WSOP Event #31 - $5,000 NLHE Heads Up
Saturday, June 23, 2007 | Adrian Milewski
In an event that stands out from the norm during this years WSOP there was a lot of interest towards this event both in the Rio and around the poker world.
In a format that is made for television the ESPN cameras were on hand to capture the event.
After having waded through the starting field we found ourselves in the quarter final stage (round 7), with just 8 players left and the matches where as follows:
- Shannon Shorr vs Vanessa Selbst
- Jared Davis vs Mark Muchnik
- Toto Leonidas vs Daniel Schreiber
- Keith Block vs Steve Sarrafzadeh
Daniel Schrieber was the first to secure his place in the semi finals when he held 
against the 
of Toto Leonidas with the board coming down 
. Schrieber progressed as Leonidas left collecting $46,060 which all losers in this round would collect.
Next into the semi final was Vanessa Selbst when she defeated Shannon Shorr when all the chips went in with Selbst dominating with 
versus Shorr’s 
.
The match between Mark Muchnik and Jared Davis had a number of swings in it with both players moving in and out of the lead. Muchnik eventually came out the winner when Davis moved all in pre flop with 
and was called by Muchnik’s 
. When the board came 
Muchnik secured his place in the last four.
The final match between Keith Block and Steve Sarrafzedeh took the longest to complete and once again the match swung both ways throughout it’s duration. The match finally finished up when Block picked up pocket kings at the same time that Sarrafzedeh picked up pocket jacks and the kings held up to give Block the final semi final place.
The draw for the semi final (round 8 ) brought us the following matches:
- Mark Muchnik vs Keith Block
- Venessa Selbst vs Dan Schreiber
The match between Selbst and Schreiber was over quickly. Schreiber picked up some early pots to take an immediate chip lead over Selbst and it was only on the fifteenth hand that he secured the victory. On a flop of 
and a turn of 
Selbst moved all in with her 
and was called by Schreiber who had hit a flush with 
booking his place in the final. Selbst finished in 4th place taking home $128,968.
In the other semi final it was Muchnik who came out on top in a long drawn out fight. The decisive hand came when a short stacked Keith Block moved all in with his and Muchnik called with 
. The flop gave both players hope with 
giving Muchnik top pair and Block the nut flush draw. The turn of and river of 
was no help to Block however and he was eliminated sending Muchnik through to the final to meet Dan Schreiber.
The final table was set and both Dan Schreiber and Mark Muchnik had survived eight heads up matches to make it this far. ESPN was on hand to record this final match which would be a best of three match.
The first match took 79 hands to complete and the decisive hand came after Schreiber held a massive chip lead and Muchnik was forced to make a move and did so after a flop of 
, a turn of 
, and a river of and Schreiber won the hand and the match holding taking a 1-0 lead.
The second match was much quicker and only took 11 hands to complete. On hand 10 Muchnik was crippled after a busted flush draw and he made a move on the following hand holding 
which Schreiber called holding . After the board of 
the match was all over with Schreiber taking 1st place, the bracelet and the prize money of $425,594.
The final standings for Event #31 of WSOP 2007 were:
- Dan Schreiber $425,594
- Mark Muchnik $230,300
- Keith Block $128,968
- Vanessa Selbst $128,968
- Steve Sarrafzadeh $46,060
- Jared Davis $46,060
- Shannon Shorr $46,060
- Toto Leonidas $46,060
There’s still time to qualify for the WSOP main event by winning one of the many satellites taking place on Pokerstars.
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