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The World Cup of Poker always throws up some oddities. If it's not the biggest slow roll ever then it's having to deal with a team mate flying home early. This time we've just had to deal with the fact we had eleven winners out of ten sit-and-gos. Thankfully that's now been sorted and against all odds it's Tajikistan that has taken the lead after the first round of heads up play, scoring a five from five sweep for 50 points.

Where play was carefree yesterday with players just enjoying the experience as much as anything else (maybe too much in Italy's case) then today has seen a marked increase in passion. Every few minutes there's a roar from one of the tables, albeit mostly from Humberto Brenes and his Costa Rican Team. We have two further rounds of round-robin heads up play before the final seeded heads up matches settle the tournament and crown a winning nation.

Captain on captain: Heitmann faces Williams

1. Tajikistan, 205 points
2. Netherlands, 192points
3. Peru, 182 points
4. Germany, 179 points
5. Japan, 167 points
6. France, 157 points
7. Rest of the World, 154 points
8. Costa Rica, 154 points

Tajikistan have moved ahead but swings can and will take place at this juncture. Stay with us to find out the pre-final round results.

Heads up play at the World Cup

Tajikistan
Angel Davidov (c): 8 + 5 + 8 + 6 (27)
Ildar Faizakhmanov: 7 + 6 + 8 + 8 (29)
Yaukb Imamov: 2 + 6 + 5 + 4 (17)
Makisimov Dmitrievich: 2 + 6 + 6 + 6 (20)
Akmal Sultanov: 7 + 8 + 6 + 6 (27)
MTT: 3rd (35)
Heads up rounds: 50
Team total: 205

Netherlands
Noah Boeken (c): 4 + 5 + 5 + 10 (24)
Johan 'bustosoon' van Til: 6 + 7 + 10 + 10 (33)
Andries Swart: 2 + 8 + 2 + 10 (22)
Peter Roeleveld: 3 + 7 + 6 + 10 (26)
Giel van Doorn: 8 + 5 + 2 + 4 (19)
MTT: 2nd (40)
Heads up rounds: 25
Team total: 191

Peru
Martin Sansour (c): 1 + 10 + 2 + 4 (17)
Renato Nunez: 10 + 10 + 7 + 8 (35)
Luis Felipe: 6 + 6 + 10 + 10 (32)
Renso Renfigo: 7 + 7 + 5 + 10 (29)
Daniel Adrianzen: 4 + 7 + 10 + 8 (29)
MTT: 4th (30)
Heads up rounds: 10
Team total: 182

Germany
Jan Heitmann (c): 3 + 10 + 4 + 10 (27)
Christian Rudolph: 5 + 8 + 7 + 8 (28)
Dennis Wiedenbruck: 2 + 10 + 8 + 6 (26)
Klaus Hornschurch: 3 + 5 + 4 + 6 (18)
Michael Stobbe: 1 + 8 + 5 + 6 (20)
MTT: 1st (50)
Heads up rounds: 10
Team total: 179

Japan
Masaaki Kagawa (c): 7 + 7 + 8 + 10 (32)
Kosei Ichinose: 4 + 10 + 4 + 4 (22)
Atsushi Iwasa: 10 + 5 + 6 + 4 (25)
Yuichi Andoh: 10 + 10 + 3 + 6 (29)
Makoto Fukuta: 10 + 6 + 8 + 10 (34)
MTT: 5th (25)
Heads up rounds: 0
Team total: 167

France
Arnaud Mattern (c): 5 + 6 + 6 + 8 (25)
Anthony Monestes: 2 + 8 + 3 + 6 (19)
Guillaume Lebosse: 8 + 7 + 7 + 6 (28)
Philippe Lucas: 10 + 7 + 10 + 4 (31)
Sami Ben Ahmed: 8 + 5 + 7 + 4 (24)
MTT: 6th (20)
Heads up rounds: 10
Team total: 157

Rest of the world
David Williams: 4 + 5 + 3 + 8 (20)
Jake Schwartz: 7 + 8 + 10 + 4 (29)
Wu Shuk Man: 6 + 8 + 5 + 8 (27)
Carl Slate: 6 + 10 + 2 + 4 (22)
Pierre Lambert: 4 + 6 + 3 + 8 (21)
MTT: 8th (10)
Heads up rounds: 25
Team total: 154

Costa Rica
Humbertop Brenes (c): 1 + 10 + 4 + 8 (23)
Ibuki Fukui: 1 + 8 + 7 + 10 (26)
Paul Cukier: 6 + 6 + 2 + 4 (18)
Onofre Sade: 3 + 5 + 3 + 6 (17)
Adrian Varela: 8 + 10 + 4 + 8 (30)
MTT: 7th (15)
Heads up rounds: 25
Team total: 154

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