When heads-up play began, Daniel Murta was the chip underdog to Victor Sbrissa. Slowly, small pot by small pot, Sbrissa began to increase his lead. He liberally raised his button against Murta's big blind. He played many pots out of position against Murta, often using the check-raise to induce folds. Murta's stack began to sink.
Murta could be seen talking to himself. His body language was of a man who feels desperate, trying to stave off defeat rather than a confident man going for victory. It couldn't have helped that the entire crowd of railbirds was behind Sbrissa, chanting loudly after every pot that Sbrissa won.
The most interesting hand of the heads-up match was one with almost no betting at all. Sbrissa limped the button and Murta checked from the big blind. Both players checked the [9d][9s][7s] flop. Murta checked again on the [8h] turn, an action that induced a bet of 180,000 from Sbrissa. Murta called to an [8s] river. The action went check, check. When Murta opened jack-high, his body language was that of someone who expected to lose the pot. He was amazed when Sbrissa quietly mucked.
After that, Sbrissa seemed to apply even more pressure on Murta.
Down to about 2.7 million in chips, with the end of the 80k-160k level approaching, Murta opened a pot to 350,000 from his button. Sbrissa defended the big blind. He checked the [jh][qc][6c] flop over to Murta, who did something he hadn't done in an entire hour of heads-up play: he moved all in.
Sbrissa leaned forward in his seat and asked for a count. The total was 2,405,000. Sbrissa nodded and called with top pair, [qs][4s]. Murta looked crushed as he opened middle pair, [as][jd].
The crowd strained forward against the rail as both men stood up to await the rest of the board.
Turn: [kd]
Sbrissa's leg began bouncing. Murta paced back and forth behind the table, hoping that the river could bail him out.
River: [3s]
The crowd exploded. More on that in the next post.
Murta caught some great cards today and won big pots, especially against Team PokerStars Pro Leo Fernandez and Marcos Paulo Ximenes. He was able to ride those chips all the way to heads-up play before finally giving way. His fantastic performance earned him R$334,000.
Dave Behr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
¿Busca Ud. la transmisión en vivo de LAPT6 Brasil en español? Haz click aquí.