Heads-up poker is a different beast — and the $25K Heads-Up Championship at the WSOP takes that intensity to a whole new level. How would you prepare to face some of the world’s toughest opponents one-on-one?
You could always do what Patrick Leonard did today: cap on, hoodie up, shades down. That's tough to penetrate. Martin Zamani tried and failed in his Round of 16 match on Saturday.
On the 
board, Leonard had just pushed enough chips into the middle to put Zamani all-in.
"At least you didn't move all-in this time," quipped Zamani. Pads stayed silent, motionless.
"Pat-rick... Pat-rick Leonard," Zamani teased in a sing-song voice.
Zamani used another two time extensions before making the call. Leonard flipped the 
and had Zamani's pair of nines crushed.
The loss meant Zamani would go home with nothing. Leonard locked up $86,000 and moved on to the Round of 8, one step closer to the WSOP bracelet and $500,000 first prize.
Round of 16 results
- Patrick Leonard beat Martin Zamani
- Mike Shi beat Matthew Wantman
- Artur Martirosian beat Kevin Rabichow
- Chance Kornuth beat Killian Desnos
- Aliaksei Boika beat Brandon Brown
- Harvey Castro beat Joao Vieira
- Thomas Eychenne beat Alex Foxen
- David Chen beat Richard Green
Psychological warfare
It’s been said that you need to play the player in poker, not the cards. That’s certainly the case when you're playing heads-up with the best.
We spoke with Leonard after his win against Zamani, and he said, “That was a really tough game. We were both playing psychological warfare. He likes to play fast, and I like to play slow. So I was taking a long time, and he countered by taking a long time too.
"It was all meta-game, with lots of unconventional lines," Leonard continued. "I'm going to play theoretically decent in most spots, and he was trying to push me into nodes I wouldn't normally face, which was difficult.”
Leonard said he expected to win fewer pots than Zamani but wanted to make sure the ones he did win were bigger. That’s how it went down.
Round of 8 games
Leonard also won his next match, against Mike Shi, who posed a different kind of challenge.
“This was good,” Leonard told us afterwards. “He was really, really tough, and it was probably the toughest match so far, in terms of theory. Other guys have bigger challenges in terms of psychological warfare, but he played the best out of everyone so far, no offense to them.
“It was constant aggression," he continued. "He raised most buttons, he c-bet a lot, he raised, he probed. I made two big bluffs and coolered him in the second to last hand for the last 20 big blinds.”
Shi stuck around to hear Leonard’s take — perhaps satisfied with the respect, if not the result.
Aliaksei Boika was the next player to secure a final-four spot, eliminating Harvey Castro.
Artur Martirosian came back from being on the ropes to find a win against Chance Kornuth, and David Chen beat Thomas Eychenne.
The final four will reconvene at 12pm PT tomorrow and will play to a champion, and all eyes will be on Leonard vs. Martirosian.
WSOP $25K Heads-Up semifinals — to play on Sunday
- Patrick Leonard vs. Artur Martirosian
- Aliaksei Boika vs. David Chen
Payouts
- 1st: $500,000
- 2nd: $300,000
- 3rd-4th: $180,000
