Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:56 PM Local Time
Ernst Schmejkal opened for yet another min-raise from the button with Ayaz Mahmood making the call.
The flop of saw both players put in 75,000 each before the and fell on the turn and river.
"Ten high!" announced Mahmood as he tabled his .
Schmejkal mucked his hand to see Mahmood pick up the small pot.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:52 PM Local Time
Ernst Schmejkal raised to 80,000, and Ayaz Mahmood called. The flop came . Mahmood checked, Schmejkal bet 90,000, and Mahmood called. The turn was the . Mahmood bet 150,000 this time, and Schmejkal called.
The river brought the , putting a Broadway straight on board. Both chuckled and checked, and the pot was chopped.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:47 PM Local Time
Ayaz Mahmood opened with a raise to 120,000, and Ernst Schmejkal called. The flop came . Schmejkal checked, Mahmood bet 125,000, and Schmejkal called. The turn brought the , and checks from both.
The river was the . Schmejkal checked, and Mahmood quickly bet 335,000. Schmejkal deliberated a bit, then fired out a raise to 1.2 million. Mahmood spent little time tossing his cards away.
Schmejkal is up to about 4.4 million, and Mahmood is at 3.24 million.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:41 PM Local Time
Ernst Schmejkal opened for a min-raise to 80,000 with Ayaz Mahmood making the call.
Mahmood checked the flop, as did Schmejkal, to see the land on the turn and Mahmood first to act with a 100,000-chip bet.
Taking a few moments to deliberate, Schmejkal slid in a raise to 260,000 which Mahmood called before folding to a 225,000 Schmejkal bet when the river landed the .
With that pot Schmejkal takes a 30,000-chip advantage over Mahmood.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:38 PM Local Time
Ernst Schmejkal raised to 95,000 from the button, and Ayaz Mahmood called. Both checked the flop. The turn brought the . Mahmood bet 150,000, and Schmejkal let it go.
Players remain close in chips after about 45 minutes of play.
Mahmood -- 4.045 million
Schmejkal -- 3.635 million
Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:30 PM Local Time
Ernst Schmejkal opened to 70,000 from the button and Ayaz Mahmood made the call from the button to see a flop fall.
Mahmood checked and Schmejkal fired out 65,000 only to have Mahmood check-raise to 175,000. Schmejkal made the call as the fell on the turn with both players checking it through.
The river peeled the and after some hesitation, Mahmood cut out a bet of 375,000 which Schmejkal called.
Mahmood tabled his for a king-high flush as Schmejkal mucked his hand to slip to 3,790,000 while Mahmood climbed to 3,890,000 in chips.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:21 PM Local Time
Ayaz Mahmood took a look at his cards and was encouraged by what he saw to raise to 90,000 from the button. Ernst Schmejkal then checked his, and liked his well enough to reraise to 255,000. Mahmood made the call.
The flop came . Schmejkal bet 235,000, then Mahmood raised to 710,000 total. Schmjekal was undeterred, and pushed it up to 1,075,000.
Mahmood thought for about a minute, then let the hand go. Schmejkal takes the advantage with that one, moving up to 4.39 million to Mahmood's 3.29 million.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:17 PM Local Time
Ernst Mahmood opened to 65,000 from the button and Ayaz Mahmood made the call to see a flop fall.
Mahmood checked and Schmejkal fired out 70,000 with Mahmood making the call before checking the on the turn.
Schmejkal fired once again - this time for 155,000 - and Mahmood's cards hit the muck.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:13 PM Local Time
Ayaz Mahmood limped in from the button, and Ernst Schmejkal checked. The flop came , and Schmejkal bet 55,000. Mahmood responded with a raise to 155,000, and Schmejkal skedaddled.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:10 PM Local Time
Ernst Schmejkal opened to 70,000 and Ayaz Mahmood made the call to see a flop fall.
Both players checked and when the landed on the turn, Mahmood fired out 110,000 to take the pot away from Schmejkal.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:08 PM Local Time
Ernst Schmejkal raised to 65,000 from the button, and Ayaz Mahmood made the call. The flop came , and both players checked.
The turn brought the and a bet of 110,000 from Mahmood, forcing a fold from Schmejkal.
Mahmood starts out taking a small advantage, with 4.18 million to Schmejkal's 3.5 million.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:04 PM Local Time
Ayaz Mahmood opened to 90,000 from the button and Ernst Schmejkal made the call to see a flop fall.
Both players checked to see the land on the turn and Schmejkal fire out a bet of 105,000.
Mahmood made the call as the dealer burned and turned the on the river as the action went check, check.
Mahmood tabled his to rake in the pot and take the slight lead in this heads up match.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 10:02 PM Local Time
Ayaz Mahmood opened to 90,000 from the button and Ernst Schmejkal made the call.
Both players checked the flop to see the land on the turn and a bet of 80,000 from Schmejkal take down the pot.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 9:58 PM Local Time
Ernst Schmejkal entered the pot with a min-raise of 60,000 only to have Ayaz Mahmood three-bet to 210,000.
Schmejkal didn't take too long to find a fold and see Mahmood claim the first three-bet pot of the match.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 9:55 PM Local Time
After giving Ayaz Mahmood two consecutive walks, Ernst Schmejkal bumped it to 65,000 to pick up Mahmood's blind and claim his first hand of heads up play.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 9:54 PM Local Time
Ayaz Mahmood opened to 90,000 from the button and Ernst Schmejkal made the call from the big blind to see the flop fall.
Schmejkal checked and Mahmood's 185,000-chip bet was enough to prompt a fold from Schmejkal.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 9:54 PM Local Time
Ernst Schmejkal is a 24-year-old poker pro from Germany who currently resides in London. Primarily an online player -- where he goes by the name "Trader" -- this event marks Schmejkal's first big live score.
Schmejkal defeated Nikolay Evdakov, Joao Barbosa, Juan Ramirez, David Williams, Alexander Kravchenko, Vanessa Rousso, and Alexander Kostritsyn to make the final.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 9:53 PM Local Time
Ayaz Mahmood is a 38-year-old professional poker player currently living in Houston, Texas. He has numerous WSOP cashes to his credit already, including a couple of final tables. He finished fifth in the $5,000 six-handed NLH event in 2005, and seventh in the $2,000 pot-limit hold'em event in 2008.
Mahmood defeated John Duthie, Nathan Doudney, James Collopy, Kevin Saul, Brian Rast, Faraz Jaka, and Jason Somerville to reach the final.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 9:53 PM Local Time
Unlike the first seven rounds, this one will be played as a best-of-three match.
A lot of chips on the table between these two. Each is starting with 3.84 million. As happened in the semis, they'll be playing 40-minute levels in the final.
The blinds will start at 15,000-30,000, so that means the stacks begin at 128 big blinds. The blinds will then rise as follows: 20,000-40,000, 25,000-50,000, 30,000-60,000,40,000-80,000, 50,000-100,000, 60,000-120,000, 80,000-160,000, 100,000-200,000, 120,000-240,000.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 9:14 PM Local Time
The tournament director has announced that the best-of-three finals match between Ernst Schmejkal and Ayaz Mahmood will begin at 10:45 p.m. local time -- just about a half-hour from now. See you back here then.