Yesterday ,the World Poker Tour's Heads-Up Championship paired two online juggernauts with each other. Specifically, Wiktor "Limitless" Malinowski and Tuukka “Buttonclickr” Sevänen.
The match was supposed to be one of the highlights of the series. Back in March, a few savory words from Limitless on a podcast almost led to a $500/$1,000 heads-up challenge between the two of them. The challenge fell through.
There have been several massive games in this tourney, including the upcoming Ivey v. Chidwick game. But Limitless v. Buttonclickr might be one with the bitterest-blood between the players.
Bad blood on the line
Buttonclickr is an online heads-up pro from Finland. He helped coach Doug Polk to his $1.2 million victory over Daniel Negreanu.
Limitless is another online heads-up cash game pro. Last year he was involved in the two biggest online no-limit hold 'em pots since records began. He's been having a good year on the tournament circuit, though his real specialism is cash games.
A quick google-search will bring up plenty of hands in which these two players faced off informally across the felt. But the thwarted HU challenge and Limitless' hardline trash talk led to a great deal of fan interest in a more serious showdown. Limitless trash-talked so hard he almost found himself stuck in a heads-up challenge with Doug Polk.
The bracket and stars had aligned to give the people what they wanted. But satisfaction can be ephemeral, and the entire experience was done in a little over fifteen minutes.
Eleven hands
The first match didn't see much movement of chips in either direction for the first blind level. Players started with 100,000 in chips and 400/800 blinds. Both players felt each other out, with some small-ball hands.
After seven hands, the blind moved up to 500/1,000. Three hands into this blind level, Buttonclickr got A♣T♦️ on the button. With a hair over 100k in chips, he bet 2.3k, and Limitless made it 9,850.
The flop came 8♦️Q♠J❤️.
Limitless checked. Despite his double-gutter and overcard draws, Clickr checked back. The move paid off, with the A♠ on the turn giving him a strong pair.
Limitless overbet 27,000 into the 19,700 pot. With his opponent's range split largely into bluff and monsters, Clickr called with his pair of aces.
The river was the 6♠ completing the possible backdoor spade-flush.
With 73,700 in the pot, Limitless shoved for 62,755. The player was at risk if he called, but calling and losing would leave Clickr with just a few hundred in chips.
After a long pause, Clickr decided there were enough bluffs in Limitless' range and called. Limitless turned over the 9♣T♣ for a flopped straight to take the hand down. This crippled Clickr.
With just 755 in chips left, Clickr had to go all in as the big blind. His A♣6❤️ paired on the flop against Limitless' pocket jacks. The hand after that, Clickr lost his 1,510 stack with ace-deuce v. ace-jack.
The first match went to Limitless. It took 12 hands.
"You want to take a break?" Limitless asked. Clickr did not. The heads up match continued immediately.
Fifteen minutes of fame
The second match started similarly. Neither player strayed far from their 100k starting stack for the first blind level.
Hand 12 proved to be key again. Limitless found himself with K♠3♠ on the button and raised x2.5. Clickr re-raised to 10,000. Limitless 4-bet to 23,500 and Clickr called.
With 47,000 in the pot the flop came down A♣K♣6❤️. Middle-pair with a low kicker isn't much of a hand in a four-bet pot, but Clickr checked, so Limitless threw in a bet of 8,950. Clickr called.
The turn came the 7♠. Both players checked, and the river came the K❤️.
Clickr checked, and Limitless went into the tank working out how much value he could extract from the ace-ish part of Clickr's range. With just under 65k in the pot and his stack at a little over 66k, he just shoved.
Clickr called and showed the A♦️Q♣ for an ace-high. Limitless took the pot leaving Clickr with 1.8k in front of him.
The next hand saw those last few chips slip away in a rag v. rag matchup that went to Limitless. Limitless's 2-0 victory took all of 25 hands to settle. It was done in fifteen minutes.
You can watch the whole thing on Twitch.
Featured image source: Twitch by WPT
