The railbirds at the nosebleed cash games on Full Tilt Poker that loved watching Luke “FullFlush1” Schwartz mouth off to Tom “durrrr” Dwan earlier this year will be happy to hear there is yet another chance for the two to face off on the felt in person. Both Dwan and Schwartz have been tapped to play in the upcoming PKR Heads Up Grand Slam invitational event.
The televised event will feature a bracket-style tournament that pits a total of 32 players against each other in deep stack, heads-up matches. The buy-in is $10,000 and there will be a grand total of $350,000 up for grabs in the prize pool. Some of the other pros confirmed to be joining Dwan and Schwartz are JC Tran, PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren, WPT Championship winner Yevgeniy “atimos” Timoshenko, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, Nam Le, Sammy George and Full Tilt Pro Roland de Wolfe. The event will be taped and broadcast on UK’s Sky Sports over the course of eight two-hour episodes.
In addition to his poker prowess, Schwartz is also known around the poker world for his penchant for trash talking and outspoken nature. Ever since Schwartz began playing in the high stakes cash games on Full Tilt, he has been particularly critical of Dwan and his group of friends within the poker community. Schwartz has hinted at taking on durrrr in both the online and live “durrrr Challenges” in which opponents face off against Dwan in a series of heads-up matches, but nothing had come to fruition.
In the past two weeks all that has changed though, as the PKR Heads Up event marks the second televised tournament which will feature the two young pros. In August, PartyPoker announced the two would be playing in their upcoming event, the PartyPoker World Open V. That event, also being recorded for television, features a series of single table Sit & Go heats with players from each heat advancing to the final table.
Neither of these matches guarantees that Dwan and Schwartz will bump heads at the same table, but it now gives those eager to see the two together in a brick and mortar setting even more opportunities for their wish to come true. The PKR Heads Up Grand Slam will take place in London from October 8th-10th and the World Open V will film immediately after that, running at the Palm Beach Casino from October 11th-15th.
The PKR Heads Up Grand Slam may be an invitation-only event, but it will be open to more than just the top pros. The site is currently running satellites on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in which players can qualify to play in the Heads Up Grand Slam Online Finale taking place from September 29th through October 1st. Only 32 players will advance to the online finals, which consist of a series of three heads-up matches. The 16 players who survive Round One on the 29th advance to Round Two the next day. On the final day of play, the eight remaining players will battle in one last heads-up showdown and each of the four winners will gain entry into the live and televised Heads Up Grand Slam Event.
The four satellite prize packages are each valued at $12,000 and include a buy-in into the October event as well as $2,000 for travel expenses. Those interested in satelliting their way into the online final can do so for as little as $7.28.
The upcoming heads-up event is not the only live tournament with PKR sponsorship on the horizon. The site recently announced it’s popular PKR Live event will be returning for a third installment from November 20th-22nd at The Loose Cannon Club in London. A special $200 Bounty tournament will be offered in addition to the $1,000 buy-in Main Event, which is expected to offer a first place prize of $40,000.
