Phil Ivey Wins the WPT Heads Up Championship

The WPT Heads Up Championship Invitational sponsored by Poker King attracted a field of 32 players from all over the world. You had the top professional poker players with some influencers sprinkled in.

After four days of play and as many rounds, two players remained. Not the chess expert or the Japanese pop star, and not the online experts. Instead, two of the biggest names in poker who’ve battled for years both online and live to face off against each other in the match that mattered the most: Phil Ivey versus Patrik Antonius. Both players easily belong near the top of the list of most recognizable names in poker, and the fans were there for it; they flocked to Twitch and YouTube to watch the game en masse.

Ivey had beaten some of the toughest competition in the bracket to get to the final: Manig Loeser, Anthony Zinno, Stephen Chidwick, and Chris Kruk. Antonius defeated GACKT, Doug Polk, Stefan “Stefan11222” Burakov, and Sam Greenwood to meet his nemesis in the final.

With thousands of players watching, the match got underway at noon PST under the eyes of fans from around the world.

In the first match, Ivey pulled away early. Antonius grabbed the lead not much later when he outkicked Ivey in a sizable pot. After that, though, Ivey showed his true prowess and dominated.

“Ivey is not here to check,” commentator Doug Polk said at one point as Ivey put on a performance. Raising rivers, check-raising flops, and putting out expertly sized value bets at the right moment; Ivey seemed always to be correct.

The first match went to Ivey when he got it in with pocket nines against Antonius’ ace-eight. No ace on the flop, turn, or river, and it was 1-0 for Ivey in the best-of-five match.

Antonius was off to a better start in the second match as he check-raised the river with a full house. Ivey sniffed it out and folded his overpair but still lost some chips in the process. Ivey took a two-to-one lead when he turned trips in a hand where Antonius tried a big bluff. Despite four-to-a-flush on board, Ivey wasn’t folding his trips and won a big pot. Antonius doubled not much later and even took the lead but handed that back when Ivey doubled with ace-queen against seven-eight. The match went back and forth for a bit till Ivey doubled with king-queen making a straight against the pocket sevens of Antonius.

In the last hand of the second match, Antonius tried another multi-street bluff. The Fin went all the way with king-seven suited and pulled the trigger, shoving on the river of a queen-high board. Ivey was a non-believer and called with jacks to win the second match as well.

With the final being a best-out-of-five match, Antonius had the daunting task of winning three in a row to claim the title. Ivey had the momentum and only needed to win one more to lock up the win. He did exactly that and without much of a tight match at that. Ivey kept pounding on Antonius, winning lots of small and medium-sized pots. A well-times four-bet with eight-jack suited told you all you needed to know: this was Ivey’s match to lose.

In the second level of the third match, Ivey took a massive lead against Patrik Antonius when he flopped a straight with four-three. Antonius didn’t do much wrong with his two pair, but the situation remained the same; a nineteen-to-one chip lead for Ivey in the deciding match.

Antonius did come back to a playable stack of forty-five big blinds, but ultimately, it wasn’t meant to be. Antonius found himself all-in with queen-jack suited against the ace-ten off from Ivey. The board ran out nine-high, and Ivey was crowned the WPT Heads Up Invitational champion!

Ivey lost the first match he played in this tournament against Manig Loeser but came back to win that game 1-2. After that, only Kruk was able to win a heat against Ivey’s on the latter’s way to victory.

The GOAT – the greatest of all times – the fans called Ivey in the Twitch- and YouTube chat constantly. And they might be right; Phil Ivey showed he still is one of the best in the world. When he’s focused and ready to play, there’s no one able to stop him. Not even some of the best players on the internet and not even his old rival Patrik Antonius. Ivey reigned supreme in the WPT Heads Up Championship sponsored by Poker King, and he has the hardware to show for it