5 Heads-Up Matches, $500,000 on the line!
Phil Hellmuth will play Rob Yong for $500,000 in a series of heads-up matches after the 15-time WSOP bracelet winner this week accepted an unexpected challenge from the Dusk Till Dawn supremo
Hanging out w @PartyPoker Partner Rob Yong in @AriaLV High Limit Bar. We are playing FIVE $100,000 HU matches, who wins? Vote on next tweet ! pic.twitter.com/zmGhR8K1P6
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) April 5, 2019
The idea for the best of 5 battle was born on a night out in Rio de Janeiro during the partypoker LIVE South America stop, with Yong also having a potentially costly ping-pong ding-dong with Ben Lamb to look forward to…
Oh what a night! Stories, laughs, drinks & some prop bets. Here’s 2 of those: 1) Rob vs @phil_hellmuth in NLH freezeouts – 5 matches at $100k ea 2) Rob vs @BenbaLamb at ping-pong spotting him 15 pts a game to 21 – best of 5 for $50k. #highrollers #gamblinginRio #partypokerlive https://t.co/l677issbRz
— Mike Sexton (@Mike_partypoker) March 20, 2019
It was the 15-times WSOP bracelet winner’s first time in Brazil, so he can be excused for getting a bit overenthusiastic with the side bets – although the public seem to think he’ll come out a winner, 57% of the more than 8000 who voted siding with the Poker Brat.
Details of the challenge
Rob Yong challenged me to FIVE $100,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold’em matches, 100BB deep, w a 50 minute clock (to taise the blinds), I accepted – who wins?
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) April 5, 2019
Yong, it seems, is of a different opinion, fancying his chances against the man who used ‘White Magic’ to take down the King of the Hill Heads-up title back in 2017.
“I’m confident” Yong is reported as saying of the upcoming match. “I like Phil but I’d be pretty shocked if he won, and I mean that in the nicest way!”
Yong explained the background to the challenge stating:
“Phil was telling us all how he is the greatest player ever after a few beers in Rio, so I initially offered Phil 6-4 on one Deepstack match or I play all hands on button blind, but he was too proud to accept that and went for best of 5, evens”.
He will have to overcome the man who won the 2005 National Heads Up Championship, defeating Chris Ferguson in the final. Hellmuth almost repeated that success in 2013, but lost out in the final to Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow.
High Stakes cash game player vs tournament legend
Hellmuth’s poker pedigree is world-renowned of course, but Rob Yong is no mean player himself – although the founder and owner of the Dusk Till Dawn Casino in Nottingham, England, doesn’t have a poker resume to quite match Phil’s.
According to the Hendon Mob website, Yong has 22 cashes and some $330,000 to show for them – although six 2nd places and no tournament wins doesn’t seem to bode well for his heads-up chances.
However Yong has played high-stakes cash games for many years and the $100,000 at stake per match will hardly dent the millionaire’s nerves, or his pockets.
“This match will be one for the ages!”
The where and when of the big match has not yet been decided – partypoker’s LIVE North America stop mooted as one possibility, while Mike Sexton suggests a big PokerGO production might be in the offing…
This match will be one for the ages! Heads-up between @phil_hellmuth & Rob Yong. Tip for @PokerGO – if you put this on @PokerGO, it will be your most viewed show of all-time! https://t.co/B8Kb7osW3A
— Mike Sexton (@Mike_partypoker) 5 April 2019
The clever money may well be on a Hellmuth victory, but it’s a very rare occasion that a casino owner doesn’t walk off with the lion’s share of the cash!
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