Deeb Takes WSOP H.O.R.S.E. Title
Monday, 2 July 2007
Poker professional Freddy Deeb won one of the most coveted titles
on Friday as the greatest all-around poker player by winning the
$50,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship at the 38th Annual World Series of
Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.
Poker professional Freddy Deeb won one of the most coveted titles
on Friday as the greatest all-around poker player by winning the
$50,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship at the 38th Annual World Series of
Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.
Milwaukee’s Best Light is sponsoring the event and Deeb beat a
record field of 148 high-stakes players to win more than two
million dollars. He was also presented with an 18-carat gold
bracelet studded with 91 black diamonds and a custom-designed
wristwatch from luxury Swiss watchmaker CORUM.
The Championship demands players excel at five poker variations,
Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Seven Card Stud High and Seven Card Stud
High-Low Eight or Better, and winning means that players can
outplay top professionals in a wide range of game variations with
high stakes on the line.
“When I won my first bracelet, I was mostly a cash game player
so it didn’t really matter to me,” said Deeb, a native of Lebanon
who moved to the US in the 1970s.
“But this one, it means everything to me. These are the toughest
players in the world. It has the highest buy-in. Except for the
$10,000 buy-in, this is the bracelet that means the most of any of
them.”
The field included some of the world’s best players including
Phil Ivey, Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, Howard Lederer, Phil
Hellmuth Jr, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Jim Bechtel, Scotty
Nguyen, Greg Raymer and Chris Ferguson.
The final table lasted over 14 hours, the fourth-longest final
table in WSOP history, after beginning on the previous Monday with
a field of some of the greatest professional players.
Poker ace Chip Reese won the inaugural H.O.R.S.E. World
Championship last year by beating 143 other players to collect
$1,784,640 and the top 16 finishers at this year’s event received a
share of the $7,104,000 prize pool.