Because he has the money and used to play in college. He also thought he had a better chance vs hellmuth than negreanu did. Nick Wright is pretty much an idiot though.

I said it earlier and I’ll say it again. This is just to try and set up a higher stakes match in the future. I highly doubt nick will challenge, so a new challenger comes in at $100k. Obviously Phil can cash out if he wins twice more, but surely someone decent will be up next and beat him. Then they have to win 2 more rounds to cash out, so we’re likely looking at a $400k heads up match in the near future.

Right, I was critical initially of the matchup but a well known person who will be one and done is a good pick

Question: Does Hellmuth pick his opponent or the producers? Suppose five people challenge, who determines it?

I couldn't make it through this one.

The beauty of the HU battle between Daniel and Doug was it's underlying entertainment factor thanks to their history, trash talk and theatrics (Daniel delivered big time as far as entertainment goes). The HU battle was more important because it meant something more than money.

Daniel vs Hellmuth is fine because it's star vs star, which is another solid underlying factor for a HU battle to follow closely.

I tried to watch some of the match but I just couldn't... Please get a pro in there

Yes .. BB above .. I think it was just a way to get the format notched up a level without a Pro getting hit in the nose. Not many Pros want to 'put up' with playing Phil for 'only' $50K and there's so much poker going on the rest of the year.

IMO there's enough understanding about a SNG that a reputation can't be tarnished by a single loss. There's a ton of Pros in Vegas .. Koon, Seiver, Lamb, Berkey and more. So there has to be something else that's making this less attractive that other poker right now. Is someone really going to give away all their secrets in one match? Shoot, get Solomon to sit in there! But you're not going to get him interested in a $50K match and have to do 'all that work' just to cash out. He's got other things filling his schedule .. like Dwan and he spending a bunch of time together on an island beach for weeks. GL

not sure exactly how the opponent is picked and a little more clarity on that would be nice. In the pre match interviews they did ask Phil why he accepted the match and if I remember correctly they said he could have declined.

Dwan?

It's possible Dwan is in the mix .. at least he was for HSD II until DNegs stepped in I believe. During HSP episode Dwan tells story of how Phil told him he wasn't getting the spot while they were at PHell's house in CA.

I still think the $$ amount needs to be a bit bigger for him 'knowing' he has to win 3 matches to cash out.

I'd love to have Phill take a notch out of Sean Perry's hype, but it probably wouldn't matter. DNegs was doing the subtle dig routine whereas Sean would be right up in Phil's grill during the match. GL

Dwan vs Hellmuth Aug 25th

That should be the end of the streak I suppose.

Unless PH truly taps into the White Magic.

Chances are, yes

I'm rooting for Hellmuth though

Although if Dwan wins, there is the potential for higher stake matchups in the future

Phill wins the first one, then Dwan wins the second .. then we have some laddering in the $$ that will make things interesting.

What's the over under on the discussion/replays of the NBC HU match where Dwan shoved in Level I with TT v AA? GL

After playing 1000s of hu SNGs on the interwebs, there is no difference between phil and daniel than a 10+1 challenger. LOL. that's obviously a joke, since they're both elite players, but phil and daniel both have styles that are built for HU SNGs regular speed. Small ball/spots... daniel probably scared off every fish from playing HU cash when people realized how much experience you need. It wasn't even about Polk as the greatest interwebs HU player as far as results, daniel just had no idea.

Looking forward to this one more than any other match up.sp far but find dwan is no way near as aggressive as he used to be will be a great watch who do people think will come out on top?
I mea dwan one my favorite players of all time
But phil hasn't won all them bracelets by being useless at heads up

Anywhere I can get decent odds on Hellmuth? Pokershares is only offering 2.03

what a duel this will be

So Hellmuth is finally beaten and we'll get to see at least a $400k buy in round before someone can cash out. Wonder if Phil will use his rematch option for the $200k round.

Hoping Phil opts out and maybe Ivey or Polk will challenge Dwan.

jungle vs dwan for the lulz

Link. Starts @ 4:12.

That only has an hour of the match, total match is 5.5 hours on Pokergo.

Still my post is better than yours...

Ivey is the next one to enter I think

two washed up dudes with a bunch of money to blow. Who cares about this? OH wait 27 pages of a bunch of losers talking about it.....