Event 14
The first week of the Winter Poker Open saw six players walk away with WPO trophies and since then, ten more players have walked away with “tiny glass Borgatas”. Those trophies have been awarded through a wide variety of events and the first saw Marc Matz take home the Event 7 ‘Omaha/Stud H/L’ title and an over $6,000 score. That was Matz’s first career tournament win and that kicked off a busy week, with ‘The General’ claiming the next WPO trophy.
That came in the Event 8 ‘Super Stack Elevator’ and prior to the ‘Borgata Million’ starting on Tuesday, James Chen won the Event 9 ‘Pot Limit Omaha High’. The trophies were then kept out of sight for a few days, as that ‘Borgata Million’ played through six starting flights but ‘All-Star Weekend’ did not disappoint, creating plenty of headlines and storylines over the last few days.
The biggest of those storylines was Joe ‘Black’ Reddick claiming his first career title in the $1,000,000 GTD Event 10. Reddick took home just over $215,000 for his ‘Borgata Million’ win and while that wasn’t the first title awarded during ‘All-Star Weekend’, Reddick was the weekend’s highest earner.
Mike Rees was the second biggest earner, after he claimed the Event 11 ‘$1,000 Six Max’ title early Sunday morning. After a nearly seven hour final table, Rees outlasted a stacked field to take home $80,000 and his first BPO title, with Rex Clinkscales doing the same on Saturday night. He won the Event 12 ’40 Big Blind Bounty’ for just over $30,000.
Those two wins bookended Allan Vrooman‘s $100,000 GTD ‘Saturday Series’ win, as he claimed the Event 13 title for his first career Borgata victory. The final trophy awarded on a busy Saturday, saw partypoker’s Jamie Kerstetter take down the Event 16 ‘Charity Series of Poker’ title. That was a win-win for both Kerstetter and the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, as over $13,000 were raised through another extremely successful CSOP event.
While Saturday saw plenty of hardware get handed out, Sunday was a slightly less hectic schedule, with only two players claiming WPO trophies. The first was Alex Benyayev, who outlasted a 75 player field to win the Event 15 ‘Pot Limit Omaha High’, the second event of it’s kind during this WPO series.
The big winner from Sunday though was Matt Emmel, who claimed potentially the most prestigious non-main event title, when he outlasted a 64 player bracket to win Event 14. Emmel, who is a heads up sit & go specialist used that experience to claim the ‘Heads Up Championship’ title and a nearly $50,000 score. Emmel was the last WPO title winner but over the next few days, five more trophies are up for grabs, including the WPT Champions Cup.
The WPO blog will be here to bring you all of that action but if you want to go back and catch up on what’s happened over the last week, the links at the top of this post will bring you to each event’s individual coverage. It should also be noted, that a complete list of results from each event are linked as well.
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Finale
Matt Emmel – Winter Poker Open ‘Heads Up Championship’ Winner
To call this Event 14 ‘Heads Up Championship’ a grind would be an understatement, as two back to back over 12 hour days of poker are tough to deal with. In the end, two players dealt with it best but Matt Emmel did one better than Keith Morrow to claim the final Winter Poker Open title of ‘All-Star Weekend’.
Game 1 tilted to Morrow, after a sick cooler with Emmel finding {Jd}{Jc} to the big stack’s {Ah}{Ac}. Morrow continued his run good into Game 2, as he got off to a hot start and was his stack grow to an over 2:1 advantage. That’s when the grind started, as Emmel chipped away at that big stack, en route to a victory that forced a Game 3 rubber match.
That match played out just like Game 2, with Morrow getting off to a hot start but in the end, it was the heads up specialist that came out on top. That was Emmel, who used a combination of patience and solid play to claim what some would consider one of the most prestigious titles that this WPO series will award.
He’ll also take home $49,664, while Morrow will make $24,832 for second place. That concludes our coverage of the ‘Heads Up Championship’ and the WPO blog will pick up the WPO action tomorrow morning, when Day 1B of the WPT Championship fires up at 11 AM.
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Finale
Matt Emmel has taken the second game of the match, forcing a tie-breaker.
Matt Emmel got all-in holding {ah}{jd}. Keith Morrow had {kd}{6h}.
The board came {jh}{7c}{7d}{4d}{2s} and Matt doubled up, taking the chip lead for the first time in this game.
Matt’s got Keith about 2:1 in chips.
The decisive hand came with Matt holding {tc}{6c} against Keith’s {td}{5d}. The flop game {Kc}{th}{2d} and it looked like they could be headed for a chop. However when the {6s} hit the turn, Matt’s two pair became a monster. After the {3h} hit the river, all the chips went in the pot and Keith saw the bad news.
Matt claimed the pot and the second game of the match.
After a short break, they will begin the final game of this Heads Up Championship!
To watch the live stream click here.
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Finale
Michael Gagliano, WillOC, and Joe’Stapes’ Stapleton handing the commentary for the Live Stream.
Heads up play continues in the second game of the match. Keith Morrow leads the match 1-0 and holds a ~3:1 chip lead in the current game.
To watch the live stream click here.
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Finale
Matthew Emmel (L) and Keith Morrow (R)
Matthew Emmel and Keith Morrow have been battling for a while. It appeared that Keith had caged Matt neatly, getting him to commit all his chips with {as}{5c}. Keith had a dominating {ah}{jh}.
They both watched intently as the board came {9s}{6h}{2d}{8s}{5h} with Matt catching a 3-outer on the river to stay alive and double up.
Heads-up play continued and a few hands later, all the chips went in again. Keith was out in front again with pocket Aces against Matt’s pocket Jacks. Matt had a slight chip lead.
The board ran out {7h}{4s}{3h}{9h}{6d} and Keith’s Aces held up. He doubled up to take a huge lead.
A few hands later, the short-stacked Matt was felted. Keith takes the first game of the match and they will reset the chips and continue with the second game.
To watch the live stream click here.
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Final Four
Ravi Dalsania, eliminated in semi-final match, earns $12,416.
On the final hand of the second game, Ravi Dalsania was all-in and at-risk holding {ah}{8d}. Matt Emmel had {qh}{th}. The runout of {tc}{7h}{3h}{2d}{ks} gave Matt a pair of Tens to take the pot, the game, and the match.
Ravi will earn $12,416 for his semi-final finish.
There will be a short break while Keith Morrow and Matt Emmel prepare to face off in the heads-up finale.
To watch the live stream click here.
Here’s a reminder of who’s made the money and what the remaining players are battling for:
- $49,664
- $24,832
- Ravi Dalsania – $12,416
- George Cicak – $12,416
- Christopher Odle – $6,208
- Aaron Mermelstein – $6,208
- Cate Hall – $6,208
- Giuseppe Pizzolato – $6,208
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Final Four
Matt Emmel takes a 1-0 lead in his ‘Heads Up Championship’ semi-final vs. Ravi Dalsania.
Matthew Emmel drew first blood in his semi-final match against Ravi Dalsania.
The two players decided to forgo a break and plow right into the second game of the match. This is a must-win for Ravi if he wants to stay alive in this round.
Keith Morrow won his semi-final match against George Cicak to advance to the final.
Keith Morrow won the rubber game of his best of three match against George Cicack. George will earn $12,416 for his semi-final finish. Keith will now wait patiently to face off against the winner of the Dalsania v. Emmel match in the finale.
Here’s a reminder of who’s made the money and what the remaining players are battling for:
- $49,664
- $24,832
- $12,416
- George Cicak – $12,416
- Christopher Odle – $6,208
- Aaron Mermelstein – $6,208
- Cate Hall – $6,208
- Giuseppe Pizzolato – $6,208
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Final Four
The marathon Elite Eight match-up between Ravi Dalsania vs. Christopher Odle is now over, as Dalsania won the rubber match to advance himself to the Final Four. Odle bows out in 5th and while George Cicak and Keith Morrow are still tied 1-1, the other semi-final is about to begin.
After a marathon, nearly six hour match, Christopher Odle bowed out in 5th place of the ‘Heads Up Championship’.
Matt Emmel has been waiting around for a few hours and will finally get back on the felt to battle for a spot in the finals. The WPO blog will be tracking this field up to and through that final match, with the live stream provided at this link.
Ravi Dalsania vs. Matthew Emmel
George Cicak vs. Keith Morrow (1-1)
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Elite Eight/Final Four
It’s been over five hours since the restart of the ‘Heads Up Championship’ and while George Cicak and Keith Morrow are playing through Game 3 of their Final Four match-up, Ravi Dalsania and Christopher Odle are still stuck in the Elite Eight.
Ravi Dalsania, pictured, and Christopher Odle have been locked in their ‘Elite Eight’ match-up for over five hours.
They’re all tied up 1-1, as are Cicak and Morrow, but judging by how the pace of play has gone thus far, we could be here for a while. Regardless of how long this final Elite Eight match takes, the WPO blog will continue to bring you updates from the field.
It should also be noted that the live stream for this event can be found at this link.
Ravi Dalsania vs. Christopher Odle (1-1)
Aaron Mermelstein vs. Matthew Emmel*
George Cicak vs. Keith Morrow (1-1)
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Elite Eight/Final Four
While the live stream of the ‘Heads Up Championship’ has already started, cards up coverage won’t begin until the start of the Final Four matches. We are just one match away from that semi-final though, as George Cicak just bested Cate Hall and Matthew Emmel dispatched Aaron Mermelstein earlier today.
George Cicak hit a brutal river to keep his ‘Elite Eight’ match-up alive and after a few other smaller pots, Cate Hall was eliminated before the semi-final.
Hall and Cicak were locked in a tough 1-1 tie in their Elite Eight match, with Cicak catching a three-outer on the river to double and then winning a few other smaller pots to tilt the tie in his favor. Eventually, Hall hit the rail, leaving just Ravi Dalsania and Christopher Odle battling for the final Final Four spot.
Cards up coverage will begin once that semi-final is set, with the WPO blog picking up Event 14 action at that time as well.
Ravi Dalsania vs. Christopher Odle (1-1)
Aaron Mermelstein vs. Matthew Emmel
George Cicak vs. Cate Hall
Giuseppe Pizzolato vs. Keith Morrow