The €10,000 Mix Max event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe has only been around two years, but it has already established itself as one of the more prestigious gold bracelets up for grabs this year. It is no wonder either, as this event, which tests players’ abilities in nine-, six-, and heads-up play, is turning into quite the endurance contest.
After 16 hours of Day 4 action, Mix Max finalists Jon Aguiar and Brandon Cantu had to call it a night not because the match is over, not even because they were tired, but because the casino shuts its doors at 5am. If the pair had it their way, they would have likely played all night. Instead, the pair and the poker community will have to wait a couple of days to find out who the new champion will be.
Because Cantu and Aguiar want to play in the Main Event, which starts its second Day 1 just seven hours after this bout ended, play in this event is now on hold until both players bust the tournament and can schedule a time so play this to a winner.
The fourth day of action in this tournament was an intense one. Cantu’s semifinal match with Roger Hairabedian was a back and forth battle that lasted for eight and a half hours before Cantu prevailed. The loss had to be tough for Hairabedian who impressively managed to advance to the semis in this event for the second year in a row only to bust out in the same position as he did in 2011. Cantu called it the toughest heads-up match of his poker career.
Things didn’t get any easier for Cantu either. After just 45 minutes, he took his seat in the final match against Aguiar, who defeated his semifinal opponent, Faraz Jaka, six and a half hours before Cantu’s match ended. Aguiar began with a chip disadvantage as a result of the random heads-up draw, but with super deep stacks, there was plenty of play for both contenders.
The duo played for six hours and 15 minutes with just a couple of five minute breaks before calling it a night. The match could have been over much sooner. The two got it all-in midway through the match with Cantu holding a flopped flush to Aguiar’s set having Aguiar easily covered. The board paired on the river though and Aguiar doubled to take the chip lead.
Cantu ended the night on an upswing and chipped into Aguiar’s lead bit by bit before taking the chip lead back on the penultimate hand of the night. Cantu bagged up 1.52 million to Aguiar's 1.36 million. When they resume play, blinds will be up to 10,000-20,000.
Both Cantu and Aguiar failed to survive Day 1B of the WSOPE Main Event, so they are now free to resume play. The match is scheduled to pick back up at 4pm local time on Monday afternoon. There will be no livestreaming of the event, but there will be hand updates available on WSOP.com.