A heads-up match between Doug Polk and Tom Dwan will spotlight the primary spherical of matches within the $25,000 World Poker Tour heads-up championship.
The total first spherical was drawn stay on Polk’s YouTube channel Monday afternoon to resolve the matchups that may pit a few of poker’s finest in opposition to each other, in addition to a handful of celebrities, influencers and a few on-line qualifiers.
The occasion will happen on the Poker King platform, however the manufacturing employees and many gamers will likely be positioned in Cabo San Lucas. The total match will likely be streamed on Twitch with the primary spherical kicking off on June 18 and the finals wrapping up on June 22.
With 32 gamers within the discipline, solely the highest 4 finishers will earn a money. Winning three matches will assure an in-the-money end. The first 4 matches will likely be a best-of-three sequence with each participant needing to defeat their opponent twice to maneuver on. The finals, nonetheless, could have a best-of-five format.
The left facet of the bracket options a number of influencers and celebrities. Aside from the Polk/Dwan matchup, the left facet options high-stakes professional Dan Smith squaring off superstar DJ Steve Aoki, Patrik Antonius matched up in opposition to Japanese pop star “GAKT” and Alexandra Botez up in opposition to “Hafu” in a battle of the streamers. Poker vlogger Brad Owen will tackle poker professional Daniel Dvoress on the left facet as effectively.
Botez is a chess prodigy, YouTuber and Twitch streamer, who has just lately taken up poker over the previous few years. “Hafu,” whose actual title is Rumay Wang is a former skilled gamer from Massachusetts that can also be considerably new to poker. She was an expert World of Warcraft, Bloodline Champions and Hearthstone participant.
Everyone within the discipline ponied up $25,000, however this match carries slightly additional weight because the three streamers within the discipline, Botez, Hafu, and “Shiphtur,” are a part of a separate $20,000 last more wager.
Shiphtur, whose actual title is Danny Le, is a former skilled League of Legends participant drew the precise facet of the bracket and will face-off in opposition to three-time WPT champion and two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Anthony Zinno within the first spherical.
If Zinno comes out on prime in his matchup in opposition to Shiphtur, then the winner of the Botez/Hafu match will instantly win the last more and revenue an additional $40,000 on prime of no matter they probably money for.
With lots of the influencers and celebrities paired up on the left facet, the precise facet of the bracket grew to become a a lot harder path to victory and will characteristic a number of prime execs battling within the first spherical.
The two on-line qualifiers who secured spots in by means of a steps match on Poker King, will face-off in opposition to four-time WPT champion Darren Elias and on-line professional “ButtonClickr.” “Clickr” was one of many coaches that labored with Doug Polk in his $1.2 million victory in opposition to Daniel Negreanu. During the stream Monday, Polk stated that he was the closest factor poker at the moment has to a prodigy as he has already received million on-line earlier than the age of 21.
Other notable matches on the precise facet embody Linus Loeliger versus Olivier Busquet, Nick Schulman in opposition to Chris Kruk, Nick Petrangelo versus Wiktor “Limitless” Malinowski and Phil Ivey in opposition to German professional Manig Loeser.
