Heads-up poker is perhaps the purest manifestation of the game. There’s none of the sitting back, playing tight, waiting for a hand that you find in a full-ring game. Every hand, you’re faced with difficult decisions. You have to play without premium hands, without hitting the flop. And you have to match wits with the person sitting across from you, who’s trying to get into your head as well.
Events such as the NBC National Heads-Up Championship and the $10,000 No-Limit Heads-Up World Championship that started today at the World Series are now among the most prestigious titles in the game. Unlike the NBC event (which is an invitational) today’s WSOP event was open to all comers, though it was capped at 256 so that there were even brackets. The field is filled with some of the most recognizable faces in poker along with a large number of young players I don’t recognize, which means they’re almost certainly online wunderkinder who have played more high-stakes heads-up poker matches than I’ve taken deep breaths. One such player was sitting down across the felt from Phil Hellmuth. I’m not sure who he is, none of the other reporters did either(update–his name is Benny Spindler):
And he got Phil steamed up after taking a hand where it appeared Phil flopped top pair to his opponent’s bottom pair. The other player made aces-up on the river and that cost Phil a big pot. He jolted out of his chair, knocking the massage cushion he was leaning against almost to the floor, and as he looked at his opponent’s cards it looked like he wanted to fling his own toward the ceiling. Hellmuth has seen his stack beaten down, but he did make a huge call after his opponent bet 7,000 on the river with the board reading Kh-6d-2c-Ks-Ah. Phil turned over Jack-Six…and so did his opponent. So even that play didn’t swing the balance back Phil’s way. Still, chopping that pot instead of surrendering it is a start, and there’s still a lot of play in this event for Phil to mount a comeback.
Poker fans got their wish yesterday as Phil Hellmuth and Tom “durrrr” Dwan had their rematch at the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. As you probably recall last year Phil and durrrr faced off in the first round and all the money went in on the third hand, with Phil’s aces leading durrrr’s pocket tens. A ten peeled on the turn, which set Phil off on a bit of a tirade and had Dwan offering to play Phil heads-up for $100,000 at any place and any time. It made for smashing TV and like everyone else (especially the folks at NBC) I was hoping to see the two lock horns again.
And that’s just what happened, as Phil and durrrr each won his first two matches to set up this clash in the Sweet Sixteen. Media access was somewhat limited so there weren’t many hand-for-hand recaps of the action, and if you don’t want to know who wins please avert your eyes. Heck, here’s an interview PokerNews did with Phil after his second-round match, which will hopefully distract you from the results of the durrrr match:
OK, Phil got his revenge against Dwan, taking the lead and then finishing off the cash-game phenom on a bit of a cooler. With the board reading Ad-Jd-5d-9h-9d durrrr led out and Phil put him all-in. Dwan made the call with Kc-9c but his trips were trumped by Phil’s 9s-5x and full house. That put Phil through to the quarterfinals and gained him some measure of revenge after last year’s defeat. According to the PokerNews report “We saw Phil Hellmuth jump out of his chair, pump his fist and clap his hands. Tom Dwan then also stood up and shook Hellmuth’s hand.”
And that’s when the trash-talking started, right? That’s when Phil got in durrrr’s face like last year and the two rattled antlers and there was back-and-forth about setting up a heads-up cash game, right? Uh…no. CardPlayer did a video interview with the two afterwards and it was practically a love fest:
Allow me quote for a portion of the interview, when they were asked about last year’s dust-up:
Hellmuth: “…that was my fault. (Dwan’s) already shown perfect class. That was my fault…I was just so upset after losing last year, I was a jerk about it and I told myself…
Dwan: “I probably didn’t show perfect class last year.”
Hellmuth (smiling): “You were pretty good, though.”
What the hell is this??? Phil apologizing, Dwan acting modest, Phil acknowledging his opponent’s grace? This doesn’t make for good television! We wanna see Phil take his shirt off and twirl it over his head while high-fiving the crowd! We wanna see durrrr dump a million bucks on the table and offer to play Phil HU 4 ROLLZ right there! Humble poker players showing each other mutual respect?? What is the world coming too?
Well, when you think about it for more than half a second, maybe it’s a better world. Anyway, Phil moves on to the quarterfinals where he plays one of the best heads-up sit-n-go players on the planet, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. That match starts in about an hour and I’ll post updates of Phil’s progress as the day, uh, progresses. Did I ever tell you the story of how I won a hand against ElkY in a tournament? He was two seats to my left, he raised, and I shoved in my 6BB stack holding Ace-King. He called with Ace-Five and my Big Slick held up. I busted out fifteen minutes later with ElkY leading the tournament. A scintillating tale, I know.
UPDATE: And that’s that: Phil Hellmuth was eliminated by ElkY after just five hands. All the money went in before the flop with Phil holding pocket Queens and Elky…pocket Aces. Phil got no help from the board and just like that, he’s out.
