NBC Heads Up Poker Championship

In 2005 NBC Television brought heads-up poker into the mainstream with the broadcast of the inaugural National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Showing this on a Sunday afternoon undoubtedly brought televised poker to a whole new audience.

The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship is a yearly invitational event which brings together 64 of the worlds best poker players. The first round games are randomly drawn with each player being assigned to a ‘bracket’ comprising hearts, diamonds, spades or clubs.

 

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The format is a simple single game knockout with the matches after the first round structured so that each player plays someone of an opposing suit. At the semi-final stage there is one player from each bracket left – at this stage the remaining diamond plays the remaining heart and likewise the spade and club players.

The final differs from the qualifying rounds in that it is a best of three matches. With a cool $1.5 million total prize pool to play for and the crème of the world’s poker talent there is always scope for some exiting televised poker.

The first NBC Heads-Up Championship in 2005 was won by Phil Hellmuth Jr. Following some tough qualifying matches against Huck Seed, Lyle Berman and Antonio Esfandiari, Hellmuth found himself facing World Series Main Event winner Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson in the best of 3 final. After a tough 3-match final Hellmuth took down the title by two games to one.

Hellmuth was not so successful in 2006 – losing his first round match against David ‘Chip’ Reese. This heads-up championship was won by Ted Forest who defeated Erik Seidel, Chad Brown, Ernie Dureck, Sam Farha and Shahram Sheikhan on his way to the final table. Once again Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson came in the runners up position – again losing the final two games to one.

The 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Championship was won by Paul Wasicka defeating Chad Brown two games to zero in the final. This year saw a total of 9 women in the 64 player line-up providing a great balance to the previously male dominated tournaments. Actress and poker expert Shannon Elizabeth made the quarter finals before being defeated by Wasicka on his way to the overall victory.

The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship has done great things for the popularity of heads-up poker matches. With a large selection of online poker-rooms now offering this exiting form of poker you are only a few clicks away from winning your first heads up match!