Eight more Advance on to Round 2 of WPT Heads Up Championship; Polk Triumphs in Headline Match vs. Dwan

The stacked lineup for Day 2 of the WPT Heads Up Invitational saw 16 new players load up the Poker King app, turn on their webcams and smash some buttons. Broadcasting throughout the day was a mix of Jamie Kerstetter, Nick Schulman, Doug Polk, and a very sunburnt Joey Ingram, who brought hand-for-hand insights on all of the biggest pots throughout the day. A total of eight matches were to be played today, half had a full broadcast while highlights of the other tables were shown simultaneously between headline matchups.

Andrew “LuckyChewy” Lichtenberger was etched in the schedule alongside Stephen Chidwick to begin Day 2, in a match between two players who are known for their high poker IQ. Lichtenberger failed to get any traction in the first match after falling short early on. Chidwick stayed patient, letting the blinds catch up to the stack of Lichtenberger who opted to shove jack-five with his last few bigs. Chidwick pounced on the pot with king-nine and Lichtenberger missed completely, giving Chidwick a 1-0 lead. The two jumped back into action where Lichtenberger was looking to even things up but lady luck had other plans, sending a few coolers his way, with the last one ending his night. Lichtenberger flopped top pair with a flush draw, turned two pair and Chidwick had just the bottom of the barrel with his pair of twos. A fortuitous duck landed on the river for Chidwick, giving him three and he pushed. Lichtenberger called to see the bad news and was dropped in the first round to Chidwick.

An electric match followed when the Online Heads-Up specialist Wiktor “Limitless” Malinowski took on Nick Petrangelo who is known as one of the best. After losing an early cooler, Petrangelo shoved a monster draw on the turn, Malinowski called with his top pair and a brick sent the first match point to Malinowski. The second match started off with some fireworks when Petrangelo jammed on the river during the very first hand and managed to push Malinowski off the best of it. A few hands later Malinowski shoved ace-ten and Petrangelo called with king-ten. A rivered king secured the second match for Petrangelo as the series was tied up. Malinowski and Petrangelo wasted little time, putting their stacks in on the first level. Petrangelo had the lead with jacks over the tens of Malinowski. A flopped ten smashed Malinowski with the deck to advance and Petrangelo took an exit.

One of the all-time greats was up next as Phil Ivey took a virtual seat across from Manig Loeser. The first match ended in a surprising way when Loeser opened with rockets and Ivey defended with eight-four. Ivey check-called after hitting a pair of fours and elected to check-jam the turn. Loeser snapped with aces and Ivey was quickly down 1-0. Ivey fought back, making it one all with king-queen versus the queen-eight of Loeser. The rubber match saw Ivey completely in his element, bluffing non-stop while Loeser had to sit back and watch. An action flop landed, giving Loeser top pair and Ivey all of the outs. They put in the chips, Ivey smashed a flush on the turn and Loeser took an exit as Ivey advanced.

Jean-Robert Bellande made quick work of Lynne Ji in their match, dropping her in just two matches. Bellande found queens to finish Ji off, booking himself a ticket to the round of 16. Sam Greenwood emerged victorious in his match, beating out online specialist Kevin Robichaw during the rubber match to advance. Darren Elias also made it through his first-round matchup and will be taking on Chidwick tomorrow in what is to be one of the highlight events of the day.

The highlight match of the day was between two poker goliaths and the stream instantly saw the number of viewers double when they took a seat. The dream match between Doug Polk and Tom Dwan was here and it did not disappoint. Dwan took the first match but Polk came out swinging, running over the second to even it out with a cooler to bust Dwan. The rubber match was a back-and-forth rally that saw the blinds rise high enough to open up the ranges. Dwan looked down at a pair of ducks, shoved and Polk snapped him off with sixes. The board, unlike the match, came down in a boring manner, giving Dawn nothing and Polk was dubbed the winner.

Patrik Antonius faced well-known Japanese Popstar GACKT in the final match of the night, one that most assumed Antonius would win with ease. It was not long before Antonius was up 1-0 but GACKT was not ready to quit just yet. Antonius doubled GACKT up in the second match during the latter blind levels and GACKT dropped the hammer on the very next hand with the rockets, busting Antonius to tie it up. The final between the two ended with a classic flip that GACKT failed to connect in. Antonius pulled in the pot to eliminate the Popstar and advance to the next round.

The sixteen remaining players will return to action tomorrow June 20, so tune into the WPT Twitch at 1 p.m. PST to follow all of the live action. Make sure to tune in for some headline matches like Anthony Zinno versus Phil Ivey, Darren Elias vs Stephen Chidwick, Dan Smith versus Jean-Robert Bellande, and Doug Polk versus Patrik Antonius. You don’t want to miss out on any of the round of 16 excitement, so check back in tomorrow as the action unfolds on the Poker King app. check below for the full schedule.