WSOPE Event 2 H.O.R.S.E. PDF Print E-mail
wsope2event2winner400.jpgFarnood Wins One For Afghanistan wsope2event2winner.jpgFarnood Wins One For Afghanistan

The £2500 H.O.R.S.E. tournament is exactly the right cup of tea for some
players, but at the same time it can be dreaded by the tournament reporters and media, especially when they’re trying to scribble down those all-important stud/8 hands. Countless pages of notepaper can go to waste as you write down a multi-way pot hand only to have one guy fold early on while the other two split it at the river, one with the high and one with the low. But I digress – the event proved to be one that highlighted the huge swings that can often be found in all of these forms of limit poker.
    All the regulars were there, combined with a smattering of UK players who actually do play all the mixed games. Generally, in the UK, H.O.R.S.E. isn’t played and the mixed games that are popular tend to be dealer’s choice games, which are naturally pot-limit. This, however, didn’t stop John Kabbaj, Marc Goodwin or Gary Jones from all taking a shot at the event, though by the end of the first day, two familiar names were at the top of the leaderboards – Phil and Phil. Ivey and Hellmuth. The former still looking for that bracelet to win him that huge prop bet he’s rumoured to have, while the latter had managed a third place in one of the H.O.R.S.E. tournaments during the last WSOP, proving to some that he’s not simply a no-limit hold’em pony.
    The big talking point came late at the end of Day 2 of the 110-player, three-day event when Hellmuth exploded, though not literally. That would’ve been messy.
    No, what had happened was Hellmuth lost three or four big pots with around
14 players left in the event, doubling up several of those around him, including Mark Gregorich and Sherkhan Farnood. Hellmuth became visibly angry with what was happening, which combined with the lateness of the hour caused him to continually berate the dealer and demand from the tournament director that the dealers follow ‘correct procedure’.
    Eventually, Hellmuth succeeded, but only in making the dealer cry due to his constant swearing and obnoxious behaviour. But the end was soon nigh, as Hellmuth on the last hand of the night would be all-in preflop with A↔-K♠ against Sherkhan Farnood’s 3♠-3♦ in the limit hold’em round of the game. The dealer rattled off a J♥-Q♠-K♥-5♥ board, before revealing the 3♥ on the river, busting Hellmuth in 12th place at the death. To say Hellmuth left without a word of complaint would be a lie.
    The final table looked like this: Sherkhan Farnood 88,000, Phil Ivey 139,000, Spencer Lawrence 113,500, Jeff Lisandro 165,000, Ivo Donev 65,000, Jeff Duvall 136,000, Howard Lederer 283,500, Mark Gregorich 104,000.
    Lederer was the leader, but Ivey was the one bringing all the action, while Farnood dodged left and right, ending up all-in twice but surviving both times. It was Spencer Lawrence who would be the first to be kicked off the table. He was
all-in and Jeff Duvall and Lederer went there with him in the stud/8 game. Surprisingly, no one made a low and Duvall was left to scoop the pot with kings and tens. Lisandro departed next, holding J-J on a 4-6-K-8 board. He was relieved to see his man without a king, unfortunately, Lederer, the man he was up against, had 7-5 for the straight.
    Meanwhile, Phil Ivey’s bracelet hunt would come up short again. Mark Gregorich fired on every street in the stud game with a board of 10♥-6♦-6↔-9↔, and Ivey called him down with
10↔-K♠-8♦-2♦. Gregorich flipped Q♥-Q↔-A♠ for queens up and Ivey sighed, mucked and left the table.
    Gregorich was next out, unsuccessfully playing his A♥-J♠ against Farnood’s
5♦-5↔ during the hold’em phase. Duvall followed him soon after on the Omaha/8 round. He was all-in on a K♥-J♦-7♥-2↔-6♥ board, but when Lederer flipped A♥-5♥-4♦-9♠ for the nut high and second nut low, Duvall said, “That’s good,” and was out in fourth place.
    This left the Full Tilt man with Donev and Farnood and three-handed the chips seemed to just be traded back and forth, as no one could assert dominance. A key hand changed this, though, when Lederer lost a crucial pot, making a 10-low in razz but was pipped by Farnood’s 9-8-5-4-A, leaving the ‘Professor’ crippled. He was eliminated soon after in razz as Farnood made aces and kings for the high while Donev’s 8-6-5-4-2 was good for the low, leaving us heads-up.
    Farnood won another key pot during razz, but this time all he could make was a J-6-5-3-A. Incredibly, this was enough, as Donev – a WSOP bracelet winner in limit hold’em in 2000 – could only muster a J-7.
    This showed how everything was going Farnood’s way. It continued in the same
vein in the Omaha/8 when on a board of
2↔-4♥-8↔-7♦-6♠, Farnood showed A♠-2♥-
10♥-9♦ against Donev’s 10♦-7↔-6♠-5♦. Farnood’s ten-high straight took the high half while his live ace was enough to also pick up the low half for a valuable scoop.
    Farnood finished the matter when in stud he picked up split eights against Donev’s three-flush with two overs. Farnood caught another pair, while Donev simply couldn’t make a thing and ended up with king-high.
    According to the WSOP, Farnood, 46, is the first player from Afghanistan to win a bracelet, bagging £76,999 for his victory.
    Farnood is chairman of Kabulbank, one of the largest banks in Afghanistan, and is a dual resident of Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates. In 2005, he became the first player ever to cash from the nation of Afghanistan. At the time, Farnood half-jokingly announced that he was Afghanistan’s most famous poker player – an ironic statement considering he’s probably the only Afghan who plays regularly on the poker tournament circuit.  
    He now has six career WSOP in-the-money finishes and four final tables. He took sixth in 2007’s WSOPE PLO event.  
– Chris Hall
 

Visit Us At...

Like it? Share it!

Survey