BY TOM SOMACH

The winner of the 55th and final event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), the $10,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament or so-called main event, will be considered the “winner” of the WSOP.

Some will argue, however, that another one of the 55 WSOP events, the $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. tournament, is really the true mark of poker greatness, and therefore, its winner should be considered the overall winner of the WSOP.

That’s because, unlike a hold ‘em tourney, where all they play is hold ‘em, a H.O.R.S.E. tourney involves multiple versions of poker, all of which a player must be adept at to win the tourney.

H.O.R.S.E. is an acronym for the five types of poker played: H is for hold ‘em, O is for Omaha, R is for razz, S is for stud and E is for eight-or-better stud.

Many Internet sportsbooks are offering up betting lines on who will win the 2007 WSOP main event, but Pinnacle Sports (www.pinnaclesports.com) has taken it a step further, offering betting lines on the WSOP’s $50K H.O.R.S.E. tournament.

Pinny has installed Phil “Poison” Ivey as a 25-1 favorite to win the ‘07 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. tourney, meaning a one dollar bet on “Poison” will return a profit of $25 if he cops the title.

Other well-known players and their Pinnacle odds to win the H.O.R.S.E. tournament are, alphabetically: Josh Arieh at 75-1, Andy Bloch at 70-1,=A0 Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson at 45-1, Todd “Son of Doyle” Brunson at 60-1, Mike Caro at 100-1, John Cernuto at 90-1, Johnny “The Orient Express” Chan at 50-1, T.J. Cloutier at 70-1, Allen Cunningham at 50-1, Annie Duke at 80-1, Sam Farha at 75-1, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson at 70-1, Jamie Gold at 150-1, Barry Greenstein at 40-1, Jen Harman at 50-1 and Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr. at 60-1.

Also: John Juanda at 70-1, “Welcome Back, Kotter” star Gabe Kaplan at 100-1, Howard “The Professor” Lederer at 55-1, Erick Lindgren at 70-1, Marcel Luske at 80-1, Mike Matusow at 80-1, Carlos Mortensen at 90-1, Daniel Negreanu at 40-1, Men “The Master” Nguyen at 80-1, Scott Nguyen at 50-1, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer at 80-1, Chip Reese at 40-1, Huck Seed at 80-1, Erik Seidel at 65-1, Mike Sexton at 80-1, Dave Sklansky at 100-1, Gavin Smith at 70-1 and Dave “Devilfish” Ulliot at 80-1.

In addition, bettors may wage on whether the tourney winner will come from a field of 99 listed players or not come from the field.

Yes, the winner will come from the field, will pay off at about 1-2 odds, meaning a bettor must risk $2 to win $1.

No, the winner won’t come from the field, will pay off at about 2-1 odds, meaning a bettor risking $1 will see a profit of $2.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)