David "Bakes" Baker Wins $10K H.O.R.S.E. Over Monnette, Hellmuth, Ivey

Another tough final table played out last night at the "mothership" in the Amazon Room at the 2012 World Series of Poker where David "Bakes" Baker won Event #32, the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, earning his second career WSOP bracelet and a handsome $451,779 payday. To get there, Baker had to survive a final eight that included no less than five other WSOP bracelet holders -- John Monnette, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Abe Mosseri, and Dan Kelly

A total of 178 entered the $10K event, creating a total prize pool of $1,673,200. The top 24 finishers divided the cash. Those making the money but falling shy of the final table included a number of familiar faces, among them Steve Zolotow (23rd, $16,246), John D'Agostino (22nd, $16,246), Nick Schulman (20th, $16,246), Owais Ahmed (19th, $16,246), Joe Tehan (18th, $16,246), Eugene Katchalov (17th, $16,246), Bertrand Grospellier (16th, $19,542), Ralph Perry (15th, $19,542), David Bach (14th, $23,525), John Hennigan (13th, $23,525), Scott Clements (12th, $28,862), and Mori Eskandani (9th, $35,923).

When the final table began on Monday, John Monnette -- who just a couple of weeks ago won this year's $5K seven-card stud event (Event #10) -- held the chip lead with Phil Ivey and David Baker close behind and Phil Hellmuth in fourth and looking for his 13th career WSOP bracelet.

Dan Kelly, who won a bracelet back in 2010, was the first out in eighth, falling to Hellmuth in a hand of stud/8. He was followed by Matt Waxman in seventh, who was crippled by Monnette in a razz hand, then finished off by Monnette in a hand of stud/8. Then another bracelet holder, Abe Mosseri, was ousted in sixth by Baker in a hand of Omaha/8.

The dinner break soon followed Mosseri's elimination, at which point Monnette still led and Ivey had become the short stack with five left. Ivey would last just a few hands post-dinner before falling in a razz hand to Monnette. Hellmuth wouldn't last much longer, also falling to Monnette in the Omaha/8 round.

Monnette continued his charge, taking out Paul Sokoloff in third in a hold'em hand to begin heads-up versus Baker with a chip lead of 2.95 million to Baker's 2.39 million. Those two would battle about an hour-and-a-half, with Baker gradually chipping up to a better than 4-to-1 lead.

The end then came in a pair of stud hands. In the first, Baker completed, then led every street thereafter, getting called the whole way by Monnette. Baker ultimately showed two pair, jacks and nines, and Monnette mucked his x-x / 2h-Qd-Jc-Ah / x hand.

Monnette was then all in early on the following hand holding Js-8d / 6s to Baker's 7s-4s / 7c. Baker ultimately drew three non-pairing cards, then the 7h on seventh to make trips; meanwhile Monnette hadn't paired up by sixth, then mucked his hand after failing to improve enough on seventh.

Here's how the final table payouts went:

2012 WSOP Event #32: H.O.R.S.E. ($10,000):
1. David "Bakes" Baker -- $451,779
2. John Monnette -- $279,206
3. Paul Sokoloff -- $183,784
4. Phil Hellmuth -- $134,056
5. Phil Ivey -- $99,739
6. Abe Mosseri -- $75,511
7. Matt Waxman -- $58,093
8. Dan Kelly -- $45,360

The victory marked Baker's second WSOP bracelet, his first having come in another event with a super tough field, the $10K 2-7 NL Draw in 2010. That final table featured another all-star line-up, including George Danzer, John Juanda, Erik Seidel, and Daniel Negreanu.

Baker's win capped an exciting day at the Rio which saw two other WSOP bracelets awarded. First Allyn Jaffrey Shulman outlasted Dennis Phillips heads-up to win the $1,000 Seniors NLHE Championship (Event #29), topping a field of 4,128 to earn $603,713. And Carter Phillips took down Event #31, a $1,500 NLHE event, beating Joe Cada heads-up and 2,810 others to win $664,130.

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