National Heads-Up Poker Championship Slated for March

LAS VEGAS - Brunson. Chan. Hellmuth. Moneymaker. Fossilman. Name the top poker players in the world, and it's likely they're a part of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship (NHPC) on NBC. 
Phil Hellmuth has won more World Series of Poker events than any other player.  The 2006 National Heads-Up Poker Championship will be contested March 3-6 in the casino at Caesars Palace and feature a total purse of $1.5 million, including a top prize of $500,000. NBC will broadcast 10 hours of 2006 tournament action over six episodes during April and May.

The National Heads-Up Poker Championship features 64 of the world's best poker players competing in a series of heads-up matches to determine who is the best one-on-one poker player in the world. The tournament has a unique, one-on-one, single-elimination, bracket-style format modeled after college basketball tournaments. Win your match and advance to the next round; win six matches and be crowned champion.

The first round is seeded randomly in a live drawing held the night before the tournament begins. Players are divided into four brackets - Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades - and advance to the second round by winning a heads-up match against their randomly drawn opponent. The structure of the brackets then determines every match thereafter. The semifinals are comprised 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 hands final then determines which one of the two finalists is crowned champion.

The inaugural edition of the tournament, held at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas in early March 2005, generated big crowds at the casino and strong buzz in the poker community. Among the 64 competitors were 11 World Series of Poker Main Event champions: Greg "Fossilman" Raymer (2004), Chris Moneymaker (2003), Carlos Mortensen (2001), Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (2000), Scotty Nguyen (1998), Huck Seed (1996), Phil Hellmuth (1989), Johnny Chan (1987, 1988), Tom McEvoy (1983), Bobby Baldwin (1978), and Doyle Brunson (1976, 1977). Also participating were some of the top younger players in the world, including Daniel Negreanu, the 2004 player of the year; Erick Lindgren, the 2004 World Poker Tour player of the year; and Phil Ivey, arguably the best high-stakes cash game player in the world; as well as celebrity poker enthusiasts including Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss and Hollywood actor and Oscar nominee James Woods.

The tournament also generated solid ratings on NBC. The first season averaged four million television viewers for each of the six telecasts (eight total hours), and six million people watched the season finale on May 22, when Phil Hellmuth bested Chris Ferguson during a two-hour telecast.