Eastgate is therefore eliminated in the Second Round; Farha will return later in the evening for his Third Round match.
2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship
$20,000 Heads-up Championship
Day: 2
Eastgate is therefore eliminated in the Second Round; Farha will return later in the evening for his Third Round match.
On a board showing , Erick led out with a bet, Eli raised all in and Erick made the call:
Lindgren:
Elezra:
Lindgren claimed the pot and the match with two pair, queens and fives, and he'll play the winner of the David Williams v. Scott Fischman match in the Round of 16.
"That was the only hand I could beat," said Lindgren after the match. "I knew the queen hit him. It was the only hand I could beat and he had it."
Erick and Eli have met twice in the history of the NBC Heads-Up Championships (once this year and once last year in the Round of 64) and Erick has won both meetings.
Jennifer Harman also doubled up in her match against Kenny Tran. Tran limped the button, then called after Harman moved all in. Harman's pocket fives were favored over Tran's pocket fours and held up to give her the pot.
Short-stacked, Laak got it all in with the best hand -- a pocket pair of kings -- and Oppenheim challenged with . The dealer then spread a flop giving Oppenheim a pair of aces, which was all he needed to send Laak to the rail.
"David, kings are lucky for you!" said Jennifer Tilly to Oppenheim as Laak threw his backpack over one shoulder.
Laak then shook hands with David, saying, "Win a lot of money," before exiting the tournament area.
With that elimination, Seed becomes the first player to cash in this tournament for five straight years. One other person can match that accomplishment; Scott Fischman is playing David Williams right now for the same accolade.
Yang opened the pot with a preflop raise, Phan countered with a reraise, Yang moved all in and Phan made the call:
Phan:
Yang:
Yang was able to collect a couple of extra outs after the flop came queen high with two hearts, but a third king on the turn for Phan spelled the end for Jerry Yang.
Laak:
Oppenheim:
Oppenheim was the player at risk of elimination but had the best hand. Nothing changed on a flop of or after the turn fell .
"A nine would be good," remarked railbird Jennifer Tilly.
"A nine, any of the nines," agreed Laak.
"I had a nine in my hand," called out Eli Elezra from the next table.
"This is like the aces versus tens hand," mused Laak. "durrrr says it's standard."
Standard or not, the that hit the river didn't improve Laak the way Dwan's tens improved versus Phil Hellmuth last year. Oppenheim doubled up, taking a huge chunk of Laak's stack in the process.