Enter the Singer

At World Poker Tour tournaments, all of the press and the publicity go to the big buy-in events with the televised final tables. But a lot more happens at these tournaments than what you see on CardPlayer.com's home page or the Travel Channel. The 2006 Mirage Poker Showdown featured 12 events other than the $10,000 no-limit hold'em championship, and one of the more memorable, which received little press coverage and will never see the warm glow of a television set, was the $7,500 no-limit hold'em heads-up tournament, won by FullTilt "friend" and poker pro David Singer.

The event drew a field of 67 players and employed a bracket system similar to the NCAA basketball tournament and NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Unlike March Madness and the NBC event, which are single elimination, the Mirage tournament challenged players to win two out of three games against an opponent, at every level, in order to advance.

The format favored skill and strategy over luck. As a result, the Sweet Sixteen featured some of the biggest names in the game, including Singer, Erick Lindgren, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Michael Gracz, Eli Elezra, Farzad Bonyadi, Thang "Kido" Pham, and Dan Harrington.

"It's pretty hard for a nonpro to win a heads-up tournament," said Singer, who executed five consecutive come-from-behind victories en route to the championship.

Singer defeated Surinder Sunar, Joseph Sanders, Lindgren, and Anthony Reategui after losing the first game of each match. "I tend to be an aggressive player," Singer said, "but the basis for heads up is adjusting to what players do." For Singer, the inspiration behind his tournament strategy came from an unlikely source, yet someone who excelled in the world of one-on-one combat - namely, martial arts legend Bruce Lee. "Be like water," the phrase Lee employed to describe the fluid style of his fighting technique, became the mantra for Singer's poker technique.

In the championship, Singer faced Elezra. Both players started with $20,000 in chips and, for the first time in the tournament, Singer took game one. During the second game, with the chip lead, Singer made an adjustment that no one saw coming: He granted Elezra, a devoted family man, a three-and-a-half-hour break to attend his niece's graduation party at Lake Las Vegas.

Upon returning, Elezra closed the gap, but Singer's fluid, stoic playing style proved successful yet again. On the final hand, Elezra pushed all in with undercards and Singer called with A-5. An ace hit on the flop and Elezra's hand failed to improve.

Here were the final standings:
1. David Singer - $232,800
2. Eli Elezra - $83,808
3. Anthony Reategui - $46,560
4. Thang "Kido" Pham - $27,936
5. Anthony Newman - $18,624
6. Dan Harrington - $18,624
7. William "Bill" Edler - $18,624
8. Erick Lindgren - $18,624

Singer, the 2006 Mirage Poker Showdown heads-up champion, said he found the victory especially rewarding because of the talented field and the challenging tournament format. He followed up the win by placing seventh in the Mirage Poker Showdown championship event, which netted him $92,482 in prize money.

Mr. Lee, the student has become the teacher.