At 4 p.m. local time, four players out of 57 entries are slated to return to play down to a winner here at the 2021 World Series of Poker. The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino is once again the stage for the semi-finals of Event #11: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship.
Freshly minted GGPoker Ambassador Jason Koon is in the race to win his first-ever WSOP bracelet. The American will be battling Henri Puustinen in his heads-up match while Dan Zack faces Gabor Szabo.
Zack is the only player who already knows what it feels like to be awarded a WSOP bracelet and will be looking to add another one to his collection. All remaining players have already secured at least $89,787 but the first-place prize of $243,981 is the cash they're aiming for while the runner-up will need to be satisfied with $150,790.
Road to the Semi-Finals
| Winners | Jason Koon | Henri Puustinen | Dan Zack | Gabor Szabo |
|---|
| Round of 64 | Chris Brewer | Rok Gostisa | Mustapha Kanit | Bye |
| Round of 32 | Nicolai Morris | Ali Imsirovic | Nick Petrangelo | Johan Guilbert |
| Round of 16 | Johannes Becker | Cary Katz | Jimmy D'Ambrosio | David Peters |
| Round of 8 | Jake Daniels | Benjamin Reason | Bin Weng | Mikita Badziakouski |
During the semi-finals, all players start with 2.4 million in chips. The first level of the day features a small blind of 6,000, a big blind of 12,000, which gives them 200 big blinds at the start of the day. All levels last 20 minutes each and play should resume at 4 p.m. on the outer feature tables in the Amazon room. PokerGO will be streaming the final of this event if a winner has been crowned in Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship before the final two players have been determined.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to bring you all the live updates as they happen so make sure to keep your eyes on the action right here.
Heads-Up Brackets
, Koon check-called the 20,000 continuation-bet of Puustinen.
and Koon checked again. This time, Puustinen decided to bet 75,000 and Koon called again.
and Koon checked for the last time. Puustinen took his time and then bet 375,000. Koon glanced at his cards again before making the call. Puustinen first showed the 
and then the 
for trips but Koon held the 
for the flush and the first pot of the heads-up match.
