Both matches have started off slowly, with the pots being kept small in the opening stages. In one hand, Brunno Botteon raised to 1,000 and Oktay Kahyaoglu called.
The flop was 
and Kahyaoglu checked. Botteon bet 650, Kahyaoglu check-raised to 2,366, Botteon made it 6,000 to go and Kahyaoglu folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
103,116
3,116
|
3,116 |
|
96,884
-3,116
|
-3,116 |
The semi-finals in Event #79: $25,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold'em have begun!
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
100,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
|
|
100,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
|
100,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
|
||
|
100,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
In addition to the blog, PokerNews will also broadcast the event live on Twitch. PokerNews social media manager and Twitch host Jesse Fullen will be back in the virtual Rio to bring you the excitement live as it happens.
After a five-day hiatus, one of the most anticipated events of the GGPoker WSOP Online Bracelet Series concludes tonight as Event #79: $25,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold'em will crown a winner. It's one of the People's Choice Events and the audience has voted to see the best of the best take on each other in a head-to-head format.
It's the second big heads up event of the series, with David Peters capturing his second bracelet as well as $360,480 in the first edition. 127 players originally signed up for the bigger-sized event (with Chris Ferguson receiving the lone bye in the first round) and five rounds later, just four are left standing in search of one of the most sought-after WSOP bracelets of the series as well as the $1,077,025 first-place prize that's awarded to the one person that wins two more matches.
Four contenders are left standing in search of WSOP glory: GGPoker's Fedor Holz will take on Sergi Reixach in the bottom part of the bracket, while the upper part sees Brazil's Bruno Botteon lock horns with the least notable name of the four, Oktay Kahyaoglu. Dedicated profiles on each of these remaining players and how they got here are added below in separate posts.
Both Holz and Botteon used GGPoker's unique staking feature to sell off action for this event, making a lot of railbirds brimming with excitement as soon as cards go back in the air. Holz sold off 77.5% at 1.15 mark-up, while Botteon parted with 66.4% of his action at 1.05.
Those that invested already have a massive return on investment as each of the four remaining players is guaranteed a slice of $311,150 out of the prize pool. The runner-up will touch $622,300, while the winner, as mentioned, walks away a millionaire.
| Brunno Botteon | Oktay Kahyaoglu | Fedor Holz | Sergi Reixach | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round of 128 | Ole Schemion | Pedro Velasco | Luc Greenwood | Berns Gleissner |
| Round of 64 | Daniel Negreanu | Martin Zamani | Anton Morgenstern | Luke Reeves |
| Round of 32 | Dan Smith | Jean-Noel Thorel | Robert Flink | Aleksandar Trajkovski |
| Round of 16 | Luke Sneath | Michael Addamo | George Wolff | Dmitry Yurasov |
| Round of 8 | Jason McConnon | Stuart Wallensteen | Justin Bonomo | Aaron Van Blarcum |
Cards will be back in the air at 6 p.m. UTC with players received 100,000 in chips, 200 big blinds, to start off the match. Levels will be 12 minutes throughout and PokerNews will be on hands to cover all the action from the first card off the deck to the last one pitched, so don't miss a beat on the last Sunday of the WSOP online!
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | - | $1,070,250 |
| 2 | - | - | $622,300 |
| 3 | - | - | $311,150 |
| 4 | - | - | $311,150 |
| 5 | Jason McConnon | United Kingdom | $194,469 |
| 6 | Justin Bonomo | United States | $194,469 |
| 7 | Stuart Wallensteen | Canada | $194,469 |
| 8 | Aaron Van Blarcum | United States | $194,469 |
Perhaps nobody had it tougher in the first few rounds than Brunno Botteon, who faced high roller veterans Ole Schemion, Daniel Negreanu and Dan Smith. However, the Brazilian managed to dispatch all three, and to those who have followed the online scene in recent years, it may not have been such a shock.
Botteon currently sits No. 5 in the worldwide tournament points rankings on PocketFives and recently peaked as high as No. 4. His $3.7 million in earnings might not sound insanely impressive in an age when some are pushing toward the $20M mark until you consider Botteon just turned 25 and has only been on PocketFives less than two years.
He's fairly inexperienced live with only a couple of five-figure scores, but he'll be in his comfort zone here playing online.
Particularly on GGPoker, Botteon has been on absolute fire as he's amassed an excellent 13 cashes during the bracelet events. The best of those was a sixth-place finish in the $25K Poker Players Championship, worth $388K. He also had a very near miss for a bracelet, finishing second in Event #67: $500 Limit Hold'em.
| Round of 128 | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Round of 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ole Schemion | Daniel Negreanu | Dan Smith | Luke Sneath | Jason McConnon |
For the semifinal round, Botteon draws Oktay Kahyaoglu, the least known of the final four.
Kahyaoglu managed to defeat one of the toughest opponents in the game en route to the finals when he bested Michael Addamo in the Round of 32. Few have been crushing the high stakes to the level of Addamo recently, so that result had to put observers and players alike on notice that Kahyaoglu isn't to be taken lightly.
One of the last entries in the event, the Turkish player has only about $15K in live cashes, all coming in relatively small events in Cyprus and Russia. Kahyaoglu has only cashed for about $38K on GGPoker, a stark contrast to his opponents, all of whom have $750K at the very least on the site.
All of that marks Kahyaoglu as the clear wild card, but if he can topple Addamo, he's unlikely to find any remaining challenge impassable.
| Round of 128 | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Round of 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pedro Velasco | Martin Zamani | Jean-Noel Thorel | Michael Addamo | Stuart Wallensteen |
The clear headliner among the final four, Fedor Holz has been busy showcasing his heads-up skills in an even tougher arena, the €50/€100 cash games against fellow top pros in the Run It Once Legends Showdown. There, he's the top seed in the semifinals in a field of cash game veterans.
Of course, his heads-up tournament game isn't exactly untested either. Live, he has 16 tournament wins against just nine runner-up finishes en route to his $32M in earnings, according to The Hendon Mob.
On the way to the final four, Holz bested some elite pros like Luc Greenwood and George Wolff, but perhaps the most anticipated showdown of the bracket came to fruition in the Round of 8 when he faced off with nosebleed tournament rival Justin Bonomo. Given their history, which includes a famed hand — maybe a slowroll, according to some — and Bonomo's victory heads up in the $1 Million Big One for One Drop in 2018, that victory had to feel good for Holz.
Holz has already snagged one bracelet, in the 2016 $111,111 High Roller for One Drop, and he's in prime position to join the double-bracelet club here.
| Round of 128 | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Round of 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luc Greenwood | Anton Morgenstern | Robert Flink | George Wolff | Justin Bonomo |
Opposing Holz will be a fellow nosebleed grinder, Sergi Reixach. The ballin' Spaniard conquered the likes of high-stakes cash player Luke Reeves and top tournament pro Dmitry Yurasov, as well as rising American Aaron Van Blarcum.
Reixach has had a mighty impressive run in these heads-up tournaments of late as he also cashed in the $10K, making the Round of 16. That makes him a sterling 8-1 in heads-up matches on GGPoker bracelet events so far.
He's also made two other final tables in GGPoker bracelet events, topping out with a third-place finish in the $10K Short Deck, and this is his 11th cash in the series.
Reixach has been one of the most successful players in general in both live and online high-stakes events of late, most notably winning the $100K Super High Roller in Barcelona last year for $2 million.
Reixach has more than $5.6 million in cashes but the aforementioned third-place finish is the only time he's been extremely close to a bracelet. Given his fantastic success in other tournament avenues, it wouldn't be a surprise at all if this heads-up event finally sees him bring it home.
| Round of 128 | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Round of 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berns Gleissner | Luke Reeves | Aleksandar Trajkovski | Dmitry Yurasov | Aaron Van Blarcum |
Event #79: $25,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold'em [People's Choice Event, Most Popular]
Day 2 Started
