With 140 of 148 players remaining, my horse in the HORSE starts here, as today is the day we find out who in the field is really looking to contend for something meaningful:

(Mathematically, I suppose I’m still pretty short-stacked with just 1,178 of those chips working for me; ; let’s hope Tom realizes he needs to get more of them.)

(Table 6)
Seat 1: Matt Hawrilenko – 41,100
Seat 2: Andy Bloch – 101,000
Seat 3: David Grey – 79,900
Seat 4: Johnny Chan – 172,200
Seat 5: Roy Thung – 90,000
Seat 6: Tom Schneider – 117,800
Seat 7: Michael Mizrachi – 82,300
Seat 8: Mike Wattel – 120,600
Click below for the complete HORSE table seatings:

More…

The last of the $50K H.O.R.S.E. mega satellites is going on now. The $2250 buy-in mega caught the eye of about 40 people, including Anna Wroblewski, Mike Wattel, and Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke. Oh, and Tom Schneider, who is no longer seated because he is now headed out of the Amazon Room. “Outski,” he said. “Outski and Hutch.”

At the first break of the mega, Tom stated that he was short-stacked and would probably be out soon. (Ding!) Regardless of the satellite outcome, he plans to play in the $50K event tomorrow and was very honest about how he would do so. He has sold some pieces of himself and is in discussions with a few other possible takers. At this point, he believes he will have to put up a good chunk of the buy-in himself, somewhere in the range of $20K and $35K.

While Tom doesn’t seem too thrilled about forking over that kind of dough, he doesn’t see being able to skip this event with so much prestige and money on the line. So, with bias firmly intact, go Tom!

In an effort to talk to more pros about playing in tomorrow’s $50K H.O.R.S.E. event, I ran into two players who are weighing their options and making decisions today about what to do.

Kenna James admitted that he does not have the money for the buy-in, though as Dan has previously noted, how many people really do? Kenna noted that a backer had contacted him about the possibility of working a deal, and he is considering that, as well as trying to win his way in through a mega satellite, the last of which is this evening at 5pm. With the announcement of the two additional satellite opportunities over the past few days, this gives him more outs. Personally, I didn’t get the feeling that he was super determined to play the H.O.R.S.E. event, but that remains to be seen.

Mark Newhouse is feeling good this year. With the disagreement with Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf out of the way and a backer firmly in place, he can be found walking around the Rio all the time, even standing around watching other tournaments on his own tournament breaks. He seems more determined than ever to make waves. For this reason, the $50K H.O.R.S.E. has definitely been on his mind.

While Newhizzle has a backing deal for the entire WSOP, he chose to exclude the H.O.R.S.E. event from that deal because “I don’t want that kind of makeup.” He also noted that despite his self-confidence, he doesn’t feel like a huge favorite in this particular event and wouldn’t want to take a chance on it by buying in directly with a backer’s money. He played two mega satellites last week and was not able to score a seat, but when I told him that there were mega opportunities still available, he immediately called his backer to discuss that option. If he wins a seat, he will play.

The underbuzz at the Rio these days is the upcoming HORSE event. Everybody wants in, but few have the necessary liquid capital bankroll cushion to comfortably do so. The WSOP ran the last $2,250 mega-sat yesterday. These have had some interesting fields … and it was kinda funny late at night to see the last couple tables of a tiny-looking tourney on totally unspecial tables in a hidden corner (right in front of CardPlayer) with a handful of B-level pros … all fighting for $50k for 1st place, $30k for second. $1,500 NL Democratic Conventions are one thing, as our Omaha Hi-Lo bracelet events … but there were some really high-pressure battles amongst some very solid players going on in these attempts to win one’s way into $50k HORSE.

Off the tables, players are shopping around for backers, as very few players have the true bankroll to justify such a big buy-in against arguably the strongest field in the world. Using the most basic bankroll management math, a player should have $5 million put aside just for poker for HORSE to be a no-brainer buy-in. I gotta think there aren’t more than 25 or 30 mixed-game-capable players in the world with the five double-ems in the family BR, yo? Yet we can expect to see probably about 150 runners competing for the Chip Reese title.

CORRECTION: I made a mistake on the podcast when saying a proper poker bankroll for a $50k buy-in is $5 million. Oops, added an extra zero … $500k should suffice.

…Okay, that title may be the single gayest line I’ve ever typed. My bad. I’m draining Dos Equis and blogging via Hooters WiFi.

I’m about to fire off an email to friends, family, etc., inviting them to take a piece of me in a second $1,500 NLHE Event, which I wasn’t originally planning on playing. I’m actually interested to hear your opinions on how I’m handling the two-event split and the Main Event equity parlay.

Check out the details at my super-new personal blog (blog.karridy.com), and let me know if you think I’m drawing dead.

ALT HED: For sale: BackerTracker.com - $1,500

I like to troll Craigslist every so often for some hot, anonymous NSA poker action. Not looking for games — there’s no shortage of ‘em here in LV — just wanting to take the pulse of what people are pushing related to poker. Look at the ads all together and you get some interesting tells on the state of the poker world and its semi-anonymous inhabitants:

There are a lot of chips , tables, fancy custom tables and chips and tables for sale, of course, and for $15 a made-for-TV WPT video game. WSOP: Tournament of Champions for the Playstation goes for $8

For $150k you can have documentary footage of the rise and fall of Jamie Gold.

A WSOP baby’s blanket.

More chips, from the Aladdin, and from the Atlantic City Playboy Club. “Omaha Table” from Sante Fe Station.

Perhaps frighteningly, there are even poker bots for sale. At least one suspicious reader is questioning whether or not this is legal.

More…

From Craigslist:

well know poker player needs backer - $25 (Las Vegas)
Date: 2008-04-17, 1:28AM PDT
I will only accept the right person. I currently have a backer and we will be parting ways if I find a bigger backer. You are welcome to review my results and talk to my current backer. I made him $52,000 last year. I use to have my own money but I started a business that didn’t work out and I lost a few hundred K! Last year 07 I made $104,000 playing 2-5NL. We started with $15k and split everything 50/50. I want need to move up to where I use to play 5-10 and 10-20 and I need a bigger backer. I have an $1,800 mortgage and a $1,000 car payment so playing 2-5 doesn’t make enough for me to move up. My current backer has the same problem and cannot increase his stake. I am looking for someone to put up a min. of $25k for 5-10 and above. Since I made $104k in 2-5 it is easy to see I will make $200k playing bigger and it is the game I am use to playing in the past. I just cannot pay my bills plus save money making only $52,000. My nut is about $40k a year! We can meet and talk and I will choose who I let back me. My current backer knows I will be leaving and there is no bad blood there, just not enough money for me to split at my current level!

From the way the hedline sounds, I’d guess this guy is Asian. Just sayin’ … regardless, I suspect Men the Master might see a flaw in Danielsan’s plan.

THACKERVILLE, Okla.–North Texas player Abteen Vaziri just said now that I know his name I can delete it. He is out. He wins $2,500 for finishing in 55th place. Much of Abteen’s recent success has come from study of Joe Navarro’s book on tells. But he misread a pulsing neck vain for weakness when in reality it was pocket queens.

Sorry dude.

Looks like it’s up to Josh, Troy, and/or TJ to do the Dallas gamers (whose names Pokerati knows) proud.

UPDATE: Troy “Darling” Phillips is out. He got pocket jacks on the button and raised. The ever-aggressive big blind pushed all-in … Troy called … and would learn the sad news that he was up against aces. Ouch!

50th place. $3,000. Still, nice job by the Batfaces favorite sugar daddy curly haired representative. It’s only a matter of time before he runs out of money makes another final table.

UPDATE: Josh Evans also appears to be out. Turned away for a second and his table was gone … and he couldn’t be found elsewhere in the field.

Interestingly enough, while Kido Pham and Greg Raymer were brought out here (and presumably bought in) by WinStar … TJ Cloutier simply showed up on his own and plunked down $1,100. Definitely not a charity event for him. And to think, they don’t even have craps in Oklahoma. Can we say positive EV?

With 45 players left and blinds at 4k/8k+500, Cloutier has about 165,000 chips. Average stack is 111,000.

UPDATE: Just learned that Cloutier was bought into this event by a heretofore unnamed military-ish backer in Dallas … who has 50 percent of the poker hall-of-famer.

Lodge and Rounder Club alum Chuck Pettigrew has been eliminated relatively early in Day 3-Day 1 of the Red River Roundup at Winstar. I didn’t even get to see him play, so I am sure he is wondering if he is going to get the $100 for the 8 percent of him I bought. Sure, he has delivered already on his 8 percent of $0 … but from what I have learned from so many “big name” pros out there, when you make these sorts of deals, you see, you don’t really have to pay … at least not right away. Don’t get me wrong, Chuck, had you made it into the money, or even built up a healthy chip stack, I’d be right by your side cheering you on, all the way to the cashier’s cage!

Better luck next time, sucker.

UPDATE: Chuck did have the pleasure of getting seated next to Kido Pham. That was presumably fun … at least for a few hours.

The former Rev. Good Chuck in Fort Worth wants to play in the $1,000 Red River Roundup main event, being put on by the mighty-noble-legendary Winstar tribe of Thackerville, OK. We all know he’s a pretty good player in few-hundred dollar tournaments, so he’s looking to try his hand at something a little bigger.

But he also wants to do it with a little backing love. He has a potential investor, and he’s trying to figure out the best, most sensible deal for both parties. His initial thought is to allow the backer 30 percent for $500, or 50 percent for $800. As you know, we learned a lot about backing deals during the WSOP, specifically that the “you buy me in and get your money back + 50 percent” isn’t necessarily the standard. So anyone got any thoughts on this?

More…