On Tuesday, the newest World Series of Poker episode aired on ESPN and featured coverage of the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship, a brand new event on the WSOP slate. A player needed to win seven heads-up matches in a row in order to come out on top of the 128-man field and the final four were born in four separate countries.

Players began with one-third of their starting stack and were afforded two add-ons, which they could use at any point except for while a hand was in progress. Jack Link’s Beef Jerky provided sponsorship of the hole card cameras, while players’ faces and country flags appeared on the screen. Devoid from the broadcast were advertisements for former U.S. sites like PokerStars and Full Tilt, which had become a staple of poker television programming.

Yevgeniy Jovial GentTimoshenko (pictured) and Eric EFro Froehlich tangled in the first heads-up match shown on ESPN, which started its coverage of the tournament in the semifinals. Timoshenko opened up a 2:1 chip lead before Froehlich re-raised all-in on a 7-K-6 flop with 9-8 for a straight draw. Timoshenko, who held A-7, called to set up a coin flip, which ended with Froehlich making a straight on the turn. Timoshenko promptly asked for his first add-on.

Froehlich then got his chips in pre-flop with A-Q against pocket eights, but couldn’t pair either of his hole cards and was forced to add on for the first time. The Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Wild Card Hand, which now has four choices as to what a player could have, saw Timoshenko spike trip aces.

Froehlich ultimately added on again after his pocket eights could not out-flip Timoshenko’s A-9 of diamonds. The Ukrainian-born player hit an ace on the turn and seemed to have a stranglehold on the match. Froehlich then moved all-in for his last 13 big blinds with Q-5 of clubs and was met with a call from Timoshenko, who had A-4. Froehlich picked up a flush draw by the river, but the final card bricked out.

The second half of the first one-hour episode on Tuesday night pitted Jake neverbluff67Cody (pictured) against Gus Hansen. The latter was a balmy 12-0 in his last 12 WSOP heads-up matches and the battle began with former FBI agent Joe Navarro breaking down Hansen’s facial expressions like narrow eyes and pursed lips. Then, Brandon Adams shared a “Pro Analysis” of a hand, although it was mostly just a regurgitation of the action.

ESPN commentator Norman Chad called the Cody/Hansen match “shockingly one-sided,” as Hansen, who hails from Monaco, added on and promptly fell into a 7:1 hole. After losing a race, Hansen was down to his final add-on, and his bracelet hopes ended after he moved all-in before the flop with A-4 only to run into Cody’s A-5. No chop came and Cody moved onto the finals to play Timoshenko.

Interestingly, Cody was supposed to enter more WSOP events in 2010, but on the way to the airport, the Brit’s taxi hit a deer. He took the collision as a bad omen and elected just to play in last year’s Main Event.

The second one-hour episode on ESPN was devoted to the finals, which touted the same structure as the semis. Cody and Timoshenko had a combined age of just 45, and the former opened up a lead early after bluffing all-in with queen-high to scoop a pot worth 1.5 million in chips. Cody then 3bet all-in pre-flop with pocket sixes and doubled up after Timoshenko could not improve with A-4.

In a rather bizarre hand, Cody acted out of turn pre-flop with A-2 and Timoshenko elected to capitalize on the situation by 3betting with K-3. Cody responded by shoving all-in and Timoshenko got out of the way, taking his first add-on in the process. Then, Antonio Esfandiari(pictured) broke down a hand as part of the show’s “Pro Analysis.”

Cody scooped 40% of the chips in play after getting it all-in before the flop with A-3 and holding against Timoshenko’s J-10. Timoshenko used his last add-on and promptly called all-in before the flop with A-5 against Cody’s K-9 of clubs. Cody flopped a king and, when Timoshenko was down to his last card, a flood of security guards congregated around Cody’s beer-drinking rail. The final card was a blank and Cody became poker’s youngest Triple Crown winner and captured his first bracelet.

Needless to say, the crowd went wild. Chad gave his take on the rowdy scene in the Amazon Room’s Thunderdome: “I think I’m going to go to a rodeo to relax after this.”

Next week, action from the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship will air on Tuesday from 8:00pm ET to 10:00pm ET on ESPN. If you missed any of this week’s coverage, replays air constantly, so check your local listings for more information.