WSOP 2010 Event 35 - Ayaz Mahmood Wins $10,00

Event #35 of the 2010 WSOP was the $10,000 Heads-Up NL Holdem Championship.  The field was capped at 256 players and this event sold out as this solid field looked to take the bracelet $625,682.

WSOP 2010 Event 35 winner Ayaz Mahmood

Day 1 consisted of two rounds and the field shrunk from 256 players to just 64 players.  Among the players moving on to the final 64 were Phil Ivey, Vanessa Rousso, Scott Clements, Bertrand Grospellier, and Phil Gordon.

Day 2 saw three rounds played and the field cut from 64 to 8.  Phil Ivey failed to advance to the elite eight, but Vanessa Rousso, Faraz Jaka, and Jason Sommerville all advanced.

Day 3 was supposed to be played out to a winner.  First, we had to get to the final heads-up match.  Vanessa Rousso was the last player eliminated before the final four.  Faraz Jaka also was knocked out.  The final four was Alexander Kostritsyn, Jason Somerville, Ernst Schmejkal, and Ayaz Mahmood.  Both Kostritsyn and Somerville fell in final four action, leaving Ernst Schmejkal and Ayaz Mahmood to battle for the bracelet.

The final match was a best of three format between Mahmood and Schmejkal.  The first match started at 10:45 p.m.and lasted until after 5 a.m. the next morning.  The two battled back and forth through the night and the slowly escalating WSOP blind structure, with both holding the lead.  The turning point of match one came with Mahmood trailing Schmejkal by about 130,000 in chips.  On a flop of 7s-Qh-5h, Schmejkal check-raised a bet from Mahmood to 700,000 and Mahmood shoved.  Schmejkal made the call with Qs-Jc and was ahead the Ks-7h.  That was until the turn when the Kh fell.  The river failed to bring a queen and Schmejkal was crippled to just 130,000.  After doubling up to about 260,000, Schmejkal was all-in with 9-3 against the pocket deuces of Mahmood.  The board blanked and Match 1 was over.

At this point, play was halted and the two returned the next night at 7 p.m.  Once again, the two players battled it out in the second match.  The second match drug on for six hours with neither giving much ground to the other.  Then in one fell swoop, the match was over.  Schmejkal raised to 250,000 pre-flop and Mahmood made the call.  On a flop of Ah-10d-9c Mahmood checked-raised a bet from Schmejkal to 600,000 total.  Schmejkal then re-raised to around 1.6 Million and Mahmood moved all-in.  Schmejkal made the call and turned over Ad-6s for top pair.  Mahmood had his hand in the cookie jar and turned over Qh-10h for just a pair of ten.  However, the cookie jar came back to bite Schmejkal.  The turn fell the Jd and Mahmood now had a straight draw.  The river then fell the Ks to give Mahmood broadway, the match, and the bracelet.

Ayaz Mahmood took home the bracelet and the top prize of $625,682.  Congratulations.

Below are the elite eight payouts for this event:

1	Ayaz Mahmood	625,682
2	Ernst Schmejkal	386,636
3	Jason Somerville	214,289
4	Alexander Kostritsyn	214,289
5	Vanessa Rousso	92,580
6	Faraz Jaka	92,580
7	Ludovic Lacay	92,580
8	Kido Pham	92,580