NBC announced the National Heads-Up Poker Championship schedule.
Event:
March 5: GoDaddy.com Draw Party (at PURE in Caesars Palace)
March 6-8: National Heads-Up Poker Championship (Caesars Palace)
Television coverage:
April 12: Noon - 2PM ET
April 19: Noon - 1PM ET
April 26: Noon - 2PM ET
May 3: Noon - 2PM ET
May 10: Noon - 2PM ET
May 17: Noon - 3PM ET
A chart of the brackets (warning: contains results) is on NBC's web site. The list of qualifiers (criteria) and invitees (press release), with new players in bold:
1. David Benyamine
2. Andy Bloch
3. Chad Brown
4. Doyle Brunson
5. Johnny Chan
6. Don Cheadle
7. Glen Chorny
8. Allen Cunningham
9. Hevad Khan (replacing Ivan Demidov)
10. Annie Duke
11. Tom Dwan
12. Peter Eastgate
13. Eli Elezra
14. Antonio Esfandiari
15. Sam Farha
16. Chris Ferguson
17. Scott Fischman
18. David Oppenheim (replacing Layne Flack)
19. Ted Forrest
20. Brad Garrett
21. Jamie Gold
22. Clonie Gowen
23. Barry Greenstein
24. Gavin Griffin
25. Bertrand Grospellier
26. Joe Hachem
27. Gus Hansen
28. Jennifer Harman
29. Phil Hellmuth
30. Orel Hershiser
31. Jeffrey Ishbia (Caesars qualifier)
32. Phil Ivey
33. John Juanda
34. Gabe Kaplan
35. Phil Laak
36. Howard Lederer
37. Erick Lindgren
38. Jonathan Little
39. Mike Matusow
40. Dario Minieri
41. Chris Moneymaker
42. Daniel Negreanu
43. Scotty Nguyen
44. David Pham
45. John Phan
46. Greg Raymer
47. Vanessa Rousso
48. Ilari Sahamies
49. Huck Seed
50. Vanessa Selbst
51. Erik Seidel
52. Mike Sexton
53. Gavin Smith
54. Jennifer Tilly
55. J.C. Tran
56. Kenny Tran
57. Paul Wasicka
58. David Williams
59. Jerry Yang
60. Leon Yanovski (online qualifier)
61. Caesars qualifier
62. Online qualifier
63. Online qualifier
64. Online qualifier
Prize pool:
Places 9-16: $25,000
Places 5-8: $75,000
Places 3-4: $125,000
2nd place: $250,000
1st place: $500,000
The prize pool totals $1,500,000, $220,000 more than the buyins (64 x $20,000).
See also our previous coverage of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
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Friday, January 09, 2009
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NBC announced the almost-final lineup for the NHUPC. A few online and Caesars Palace qualifiers have yet to be determined. The new players this year are:
ReplyDeleteGlen Chorny
Ivan Demidov
Peter Eastgate
Brad Garrett
Gavin Griffin
Bertrand Grospelier
Jeffrey Ishbia (Caesars qualifier)
Dario Minieri
John Phan
Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies
Vanessa Selbst
Leon Yanovski (online qualifier)
2008 players who aren't returning:
Jason Alexander
Patrik Antonius
Jean-Robert Bellande
Todd Brunson
Scott Clements
TJ Cloutier
Freddy Deeb
Bill Edler
Sam Grizzle
Tom Kelly (qualifier)
Alisha Kunze (qualifier)
Michael Mizrachi
Hooman Nikzad (qualifier)
Tom Schneider
Dan Schreiber
David Singer
Brian Townsend
The full list of players is in this post, above.
Credit to Kevmath for compiling the list of players that aren't returning.
Ivan Demidov was not able to attend the NHUPC due to visa issues and was replaced by Hevad Khan.
ReplyDeleteThe brackets are now up on NBC's site.
ReplyDeleteDavid Oppenheim replaced Layne Flack in his first-round match after Flack was arrested after the draw party for drunken driving.
ReplyDeleteFlack says he did nothing wrong:
ReplyDeleteI was pulled over for speeding and refused a breathalyzer test as I have been instructed to do. I have no idea why I was written a ticket for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. There were no emergency vehicles around, besides the police car. A test, given by the Las Vegas PD, later revealed that I had a blood alcohol content of zero. I also took a blood test, as I have nothing to hide. I was held for the mandatory six hours and released. I always go out of my way to not drink and drive.
Andrew Robl debunked Flack's statement however.
ReplyDeletePoker News Daily has an interview with NBC sports executive Jon Miller about the NHUPC. I learned that people watch poker shows to see action and stars, not poker:
ReplyDeleteSome people wish we could take more time with the blinds, but viewers want to see action. Other people want to expand the tournament to 128 or 256 players, but right now you're guaranteed to see stars.
Mori Eskandani talked to CardPlayer about the mix of invitees, among other things.
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned in our update a couple of weeks ago, Mori Eskandani talked about the National Heads-Up Poker Championship on the March 4 episode of Wise Hand Poker. The most interesting part, to me, was the discussion of the selection process. One of the most obvious snubs was David Chiu, who won the WPT Championship. For some reason the WPT Championship winner doesn't get an automatic invite, though the EPT Championship winner does.
ReplyDelete