Longest Heads-Up Match in WSOP History

There have been 43 years since the first World Series of Poker took place and it seems that things can still surprise us. The $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Mixed Max didn’t seem like it will be anything special towards the final day. There were four players at the tables which meant that there will be 3 heads-up matches until the event champion will be determined; pretty straightforward.

The two semi-finals were Joseph Cheong against Hugo Lemaire and Warwick Mirzikinian against Aubin Cazals. The first semi-finals went on very smooth with no real problems or concerns and it was over in almost three hours. The other heads-up match was totally a different story. The matches started at 1:00 pm in Las Vegas, at the Rio.

After the three hours it took for one semi-final to be finished, Cazals and Mirzikinan were just getting warmed up it seems. After one more hour, they were still playing, the same story after another hour and so on. It seemed like that match will never end as players continued to swap chips around the table without finding the final blow. It took the two players nine hours and 25 minutes for the match to be finished and Cazals won it after the longest heads-up game in WSOP history.

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The previous record was just a bit over seven hours and it stood no chance against these two players that simply couldn’t find the winning hand. The thing is that they didn’t even try to set the record, the game just went a certain way and chips kept on switching hands for over nine hours until Cazals finally won. It is important to note that this will be an unofficial record because the management of the tournament believes that the heads-up term should only refer to the final two players of the event.

So, despite the fact that it was a heads-up match, it wasn’t the finals so it will not count. However, players and spectators will remember this match as the longest one in history. After such a long match, both players were tired but this was a real problem for Cazals who was supposed to face Cheong in the final heads-up match on the same day. After they talked it out, the players agreed on postponing the final until Tuesday.

This worked out well for Cheong as he was also involved in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Re-entry tournament and was happy to focus on this one for now. It seemed like things will work out just fine for both players but the truth is that they can’t really change the events around as they choose so the Nevada Gaming Commission informed them that the tournament cannot be delayed for so long.

The only option available was to set a time before 1:00pm on Monday and while the two players were not happy with this decision, they understood the directors and agreed to play on Monday from 9:00 am. The early time would have been a new record as the earliest time for a final table in WSOP history but it got changed again after Cheong was eliminated from the other tournament and agreed on a later time.

An interesting couple of days for all the players but also for the crowd that watched amazed for over nine hours as the two played their best. For more poker action, two other events will resume on Monday and Event #11 will start on the same day. More poker news regarding these events and maybe some new records are sure to flood the internet in the upcoming days.