First Round Draw

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WHU Update No. 2

Below is the draw for the first round of the World Heads Up. The winner of the first match in bracket 1 will play the winner of the second match, the winner of the third match will play the winner of the fourth, and so on. Tuesday the first-round matches in brackets 1&2 will be played; the matches in brackets 3&4 will follow Wednesday. Supersatellite qualifiers are listed as SSQ.

Bracket 1:

Angel Blanco Puras - Jonathan Sullivan
Ivo Donev - Carlos Lopez (SSQ)

Pascal Perrault - Rumit Somaiya
Roy Brindley - Luke Smith

Carlos Massana - Xuyen Pham
Dave Ulliott - Alex Leviev

Patrice Boudet - Stephen Pearce
Carlo Citrone - Daniel Larsson

Luca Pagano - Albert Ashanki
Charles Mailhot - Simon Trumper

Martin Cedercrantz - Jan-Pieter Postmus
Ross Boatman - Ram Vaswani

Peter Gunnardon - Frank Blumlein
Paul Hersleth - Tom Brady

John Kabbaj - Marco Monica
Mickey Wernick - Michael Hewitt

Bracket 2:

Mark Banin - Dave Colclough
Paul Zimbler - Noah Boeken

Jose Forcada - Bruce Atkinson
Manuel Durin - Makus Lehman

Raul Paez Corral - Ben Battle
Alexander Kravchenko - Vladimir Troyanovsky

Willie Tann - Jon Huckle
Phil Shaw - Barny Boatman

Woody Deck - Sargon Ruya
Mark Bartlog - Richard Gryko

Jim Britton (SSQ) - Pouya Pouya Majd
Colin Gerrard - Jamie Sharrat

Nicu Simcelescu - Manuel Garcia
Dan Simcelescu - Dave Gardner

Mathias Wilkens - Henry Bull
Andreas Hagan - Peter Troejborg

Bracket 3:

Rob Hollink - Derek Baxter
David Slowik - Daniel Steine

David Leigh - Benedetto Passantino
Rino Mathis (SSQ) - Jeff Kimbler

Paul King - Hans Eskilsson
Gary Collins - Ben Grundy

Chris Sokrati - Michael Keiner
Sean MacMahon - Jac Arama

Christian Engblom - Peter Eichhardt
Isabelle Mercier - Steve Vladar

Brian Benedon - Frej Rutenskold
Howard Plant - Bengt Sonnert

Santiago Terrazas - Chen Guosem
Padraig Parkinson - Joe Beevers

John Falconer - Kevin O'Connell
Antony Lellouche - Romain Feriolo

Bracket 4:

Bruno Fitoussi - Santiago Planas
Jin Cai Lin - Erik Forsberg

Cui Guogun - John Cunningham
Gary Chatterton - Ali Osman

Peter Abela - Rosa Massimiliano
Julian Thew - Per-Werner Svenson

Jatinder Singh - Paul Gamhart
Roberto Binelli - David Mahmood

Jim Goodwin - Mark MacMahon
Lu Zhe Zhang - Chris Evans

Bill Edler - Michael Thuretz
Paul Jackson - Maurice O'Connor

Lothar Landauer - Mattias Backstrom
Simon Nowab - Khayam Ezzat

Mark Foster - Kate Szeremeta
Rory Liffey - Andrew Kinsman

All in all, some exciting matches to look forward to. For instance on Wednesday there's Padraig Parkinson versus Joe Beevers, Isabelle Mercier - Steve Vladar and Rob Hollink versus Derek Baxter. And tomorrow we can watch the match between young guns Noah Boeken and Paul Zimbler, or between Mobsters Ross Boatman an Ram Vaswani. Games will start 3:30 p.m. local time. Until then, I say: Bye for now - see you all tomorrow.

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WHU Update No. 1

Those of you who have followed this blog, have been fortunate enough to witness some exciting poker action. In recent months, we have followed major events in the European Poker Tour, with exciting action and first-class winners like Pascal Perrault and Brandon Schaefer. And just last month, it was fellow Dutchman Rob Hollink who won the first ever EPT final in Monte Carlo, for a first prize of no less than €635,000!

Now, all players have gathered at the lovely Gran Casino de Barcelona, located immediately near the beach, the promenade and the beautiful Olympic Village. They are here for the fifth annual World Heads Up Championship.

Last year, this event was staged in Barcelona for the first time, and it was local player Angel Blanco Puras whose fearless and unorthodox style could not be handled by the more experienced pros. Before this event, the World Heads Up was staged at Concord in Vienna, but now it seems we have really found our home here in Spain. I have been involved as a reporter in this event since 2003, the year that Miami John Cernuto played both a solid as well as a lucky game to come out on top.

From tomorrow on, I will be here for you guys to follow the action closely. As before, I will describe some interesting hands, I will give a fast and (hopefully) accurate analysis of all heads up matches, and I will keep my eyes open for any developments, stories etc. that may be of interest to you all. In addition to that, I will try to provide you with some live action photos, the same as I have done in Deauville, Vienna and Monte Carlo. The game we are playing: No-limit hold'em, buy-in €2,000, with a maximum of 128 entrants, and a €100,000 first prize. I have just talked to Jon Shoreman and Richard Geller, and they have confirmed that the tournament is basically sold-out already. As in last year's event, the World Heads Up will be taped, and actually I am in the exact room right now where the televised stage will be built. In one hour, a final supersatellite will be played, and then tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. the tournament will get under way, starting with the first-round matches. From a beautiful and sunny Barcelona, I say: Bye for now - see you all tomorrow.