Joey Ingram and Doug Polk just completed a live broadcast on YouTube in which they drew the brackets for the upcoming World Poker Tour Heads Up Championship. The broadcast was a little over an hour and a half long and resulted in an interesting set of match-ups. Polk and Ingram bantered for a while, dragging out the process as they used a name randomizer online to complete the draw.
Some of the players for the event have clearly been chosen more for star power than poker acumen. On the list are Women's FIDE Chess Master Alexandra Botez, video game streamer "Hafu," and Vegas D.J. Steve Aoki. An additional two spots were held for online qualifiers who may well end up being amateur wildcards.
That's not to say there are no poker sharks in the field. Phil Ivey will be playing. He is one of Poker King's sponsored pros and will take on Manig Loeser in the first round. We also know the draw wasn't rigged because Polk drew Tom Dwan in the first round. That should be an exciting match-up. Two of the toughest heads-up players in the world duking it out.
Ingram didn't make the cut at all. But, neither did Daniel Negreanu or Phil Hellmuth, surprisingly. This might be because of their affiliations with sites that are rivals to Poker King. Unfortunately, this means there is no chance of DNegs settling the score with either Polk or the Poker Brat.
Full brackets
Steve Aoki v. Dan Smith
Linus Loeliger v. Olivier Busquet
Jean Robert Bellande v Lynne Ji
Nick Schulman v. Chris Kruk
Sam Greenwood v. Kevin Rabichow
"Online Qualifier #1" v "Buttonclickr"
Alexandra Botez v. "Hafu"
"Limitless" v. Nick Petrangelo
Doug Polk v. Tom Dwan
"Shiphtur" v. Anthony Zinno
Patrik Antonius v. "Gackt"
Phil Ivey v. Manig Loeser
"Stefan11222" v. Timothy Adams
Darren Elias v. "Online Qualifier #2
Brad Owen v Daniel Dvoress
"LuckyChewy" v. Stephen Chidwick
Most of these match ups are pretty exciting. Polk v. Dwan will be an interesting match-up between one of the most mathematically rigorous heads up players and one of the most intuitive. For the quality of play, it will be hard to patch the Petrangelo v. "Limitless" and Ivey v. Loeser match-ups. These are some of the sharpest high stakes hold 'em mavens out there. Chidwick v. Chewy will be an interesting live v. online pro game.
Anyone who is just here for the eye candy will have plenty to enjoy in the Antonius v. Gackt and Botez v. Hafu match-ups. For those who have missed JRB and Busquet (both of whom we haven't seem much of since COVID kicked off), this will be a triumphant return to the game for those players.
The event looks like it will be an excellent example of spectacle. We look forward to covering it, starting June 18, 2021.
