Must See Heads-Up Matches
Thursday, March 25th, 2010I happened to be in a rather goofy state of mind as I was writing this piece and started thinking about match ups, poker match ups. I realize that Caesars Palace hosts the national Heads-Up Championship every year and there are nothing but name players selected for this poker tournament. True, many of the big names still fail to make the cut once all the names are announced but it’s still a lot of fun to watch sans the ridiculous blind structure. So what if the structure was more playable and you could choose any two poker players in the world to play heads-up against each other? Now that would be a whole lot of fun to watch and see how the poker unfolds. Since that isn’t too likely and none of us works for the powers that be to put together the HU Championship I figured I would give you my choices to consider.
Phil Hellmuth vs Dan Negreanu
This would be a match made in heaven for me personally. I enjoy watching both of these players do what they do at a high level. I think we can confirm that each of them are very good heads-up poker players simply by looking at the number of titles each of them has taken down. Hellmuth probably doesn’t get enough credit for being as good a head-up player simply because the focus is more on his persona than on his game at times. On the other hand, Dan Negreanu is looked upon as a bit of a poker genius in that his reading abilities are usually very keen and difficult to overcome for even the best professional players. As much as I would love to say this is an even match I have to give the edge to Dan Negreanu for one reason, Dan is usually in control of himself. Phil, for as much as I enjoy him and his game, has a tendency to fall of the cliff when things are not going his way. That has a much smaller impact within the context of an entire poker tournament. However, in a short-term heads-up match it can prove to be fatal.
Tom Dwan vs Phil Ivey
I don’t think we have seen the best of either one of these players when the only time you see them play is online. Ivey and Dwan are arguably the best High Stakes online poker players in the world. Phil Ivey is certainly the best live player in the world which is the entire point of the matchup. I realize that Tom Dwan has his own TV challenge that is coming up soon and that’s great. However, to be able to sit and watch both of these poker players go at it for an extended period of time would be a TV producers dream. Honestly I don’t know that anyone can actually assess this matchup in favor of one player or the other. Dwan clearly has dominated the online poker world and Ivey, when he plays online, has also been extremely dominant as well. The major difference between the two is how they were raised on the game. Dwan primarily plays on the internet and Phil Ivey is more of a true hybrid in that he plays in both arenas live and online. Having said that it doesn not necessarily put Dwan at a disadvantage as he has done very well in live poker tournaments and cash games. Just check out Poker After Dark if you have any doubt about how well Dwan plays live cash games.
Annette Obrestad vs Vanessa Rousso
You simply cannot put together these dream matches without considering the top female poker players too. Any time the ladies of poker come to mind I immediately think of Annette Obrestad and Vanessa Rousso. Obrestad won the WSOPE a couple of years ago and continues to do well both online and live in Europe. When she took down her first million dollar win she was still a teenager. Since then she has secured major online sponsorship and continues to be a player to be reckoned with.
Vanessa Rousso has done well both online as well as live finishing deep in the PokerStars WCOOP Main Event a couple of years ago in addition to a number of final table finishes. She has also secured sponsorship in her short career with a major online poker room. The fact of the matter is that both of these players are extremely talented and it would be great to see them heads-up. I give the slightest advantage to Annette Obrestad simply because of the sheer number of tournaments she plays online and live. She is always involved in the game as a poker player. Vanessa plays an awful lot of poker too but not nearly as much online. In any event this would be a boon for poker lovers everywhere.
I hope you enjoyed the picks! Let’s hope we can see these matchups soon.