Event #13: Australia Heads-Up Championship
Day 3 Started
Event #13: Australia Heads-Up Championship
Day 3 Started
The finals of the Australia Heads-Up Championship are minutes away from beginning, and only one day later than expected. The first heat of 16 players went off without a hitch on Wednesday, and Dan Smith and Barry Woods crushed the competition to make it on the finals. The next crew of 16 were supposed to start on Thursday, but with only 10 players registered after several dropped out to play the little $250,000 upstairs, they pushed it back to Friday. By Friday, however, they were down to eight players. They decided to play from eight to one winner, sending Carlos Mortensen on to today's finals to play a round robin format with Woods and Smith.
After the draw, Dan Smith is playing Carlos Mortensen in the first best-of-three match. The winner with then move on to play Barry Woods. The winner will be the first person to beat both opponents in a row. Theoretically, this format could go on forever, but we're optimistic that won't happen. The two losing players will then play each other to determine second and third places.
Smith, who is still battling a cold, has run upstairs to grab some tissues (and his good luck lollypops). Action will be underway as soon as he returns.
Action is underway in the first match of the day.
They each start with 10,000. Blinds are at 50/100 and go up every 20 minutes.
The payouts are as follows (in AUD):
1st - $130,000
2nd - $70,000
3rd - $40,000
In the biggest pot yet, Dan Smith bet 925 at the board. Carlos Mortensen called. The river brought the , and Smith checked. Mortensen hesitated a beat before checking behind. Smith showed , but Mortensen's gave him two pair and the win. He's on 13,500 now, leaving Smith with 6,500.
Dan Smith opened to 500, and Carlos Mortensen bumped it up to 1,950. Smith moved all in for 7,725 total, and Mortensen called instantly.
Smith:
Mortensen:
The flop didn't hold much help for Smith. Mortensen paired with the in the turn, a pair he'd rather have gone without. Especially when the dealer put the down on the felt. "Straight," Smith said quietly. Mortensen's face went blank.
Smith is up to 15,500, dropping Mortensen down to 3,500.
Carlos Mortensen was down to 2,250, which he got in with against Dan Smith's .
The flop gave Smith a whole bunch more outs, but the turn and river bricked out.
Mortensen - 4,500
Smith - 15,500
We missed the action, but Carlos Mortensen got around 4,000 in preflop with . Smith held and needed to get lucky to end this game. The board was of no use to King Dan, and Mortensen doubled again.
Blinds are at 200/400, but Dan Smith and Carlos Mortensen are keeping things calm. After a few shove/call hands 20 minutes ago, they've only gotten to showdown in pots that were checked down. Stacks are still close to even.
To keep the action swift today, they have set up the table with one dealer and one person sitting next to the dealer shuffling a deck for the next hand. While they've been pushing the dealer as usual, the poor human shuffle machine has been riffling non-stop for an hour and half. He finally got a break as a new shuffle-bot has replaced him.