We're two hands into heads-up, with each player taking down one pot. On the first hand, Nick Schulman opened for 60,000, then folded to a re-raise to 200,000 by Ville Wahlbeck. The next hand, Wahlbeck opened to 60,000 and Schulman called. Schulman drew one; Wahlbeck stood pat. Schulman fired out for 110,000 after the draw to take down the pot.
We'll either be crowning a first-time WSOP champion or will have our second double-bracelet winner of the year at the end of this heads-up match. Here's how they'll start off:
Nick Schulman made it 60,000 to go from the button, Steve Sung put in a reraise to 170,000 from the small blind, and Schulman almost immediately moved all in. Sung tanked for a good five minutes before calling the additional 347,000.
Sung stood pat and now it was Schulman's turn to tank. Finally, Schulman rapped the table and turned up T-7-5-4-3, just out-pipping Sung's T-8-5-4-3. Schulman had him covered and Sung hit the rail in third place.
Despite the star power of this final table, the fact that only 15 people are watching this event play out is testament to the fact that watching no-limit deuce-to-seven is very, very dull. There's not as much excitement or speculation as is possible with flop and draw games for the simple reason that spectators don't know any of the cards that any of the player are relying upon. It's also a slow game -- dealing out five cards to every player takes time.
The three remaining players at the table probably don't care. They're all focused on the task at hand -- taking down the bracelet in this prestigious tournament.
Nick Schulman made it 60,000 to go from the button, Steve Sung called from the small blind and, Ville Walhbeck called from the big blind. Sung and Wahlbeck drew one apiece while Schulman drew two.
Sung checked, Wahlbeck bet 80,000 and Schulman came over the top with a reraise to 350,000. It was enough to chase away both opponents and Schulman took down the pot.
The chips are becoming very evenly distributed around the table now. In fact, Steve Sung, chip leader moments ago, may now be in third place. Sitting in the big blind, he called a raise to 60,000 from Ville Wahlbeck. Both players drew one card.
After the draw, Sung led out for 100,000. Wahlbeck called with 9-7-6-5-4 and took the pot away from Sung, who flashed J-10-x-x-x.
Nick Schulman started with the button for a hand that he opened to 60,000. Steve Sung was next to act in the small blind and put in a re-raise to 240,000.
That put Schulman to a big decision. After thirty seconds, he responded with all of his firepower: he moved all in for about 800,000 chips. Sung only spent a minute and a half in the tank this time before folding.