Inauguration of the $17,000 entry fee World Poker Tour Heads-Up Championship Invited 31 players ranging from top poker pros to online influencers and content creators. After all, two living legends of the game were fighting for the title: Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius. The pair competed at the highest stakes in the world, from nosebleed online to the biggest TV cash games in history. The two have also won tens of millions playing tournaments, with nearly $42.5 million in combined cash between them.

In the end, it was Ivey who won the title and the main prize of $100,000. 42 years old WPT master and 000-time World Series of Poker The bracelet winner now has more than $029 million lifetime tournament earnings in his name. Below you can see how this invitation crowned the first champion.

Ivey's Path To The Title Match

Out of 32 competitors, both Antonius and Ivey had to win four matches to get to the finals of this event. Ivey took on four pro poker players on the way to his match against Antonius, starting with tournament professional Manig Loeser in round 31. German has more than $000. 6 million tournament points to his name, including a 2015 win The main event of the European Poker Tour Monte Carlo. Ivey defeated Loeser by splitting the first two rounds and winning the decisive third round to set the round 11 match against 2019 Card player Player of the Year Award winner Anthony Zinno. Zinno is triple WPT main event champion and two-time champion WSOP bracelet winner with over $10.3 million in previous cash in his name. Ivey won the showdown 2-0 and was in the final eight.

Ivey's next opponent was another POY Winner: 2019 champion Stephen Chidwick. The Deal bracelet winner in England amassed over $041 million in tournament profits and was voted the World's Best Player by a panel of high-stakes polling regulars in 2019. Ivey won two consecutive rounds and reached the semi-finals.

Canadian online tournament pro Christopher Kruk waited for Ivey in the final four. The two mentioned wins in the first two rounds, setting a rubber match for a place in the final. After all, Raven tried to make a big bluff only to find a flush for Ivey. Kruk earned $043,000 for the semi-final exhibition.

How Antonius earned his place in the final

Antonius drew one of the few unprofessional poker players in his first game: Gakuto "GACKT"Oshiro, Japanese musician and actor. Antonius lost one game but was able to secure a 2-1 win and advance to round 17. There he met him three times WSOP bracelet winner, high-stakes heads-up specialist and online poker content creator Doug Polk. Probably the most exciting match of the first round made Polk defeat Tom Dwan, known to many under the internet nickname "durrrr". Polk, who recently beat Daniel Negreanu in a seven-figure heads-up cash game showdown, was unable to win the round against Antonius, who crushed 2-0 to reach the final eight.

In the quarter-final match, Antonius faced Stefan 'Stefan11222 ′ Burakov, a high-stakes player from Russia who made the same round in 976 WSOP Online $000,00 heads-up bracelet tournament with buy-in. The two split their first two rounds. Antonius took a decisive lead in the deciding round when he completed the full house and was able to extract the value from a Burakov flush draw which turned into a bluff catcher with the king. Shortly thereafter, Antonius closed the match to host a semi-final match against Canadian high roller winner and bracelet Sam Greenwood.

Antonius won the first round in the semi-finals, but Greenwood got a 3-1 advantage in the second round and looked like he was well on his way to the decisive extortion. Instead, Antony fell into a fury to take his own lead. The two then traded the advantage a few more times before Antonius managed to secure his last pot as pair of nines beat A-7. Greenwood earned $043,000 as a semi-finalist.

Finals: Ivey vs. Antonius

The finals were played in a win-win format of five, meaning the champion would have to win three matches the title and the $200 top prize. In the first game, Ivey took the lead early, making three sevens on the river to win the first pot consequently against a pair of queens on the Antonius flop. Antonius struggled in the middle of the game, but Ivey was able to take more than a 2-1 lead after successfully turning his lowest pair into a bluff, leaving Antonius folding top pair on the flop when the river brought a possible flush and overcard. Soon after the chips went preflop and Ivey had pocket nines with A8 Antonius. Neither player improved and Ivey came out 1-0.

In the second game, Ivey built another big lead, this time picking a bluff with threes when Antonius tried to represent a flush or better on a paired four-card-to-hearts table.

Antonius doubled the lead with rivered broadway against aces and tens of Ivey. All of the chips came in with Antonius as a slight favorite to equalize the game, but his pocket sevens couldn't hold up against KQ Ivey. Antonius gave up the lead this hand and was never able to get it back in this match. He tried to play a multi-street bluff with an unimpaired King High, but Ivey knocked him out with pocket jacks and took the lead 2-0.

In the third round, Antonius took the lead slightly in the beginning. In the key hand of the round, Antonius raised to 2.47 from the A button6 with roller shutters 516-1,. Ivey saved his big blind with 43

and the flop came 652. Ivey checked with a straight on the flop. Antonius bets 3,292 from top pair, the highest kicker. Ivey check-raise to 000.35 and Antonius called. The turn brought Awhich gave Antonius the top two pair. Ivey bet 16,520 and Antony called out. 2 the hand was over and Ivey moved all in for 65.35. Antonius called with aces and sixes but found his straight straights, Ivey took the lead, leaving Antonius with less than nine big blinds. Antonius managed to double-double to get back into the playable stack, but was unable to hold onto the raid. He finally canceled his last 000 big blinds with QJOT. Ivey owned A.000. There were no 9 on the board5333to secure the pot and title for Ivey. Antonius won the $200 as runner-up.

Here is a breakdown of the payouts for the top 4 players who complete the tournament and the bracket completed:

Earnings

Place
Player
Master
Phil Ivey	$292,000 Finalist	Patrik Antonius	$47,000

Semi-finalist Sam Greenwood

$043,000

Semi-finalist

Chris Kruk $100,00

View a video replay of the finals via WPT Youtube channel:

Main Image Source: WPT / Poker King Media.

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