It looks like we have a two-horse race heading into the home stretch to determine which former World Series of Poker Main Event finalists will square off against one-another in a made-for-television special on ESPN that will tape on June 2nd at the Rio as part of the 42nd Annual WSOP.
Just like American Idol being down to the final two, so is the WSOP Grudge Match voting it appears.
The classic 1988 finale featuring Johnny Chan vs. Erik Seidel is one of the heads up matches garnering a lot of votes.
The other is the 2004 championship pitting Grey "Fossilman" Raymer against David Williams.
Both of these two matches have garnered a lot of support in open voting, and barring a late charge, these two matchups will likely produce the winning duo.
Voting remains open only until midnight on Tuesday, May 24. The winning duo will be notified on May 25.
The other two matches whom fans can vote on are the 2010 finale between Jonathan Duhamel and John Racener and the 2006 WSOP Main Event between Jamie Gold and Paul Wasicka.
WSOP Grudge Matches are a series of three different heads up rematches pitching past WSOP Main Event finalists against one another, to relive their historic original match-up.
Confirmed already are Chris Moneymaker vs. Sammy Farha in a rematch of the 2003 WSOP Main Event final table.
And in the second solidified competition, Johnny Chan will face Phil Hellmuth in a rematch of the 1989 WSOP championship.
All three matches will be played as heads up No Limit Hold'em and will be contested on the ESPN stage in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on Thursday, June 2 beginning at 1:00 PM.
Hellmuth-Chan and the winner of the fan vote will square off in a one-match sudden death format. Moneymaker-Farha will feature a best two-out-of-three format, with each player starting once with their original 2003 starting stack, and a third time if necessary with both holding identical starting chip stacks.
ESPN will film the matches for airing on Tuesday, July 26 on ESPN, in what will be the first shows of the 2011 ESPN schedule.
In addition, ESPN3, ESPN's broadband service, will stream the matches on June 2nd -- and do so on a five-minute delay without hole cards.