NBC Heads-Up -- 2009 Event Preview

One of the most anticipated poker events of the year begins tomorrow when the first round kicks off at the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. The single-elimination no-limit hold’em heads-up poker tournament will take place in the Caesars Palace poker room, and a champion will be crowned on Sunday, March 8. Every match in the tournament is single elimination, except for the championship match, which is best-of-three, so this brings all of the excitement of March Madness to the world of poker.

The list of 64 players has been announced, but the first-round matches will not be set until the drawing party, which takes place tonight at PURE night club in Caesars Palace at 10 p.m. The matches will be announced live from the party on CardPlayer.com, and you will have the opportunity to make your picks and email them in to [email protected] before play begins on Friday to be eligible for Card Player prizes. Include your shirt size and address along with your picks for each match from the initial 64 all the way down to the final champion. The blank bracket will be posted on the NBC Heads-Up page later tonight so that you can print them out, make your picks, and then see how you did as you follow along in live coverage from the event. Card Player TV will also be filming videos throughout the event. All of the information you need to know about the 2009 edition of this thrilling tournament is provided below:    

Tournament Schedule

Friday, Mar. 6: Round 1 (Begins at 1 p.m.)
Saturday, Mar. 7: Round 2 and Sweet 16 (Begins at 1 p.m.)
Sunday, Mar. 8: Elite Eight, Final Four, and Championship Match (Begins at 11 a.m.)

2009 NBC Heads-Up Field

David Benyamine
Andy Bloch
Chad Brown
Doyle Brunson
Johnny Chan
Don Cheadle
Glen Chorny
Allen Cunningham
Annie Duke
Tom Dwan
Peter Eastgate
Eli Elezra
Antonio Esfandiari
Sam Farha
Chris Ferguson
Scott Fischman
Layne Flack
Ted Forrest
Brad Garrett
Jamie Gold
Clonie Gowen
Barry Greenstein
Gavin Griffin
Bertrand Grospellier
Joe Hachem
Gus Hansen
Jennifer Harman
Phil Hellmuth
Orel Hershiser
Phil Ivey
John Juanda
Gabe Kaplan
Hevad Khan
Phil Laak
Howard Lederer
Erick Lindgren
Jonathan Little
Mike Matusow
Dario Minieri
Chris Moneymaker
Daniel Negreanu
Scotty Nguyen
David Pham
John Phan
Greg Raymer
Vanessa Rousso
Ilari Sahamies
Huck Seed
Vanessa Selbst
Erik Seidel
Mike Sexton
Gavin Smith
Jennifer Tilly
J.C. Tran
Kenny Tran
Paul Wasicka
David Williams
Jerry Yang
Jeffrey Ishbia (Caesars qualifier)
Kenny Yeh (Caesars qualifier)
Leon Yanovski (online qualifier)
Fred Collins (online qualifier)
Blandino Gines (online qualifier)
Nicholas Joy (online qualifier)

Prize Money

1: $500,000
2: $250,000
3-4: $125,000
5-8: $75,000
9-16: $25,000

Television Schedule:

April 12: Noon - 2PM ET/Check local listings for PT
April 19: Noon - 1PM ET/Check local listings for PT
April 26: Noon - 2PM ET/Check local listings for PT
May 3: Noon - 2PM ET/Check local listings for PT
May 10: Noon - 2PM ET/Check local listings for PT
May 17: Noon - 3PM ET/Check local listings for PT

NBC Heads-Up History

Past Champions:

2008: Chris Ferguson
2007: Paul Wasicka
2006: Ted Forrest
2005: Phil Hellmuth

2008 NBC Heads-Up

Champion: Chris Ferguson -- $500,000
Runner-Up: Andy Bloch -- $250,000
T-3rd: Phil Ivey, Huck Seed -- $125,000
T-5th: David Benyamine, Gus Hansen, Orel Hershiser, Jonathan Little -- $75,000
T-9th: J.C. Tran, Phil Laak, Scott Fischman, Mike Matusow, Greg Raymer, Freddy Deeb, Michael Mizrachi, Doyle Brunson -- $25,000

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