Adrian Mateos Set to Defend Heads-Up Title; John Smith Looking to Break Through
Welcome back to PokerNews' coverage of the 2018 World Series of Poker.
The only event of its kind on the WSOP docket, Event #16: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship is one that many in the poker community wait year-round for. Adrian Mateos is the defending champion of this event and became the youngest player to win three bracelets at just 22 years old last year. Already with a final table under his belt this summer, Mateos will no doubt be back and looking to capture bracelet no. 4.
A mix of the biggest live names in the game and online heads-up specialists tend to make up a significant portion of the field, but there are also some that don't fall under either category. John Smith is the prime example of this. While he may have lost to Mateos in last year's championship match, Smith has finished runner-up two straight years and cashed in three of the last four years in this event. He may not have won the elusive bracelet, but he's been the talk of the heads-up tournament two years running.
Here is a breakdown of the heads-up tournaments over the years at the WSOP:
| Year | Buy-in | Entries | Champion | Earnings | Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | $5,000 | 392 | Dan Schreiber | $425,594 | Mark Muchnik |
| 2008 | $10,000 | 256 | Kenny Tran | $539,056 | Alec Torelli |
| 2009 | $10,000 | 256 | Leo Wolpert | $625,682 | John Duthie |
| 2010 | $10,000 | 256 | Ayaz Mahmood | $625,682 | Ernst Schmejkal |
| 2011 | $25,000 | 128 | Jake Cody | $851,192 | Yevgeniy Timoshenko |
| 2012 | $10,000 | 152 | Brian Hastings | $371,498 | Jason Mo |
| 2013 | $10,000 | 162 | Mark Radoja | $331,190 | Don Nguyen |
| 2014 | $10,000 | 136 | Davide Suriano | $335,553 | Sam Stein |
| 2015 | $10,000 | 143 | Keith Lehr | $334,440 | Paul Volpe |
| 2016 | $10,000 | 153 | Alan Percal | $320,574 | John Smith |
| 2017 | $10,000 | 129 | Adrian Mateos | $336,656 | John Smith |
The schedule for the day is likely to be three rounds of matches taking place at 3 p.m, 6 p.m., and 9 p.m. Registration closes as soon as the first draw for matches begins at 3 p.m., and PokerNews will be on hand to provide the brackets and live updates on all of the action.