The original field of six high-stakes heads-up crushers is down to the final two in the Run It Once Legends Showdown.
Pauli "Fiilismes" Aryas will take on Kevin "KRab42" Rabichow in the Legends Showdown finals, with that match set to begin September 15. Spectators can catch all of the finals action on the Run It Up Poker Twitch channel as the two elite heads-up players battle for the championship.
The winner takes home €40,000 and championship bragging rights, while the runner-up finisher is guaranteed at least €20,000. Aryas and Rabichow will battle at €50/€100 cash games stakes, in a 2,250-hand match.
The match will take place over three sessions, and the winner is determined by who's ahead at the end of the 2,250-hand count.
Here's a look at how Aryas and Rabichow arrived in the finals at the invitation-only Run It Once Legends Showdown:
Kevin Rabichow vs. Bjorn Li
The semifinals of the Legends Showdown played as 1,500-hand matches. Players battled in two-tabled heads-up matches, with matches broken up into two 750-hand sessions.
Rabichow entered the second half of his semifinal match against Bjorn "AsianFlushie" Li with a commanding lead. Li started the day more than €90,000 in the hole and looked up at a daunting task if he wanted to pull off a comeback in the second session of the match.
Rabichow extended that lead to over €100,000 just 65 hands into the second session. Li managed to get the deficit back to just over €90,000 with 550 hands remaining, but Rabichow extended the lead back into six-figure territory by the 1,000-hand mark.
Li wasn't done battling, however, and got the lead down to just over €53,000 at the 1,366-hand mark. With not enough hands left to work with, however, Li's comeback effort fell short.
Rabichow ended the match up €79,576.52, eliminating Li and moving on to the finals.
Fedor Holz vs. Pauli Aryas
Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz has enjoyed a massive streak of success in recent weeks, including a day in which the German "retired" high-stakes pro bagged nearly $2 million in tournament earnings in a single day.
A Legends Showdown title was not to be for Holz, however, as his run in the tournament ended at the hands of Aryas. Aryas went into the second half of his semifinal session against Holz up more than €22,000, but that lead still allowed Holz to remain within striking distance.
Another big accolade for the Holz resume didn't materialize, however. Aryas extended the lead to nearly €40,000 after the first 100 hands of the second session and moved that advantage to €79,798.28 after 963 hands. Holz called it quits at that point, sending Aryas to the finals.
That win almost makes up for a first-round match in which Holz took more than €100,000 off Aryas.
Featured image source: Twitter
