Klausen wins Sunday night H.O.R.S.E

This week’s edition of Sunday Night H.O.R.S.E. at Full Tilt Poker saw 138 players turn out to take their shot at this title. With the Main Event of Mini Ftops going on, turnout was a bit light. A respectable group of Full Tilt red pros made their way to the tables with Esther Rossi being the only pro to finish in the money with a 12th place finish.

16 players finished in the money. Scott Clements finished just short of the money in 22nd. Jhc3 was the unfortunate bubble boy, finishing in 17th. Goldfishman7 was the only other notable that fell short of the final table, finishing in 10th place.

Kice32 made a return visit to the final table and this time entered as chip leader. Pokerfan X is also another former final table participant but started as the short stack. This is how the final eight players started final table play:

MirandaKate 37,715

Klausen 59,205

BRoyXover 43,171

kice32 98,553

Pokerfan X 20,352

ProCappers2 52,458

You_Bet_I_Win2 72,684

tengiz1313 29,862

BRoyXover was the first player eliminated from this final table. He went all-in on fifth street during razz with a made 10. MirandaKate had a pair of aces showing, but had 2-3-4 to go with them for a wheel draw. Sixth street left BRoyXover drawing dead as MirandaKate caught her wheel. BRoyXover finished in 8th place.

ProCappers2 was the next to be eliminated. He went all-in during razz on sixth street with a made 9 and faced a made ten from You_Bet_I_Win2. The river brought a pair for ProCappers2 and You_Bet_I_Win2 caught a four to complete an 8-7 low. ProCappers2 finished in 7th place.

Pokerfan X was all-in on third street during stud and had three callers. On fifth street, Klausen bet out and the other players bowed out. Klausen held queens-up to the tens-up of Pokerfan X. The river brought a full house for Klausen and Pokerfan X was unable to fill up. Pokerfan X finished in 6th place.

Five players made it to the first break of the final table. This is how the remaining five stood at the break:

You_Bet_I_Win2 141,944

kice32 125,939

Klausen 63,187

tengiz1313 54,128

MirandaKate 28,802

MirandaKate was all-in several times during the Stud 8 rounds and each time managed a chopped pot. Her luck finally ran out during Holdem. After calling a three-bet pre-flop from kice32, she then raised all-in on a flop of 9h-8c-4s. Kice32 called and showed As-7s and MirandaKate showed Ks-Qd. The turn and river missed both players and MirandaKate finished in 5th.

Tengiz1313 was all-in on the turn with the board showing 9c-9d-8c-8h. Kice32 made the call with Ah-4h. Tengiz1313 held only Kd-10h. The river fell the 6h and tengiz1313 was out in 4th.

You_Bet_I_Win2 raised pre-flop all-in and Klausen tanked for about 20 seconds before finally making the call. He found out his call was good when his Ah-9c was ahead of the As-7d of his opponent. The board missed both players and You_Bet_I_Win2 finished in 3rd.

Heads-up play started with kice32 holding a 5 to 1 chip lead over Klausen. He had 349,997 to 64,003. Normally, the game would be academic at this point, but that is why they still play it out.

Klausen started a miraculous comeback two hands into heads-up play. The pot was three-bet pre-flop and then Klausen three-bet on a flop of Jh-Ks-10s. Kice made the call with Ad-5c for the straight draw. Klausen showed Kc-10h for two pair. The two pair held and the advantage was cut to just under 3 to 1 for kice32.

Klausen then took a series of pots to narrow and then overtake the chip lead from kice32. Then a huge hand developed between the two with Klausen flopping top pair with Jc-9s. After the 144,000 chip pot, Kice was at a 2 to 1 chip disadvantage. Kice32 fought his way back and was in striking distance of the chip lead again before another huge hand. The flop of 10d-6c-5s was three-bet by kice32 and called by Klausen. The turn 9d was bet by kice32 and only called by Klausen. When the river 7h fell, Klausen led out and this time kice32 only made the call. Klausen showed 10s-7c for a rivered two pair, giving him another 144,000 pot and leaving kice32 saying, “WTF”.

Heads-up play went back and forth from that point with kice32 making up some ground, only to lose it right back. He was all-in a couple of times during Omaha but failed to scoop. His final hand exhibited just how frustrating a day he had heads-up. Betting was capped pre-flop and the flop of 8h-10s-5h was three-bet. When the Qd fell on the turn, kice32 wound up three-betting all-in. Klausen called with Ad-4d-Qs-9h for a low draw and gutshot straight draw. Kice32 had the lead in the hand with As-4s-Ac-4c for a pair of aces and the same low draw. Unfortunately for kice32, Klausen caught the Jh on the river to give him the miracle four outer to scoop and kice32 finished the day in 2nd place.

After what seemed like an almost certain victory, kice32 had to settle for 2nd and $6,000. Klausen pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in Sunday Night H.O.R.S.E. history to take down the top prize of $9,000. He entered the final table as a middle stack and then ran like God heads-up to pull off the amazing come from behind win. Congratulations to Klausen, this week’s Sunday Night H.O.R.S.E. champion.