Congratulations to Leif Force, Winner of Event 3: $3,000 Heads Up NLH/PLO ($207,708)
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The final round of nine matches has concluded in Event 3, $3,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha, at the World Series of Poker. Leif Force has claimed his first WSOP bracelet and 207,708 reasons to party after defeating Jason Koon in a short heads up battle.
The day began with eight players returning and they matched up like this:
Quarterfinal Matchups
| Jason Koon | vs | Annette Obrestad |
| Simeon Naydenov | vs | David Benefield |
| Julian Powell | vs | Gregg Merkow |
| Leif Force | vs | Andy Frankenberger |
Koon advanced over Obrestad, Naydenov advanced over David Benefield, Powell advanced over Merkow and Force bested Frankenberger to move on.
The match of Powell vs. Merkow took almost all three hours allotted for each session. Powell defeated Merkow with only 15 minutes remaining in the hour so the start of the semifinal matches were pushed back an additional 15 minutes to allow for a break.
Semifinal Matchups
| Jason Koon | vs | Simeon Naydenov |
| Leif Force | vs | Julian Powell |
Force never cashed in any of his rebuy lammers during his match against Powell and stayed in control of the match. After Powell cashed in his final lamer he opened to 40,000 and Force made it 120,000 to play. Powell called and the flop came 
and Force quickly put Powell all in. Powell folded and his last hand came ten minutes later when Force made a better two pair during the PLO round.
Koon took a six-to-four chip lead in a hand where he made top pair and Naydenov had middle pair. That loss forced Naydenov to cash in both his rebuy lammers. Koon then crippled Naydenov when he paired his ace and Naydenov had pocket sixes. Koon finished off the Naydenov after hitting a pair of nines on the river when Naydanov had only ace high.
The championship match between Force and Koon lasted less than four full levels. Force took an early lead in the opening two levels and stretched his chip lead to 1.1 million to 300,000. At the start of the third level Koon cashed in his first rebuy lammer.
Koon evened things up when he got all in during the Hold’em round holding pocket jacks. Force called with 
but Koon flopped a set and rivered a full house.
Force then got felted holding king high when Koon had a king high with a higher kicker. Force then used just one rebuy lammer to continue play.
Just minutes later Force evened things up again when he rivered a flush during PLO. Then took a big lead when he made two pair and Koon missed every draw imaginable.
The last hand happened with just a few minutes remaining in the fourth level. They saw a flop of 
, Force shoved and Koon called.
Force: 
Koon: 
Koon was ahead with two pair but the turn gave Force a flush draw. He prayed for a club and the dealer delivered with the . Force claimed his first WSOP bracelet and over $200,000.
, Force moved all in and Koon called.
and Force's two pair took the pot.
and Force was felted. He opted use one his rebuy lammers and still has one behind. Both players have cashed one lammer in at this point.
and Force will play for the bracelet this evening on the Main Stage.
