David Singer Takes Full Tilt Heads-Up Crown

For Andy Bloch, the inaugural Full Tilt Poker $25K Heads-Up World Championship was his second near-win in a major heads-up tournament this year.  For Emil “whitelime” Patel, it was a big bluff gone bad.  For David Singer, it was $560,000.

Singer plowed his way through six rounds of one-on-one matches against some of the best poker players in the world en route to the championship.  His final two game-clinching hands were both brave calls, one of which turned out to be the wrong call, while the other was the right one.

In the semi-final, he held a low pair, 5-5, and faced an all-in by Brian Hastings.  Singer decided to call, even though he could not have been confident that he was a favorite.  A favorite he was not, as Hastings had him dead to rights with 9-9.  But the flop was kind to Singer, giving him one of the two 5’s left in the deck and allowing him to move on to the finals against Patel.

In the final match, Singer once again faced an opponent who moved all-in as the short stack, and once again, Singer held a pair.  This time it was a bit better, 8-8, but still no sure thing.  And again, he made the call.  Unlike the last call, it was the right one, as Patel was bluffing with 10-3.  Singer’s pair held up and he logged off with the virtual champion’s crown on his head.

Final Standings

1. David Singer - $560,000
2. whitelime - $320,000
3. Andy Bloch - $168,000
4. Brian Hastings - $168,000
5. FinddaGrind - $96,000
6. Ansky451 - $96,000
7. mischiefofmagic - $96,000
8. mastrblastr - $96,000