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ESPN3 LIVE STREAMING $25K HEADS UP FINAL FOUR TODAY!
Jun 03 2011 01:21 PM EST
It's going to be an exciting day today at the WSOP.
We're giving away $1,945,104 to just four players. But three of them will leave disappointed.
The winner will bank a cool $851,192, get the first open WSOP gold bracelet of the summer and become the inaugural champion of a new WSOP event.
The Final Four of the $25,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship will take place live at the Rio beginning at 2 PM PT and stream live for you on ESPN3.com. Click here to go straight to the live feed. Search for the WSOP stream.
Both the semi-finals and final matches will be contested today. The match-ups are as follows.
Hansen versus Cody: Hansen was a member of the "Best player without a bracelet" list less than a year ago. Then he captured WSOP gold in the 10,000-pound buy-in heads-up event at the 2010 WSOP Europe for a victory that everyone just expected would eventually come on the WSOP level. Since that title, he's won $1 million at the Poker Million IX and has been on one of the best rushes online, cashing in for more than $3.9 million in the high stakes cash games. He's been on top of his game at every venue and now he'll try to win two more matches and claim his second WSOP bracelet.
On the other side of the table will be the 22-year-old Cody. Ready to be impressed? Cody is going for the poker triple crown Friday with previous victories on the WPT and EPT. He has nearly $2 million in live earnings and last month he captured an online title for more than $235,000. On Friday, he'll take center stage at the WSOP. Cody is making his first WSOP cash in this event and is arguably one of the hottest players in the world. He has played some very quick matches throughout the tournament, while Hansen has been much more calculated and reserved. However, Hansen does have that crazy loose-aggressive gear, and if the two lock horns with Hansen trying to play quick, it might be a very short match.
Froehlich versus Timoshenko: In a battle of two established pros, two-time WSOP bracelet winner Froehlich will face off against another young gun in Timoshenko. Froehlich won two WSOP bracelets during his early years at the WSOP, notching his first title in 2005 in a $1,500 limit hold 'em event and his second in 2006 in the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha with rebuys event. Since those two major scores, Froehlich hasn't had much WSOP success but now is in great shape to return to the glory days by starting off the 2011 WSOP with a huge score.
Timoshenko has been in the discussion for years as one of the best no-limit hold 'em players in the game. With more than $3.4 million in live tournament earnings, Timoshenko has a calm and cool style that has proved to be a key to success during this tournament. Timoshenko has only one previous WSOP final table, a third-place in the 1,500 pound no-limit hold 'em event at the 2008 WSOPE.
The matches will begin at 5 p.m. ET and a champion will be crowned Friday. Fans can watch the three matches (both semifinals and the final) play out on ESPN3.com.
