When the final table for Event #22 ($3,000 H.O.R.S.E.) got underway Friday afternoon there were four of the game’s top professionals that the crowd were cheering. Jen Harman, Steve Zolotow, Hoyt Corkins and Marcel Luske were all in position to grab a bracelet.
But Harman was the first to go, sent to the rail by Doug Ganger during a Razz hand. Less than ten minutes later Rostislav Tsodikov was eliminated during the stud round. The next elimination would take a little bit of time but it started an avalanche of activity.
Zolotow and Jared Davis busted in fourth and fifth place respectively during a rotation of Stud. Only ten minutes after that, during a Hold’em hand, Corkins was in fourth place. That left Luske, always a crowd favorite, as the last big name remaining. The crowd gathered around the secondary final table was clearly in his corner.
While the three previous eliminations came in rapid succession, it would take over four hours for the next bust-out. Much to the dismay of the crowd, Luske busted in third place after all three players took turns as the chip leader. During a stud hand Luske put the last of his short-stack at risk on fourth street against Jens Voertmann. Luske’s hand ran out with only a pair of nines while Voertmann made a pair of aces on sixth street. Luske’s cash, the XX of his career, was worth $110,264.
The heads-up battle lasted a little more than an hour. Voertmann, thanks to his elimination of Luske, held a 2-1 chip lead over Ganger. But only a few hands in Ganger got back to even and things appeared to be going his way. But as the game turned to Seven-card Stud, Voertmann took over and began to chip up. Then, during Stud Eight-or-better, Voertmann made back-to-back scoops before finally eliminating Ganger.
Voertmann’s win earned him $298,253 and the gold bracelet. Ganger’s runner-up performance pocketed him $182,822. For complete payouts from this event visit the WSOP Results page.