national heads up poker championship results

Why do you do this to me? I’m sorry, but you’ve got to change it.” He continued, “Go ahead and finish this hand and then we’ll do something about it.” As the dealer was dealing “the pot” ($300/$600 blinds), the producer of the show ( Mori Eskandani) came over to our table and frustratingly said, “Phil, you’ve done it to me again. We started with $20,000 in chips and, after a couple levels of play, we were pretty much even when “ the pot” came up. Finally, I knew all of the pressure would be on him and not on me, as most would expect him to win. In the past, I have had good results against him when he’s been at my table. I really feel like I have a good read on him. I have confidence playing against Hellmuth. I also prefer small ball, so his style suits me, but I was confident that I could switch gears if necessary and come over the top with big raises if I had to just in case “small ball” wasn’t working.

Hellmuth likes “ small ball,” meaning he doesn’t like to play big pots. I truly believe that Hellmuth is the #1 seed in any big-time Hold’em tournament (except this one, as he drew me in Round 1). I also thought we’d be at the feature table. One thing was for sure: I knew our match would generate media attention. Incredibly (as you may know from watching the event unfold on NBC), I drew Hellmuth for my first round match. Well, there were some celebrities in the tournament that you wouldn’t mind drawing, but I really wanted to play Phil Hellmuth and told them so. Prior to the drawing, they asked me who I’d like to play.

I happened to be standing next to two NBC executives at the party. This is always a fun time, as there is an air of excitement and anxiety about who will be playing who. The night prior to the start of the tournament, there is a big cocktail party where the drawing takes place. It has a $20,000 buy-in ($500,000 first place prize) and 64 players, including many of the top names in the world.

The NBC National Heads-Up Championship at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas is quite an event.

National heads up poker championship results