The PokerGO Heads Up Showdown is an invitational $25,000 buy-in heads-up tournament with $400,000 up top for first place. The tourney will start on April 21 and will run for three days.
This afternoon, Jeff Platt and Brent Hanks were joined by the ARIA’s Paul Campbell to draw the brackets. The draw was broadcast on PokerGO's Youtube channel.
Campbell had each of the 32 entrants' names written on a playing card. He then shuffled the short-deck and dealt the brackets one name/card at a time filling out the brackets as he went. Hanks and Platt provided commentary as they went.
The top 16 players on the PokerGO Tour leaderboard were offered places. Only nine of those players accepted their seats. The rest of the seats were chosen internally by the PokerGO staff.
The first round will see several interesting match-ups including Sam Soverel v. Sean Winter, Jeremey Ausmus v. Chris Brewer, Bill Klein v. Phil Galfond, and Dylan Gang v. Erik Seidel. There is an interesting mix of young up-and-comers, like Landon Tice, and old-school greats like Phil Hellmuth.
There was one question that hovered, unaddressed over the broadcast though.
The Imsirovic question
Ali Imsirovic who topped the board has accepted his seat is currently facing accusations of unethical play from Alex Foxen both online and off. This fact was tactfully left out of the broadcast, though Platt had to manage his co-hosts to avoid the subject.
"Everyone talking about [Imsirovic's] back-to-back Super High Roller Bowl Europe bubbles," Platt says.
"Is that what they're talking about?" asks Hanks slyly.
"It is what they are talking about," replied Platt before moving the topic on.
The accusations against Imsirovic come from Alex Foxen. Expect sparks to fly if Imsirovic and Foxen end up at the final table. Platt nods to this fact at the end of the broadcast.
PokerGO Tour Heads Up Showdown brackets
| Player 1 v. | Player 2 | Player 1 v. | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ♠ Bracket | ♦️Bracket | ||
| Sam Soverel v. | Sean Winter | Chino Rheem v. | Nick Schulman |
| Alex Foxen v. | Simon Yu | Jeremy Ausmus v. | Chris Brewer |
| Shannon Shorr v. | Shaun Deeb | Ali Imsirovic v. | Jake Daniels |
| Justin Young v. | Richard Sklar | Bill Klein v. | Phil Galfond |
| ♣ Bracket | ❤️Bracket | ||
| Jared Bleznik v. | Daniel Negreanu | Nicholas Rigby v. | Dan Shak |
| Tamon Nakamura v. | Stanley Tang | Eric Persson v. | Phil Hellmuth |
| Dylan Gang v. | Erik Seidel | Alex Livingston v. | Scott Ball |
| Darren Elias v. | Landon Tice | Scott Seiver v. | Isaac Kempton |
Featured image source: PokerGO
