Patrik Antonius Set to Battle Phil Ivey in Finals of WPT Heads Up Championship

The WPT Heads Up Championship saw 32 players begin this event four days ago, having a mix of poker pros, streamers, and celebrities all sit down for heads-up action on the Poker King app. When the semi-finals began, only pros were left in the field with Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius standing out as the clear fan-favorites.

Tough matchups were ahead for each, battling players that illuminate the new age of poker in every tournament they join but Ivey and Antonius stuck to their own unique styles that their legacies were built on. Each managed to come out on top of their matches, Ivey with pure fearless aggression and Antonius with calm collective planning. Now the two poker greats will return tomorrow June 22, to play the purest form of poker, in a best of five, to crown a champion for this event in what is sure to be a heart-pumping bout between the two.

The first best of three in Day 4 was Sam Greenwood, who had been a silent killer thus far, losing just one match out of the first two rounds, versus the always intimidating Dan Smith. The first match finished early in the second set of blinds after Greenwood pushed his short stack in with ace-eight, running into the ladies of Smith who held on to take a 1-0 lead. Greenwood completely ran over the second battle between the two, catching Smith trying to steal multiple pots en route to evening the series. The rubber match had Greenwood run pure throughout, nailing almost board to send Smith to the rail which made Greenwood the first to secure his seat into the semis.

Chris Kruk and Wiktor “Limitless” Malinowski had a 1-1 tied series rolling when the broadcast started. The sudden death round brought the heat right up until the last hand. Malinowski opened with jacks, Kruk called and he flopped a gutter. Kruk floated the flop and a fortuitous card landed, nailing his straight. Malinowski bet large, Kruk jammed and Malinowski called, only to see that he was drawing dead and Kruk then advanced to the final four. Another broadcast that began during the rubber match had Antonius against Stefan “Stefan11222” Burakov. The online specialist came out swinging but Antonius stayed true to his game, waiting for spots to pick apart his opponent. The lead swung back and forth but it was Burakov who fell to the wayside after calling his stack in with king-queen against the ace-eight of Antonius. An ace in the window secured the pot and Burakov hit the dusty trail. 

Easily the most anticipated match going into the day was between Phil Ivey and Stephen Chidwick who are known as two of the best to ever play the game. Ivey seemed to have woken up with the ability to read minds, pulling out the biggest bluffs to hit the poker world in a long time. Match one ended with Chidwick holding ace-jack versus the queens of Ivey who held on to take it down. The second match began in the most Ivey way possible, he called a four-bet pre with seven-six, misses everything, and fires the turn, all while Chidwick is sitting pretty with a flopped pair of bullets. The river brings a flush to light, one of which neither hit but Ivey might have been repping it when he shoved his entire stack on the river, during the first hand of the second match! Chidwick eventually threw his ace into the muck, sending the massive pot to Ivey who was not done yet as he went on to bluff several insane pots en route to victory. In the end, Chidwick shoved his short stack in with king-three and Ivey called with ace-nine. Chidwick missed and a well-deserved win went to Ivey, who outperformed Chidwick in every aspect during the match

Ivey and Kruk kicked off the semis in a match that had no lack of action. Ivey instantly dropped the first match to Kruk when he check-raised his eights into the turned flush of Kruk who snapped to go up 1-0. Ivey turned his spidey sense on in the second match, betting and folding in the perfect spots. Just moments after Ivey folded a boat to the quads of Kruk, it was the latter who reached a little too hard into the cookie jar. Kruk jammed the river with five-high, which actually was playing the board, and Ivey snapped with his rivered straight to even the series. Ivey started the final match off cold but a three-bet jam on a flop where he hit absolutely nothing lit something in him that was not to be stopped. The final hand had Ivey call his way into a flush on the river, the same street that Kruk elected to jam his stack in with absolutely nothing, punching Ivey’s ticket into the finals.

The last match of the night came between Greenwood and Antonius with the winner set to play a poker GOAT in the finals. Antonius ships the first match quickly, jamming a king high board with king-queen and Greenwood called with jack-ten, sending the first match to The Finn. The second match was a real battle of attrition until the latter blind levels where the lead completely swapped every other hand. A winner was crowned when Greenwood shoved ace-seven and Antonius snapped with nines. A flopped nine sent all the chips to Antonius, busting Greenwood from the field in the last hand of the night. Antonius is now etched in the finals slot of the WPT Heads Up Championship finals where he will play none other than the great Phil Ivey.

The battle of two poker titans will be tomorrow June 22, so tune into the WPT Twitch Livestream at 12 p.m. PST to follow all of the action between Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius as they battle it out in a best of five to crown a champion in this event.