Freddy Deeb won $2.3 million
Las Vegas poker pro Freddy Deeb won $2.3 million Friday morning, beating out a field of 148 players in the World Series of Poker. Deeb won the $50,000 buy-in HORSE event after a grueling 15-hour final table match that began play at 2 p.m. Thursday. Joking throughout the match, Deeb kept up the humor until the 5 a.m. finish. “You know what did it? The lucky shirt,” he said. 
The winner’s purse was the fifth biggest in World Series history, falling just short of the $2.5 million that Chris Moneymaker won when he emerged from an Internet qualifier to beat a field of 839 in 2003. Top names including Phil Hellmuth, Barry Greenstein and Annie Duke sat down to play the marathon event Sunday in a field that had more World Series bracelet winners than not. The $10,000 main event begins next Friday. HORSE, which stands for five games of poker – Hold ‘Em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Eight or Better – tests the all-around player more than the No Limit Hold ‘Em game.