$10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship Kicks Off at 3 p.m.
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Welcome back to PokerNews' coverage of the 2019 World Series of Poker.
Kicking off this afternoon is Event #15: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship. The only event of its kind on the WSOP schedule, many poker players around the world wait year round for this specific event to showcase their heads-up prowess, as a plethora of familiar faces and online heads-up specialists take part in this unique bracket-style event. Last year, Justin Bonomo won the first of his two 2018 WSOP bracelets, besting a field of 114 to capture what was then his second bracelet. He later went onto to win his third in The Big One For One Drop.
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 |
| 2018 | $10,000 | 114 | Justin Bonomo | $185,965 | Jason McConnon |
Since this is a bracket-style event, an even perfect bracket number (for example 32, 64, 128 or 256) is needed for the bracket to be completed. When the number of players in the event is a non-perfect bracket number, then a "play-in" round takes place. A random drawing occurs to see which players will partake in that "play-in" round, and which players will receive a bye into the bracket. Anyone who plays in the "play-in" round will receive half of their buy-in back and is, in essence, playing a $5,000 satellite to get into the bracket.
Registration closes at 3 p.m. PT, and at that point, it will be determined whether the bracket is set or if a play-in round will take place. PokerNews will be on hand to provide all of the details and updates.
was spread across the table with just under 20,000 in the middle. Doug Polk checked to Joe Cada who tanked for a minute before shoving all in for 25,600. Polk snap-called and turned over 
for a full house.
. "I was betting for value," Cada said. Polk will be moving on to the next round while Cada will have to look for another bracelet on another day.
. Flack led for 2,000 and Perry called.
turn, Flack check-shoved into a bet of 7,500 by Perry, and tabled 
when he received the call. Perry was drawing dead with 
and the 
river was a blank.
. Seiver continued for another 4,500 and Smith called to see the 
on the turn. Seiver jammed all in for 24,600 and Smith snapped him off.
and Smith did it again, moving on to the next round by defeating Seiver.
, giving Wasserson jacks up to advance to the Round of 64.
and Duka's ace-high was still in the lead. However, the 
but was in rough shape against Rast's 
and the river was the 
to send Kalas to the rail and Rast advanced.
and Hellmuth's king-high was still in the lead. The turn brought the 
and McConnon was left drawing dead to the 
