Many pros view H.O.R.S.E. as the real poker championship

By Steve DiMeglio, USA TODAY

Chip Reese, last year's H.O.R.S.E. champion, says in the top-shelf cash games they rarely play Texas Hold'em.

"It definitely takes the best players to win it," Brunson added. "There are not that many players out there that can win this event. I don't think you will ever see a novice or an amateur win H.O.R.S.E. because you have to have a lot of skill to handle yourself in all the games."

You have to have a lot of nerve, too, and that's just taking the $50,000 entry fee into account. That's the largest ante in WSOP history and five times more than the Texas Hold'em Main Event charges.

The event also challenges every participant's guts and courage and bravery because poker's cream of the crop is on hand. H.O.R.S.E. has been played before in the WSOP but not with a $50,000 price tag until last year. The event was added to the schedule at the request of players, who sought an ultra-exclusive event with the potential for a huge payday.

Further, many poker pros think H.O.R.S.E., because of its multiple variations, is best suited to identify the world's greatest all-around poker player.

Chip Reese, one of the best cash-game players ever to sit at a poker table, outlasted an all-star cast last year to win nearly $1.8 million and a bracelet. The final table featured multiple-bracelet winners Reese, Brunson, Phil Ivey and T.J. Cloutier, as well as 1993 WSOP Main Event winner Jim Bechtel.

The final nine had won a combined 27 WSOP bracelets, and 143 men and women paid the unprecedented $50,000 buy-in.

"You have to know all the games to do well in that tournament," Reese says. "Poker isn't just no-limit Texas Hold'em, even though that's all you see on TV. In the big cash games, we don't just play Texas Hold'em. We don't really play much Texas Hold'em, to be honest."

Players, especially veteran rounders, recognize H.O.R.S.E. as the premier tournament along with the Main Event, one-time WSOP bracelet winner Robert Williamson III says.

"The people (who) succeed at poker at the highest level, the biggest games, normally play mixed games where you have to be a specialist and an expert in many types of poker," he says. "The buy-in is very high, which brings in the top competition. And it not only attracts the best players in the world, the buy-in alone kind of limits the number of players that you get that are just out there taking a shot. So you're playing against truly the best players in the world."

Among them is Cyndy Violette.

"I've always said that that tournament would be a better championship event," says Violette, who has won one WSOP bracelet. "It's all the games. It's fun. That's what I do most of the time, play mix games.

"The better players play mix games on a regular basis. We only play no-limit Hold'em in tournaments."

Scott Fischman, who won two bracelets at the 2004 WSOP, including one in the $2,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, loves playing Texas Hold'em. But other poker games add spice to the sport.

"We players want variety," he says. "And sometimes, no-limit Hold'em doesn't always show who the better player is. To turn it around and have a $50,000 tournament is really exciting. I thought the tournament would instantaneously become as highly regarded as the Main Event."

With all the talent in the tournament, Williamson says he has to gear up a different way. Knowing there's a chance he could be sitting at the table on the first day with some of the game's greatest players, he can't ease his way into the flow of the game.

"It makes me play tougher and better from the very start," he says. "Poker players sometimes underestimate their opponent's ability. At the H.O.R.S.E. event, you can't underestimate anybody.

"Because if they plop down $50,000 to play in the event, there's a good chance you're a top player. So you just have to really, really stay focused and play your very, very best every single hand because every hand counts. And nearly every player is a great player."