Event #2: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship
Day 2 Completed
2011 World Series of Poker
Event #2: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2011 World Series of Poker
Buy-in
$25,000
Prize Pool
$3,040,000
Entries
128
Level
8
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
0
Day 2 Finds the Elite Eight
![[user196975]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Level 11
: 10,000/20,000, 0 ante
With two rounds of action the field of 32 remaining players was trimmed down to the final eight. Players that won their first round matchups found themselves in the money. The loaded field made for some incredible matchups worthy of the $25,000 buy in.
David Benyamine, Daniel Aleai, John Juanda and Nick Schulman all found the door early after losing their first round, while Eric Froehlich, Matt Marafioti, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, and Gus Hansen all survived the day.
Nikolay Evdakov had the quickest and most decisive second round win having never cashed in either of his rebuy chips. Evdakov was the first to advance to Day 3 after knocking out fellow Russian Mikhail Smirnov. Eric Froehlich used his two rebuys relatively early in the match but managed to outlast the runner up in the 2009 Heads Up Championship John Duthie.
Tom Dwan and Gus Hansen had difficult paths to play each other in the second round of the night, defeating Ashton Griffin and Daniel Aleai respectively. When Dwan used his first rebuy early in the action all signs pointed to a quick match. However, Hansen and Dwan battled back and forth, exchanging the chip lead multiple times. When the smoke was cleared Hansen was left standing.
Join us tomorrow at 3 p.m. to follow all the action on Day 3 as the final eight play down to four. The bracket is as follows:
Anthony Guetti vs. Jake Cody
Gus Hansen vs. Matt Marafioti
Eric Froehlich vs. Nikolay Endakov
Yevgeniy Timoshenko vs. David Paredes
Mmm-Bop
Level 11
: 10,000/20,000, 0 ante
It's Hansen advancing to the round of eight after he's just taken care of Tom Dwan in a see-saw battle.
On the final hand, Gus Hansen opened to 220,000 from the button, and Dwan let out a big sigh and announced a three-bet all in. It was about 320,000 total, but Hansen took pause to let Dwan squirm before announcing the call and flipping up 
. Dwan was working with 
, and he'd need to improve to stay alive.
He would not. The board ran out 
, and Hansen's aces and nines punch his ticket into tomorrow's Elite Eight.
As poker bloggers, we're admittedly happy that the match is over. But for the 100+ fans that were standing elbow-to-elbow along the rail, it seems the structure could have been just a bit slower to avoid the shove-fest that the match degraded into. It's no matter to Hansen, always content to gamble.
It's another nice run for the Great Dane, the winner of the WSOP's last big-buyin heads-up event. In September of last year, Hansen took down the £10,000 Heads-Up event at the WSOP-E for just shy of £300,000, and he'll be the betting favorite heading into the final two days of this event as he looks for the quasi-repeat.
Hansen Battles Back With Successive Double-Ups
Level 11
: 10,000/20,000, 0 ante
Down to his last 120,000 chips, Gus Hansen got all of them in the middle holding 
against the 
of Tom Dwan. The flop brought the 
and Hansen took the lead with a pair of jacks. A second on the turn sealed the hand for the Great Dane, and after another double-up on the very next deal, Hansen had rebuilt his stack to over 500,000.
Level: 11
Blinds: 20,000/40,000
Ante: 0
Hansen Can't Fade It
Level 11
: 10,000/20,000, 0 ante
We were distracted by an eruption from the Casino Employees' event across the room, and we missed the preflop action. We think Tom Dwan limped, then called a raise from Hansen, but either way, there was about 150,000 in the middle.
The dealer spread out 
, and Hansen very quickly fired 115,000 at the pot. Dwan moved all in, and Hansen made the call for not much more with 
. Dwan turned up 
for the draw, and it came through quickly as the 
landed right on the turn to give him the unbeatable straight. The 
on the river was meaningless, and Hansen is forced to part with a good chunk of chips. He's got just about 60,000 left in this second bullet here, and he's just now taken his last 200,000 to give him 260,000 and a big uphill climb back into this match.
Marafioti's Wheel Ends Billirakis' Day
Level 11
: 10,000/20,000, 0 ante
Despite the confusion earlier over the chip stacks, Matt Marafioti hung on to knock Steve Billirakis out of the tournament. Marafioti opened for 48,000 on the button and Billirakis moved all in. Marafioti called and tabled 
and was up against Billirakis' 
.
With all the chips in the middle the board ran 
. Marafioti made a straight and spoiled Billirakis' tournament run.
Dwan Turns the Tables
Level 11
: 10,000/20,000, 0 ante
Gus Hansen has been dragging most of the pots since his match with Tom Dwan began, but "Durrrr" is starting to make a run at this thing.
A couple hands ago, we walked up to the turn on a board showing 
. Dwan led out with 28,000, and Hansen called. On the river, Dwan bet another 83,000, and Hansen again called to see the cards. Dwan tabled 
, and Hansen chuckled at the sight of his opponent's running two pair.
Just a moment later, an even bigger pot broke out suddenly. On a 
flop, Hansen bet 30,000 before Dwan raised to 84,000. Hansen called, and the dropped on fourth street. Hansen had about 220,000 chips left in his stack, and Dwan bet 145,000 to commit him. Hansen spent a long, long while in the think tank before sticking his stack in there, and Dwan quickly called with 
. Hansen's 
was dead to three outs, and the river 
has swung this match in Dwan's favor.
Hansen still has 400,000 worth of second-chance chips, but it's now Dwan holding a 2:1 lead in the contest.
Froehlich Fades Fours, Advances to Round of 8
Level 11
: 10,000/20,000, 0 ante
After Eric Froehlich min-raised to 48,000, John Duthie announced himself all-in and Froehlich made the call with . Duthie was in bad shape with 
and the flop of 
offered no assistance. The 
on the turn and the on the river locked up the match for Froehlich, who moves into the quarterfinals with the win. Duthie takes down $67,436 for his finish, while Froehlich has assured himself of at least $138,852 in this tournament.
Level: 10
Blinds: 15,000/30,000
Ante: 0