Singer pulps whitelime in FT Heads-Up final

David Singer kept constant pressure on Emil "whitelime" Patel in the Full Tilt $25k online Heads-Up World Championship final on Sunday and took home $560k for the victory in what is said to be the richest heads-up championship ever played.

In the final hand Singer called whitelime's all-in bet holding 8♥ 8♣. The flop came 9♣ Q♠ 9♦ and the turn showed up J♣, giving whitelime and his T♥ 3♦ plenty of outs. However, an A♥ on the river sealed the deal for Singer and Team Full Tilt.

A pro since 1996, Singer's been making noise ever since. He started out playing Seven-Card Stud (a game he says is still his favorite) and has plenty of high-profile finishes on his resume, including ninth in the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event, third at the WPT Caribbean Adventure, a win in the Mirage Heads-Up Poker Showdown and consecutive sixth-place finishes in the 2006 and 2007 WSOP $50k H.O.R.S.E. events.

On the road to victory Singer defeated Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond and Brandon Adams, as well as online players buck99, Masterblastr and Brian Hastings.

Singer was one of two well-known Full Tilt Poker pros playing in the final four on Sunday, the other being Andy Bloch.

Bloch, who is a well-known pro with more than $3 million in career tournament winnings, was soundly beaten by whitelime in the semifinals, even though at certain points during that match he looked almost destined to get to the final.

No stranger to heads-up tournaments.

In one hand that looked like it would end the day for Bloch, he went all-in with A♦ 9♦ after a 5♣ K♦ 4♦ flop and with whitelime holding A♣ K♥. Looking for a diamond, Bloch instead hit running nines to snatch what looked to be a whitelime victory.

It wouldn't be long until whitelime would seal the deal, however, taking the last of Bloch's chips after his pocket sevens held up against Bloch's A♣ T♣.

Bloch wasn't the only big-name pro whitelime managed to knock off in the event - he also took out Phil Ivey in the opening round.

Although he's not as well known as some of the other players who duked it out in the tourney, whitelime is no slouch. He's a guest instructor at CardRunners and reportedly has nearly $1 million in online earnings.

He's also had some good runs in live tournaments, including the WPT Caribbean Adventure and the 2007 WSOP $5k six-max event. He takes $320k for second place and is sure to attract more attention heading into the 2008 World Series of Poker as a result.

The last player to round out the final four was Brian Hastings, another instructor at CardRunners. The 19-year-old Hastings is currently a sophomore at Cornell University and had just $100k in career winnings up until his $169k cash in the semifinal.

Hastings fought valiantly but was behind most of the way to Singer. At one point he looked like he might make an unlikely comeback, doubling up after Singer put him all-in holding big slick and the flop showed 2♦ T♦ 4♣. Hastings had A♦ T♣ and his top pair held up to keep him in the match.

He then cut Singer's lead even further by taking several more small pots before Singer finished him off. Even then it took some luck as both players went all-in pre-flop, Singer with pocket fives and Hastings with pocket nines. It was not to be for the young gun, however, as the flop brought 5♥ and rounded out Singer's set.

It will surely come as consolation to Hastings that he lost to the eventual champion and that he knocked out some of poker's most feared pros along the way, including both Max Pescatori and Howard Lederer.

For your chance to play against some of the biggest names in the poker business too, visit Full Tilt Poker.

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