazes had built his stack up to 400,000.
At this stage the blinds were deadly and the stacks were pretty thin compared to the blind. Phil Ivey was crippled in a hand during the Stud section where he was forced to fold on sixth street and only left with a stack of 105,000. Merely a few hands later and the favourite Ivey was gone, eliminated in 4th place when his pair of 7’s was beaten by Yuebin Guo’s pair of Queens. Ivey finished in 4th place and took home $65,424.
Down to three players and the chip stacks looked as follows:
- Yuebin Guo — 800,000
- Ralph Schwartz — 650,000
- Bill Gazes — 320,000
Towards the end of the Stud Hi/Lo section chip leader Guo took some significant hits to his stack and when the game switched to the Omaha Hi/Lo section he was eliminated on the first hand by Schwartz who hit two pair. Guo finished in 3rd place which was good for $99,264.
Going into heads up play and Schwartz (1.3m) held an almost 3 to 1 chip lead over Gazes (550k) and heads up would be finished before the end of the Omaha Hi/Lo section. The decisive hand came when the flop came down 
and a raised bet on the flop from Schwartz was called by Gazes. The turn came 
and Schwartz moved Gazes all in which Gazes duly called. The turn of 
was no help as Gazes K-K-7-6 was beaten by Schwartz’s 2-3-5-8 who had both a 6 high straight for the Hi pot and a 6 low for the lo pot.
Ralph Schwartz claimed his first WSOP bracelet and the 1st place prize of $275,683.
The final standings for Event #26 of WSOP 2007 were:
- Ralph Schwartz — $275,683
- Bill Gazes — $153,408
- Yuebin Guo — $99,264
- Phil Ivey — $65,424
- Robert Mizrachi — $49,632
- Alexander Jung — $37,901
- Thomas Schultz — $28,877
- Jeff Campbell — $20,755
There’s still time to qualify for the WSOP main event by winning one of the many satellites taking place on Pokerstars.
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