H.O.R.S.E. Expert Doug Carli Wins Horse Race After 16-Hour Marathon at Caesars Indiana

2007 Caesars Indiana
World Series of Poker
(WSOP) Circuit Event
Event #9
$1,000 H.O.R.S.E.
Tournament Report

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2007 Caesars Indiana WSOP Circuit Event Report

H.O.R.S.E. Expert Doug Carli Wins
Horse Race After 16-Hour Marathon

Douglas Carli

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Any handicapper would have had to rate Douglas “Rico” Carli as an odds-on
favorite in the H.O.R.S.E. race which was event nine in the WSOP Circuit tour
at Caesars Indiana. Among his numerous cashes are eight prior final tables
at Circuit tourneys, including three fifth-place finishes in championship events.
In 2005, Card Player ranked him 23rd in the world overall and fourth in final
tables. And, playing all games, he’s very comfortable with H.O.R.S.E. and
came in third last year in one at the Jack Binion WSOP Circuit at Grand Tunica.

Besides his superior experience, notably in stud games, he also has lots of
stamina, which came in handy in an event which ran for 16 hours. So it was
no surprise when he ran off with victory tonight, winning $16,835.

Carli, 51, is a professional poker player from Alliance, Ohio. He has a degree
in math and learned poker at age six from his father and brothers. He is
married and his hobbies are golf and bowling. He likes to project a misleading
image as the tightest player in the world, and said he can carry off being
middle-aged.

H.O.R.S.E. was entered into the tournament line-up as an experiment, one
which may not be repeated, since it drew only 40 players. “What’s H.O.R.S.
E.?” “What’s razz?” puzzled players were asking.

“Next time we’ll play triple-draw and Chinese poker,” cracked Craig Carman,
one of the tournament directors.

H.O.R.S.E consists of five games, hold’em, Omaha high-low, razz, stud, and
eight-or-better, each game played consecutively in 30 minute rounds.

The final table consisted of eight players, because of the stud games in the
mix, though only three players got to cash out. Since all games were limit, it
took nine hours to drop from 40 to eight.

Here were the starting chip counts:

SEAT 1        Pat Cissell
SEAT 2        Michael Mitchener
SEAT 3        Douglas Carli
SEAT 4        Michael Schneider
SEAT 5        Michael Lutes
SEAT 6        Kevin Rosner
SEAT 7        Jim Weir
SEAT 8        Sam Martin

The first game was hold’em, with 300-600 limits and 24 minutes on the clock.
At that point, Sam Martin, with 39,000, was the chip leader. Four other
players were in the 30,000 range, while three were short-chipped with
10,000 or less.

First out, in hold’em, was Kevin Rosner. He had K-10 and lost to Martin’s
pocket aces.

Rosner, 35, is from Shelbyville, Indiana. He’s been playing three years, and
this is his first WSOP Circuit attempt. He is a college grad, likes basketball, is
engaged, and describes his poker highlight as playing heads-up with his
fiancé.

Next we were playing Omaha high-low,

Limits of 500 and 1,000, where we lost two more players. Michael Mitchener
departed in this round when the best he could show was two jacks, losing to
Michael Schneider’s straight.

Mitchener is from Bonner Springs, Kansas, and collected $1,693 for finishing
ninth in the seventh event, $500 pot-limit Omaha.

The other player to depart was Jim Weir, the lowest-chipped starter. There
was three-way action. Carli flopped kings and 7s, and then two running
diamonds gave him a king-high flush. Weir tossed in his cards in annoyance
(apparently from being outdrawn) without showing them, and we were down
to five.

Weir, 47, from Tampa, Florida, married with two children, is a pro player with
a graduate degree as a gemologist, his occupation before graduating to
poker. He started playing with his family at age eight, and has been to World
Series events since 1994. This year he has two final tables, at the World
Poker Open and Tunica.

Next up: razz (7-card-stud low), playing with 200 antes, 300 high-card bring-
in, 1,000-2,000 limits. Everybody survived.

Next: 7-card stud with 200 antes, 500 low-card bring-in, 1,500-3,000 limits,
and nobody went broke. Then, 7-stud eight or better, same limits, same
results: still five left.

The players returned from break to take up hold’em, playing 1,000-2,000
limits. It was now 1 a.m. Hey, guys, how about quit horsing around and
maybe changing to no-limit?

Finally, with the round drawing to a close, we lost our fifth player. Sam Martin
was rapidly losing chips and was finally all in from the big blind with just 10-3.
Michael Schneider had the button with 10c-9c, had an open-ender on a flop
of J-8-2, and closed it with a 7 on the turn.

Martin is a 35-year-old software engineer from Morgantown, West Virginia,
married, with one child due in a month. He has an engineering degree, has
playing poker five or six years, and his best finish was second in the Orleans
Open.

The remaining players finally got in the money in the next round of Omaha.
when Pat Cissell went out. He was dealt J-4-3-2 and busted out chasing a
low. The flop came 9-7-6, but then a queen and a king left him empty-
handed, while Carli, with Q-Q-2-K won with a set.

Cissell, from Louisville, works for UPS, graduated from the University of
Louisville and began playing with family and friends about eight years ago.
This was the first Circuit event for the bubble boy, who has three small
tournaments wins on his resume.

When the round ended at 2 p.m., the three finalists began discussing a
possible deal and whether to keep playing or go to bed. Michael Lutes
wanted to keep playing, Carli wanted to leave, and that left the tie-breaking
decision up to Schneider. Finally, Lutes offered a compromise of playing
another round and then deciding.

The game was now razz, 500 antes, 1,000 bring-in, 3,000-6,000 limits. At
that point, Carli and Schneider both had about 75,000 chips to 44,000 for
Lute. “Try to knock me out,” Lute offered. Not that easy. He was all in and
survived three times, once in razz and, when he suggested one more round,
twice more in stud high. Finally, at 3:15 a.m., the boys finally gave it up and
agreed to return at 4 p.m. the next day. When they left, Carli had 106,000,
Schneider 67,000, while Lutes was still hanging on with 27,000. Good night.

Play resumed the next day with a round of eight-or-better, 1,000 antes,
1,500 bring-in, 4,000-8,000 limits. But it wasn’t until the next round of hold’
em, with 4,000-8,000 limits, that the last two players were eliminated. After
folding on the river when Carli bet into a board of 7-5-2-5-6, Schneider was
left with 2,000. It went in on his big blind the next hand. He had only 8-5 to 9-
4 for Carli, and a board of J-9-3-10-10 left him in third place, worth $6,730.

Schneider, 40, is from Covington, Georgia, where he owns a car wash. His
nickname, of course, is “Car Wash.” A college grad, he’s been playing poker
for 10 years, and this is his second year playing Circuit events. He had a prior
cash in Commerce Casino’s Los Angeles Poker Classic, where he placed 22nd
in a $1,000 no-limit event.

Heads-up, Lutes had a slight chip disadvantage: 19,000 against 181,000 for
Carli. “I’ve seen sicker dogs get well,” he commented. Maybe, but this dog
was about to be put to sleep. He dropped out of the first hand, was all in and
survived the second, and then expired on the third. He raised with Jc-5c and
Carli put him all in holding Ad-9h. The board came K-7-6-A-4, and Carli
crossed the finish line about 20 lengths ahead.

Lutes, 46, is from Bloomington, Indiana, is in real estate and has two
children. He taught himself poker 10 years ago. His four final table finishes
include two fourths in Circuit events here, in $500 pot-limit Omaha and $500
no-limit. His poker highlight was finishing 37th in a $1500 no-limit event at
the World Series. His payout for finishing second was $10,095.

Report by Max Shapiro -- WSOP Media Director

To view a complete listing of results for Event #9 of the 2007 Caesars
Indiana Circuit Event, click on the link below:

2007 Caesars Indiana WSOP Circuit Results - Event #9

World Series of Poker Commissioner – Jeffrey Pollack
World Series of Poker Tournament Director -- Jack Effel
Caesars Indiana Poker Room Manager -- Jimmie Allen
Caesars Indiana Tournament Directors -- Dave Isgrigg and Amy Baker
Caesars Indiana Assistant General Manager -- Neil Walkoff

35,000