Head's Up Tournament on TV |
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Posted Sat Jan 28, 2006 3:31 pm GMT by PistolPolly
David vs. Goliath. Coke vs. Pepsi. Friends vs. Seinfeld. Some of the world’s biggest battles have been heads-up, and in the poker world, the theme is no different.
That’s why when NBC announced in 2005 it was going to run a heads-up tournament with 64 of the best poker players, the poker world took notice. This year, the poker world is taking notice again.
Fresh off record numbers from the National Heads-Up Poker Championship last year, NBC will televise the 2006 NHPC. This year the tournament will be held at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and all the poker greats will likely be there: Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Ivey, to name a few.
The tournament will run much the same way it did last year. Sixty-four players will compete for the title of National Heads-Up Champion in a format similar to the NCAA basketball tournament.
First-round matchups will be decided at random at the GQ Magazine opening night draw party on March 3. Matches will be played in Caesar’s brand-new poker room.
While the exact schedule of events has not been finalized, the tournament will likely shape up like this: March 3 will be the invite-only party to be held at Caesar’s for players and their guests.
Once matchups have been determined, players will return on Saturday, March 4 to play their first-round matches in four different brackets: hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs. On Sunday, March 5 the field will narrow to eight. And on Monday, March 6, the final eight players will return to crown the champion of the NHPC.
Last year, in what was arguably the poker event of the year, Phil Hellmuth plowed through one of the most difficult fields in poker history, winning the NHPC title after defeating Chris “Jesus” Ferguson in a best-of-three match.
After Hellmuth easily took the first match against Ferguson, viewers were treated to a classic Hellmuth blowup. On the third hand of the second match, Ferguson, holding 9-2 offsuit, raised Hellmuth’s big blind. Hellmuth called with Ace-Three of hearts. The flop came 9-5-2 with one heart, a monster flop for Ferguson.
Ferguson bet the flop and Hellmuth called. The turn was the 4 of hearts, giving Hellmuth a straight (and a flush draw). Ferguson checked his two pair and Hellmuth bet. Ferguson calmly check-raised Hellmuth. Hellmuth then went all-in and Ferguson began muttering to himself.
Ferguson was pretty sure he was beat, but he still couldn’t let go of his hand. Reluctantly, Ferguson called, and when the cards were flipped over, Ferguson realized he needed a miracle 9 or 2 or else Hellmuth would be the champion.
After the turn, when the chips were all-in, Hellmuth was nearly a 91 percent favorite to win the match and the title. To Hellmuth’s shock and dismay, the river brought one of the remaining two nines. Hellmuth collapsed to the ground like a fallen heavyweight boxer who just got KO’d.
After walking out of the Golden Nugget pavilion to calm himself down, Hellmuth returned 20 minutes later for the rubber match. Despite this bad beat, Hellmuth regained his composure and won the third match and the title. He treated the crowd to bottles of Dom Perignon after his victory.
Now, with the 2006 NHPC on the horizon, there are lots of questions to be answered. Will this year bring another epic heavyweight battle? Will Hellmuth defend his title? Will we see another David v. Goliath battle? The answers to these questions can be seen on NBC, which will televise the NHPC in April and May.
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Posted Sat Jan 28, 2006 4:47 pm GMT by Johny
The hand above is incorrect, there were 3 hearts on the board on the turn and Hellmuth had A3os, with the A  .
Anyways, I really liked watching it last year, heads-up play makes a change from regurlar tournaments, which are usually all-in fests.
Posted Sat Jan 28, 2006 10:28 pm GMT by PistolPolly
I stand corrected!
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