by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Jun 15, 2021 | Updated on Jun 15, 2021
The poker community will be playing close attention to the exciting WPT Heads-Up Poker Championship that will commence later this week.
The tournament is presented by Poker King and comes with a $25,000 buy-in and is capped at 32 players. A total of 16 games will take place in the first round, with the first 8 on June 18 and the remaining 8 on June 20.
Hardcore poker fans will recognize that this format is similar to the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship which ran from 2005 to 2013.
During this period, NBC played host to a 64 player heads up poker tournament which included some of the biggest names in the game of poker. This was an invite only event that saw Mike Matusow win in 2013, Erik Seidel win in 2011 and Annie Duke win in 2010.
The WPT Heads-Up Poker Championship has a smaller playing field and uses a random generator software to pair up the list of 32 players. There are a lot of top poker players taking part but there are also a few celebrities involved. Doug Polk posted a YouTube video to reveal some of the first round matches that have already been fixed.
Doug Polk Poker
Some of the matches in the first round include popular DJ Steve Aokie against high stakes player Dan Smith and Jean-Robert Bellande vs. Lynn Gi and Doug Polk vs. Tom Dwan.
Doug Polk vs. Tom Dwan
The Doug Polk vs. Tom Dwan match is definitely going to be the most anticipated poker match in the first round. The two players have not faced each other before but they do have a backstory which makes things interesting. Polk has gone after Tom Dwan in the past, using his YouTube channel to lash out at Dwan.
Polk accused Dwan of being a participating in a sports betting scam that involved millions of dollars. Polk also issued a challenge in 2017 and called out Tom Dwan to face him in a $5 million heads up match. Polk has openly criticised Dwan on social media and called him a scammer multiple times.
Dwan on the other hand has refused to get into a mudslinging match with Polk and has preferred to avoid saying his name. The two will now be able to finally face each other and determine who has a better poker game.
