Pro vs Pro: H.O.R.S.E.

Pro H.O.R.S.E.

In the blue corner we have TJ Cloutier, two-time main event runner-up and hall of famer. Cloutier has amassed six WSOP bracelets and around $8m in tournament winnings.

It’s easier to win the lottery these days than it is the main event at the World Series of Poker. It’s still the same format as it was when I first started out – meaning you had to try and beat your own table – but nowadays you have to do it so many times more, and you have to bet the field against the known players. If you took 100 of the best amateurs and pitted them against 100 of the best pros, the pros would win every time. But if you put 1,000 up against the 100 best pros, the amateurs will start winning. A lot of the amateurs don’t even know when they are being lucky.

I have a problem with the winner of the main event being called the World Champion. The past four winners have won only one tournament in their life. As a World Champion you’ve got to be able to repeat what you do. Right now, the H.O.R.S.E. is the closest thing to the World Championship. The line-up on that final table was a who’s who of poker. That’s what the audience wants to see.

Anti H.O.R.S.E .

In the red corner is young poker sensation David Williams, runner-up to Greg Raymer in 2004’s main event. This year, he won his first WSOP bracelet.

The H.O.R.S.E. definitely has the potential to be the best event, but I have to say that the structure of it this year was shit. It was a crapshoot. Nobody busted out on the first day, and when the blinds spike up to 2,000 and 4,000 everybody has 50,000 in front of them, then with two hands you are out.

I think that perhaps TJ may be saying what he is because he made the final table. Phil Ivey, who made it to the last three, told me he thought the H.O.R.S.E. structure was a joke.

If they stretched it out over five days and managed it properly then there’s no doubt that it could be a great event. But the way it was this year, I think it was an even bigger crapshoot than the main event. In the main event people are still playing poker, you know. In the H.O.R.S.E. people were not playing poker until the final table. What kind of championship lets you lose just two hands and bust out?