Event #31
World Heads-Up Poker Championship
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $5,000
Number of Entries: 392
Total Prize Money: $1,842,400
Date of Tournament: June 19-21, 2007
The winner of the $5,000 buy-in World Heads-Up Poker Championship was Daniel Schreiber, a 21-year-old student from Seoul, South Korea. The final match pitted Schreiber against Las Vegas poker pro Mark Muchnik. In the best two-out-of three series, Schreiber won both matches for the sweep. The first match took 79 hands. The second match was much shorter, lasting just 11 hands. First place paid $425,594. This was his first tournament cash ever, at the WSOP or any other poker event. With the win, Schreiber became the fifth-youngest WSOP gold bracelet winner in history. He is eight days short of his 22nd birthday.
Here is the updated list of youngest WSOP event winners:
YOUNGEST PLAYER TO WIN A GOLD BRACELET
21 years, 11 days - Steve Billirakis in 2007
21 years, 1 month, 9 days - Jeff Madsen in 2006
21 years, 3 months, 3 days - Eric Froehlich in 2005
21 years, 3 months, 20 days - James Mackey in 2007
*NEW* 21 years, 11 months, 9 days – Dan Schreiber in 2007
The heads-up tournament was much different logistically than conventional poker events. With players sitting face to face with a dealer in-between them, the vast tournament arena more closely resembled a series of chess matches than poker games.
Caesars Palace in Las Vegas hosted a Heads-Up poker championship event in spring 2007, telecast on NBC. That competition was limited to 64-players. This tournament attracted 392 entries, the largest heads-up hold’em event in history.
2006 WSOP main event runner-up Paul Wasicka made it as far as the sixth round, and then busted out. According to poker journalist Gary Wise, Wasicka ran off a remarkable 13 straight wins in heads-up matches, dating back to the previous event held at Caesars Palace. That is the longest recorded series of heads-up wins ever recorded in live tournament play.
1998 World Series of Poker champion Scotty Nguyen also busted out in the sixth round. Former gold bracelet winner Kevin Song also busted out in the same frame.
Former WSOP event winner Kirk Morrison was eliminated in the fifth round.
Several former WSOP gold bracelet winners made it past the first day and finished in-the-money. However, they crashed in the fourth round. These players included – Layne Flack, Gavin Griffin, and Jennifer Tilley.
Jennifer Tilly (2005 Ladies World Poker Champion) was nominated for an Academy Award (Best Supporting Actress) in 1994 for her role as the seductress in Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway.”
Winning required the champion to win 10 consecutive matches – 3 matches on Day One, 3 matches on Day Two, and 4 matches on Day Three.
Play at the final table consisted of the best two games out of three. All preliminary matches were single elimination.
Sixty-four players received prize money. That meant three winning matches were needed to cash (except for those players who received byes in the first round, which was mandated by an odd number of total entries).
