Best of the Best

by Scott Fischman | Published: May 03, 2005

Recently, I attended one of the most exciting poker events that has transpired during my young career. It was the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, put on by NBC and held at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. This amazing tournament was open to only 64 invited participants, and the buy-in was a steep $20,000. Leading up to the event, I did a little research to find out which other players were going to be my competition, and when I saw the list, my jaw dropped to the floor. Almost every person on the list has significantly contributed to the great game of poker and shaped it into what it is today. This was going to be, in my opinion, quite possibly the toughest tournament of the year to win.

I was overwhelmed with joy when I received my invitation, and honored to be grouped with all of the superstars on the list. I immediately started preparing myself for this spectacle of poker. I had tons of experience playing heads-up no-limit hold'em from my online poker playing, but I knew this would be a lot different. I would need to get some good, solid hours of heads-up practice with some great players if I wanted to have a shot in this tournament. A lot of my time spent playing heads up in the past was either at the end of a tournament, when the structure is usually out of whack, or with other online competitors who may not have been very good players. I decided to give Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi a call first. I asked him to take some time out of his busy millionaire schedule to play against me, as if we were the final two players in the World Series main event. He gladly accepted my offer to "donate" some money to him, and we fired it up. After about 16 or so matches, we ended up dead even, and I ended up with a priceless night of knowledge.

Poker is an individual game, but many times while playing in full games, there are numerous factors at play that affect your individual decisions. In most cases, you must rely on the actions of the other players at the table in order to make the best decisions. Oftentimes, it is very difficult with nine other players sending you mixed signals to acquire all of the information needed on one particular person. When playing heads up, there is a completely different dynamic. The only things to focus on are the player across the table from you and yourself. It is a lot easier to concentrate and process all of the messages being sent to you by your opponent. I would have to say that heads-up poker is the true test of skill and considerably cuts down the element of luck as a deciding factor in determining a winner. Given plenty of chips and ample time, the best player should almost always rise to the top.

At the inaugural National Heads-Up Poker Championship, that is exactly what happened – the best players rose to the top. I want to give you a quick rundown of my experience there, but I don't want to go into too much detail, since this tournament will be heavily televised on NBC in the coming months and I don't want to spoil too much of the action. There were indeed some amazing performances there, and the first thing I would like to share with you is what I witnessed from Antonio Esfandiari. Although there were no easy matches in the 64-player field, I don't think anybody faced as tough a lineup as Antonio did. His first match was against the "Professor" of poker, Howard Lederer. It was definitely not a match I would like to have in the first round, but Antonio made it through – only to meet (uh-oh!) Daniel Negreanu next. Somehow, "The Magician" was able to make Daniel disappear, but hiding behind door No. 3 was Ted Forrest. Undoubtedly, they are three of the best players in the world, and not one of them could figure out the magic of Antonio. That brought him to the "Elite Eight" round, where his match was against none other than yours truly.

Before I tell you what happened in my match with Antonio, I'll give you a brief recap of how I made it to the round of eight. My first match was against my dear friend Annie Duke. I had some mixed emotions about playing her in the first round, but figured that one of us, at least, would be making it to the second round, so I might as well have a bit of fun while playing her. We played a lighthearted, fun match, and the cards were on my side. I then sat in the bleachers, sweating a match between Dennis Wager and Erik Seidel, as I would be facing the winner in the next round. After fighting and clawing his way back from near elimination, Dennis pulled off the unthinkable and sent Erik packing. My match with Dennis was anything but easy, as he was playing with some confidence after eliminating Seidel. We played for quite a while and I finally put him to sleep, but at the conclusion of our match, he grabbed the microphone, pulled his girlfriend onto the stage, and proposed marriage to her. At that point, I felt a teeny bit guilty about beating him, but poker is poker, and I was happy to be in the "Sweet 16." Upon arriving at the Golden Nugget the next morning, I found David Sklanksy sitting across the table from me. I was playing at the top of my game, but was stunned to defeat such a master of the game as Sklansky in a relatively short period of time. It was on to the "Elite Eight" for me – and my next match would not be easy. The cameras were rolling and so was Antonio. He played a style unlike any of my first three opponents and got me rattled right away. I was frustrated and mentally off my game, which forced me to gamble more than I wanted to. Before I could adjust to the onslaught of aggression thrown at me, the match was over. Antonio must have been wondering how I made it through my first three matches. I played horribly against him, but I credit that to his ability to get inside my head and counteract my style.

After getting knocked out, I headed straight to the airport. I was very disappointed that I couldn't win the tournament, but I was also very happy to get as far as I did. Making it down to the final eight players from the toughest field of 64 players ever put together was an accomplishment of which I am truly proud. The next day, I ran into Phil Hellmuth, who won that tournament. I congratulated him on his amazing performance, and I can't wait to see the last few matches on NBC when it airs. I am curious to see how in the world Phil beat Antonio, because I thought there was no way Antonio was going to lose after taking down Howard, Daniel, Ted, and me. I guess there is always next year!