2006 Heads-Up Poker Championship Scheduled to Take Place

Last May, 6 million people watched Phil Hellmuth beat Chris "Jesus" Ferguson at the the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, and NBC hopes to top those numbers next year.

The National Heads-Up Poker Championship brings together 64 of the world's best players competing for the top prize of $500,000 in a one-on-one, single-elimination, bracket-style format. The tournament is scheduled to take place at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas March 3-5.

NBC will broadcast 10 hours of tournament action over six shows next April and May.

A blind draw will put the contestants into college basketball tournament-like brackets that, because of the quality of the invitational field, produce attractive match-ups between some of the best players in the world throughout the competition.

The first National Heads-Up Poker Championship took place at the Golden Nugget and attracted an average of 4 million viewers for each of the six telecasts. Millions more saw Hellmuth fall to the floor after Ferguson pulled an improbable card to keep the best-of-three final alive.

The field is expected to include Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Gus Hansen, Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer, Antonio Esfandiari, and T.J. Cloutier.

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