The inaugural World Poker Tour Heads Up Poker Championship has more than lived up to its hype with 32 players battling it out in the first round at PokerKing.
The event features a $25,000 buy-in from June 18-22 at PokerKing with poker enthusiasts able to follow the action along with well-known poker personalities Jamie Kerstetter, Joey Ingram, and others at the World Poker Tour YouTube and Twitch channels.
The first round took place on June 18-19 with elimination rounds taking place each day after until the final match crowns a winner on June 22. Each of the match-ups concluding after a player has won two of three matches with the final match featuring a best of five format.
Doug Polk Defeats Tom Dwan
While there were many intriguing first-round match-ups, one sticks out above all the others with Doug Polk battling Tom Dwan.
Dwan came from behind before sealing the deal on the first of the three matches when his king-seven improved to a flush against ace-jack.
It wasn't over yet for Polk as he came roaring back to win the next two matches. The second one ended on a bit of a cooler for Dwan who held trips with king-deuce in his hand. Polk hit the paired board harder as he held a full house when the chips got in on the river with king-five.
The final match ended when Dwan's deuces proved to be no match for Polk's sixes and Polk will go on to face Patrik Antonius in the next round after the Finnish poker sensation defeated Japanese pop star Gakuto "GACKT" Oshiro.
Several Sweeps
Stefan "Stefan11222" Burakov, Alexandra Botez, Anthony Zinno, Stephen Chidwick, and Jean-Robert Bellande were among the players to sweep their opponents by winning both of the first two matches.
- Stefan "Stefan11222" Burakov defeats Timothy Adams
- Alexandra Botez defeats Rumay "Hafu" Wang
- Anthony Zinno defeats Danny "Shiphtur" Le
- Stephen Chidwick defeats Andrew "LuckyChewy" Lichtenberger
- Jean-Robert Bellande defeats Lynne Ji
Down to the Wire
In addition to Polk, many others battles went down to a third and final rubber match.
- Dan Smith defeats Steve Aoki
- Olivier Busquet defeats Linus Loeliger
- Tuukka "ButtonClickr" Sevanen defeats "毛毛虫999"
- Daniel Dvoress defeats Brad Owen
- Christopher Kruk defeats Nick Schulman
- Wiktor "Limitless" Malinowski defeats Nick Petrangelo
- Phil Ivey defeats Manig Loeser
- Darren Elias defeats "KK国王KK1"
- Sam Greenwood defeats Kevin Rabichow
- Patrik Antonius defeats Gakuto "GACKT" Oshiro
- Doug Polk defeats Tom Dwan
Second Round Matches
Doug Polk battling against Patrik Antonius face off in the second round in what promises to be a match of the ages.
This isn't the only big match as others with Anthony Zinno vs. Phil Ivey, Darren Elias vs. Stephen Chidwick, Alexandra Botez vs. Sam Greenwood, Stefan "Stefan11222" Burakov vs. Daniel Dvoress, Olivier Busquet vs. Christopher Kruk, Tuukka "ButtonClickr" Sevanen vs. Wiktor "Limitless" Malinowski, and Dan Smith vs. Jean-Robert Bellande ready to square off in hopes of advancing to the next round.
As a reminder, the tournament is not a Main Tour event and thus will neither award Player of the Year points nor will the eventual winner have their name etched into the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.
PokerNews will strive to keep readers update on the tournament as it progresses.
