Welcome to PokerNews' Day 1 coverage of the Event #40: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship.
Heads-up poker is a format with which the best players in the world are intimately familiar, having often spent hours honing their games against fellow elites online in both cash and sit-n-go formats. Additionally, they've all made plenty of deep runs in tournaments and often found themselves heads up for championships.
Plenty of heavy hitters are expected to enter the field, and last year, some big names found themselves going far in the event. Online legends Randy "nanonoko" Lew, Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky, Phil Galfond, and Justin Bonomo all made deep runs into the money, as did the one and only Phil Hellmuth. However, it was bracelet winner Mark Radoja topping the 162-player field and claiming the $331,190 first-place prize by beating Don Nguyen who then followed that performance up by also taking second in the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship.
The plan for Day 1 is to play four rounds, leaving only 16 players left by the end of the night. Be sure to tune in as we bring you all of the live updates right here on PokerNews.
Jacob Baumgartner has been the first player eliminated from the heads-up championship.
With the board reading , Baumgartner raised a Brock Parker bet to 5,500. Parker came back with 10,400, and Baumgartner pushed all in. Parker quickly called.
Parker:
Baumgartner:
Baumgartner had flopped trips with two unders, but the turn gave Parker a nearly-unbeatable boat.
"Three," Baumgartner called hopefully, but the dealer peeled off the . "Nice hand."
Baumgartner bumped fists with Parker after the dealer counted out about 26,000 in Baumgartner's stack, meaning Parker had him covered.
Brian Rast raised to 800 on the button, and Don Nguyen three-bet to 3,000. Rast called, then snap-called when Nguyen put him all in for his last 9,100 on the flop.
Nguyen:
Rast:
Rast wished Nguyen luck in his next match after the and finished out the board.
With stacks about even, Joe Cada raised to 1,200 from the button, and Ashton Griffin made it 3,600. Cada called, and he called another 4,000 on the flop. On the turn, Griffin moved all in. Cada tanked for a couple of minutes before calling.
Cada:
Griffin:
Griffin had an open-ender, and Cada had made a tough call with third pair. The river gave Cada trips, and Griffin was covered.
Steven Saris raised to 1,600 on the button and Olivier Busquet called from the big blind.
The flop fell and it wasn't long before Busquet was all in for about 18,000 with , leading Saris' . However, Saris took the lead when the turn fell and maintained it through the river to win the match.
According to Dan Smith, he checked out of the big blind with and saw flop. He check-called 1,000 from Micah Raskin, and the turn brought an . Smith check-called 2,000. The river was an , giving Smith a straight flush, and he check-raised to 8,500 after Raskin bet 2,000. Raskin shoved all in, and Smith called. Raskin had , and Smith moved on to round two.
, Baumgartner raised a Brock Parker bet to 5,500. Parker came back with 10,400, and Baumgartner pushed all in. Parker quickly called.
. "Nice hand."
![[user139916]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
giving both straights, but Jaka took it down with an ace-high straight to advance to the second round.
, no help to Volpe and locking up a seat for Peters in the second round.
flop.
river gave Hyman a straight and the win.
flop. On the 
, leading Saris' 
turn fell and maintained it through the 
officially signaled the end.
. Smith check-called 2,000. The river was an 
, giving Smith a straight flush, and he check-raised to 8,500 after Raskin bet 2,000. Raskin shoved all in, and Smith called. Raskin had 
