Poker legend Phil Hellmuth will have the chance to defend his King of the Hill title only two months after he won it after an epic heads-up battle against Daniel “Jungleman” Cates. Poker Night in America has just announced that the second edition of the King of the Hill heads-up challenge will take place on October 6-7.
While Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady, New York played host to the tournament back in August 22-23, its second edition will take place at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
More Details about the Event
Just as its predecessor, the second King of the Hill event will require a $50,000 buy-in from each of its four participants. The accumulated prize pool of $200,000 will go to the last man standing after the two days of play.
As mentioned above, the King of the Hill challenge will be held on October 6-7 at Rivers Casino. Everyone interested in watching some quality poker action will be able to do so via Poker Night in America’s Twitch channel. Live stream will begin at 6:30 pm and at 9:30 pm local time on October 6 and at 6:30 pm on October 7. Here it is important to note that action will be livestreamed with a 30-minute delay so that organizers ensure fair play.
Similarly to the inaugural King of the Hill edition, the second one will see two semi-finals being played on the first day and the three-round final being played on the second day.
The Participants
Although Poker Night in America is yet to announce who will face who during the Day 1 semi-finals, we already know the names of the four participants in the exciting heads-up challenge.
Phil Hellmuth
The Poker Brat needs little introduction as his accomplishments on the felt are so many and so much talked about that there is no poker fan that has not heard at least a little bit about them. Hellmuth has live tournament earnings of more than $21 million, which makes him one of the most profitable players in the poker world.
What is more, he holds several WSOP records. He is the player to have won the most WSOP gold bracelets with 14 gold pieces captured over the course of his long career. Hellmuth is also WSOP’s most profitable player with Series winnings of more than $12.5 million.
Last month, the player topped the first-ever King of the Hill tournament after winning the semi-final against Doug Polk, and emerging victorious in two of the three rounds played as part of the final match against Cates. Hellmuth almost lost hold of the title during the third round, but made a comeback that only a player of his rank could make to eventually scoop the title and the champion’s belt.
Olivier Busquet
Busquet is one of the finest contemporary players. He boasts live tournament earnings of more than $7 million and several titles from prestigious tournaments. Here it is also important to note that the player has been quite active on the high roller stage over the years.
It can be said that his best poker accomplishment so far was his triumph in the 2014 EPT Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller. The player won the amount of €896,434 for his performance. Busquet is also a one-time WPT Main Tour Main Event champion. In 2009, he bested a field of 1,018 entries to take down the WPT Borgata Poker Open $3,500 Main Event for $925,514.
Shaun Deeb
Deeb is a player we have been hearing a lot about lately. He has won two WSOP gold bracelets so far and has participated in a number of prestigious tournaments around the US and the rest of the world.
Deeb has more than $2.8 million in live tournament earnings. His best live cash came back in 2015 when he won his first WSOP gold bracelet. The player captured the precious gold piece for winning the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship for $318,857.
Parker “tonkaaaa” Talbot
Talbot rose to poker fame with his Twitch channel, which quickly became hit in the poker community. His growing reputation of a true entertainer and a player of indisputable skill quickly won him an 888poker ambassadorship contract.
Talbot’s live poker earnings currently amount to $344,294. The player has paid much more attention to building his online poker career over the past several years. He began playing poker since a very young age and has accumulated a great amount of skill since then.
