Level: 21
Blinds: 5,000/10,000
Ante: 1,000
Level: 21
Blinds: 5,000/10,000
Ante: 1,000
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Aubin Cazals | 3,231,000 | |
|
||
Joseph Cheong | 2,899,000 | |
|
The players are now on a 20-minute break. We'll have official counts shortly.
Joseph Cheong raised to 16,000 on the button and Aubin Cazals defended his big blind.
The flop came down and both players checked through to the turn. Cazals bet 27,000, Cheong called, and the hit the river. Cazals bet 65,000 this time, but was faced with a raise to 200,000 by Cheong.
Cazals mulled it over briefly before giving it up.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Aubin Cazals |
3,231,000
-319,000
|
-319,000 |
|
||
Joseph Cheong |
2,899,000
319,000
|
319,000 |
|
Aubin Cazals had the button and raised. Joseph Cheong called, and the flop fell . Both players checked. They checked again after the turned, and the completed the board. Cheong led out for 43,000, and Cazals called.
Cheong showed two hearts, and raked in the pot.
Joseph Cheong had the button and opened to 19,000. Aubin Cazals called. The flop fell , and Cazals checked to Cheong who tossed out a bet. Cazals check-raised to 78,000, and Cheong called.
Both players checked after the turned, and the completed the board. Cazals checked again, and Cheong fired 157,000. Cazals tanked before check-raising to 425,000. Cheong tank-called, then mucked when Cazals tabled .
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Aubin Cazals |
3,550,000
532,000
|
532,000 |
|
||
Joseph Cheong |
2,580,000
-532,000
|
-532,000 |
|
Aubin Cazals had the button and opened to 20,000. Joseph Cheong called, and the flop fell . Cheong check-called a 25,000-chip bet, and the turned. Both players checked.
The completed the board, and Cheong led out for 56,000. Cazals released, and Cheong took it down.
Aubin Cazals had the button and opened to 16,000. Joseph Cheong folded.
Level: 20
Blinds: 4,000/8,000
Ante: 1,000
Yesterday, on Day 4 of Event 6: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed-Max, it took Joseph Cheong a little less than three hours to defeat Hugo Lemaire in his semi-final match. Over on the other side of the Amazon Room however, Aubin Cazals and Warwick Mirzikinian battled for over nine hours, until Cazals was finally victorious.
At that point, we had our final match set, we just didn't know when they were going to play. Cheong and Cazals wanted to play on Tuesday - Cheong had a stack in Event 9 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry and Cazals wanted to play Event 11: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha. One of the tournament directors here at the WSOP told them that they would be unable to do this however, because of Nevada gaming regulations. The two then agreed to play their match at 9 a.m. this morning, but when Cheong busted from Event 9, the time was pushed back to noon.
So here we are.
This is Cazals' first WSOP cash, let alone his first WSOP final table. The Frenchman has nearly a quarter of a million dollars in live tournament earnings since 2010, a number which will double regardless of the outcome of today. Cazals is not stranger to heads-up play - he took down a heads-up event in FTOPS France II, and did a strategy video with PokerNews.fr.
Cheong is no stranger to big final tables either - he played a pretty big one back in 2010. His third-place finish in the 2010 Main Event earned him over $4.1 million, and after today, his career tournament earnings will cross the $5 million mark. This is Cheongs eighth WSOP cash and second WSOP final table.
Who will win their first WSOP gold bracelet? Cheong or Cazals? Find out soon, here at PokerNews.com!