Ivey and Antonius Face Off in WPT HU Championships Final

Two poker legends lock horns on June 22 in the $25,000 WPT Heads-Up Championships. Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius progressed through a star-studded field to reach the grand finale. The victory takes home $400,000 with the runner-up banking $200,000.

The World Poker Tour, in association with Poker King, invited 32 of the world’s best poker players to compete in a series of heads-up No-Limit Hold’em tournaments. Tom Dwan versus Doug Polk was the highlight for the first round. Polk won his match, resigning the man known as “durrrr” to an early exit.

Antonius fought it out one-on-one with Gakuto “GACKT” Oshiro in his first-round tie. Oshiro is a Japanese popstar, so everyone assumed an easy Antonius victory. That was not the case because Antonius needed all three matches to walk away the victory.

Polk was the man waiting for Antonius in Round 2. Polk lost the first match when Antonius turned a full house in a hand where both players flopped trips. The Finnish star won the match two-nil when his nine-eight caught a nine to beat Polk’s ace-eight.

An even tougher opponent faced Antonius Round 3. Stefan “Stefan11222” Burakov is a high-stakes cash game specialist, but he proved no match for Finland’s best-known poker player. Burakov’s king-queen proved no match for his opponent’s ace-eight.

Antonius reached the final after busting Sam Greenwood from the event.

Ivey’s Route To The Final As Tough As That Of Antonius

There are very few weak players in a $25,000 heads-up tournament, as Ivey found out. His Round of 32 encounter with Manig Loeser proved that. Loeser is a strong player, who is adept at online poker and its live counterpart. However, Ivey got the job done before facing Anthony Zinno in the next round.

Zinno is an incredible all-round player and nobody would have been shocked had he defeated Ivey. That never happened as Ivey brushed past Zinno to set up an enticing match against British pro Stephen Chidwick.

Chidwick and Ivey have fought against each other on numerous occasions. The high-stakes Goliaths have almost $67 million in combined live cashes, which is stupendous! Both Ivey and Chidwick knew whoever won this battle secured at least $100,000 for their efforts.

Ivey ensured it was he who cashed, winning the first match when his queens held against ace-jack. Some of the moves Ivey made were awe-inspiring, and he fully deserved his place in the next round.

Christopher Kruk went 1-0 up to put Ivey on the ropes. However, two large, unsuccessful bluffs in Game 2 and Game 3 saw Ivey progress to the final.

Who Is The Favorite in the Final?

It is difficult to decide who the favorite is in the Antonius versus Ivey final because both are incredible players. Ivey has $31.3 million in live MTT cashes, Antonius has $12 million. That only tells part of the story because Antonius prefers cash games, and plays the biggest games around. Sure, Ivey does the same but is more of a mixed game specialist than out and out Hold’em.

Regardless, the final should be an epic encounter between two legitimate greats of the poker world. Antonius and Ivey play a loose-aggressive style that is certain to spark some fireworks. The final is played in a best of five format, giving both players ample opportunities to turn the tide in their favor.

Ivey is the man we would choose if we really had to pick a winner, but Antonius his more than capable of walking away from this final with a 3-0 scoreline.

Tune into uspokersites later in the week for a full blow-by-blow recap of this eagerly anticipated encounter.

2021 WPT $25,000 Heads-Up Championship Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	TBD	TBD	$400,000
2	TBD	TBD	$200,000
3	Sam Greenwood	Canada	$100,000
4	Christopher Kruk	United States	$100,000

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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