Keith Lehr wins $10,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold'em Championship

Yesterday we published Connor "blanconegro" Drinan's post from the 2+2 forums, where he claimed that his opponent, Valeriu Coca was cheating, defeating four top professionals in a row in the $10,000 Heads Up No Limit event, acting suspicious and weird all the way through. In the end, Coca was eliminated in fifth place by eventual champion Keith Lehr, who defeated Paul "paulgees81" Volpe in heads-up play to win $334.430 and his second WSOP bracelet.

On Wednesday, the $10,000 Heads Up Championship continued with 16 players:

Andy Philachack vs. Matthew Cooper
Timothy Adams vs. Simon Lam
Paul Volpe vs. Barry Hutter
Isidro Sifuentes vs. George Danzer
Jake Schindler vs. Keith Lehr
Byron Kaverman vs. Valeriu Coca
Olivier Busquet vs. JC Tran
Max Silver vs. Dee Tiller

At the time when Byron Kaverman played Valeriu Coca, no allegations about cheating have come up yet, but after the match Kaverman has confirmed that he also felt extremely outplayed and that he was also wondering whether something was up with the match.

The following players advanced to the next round:

Matthew Cooper vs. Tim Adams
Paul Volpe vs. Isidro Sifuentes
Keith Lehr vs. Valeriu Coca
JC Tran vs. Dee Tiller

After the cheating allegations, WSOP's Jack Effel watched Coca's next match against Keith Lehr and frequently put new decks into play. Lehr was also acting like he knew that his opponent is marking cards, constantly staring down his opponent and covering his cards with both of his hands (see the picture above).

Many players on the forums have stated that this was a big mistake by the WSOP, since Coca was now aware that he was being watched, which allowed him to stop the cheating. In the end, Lehr beat Coca and advanced to the next round and so did Cooper, Volpe and Tiller.

Dee Tiller vs. Keith Lehr
Paul Volpe vs. Matthew Cooper

Volpe defeated Cooper and Lehr defeated Tiller to get into the finale.

Play started on the 15,000/30,000 blind level and Lehr quickly took the lead. Volpe raised to 60,000 then called Lehr's 3bet of 255.000. On the flop of J-4-2 (two clubs) Lehr bet 300,000 and Volpe called. The turn was the 8 of clubs, and Lehr check/called a 455,000 bet from Volpe. The river was the 6 of diamonds, Lehr checked, Volpe bet 1.2 million and Lehr called after tanking for a few minutes.

Volpe showed A-5 for Ace high while Lehr had Q-J for top pair.

Keith Lehr - 5.640.000
Paul Volpe - 2.040.000

On Level 2 (20,000/40,000) Volpe opened to 80,000 and Lehr called, then bet 110,000 on the 7-6-3 rainbow flop. Volpe raised to 280,000, Lehr raised to 510,000 and Volpe called. The turn was a Queen, Lehr shoved and Volpe called all-in for 1.5 million.

Lehr showed Q-8 for a turned pair of Queens while Volpe had 6-3 for two pair. Unfortunately for him, an 8 fell on the river, improving Lehr to a bigger two pair.

Keith Lehr won the second WSOP title of his career, the previous one came in the $3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em event in 2003.

$10,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold'em Championship results

1. Keith Lehr - $334.430

2. Paul Volpe - $206.620
3. Dee Tiller - $111.525
4. Matthew Cooper - $111.525
5. Valeriu Coca - $54.545
6. JC Tran - $54.545
7. Timothy Adams - $54.545
8. Isidro Sifuentes - $54.545