Third Try's the Charm

Despite its relatively young four-year existence, the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship can now lay claim to a little historical significance in the poker world. Two opponents, best known for being the bridesmaid, not the bride, stepped into the spotlight of the final table for yet another shot at redemption. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson made his third trip to the finals in four years, but had yet to claim the title. Andy Bloch, widely known as the guy who lost heads up to the late Chip Reese in the inaugural World Series of Poker $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. championship, hoped to prove once and for all that he was capable of closing out a big buy-in event. But before history was to be made, 64 players had to become two.

Trimming the Field
Many of the game's top professionals were invited to play in what is considered to be one of the more exclusive tournaments of the year, but this made-for-TV event also gave a few of Hollywood's own the chance to showcase their skills. Actors Don Cheadle, Jason Alexander, and last year's final-four participant Shannon Elizabeth all went out in the first round, succumbing to seasoned pros, but not every amateur had a tough time with the competition. Orel Hershiser, a former World Series MVP pitcher, stunned the field by becoming this year's Cinderella story and advancing all the way to the "elite eight."

The biggest draw of the tournament was none other than Phil Hellmuth, who was going up against young online pro Tom "durrrr" Dwan. Hellmuth, the 2005 champion, was forced to miss last year's event due to prior obligations. His replacement, Paul Wasicka, went on to win and collect the $500,000 first-place prize. Hellmuth was coming off a strong showing at the L.A. Poker Classic, and seemed more amped than usual; little did he know that a bad beat would end his tournament just three hands in. Dwan got it all in preflop with pocket tens against the Poker Brat's pocket aces, and, of course, a 10 on the turn sent Hellmuth to the proverbial rail, much to the delight of the crowd looking for a Hellmuth-esque tirade.

While that first-round matchup ended rather quickly, Phil Ivey had his hands full with online qualifier Alisha Kunze. Kunze won her seat on PokerStars by beating out roughly 800,000 freeroll players for the honor, and just happened to randomly draw the toughest player in the field. Ivey, fresh off his win in L.A., was down to his last few chips and desperate, when he picked up pocket aces to turn the match around. Fifteen minutes later, it was all over, and Ivey had survived quite a scare.

The Elite Eight
Two days later, it was down to eight, featuring seven of the world's best players with one curveball thrown in for good measure. In the hearts bracket, Bloch took on Hershiser, who never really got anything going and was eliminated when his J-10 failed to catch up to Bloch's A-9. Despite falling just short of his goal, Hershiser gained some respect on the felt and showed some class by sticking around to see how it all turned out.

Across the stage in the diamonds bracket, Huck Seed took on nosebleed high-stakes cash-game player David Benyamine. Seed flopped a set and got Benyamine to commit his chips on the river with an overpair to win the match and advance to his second final four.

The set was then cleared to make way for the quaterfinals of the spades and clubs brackets, featuring some of the game's most elite. In the clubs bracket, young gun Jonathan Little was matched up with perennial favorite Ferguson. Little had Ferguson down 7-1 in chips, but three double-ups later, Little was exiting Caesars Palace, wondering what could have been.

In the spades bracket sat two of the game's most well-known players in Ivey and Gus Hansen. Ivey made quick work of the Great Dane after flopping the second-nut flush to send him home.

Final Four
The final four was an all Full Tilt Poker affair, and the pros gathered to see who would survive to face off in the finals. Because he was on a roll and more focused than ever, many predicted that Ivey would steamroll Ferguson out of the tournament, but Ivey was all in with a lower pair and missed all of his straight draws to hit the rail. Ivey earned $125,000 for his efforts, a relatively small sum, considering the nearly $1.6 million he pocketed the week before.

Seed then took on Bloch for the final remaining seat. After trading pots back and forth for a while, Bloch won a coin flip with A-Q against Seed's pocket nines, and advanced to the finals.



And Then There Were Two …
Bloch and Ferguson sat down for a best-of-three competition to see who would take home $500,000 and, perhaps more importantly, get the monkey off his back. Ferguson struck first, building his stack to a 4-1 chip lead before disaster struck in the form of two coolers. First, Bloch doubled up with a flush that bested Ferguson's set of eights. Then, Ferguson's top pair, top kicker ran into Bloch's flopped trips to give the first match to the former MIT blackjack team member.

Ferguson would not go quietly, however. After getting an overpair to hold up against Bloch's open-end straight draw, Ferguson made quad queens to take the second match and tie it up. The final match would determine everything, and the crowd stood by ready to embrace the champion.

The third match came down to a tough decision decided by a coin flip. But this wasn't your everyday poker coin flip; it literally was a coin flip. Ferguson raised from the button to 25,000, and Bloch made the call. The flop came 10 7 3, and Ferguson bet 35,000. Bloch check-raised to 105,000, and Ferguson called. The turn was the 7, and Bloch bet out 150,000. Ferguson moved all in and Bloch went into the tank. He tanked for a full seven minutes before eventually deciding to flip a coin for his fate. The coin landed on heads, and Bloch called, showing the 10 4 for top pair and a flush draw, but Ferguson's J J held the lead, albeit a small one. The river was the safe 7, giving Ferguson the better full house and the victory. Bloch took home $250,000 for his efforts, and Ferguson walked away with the trophy, a championship watch, $500,000, a $10,000 seat in the 2008 World Series of Poker main event, and a monkey-less back. "Third try's the charm," said Ferguson as he hoisted up the championship trophy.

Heads Up With Jonathan Miller
Executive Vice President of NBC Sports Discusses the Network's Commitment to Poker
By Ryan Lucchesi

Ryan Lucchesi: Let's talk about NBC's commitment to poker. How do you see the relationship continuing?

Jonathan Miller: As long as it continues to be a good business opportunity, and as long as the ratings continue to be strong, and as long as we continue to develop sponsorships and people who want to support the brand on television, we'll continue doing it. The ratings have been very good, in four years; the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship is the highest-rated poker on television. It beats the World Series of Poker, it beats the World Poker Tour, it beats any other poker that's out there, so, clearly, it's found an audience.

RL: I think a lot of that has to do with the players and personalities in the field. What goes into the selection process on your side?

JM: There's a committee of several people who are involved in the event, and they go through a list of close to 150 to 200 names, and they obviously like to select the best players who not only play in big cash games, but are some of the best Internet players, as well. They look at players who have good personalities and those who have won big events, like the World Series of Poker main event. And then you obviously want to bring in some celebrities … and then, obviously, to have some qualifiers.

RL: How does poker perform compared to other sports that are featured on NBC Sports?

JM: It does well. You know that it's never going to out-deliver the NFL, or college football, or the PGA Tour, but it certainly does as well as regular-season college basketball, and it does better than the NHL does in some cases. It's got a consistent audience that seeks it out, and it's also a very desirable demographic for sports advertisers.

RL: What can you tell me about the future of poker on NBC Sports?

JM: There are no new shows in development right now; I mean, obviously, we expanded with Poker After Dark. It's now in its second year, and we are going to bring it back for a third year, as it continues to perform extremely well in late-night. And as far as Heads-Up is concerned, it started four years ago, basically on the back of a napkin, and it's grown from eight hours to 10 hours, and in the past two years we have gone to 12 hours. I think we'll keep it at 12 hours, but it does terrific numbers all the way around for us.

Heads Up With Mori Eskandani:
The Man Behind the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship
By Ryan Lucchesi

When Jonathan Miller, the executive vice president of NBC Sports, was asked about the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, he gave all of the credit for its success to one man, Mori Eskandani.

"Without Mori, I can tell you for a fact that there would be no poker on NBC--period," said Miller. "He's able to navigate between the poker players, casinos, sponsors, production, all the different levels, and you need somebody like that. It's very, very rare to find somebody who can play so well in the sandbox with all of those different groups, because they're not always trying to do the same thing."

Card Player caught up with Eskandani in between takes on the show's set at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Here's what he had to say:

Ryan Lucchesi: Do you think it is important to bring the general audience the heads-up game? Do you think this show highlights that there is so much more to the heads-up game?

Mori Eskandani: That's what we're doing here. This is just a really entertaining tournament to watch. It's formatted like NCAA March Madness, and when it comes down to the end, the players get really excited about it; you can see that they are genuinely nervous.

RL: This is poker's biggest stage of the year on network television. What do you think about that?

ME: This is the highest-rated poker show, and we're very proud of it. By the time this series is over, there will be 12 hours of shows in April and May, and there will be more than 20 million people who see the show.

RL: What do you think about poker making the transition into the mainstream?

ME: It's about time. It's been an American game for decades and decades, from the bars and saloons of Texas to, as Doyle [Brunson] put it, "on the road," and finally into the casinos and onto the Internet. It's a great game; really, you would have a tough time thinking of a game that has this many participants. Everybody plays it, everybody enjoys it, and it challenges you mentally, physically, and psychologically.

Four-for-Four With Something to Prove
By Julio Rodriguez

In the short history of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, only two players have been able to make the money in all four years. No, it's not Ferguson or Hellmuth. That honor belongs to Scott Fischman and Huck Seed.

Because of Fischman's early World Series of Poker success in televised events, he has always been an easy invite choice for NBC. Despite his "elite-eight" appearance in 2005, Fischman hasn't been able to crack the "sweet 16" since, cashing every year, yet unable to defeat more than his first two opponents. The experience has no doubt been frustrating for one of the more consistent players in the event, but his accomplishment is impressive, nonetheless.

Seed has two sweet-16 finishes on his resume, in 2005 and 2007, but has been able to one-up Fischman in terms of deep finishes. Seed was able to make the final four not only this year, but also in 2006.

Next year, both of these professionals will make the trip to Caesars Palace and attempt to make it five-for-five, but it is doubtful that merely cashing will satisfy either of them. They may be a solid pick in your office pool, but pride and bragging rights are on the line. Like Ferguson before them, Seed and Fischman head into next year seeking a bit of redemption.