Hold on to your hats, poker fans!

The start of the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is just two weeks away!

The 39th annual WSOP gets underway on Friday, May 30, 2008, at the Rio hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, with the first of more than 50 separate poker tournaments that make up the WSOP.

With the big news this year being the announcement earlier this month that the final table of the WSOP Main Event will be played some four months after it’s selected–in November–many are wondering what then will be the big story of the spring/summer WSOP action.

In all probability, it will be the WSOP $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. tournament, which combines multiple poker disciplines into one event and in many ways is actually more indicitive of poker prowess than the $10,000 buy-in Main Event, a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tourney.

H.O.R.S.E. play, which involves rotating hands of hold ‘em, Omaha, razz, stud and eight-or-better stud, is not for beginners–only those who are adept at all five types of poker can adequately compete.

That’s why the event is mostly for pure poker professionals.

Plus, who other than poker pros would shell out 50K to compete in one tourney?

In case you missed it, last year’s WSOP H.O.R.S.E. tournament was won by Kassam “Freddy” Deeb, who took home a tidy $2.3 million for the victory.

The runner-up was Bruno Fitoussi, who earned $1.3 million.

The rest of the final table, in order of finish, was John Hanson, third; Amnon Filippi, fourth; Kenny Tran, fifth; David Singer, sixth; Barry Greenstein, seventh; Thor Hansen, eighth; and Gabe Kaplan, ninth.

Gabe Kaplan?

Yes, that Gabe Kaplan, 1970s sitcom star Mr. Kotter himself.

He came in ninth among a field of top professionals?

Maybe H.O.R.S.E. ain’t that tough after all.

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