• National Heads Up Poker Tournament
• 2020 National Heads Up Poker Tournament
• National Heads Up Poker Tournament

With Patrik Antonius, David Berryamine, Humberto Brenes, Doyle Brunson. 64 of the Poker world's top players squared off in head to head play. Only one would take the title. The National Heads-Up Poker Championship is 64 players compete in heads-up matches single elimination style to determine a winner. It is one of the most prestigious heads up poker tournaments and it is the first tournament produced by a television network. Mike Matusow emerged as the champion of the NBC National Heads-up Poker Championship, winning the first cash prize of $750,000 and 504 Card Player Player of the Year (POY) points for his achievement. Matusow had to defeat his friend Phil Hellmuth, winner of the 2005 NBC event, to become the champion. National Heads-Up Poker Championship is a annual televised poker tournament held in United States and aired by NBC. The difference of other very successful tournaments is that National Heads-Up Poker Championship is a 'invitation-only' poker tournament with a minimum buy-in of $25.000.

The National Heads-Up Poker Championship was an annual poker tournament held in the United States and produced by the NBC television network.^[1] It is a $25,000 'buy-in' invitation-only tournament^[2] organized as a series of one-on-one games of no limitTexas hold 'em matches. The participants include many of the world's most successful poker players, as well as celebrities.

The championship was the first poker event to be televised on and produced by a major U.S. television network.^[1]

In October 2011, NBC announced that the National Heads-Up Poker Championship would not return in 2012, ending the championship's seven-year run.^[3] After a one-year hiatus, the tournament returned for a final time in 2013.^[4]The $25,000 buy-in event ran from Jan. 24 through 26 at Caesars Palace, the same venue where the event was held from 2006 through 2011.

In February 2014, NBC announced the National Heads-Up Poker Championship would not return in 2014.

The Heads-Up Championship had been sponsored by online poker companies before Black Friday. The World Series of Poker (WSOP.com) is the new presenting sponsor.^[5]

Structure[edit]

The single-elimination tournament is modeled after college basketball tournaments. Players who win a match advance to the next round; the player who wins six matches is crowned champion.

The first round is seeded randomly the night before the tournament begins. Players are divided into four brackets – Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades. A participant advances by winning a heads-up match against his or her randomly drawn opponent. The structure of the brackets then determines every match thereafter. The semifinals consist of one player from each bracket, with the winner of the Spades bracket playing the winner of the Clubs bracket, and the winner of the Hearts bracket matched up against the winner of the Diamonds bracket. A best-of-three final match then determines which of the two finalists is crowned champion.

Brief history[edit]

The National Heads-Up Poker Championship is an invitation-only event. In contrast, the World Heads-Up Poker Championship is an open event with a maximum participation of 128 players.

The 2005 event took place at the Golden Nugget Las Vegas between March 4 and March 6. It aired weekly on NBC from May 1 to May 22 with commentary from Gabe Kaplan and Matt Vasgersian.

National Heads Up Poker Tournament

The 2006 edition took place from March 4 to 6 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. NBC began its coverage by broadcasting one part of the opening round on April 16. The semi-final and championship matches aired May 21. Kaplan and Vasgersian returned as commentators.

The 2007 edition was broadcast from April 8 to May 20. Ali Nejad took Gabe Kaplan's spot as commentator due to Kaplan competing in the tournament.

Results[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abNBC Spot in the Cards for Poker Tourney February 2005 article from the Las Vegas Sun
2. ^NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship Inks Four-year Deal with Caesars, a May 2008 article from pokernews.com
3. ^'NBC Cancels National Heads-Up Poker Championship'. PokerNews. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
4. ^'NBC Brings Back National Heads-Up Poker Championship'. PokerNews. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
5. ^'National Heads-Up Poker Championship returns to Caesars Palace'. Retrieved 14 January 2013.

The selection committee for NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship, hosted by Leeann Tweeden (at right), has just announced a list of automatic ways to get invited to upcoming Heads-Up Championships. Or put another way, the Top 15 Reasons Your Chances of Getting Invited to Upcoming Heads-Up Championships are Slim to None. Except for maybe the ALL In magazine Player of the Year one. That seems like it may be easy to win.

Here are the 15 ways to earn an auto-invite (full press release after the jump):

– Previous 5 National Heads-Up Poker Champions
– Previous 2 National Heads-Up runners-up
– Defending National Heads-Up semifinalists
– Any player who cashes in the past 4 consecutive years of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship
– Previous 3 World Series of Poker Main Event Champions
– Defending World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up
– Beginning with the 2008 WSOP, multiple bracelet winners in the same year will receive an automatic invitation to the next Heads-Up Championship
– Defending World Series of Poker Player of the Year
– Defending World Series of Poker Heads-Up Champion
– Defending World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Champion (must be 21 or older)
– Reigning World Poker Tour Player of the Year
– Reigning Monte Carlo European Poker Tour Grand Final Champion (must be 21 or older)
– Reigning Card Player magazine Player of the Year
– Reigning Bluff magazine Player of the Year
– Reigning ALL IN magazine Player of the Year

——————–

Criteria for Automatic Invitations to Future National Heads-Up Poker Championships Established

Categories created which ensure an invitation to play in next year’s event and beyond

NEW YORK – April 29, 2008 – Based upon the resounding success of NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship over the past 4 years, the selection committee involved with determining which players are invited has reviewed the fields assembled and decided to implement a list of automatic invitations for upcoming Heads-Up Championships. Similar in nature to the list of exemptions and automatic qualifiers issued in some other sports, the committee has established a number of different categories ensuring that the players who qualify in each one will receive an invitation to play.

Viewers of the 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship are currently witnessing the toughest field ever assembled in its history, featuring 11 former World Champions, 6 WPT Players of the Year, a combined total of 112 World Series of Poker bracelets won between the players, and collective live tournament winnings in excess of $124 million. The identification of the categories found below that will receive automatic invitations will help to ensure that the quality of the fields in future events will remain of the same high caliber.

The list is as follows:

· Previous 5 National Heads-Up Poker Champions

· Previous 2 National Heads-Up runners-up

· Defending National Heads-Up semifinalists

· Any player who cashes in the past 4 consecutive years of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship

· Previous 3 World Series of Poker Main Event Champions

· Defending World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up

· Beginning with the 2008 WSOP, multiple bracelet winners in the same year will receive an automatic invitation to the next Heads-Up Championship

· Defending World Series of Poker Player of the Year

· Defending World Series of Poker Heads-Up Champion

· Defending World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Champion (must be 21 or older)

· Reigning World Poker Tour Player of the Year

· Reigning Monte Carlo European Poker Tour Grand Final Champion (must be 21 or older)

· Reigning Card Player magazine Player of the Year

· Reigning Bluff magazine Player of the Year

· Reigning ALL IN magazine Player of the Year

· Online and NBC qualifiers (1-3) (must be 21 or older)

· Host venue qualifiers (2)

As it stands, if no one player qualifies for an invitation in more than one category, then there will be as many as 27 different players who will receive a guaranteed invitation to play in 2009. That number could also rise if another player wins two or more bracelets in the 2008 World Series of Poker. It should be noted that the players who earn their invitation by achieving one or more of the above are still responsible for buying into the tournament, unless, of course, they win their seat through one of the qualifiers.
The list can be changed at the committee’s discretion, i.e. more automatic bids can be added, but at the very least, it will be used for the 2009 event. The committee also reserves the right to withhold an invitation to a player in certain circumstances. Unless otherwise noted, the World Series of Poker refers to the event(s) held in Las Vegas.

2020 National Heads Up Poker Tournament

NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship is the most widely-watched of all poker programming on television. The event showcases the skills of many of the world’s best players, along with a few poker-playing celebrities, who must win 6 heads-up matches in a row in order to claim the prestigious and coveted title. Past winners in this event are Phil Hellmuth (2005), Ted Forrest (2006), Paul Wasicka (2007), and Chris Ferguson (2008), who have 21 World Series of Poker bracelets between them and combined career tournament winnings in excess of $28 million. These statistics alone are an indication of the strength of the field one has to conquer in order to be crowned the National Heads-Up Poker Champion.

National Heads Up Poker Tournament

The 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship continues to air the next three Sundays, May 4, May 11, and May 18 at noon EDT on NBC. The shows on May 4 and May 11 are each 2 hours in length, and the one on May 18 is a special 3-hour finale. Check your local listings for exact times in your area.