Alex Foxen and Chance Kornuth Among the Final 16 in $25,000 Heads-Up Championship
The first two rounds of Event #7: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship have been completed with just 16 players returning to the felt for the money round Saturday, as they pursue the top prize of $500,000. Many players call this event the most-skilled tournament on the schedule and the fans turned up to watch the action as the rail was packed throughout the day at the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas, home of the World Series of Poker.
The field was capped at 64 players and the tournament had no trouble reaching that mark for the first time in years. In fact, there was an alternate line to start the day as many big names were on the sidelines hoping to get a seat.
When the bracket-style draw was formed just prior to the start of play, one of the first-round matchups that stood out was Andrew Lichtenberger taking on Alan Keating, who mentioned he entered this event only because he saw one name in particular on the registration list, only to be disappointed that he didn't play. PokerNews will have the latest on this story and more in this featured article.
A back-and-forth duel between the two eventually led to Keating making a hero-call with second pair, followed by him cracking Lichtenberger's pocket jacks with a flopped two pair. Keating moved on to battle with David Chen in the second round in one of the last remaining matches of the night. Unfortunately for the mystery millionaire, Keating was unable to move past Chen after a series of late all-ins that favored Chen.
Alex Foxen had a strong start to the event, dispatching his opponent, Stoyan Madanzhiev, in timely fashion during round one. That set up the marquee second round duel with the most notable Phil Ivey, which gathered the attention of many. Foxen took an early lead but Ivey continued to fight back on multiple occasions. However, Foxen eventually came out on top with a mere ace-high against Ivey's king-high.
On the other side of the bracket, Chance Kornuth was dealt a hand that threw him back to the past when he stared down the barrel of heads-up legend John Smith in the opening round. Smith, who often makes a surprisingly deep run in this event, fell short this year around. Kornuth returned in the second round to face another senior in Edward Sebesta. Despite an early lead from Sebesta, Kornuth battled back to take over the chip lead and things ended when Sebesta's kings were cracked by a rivered two pair from Kornuth.
Other notables making it through to Day 2 and the third round include Patrick Leonard, Artur Martirosian, Harvey Castro, and heads-up specialist Kevin Rabichow. The money round will be next on display when the final 16 players return to the felt at 12 p.m. local time on Saturday, May 31. The prize pool has been announced with the final eight players locking up at least $86,000, while the winner will take home an even $500,000.
Another two rounds will be on the schedule for Day 2, playing down to the final four players and eventually the winner on Sunday, June 1.
Stay tuned to PokerNews to find out who will advance through the next couple of rounds and who will have a shot at earning a coveted WSOP gold bracelet.