NO HORSING AROUND AS RICHBURG TAKES WSOP EVENT 16

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382 entries for the H.O.R.S.E. contest

World Series of Poker event 16 - the $2 500 H.O.R.S.E. competition - saw a strong scattering of professional aces among the 382 entrants on the first day of play.

That didn't stop the pros falling like ninepins in the first few hours of play however, and experts of the calibre of Dutch Boyd and Mike Matusow, followed shortly by Scotty Nguyen and Jeff Madsen were among the early casualties.

Aggressive players to note at that stage were Daniel Negreanu, California poker pro Shirley Rosario and Cyndy Violette although none of them reached the final table.

By Day 2 the field was down to 20 players, and with the late evening departure of Alexandra Vuong in ninth place, the final table was set with Ali Eslami holding the chip lead on 507 000, trailed on 487 000 by James Richburg. Other players around the table were Robert Mizrachi, Herb Van Dyke, Harry Kazazian, WSOPbracelet holder Tom Schneider, Walter Brown and Chris Bjorin.

Schneider drew first blood, knocking out Kazazian in eighth place, followed by Van Dyke who fell to Richburg. Play continued through the Omaha and Razz sections without further departures, but in the next Seven Card Stud episode Mizrachi was eliminated by Bjorin in sixth place and the table took a dinner break.

Back to work, Richburg and Bjorin led the field with 527 000 chips apiece, the nearest opposition being Browne on 401 000. Eslami exited in the next Hold'em segment when he lost much of his stack to Richburg and in a quick passage of play was finished off in fifth place and left the table.

Now four handed, play moved through the next Omaha and Razz segments, again with no eliminations. It was Schneider's time to go during Seven Card Stud play after a clash with Richburg left the champ with a fourth place exit. Between them, Richburg and Browne then hammered Bjorin in the next few stages, finally taking him down in position 3 during limit play to set the scene for the heads up.

Entering heads up play, Richburg held a 2:1 lead over Browne, but the latter recovered some ground in the next Omaha segment and started to look good, only to fall badly in the Razz section. He never recovered and before the section was through he had been defeated by Richburg, who took bracelet and main prize money of $239 503.