NBC HeadsUp.com Crowns a ChampionJosh Lochner Headed to Las Vegas for National Heads Up Poker Championship |
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When Josh Lochner began playing poker over a year ago, he never imagined where it would take him. Now Lochner is headed to Las Vegas after winning nbcheadsup.com's first online National Heads-Up Poker tournament.
Lochner, 21, was one of 30,000 players vying to win a seat at the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in Las Vegas to compete against the best players in the world. "I still can't believe I won," Lochner said. "To have a chance to play against the very best is going to be amazing."
The National Heads-Up Poker Championship features 64 of the world's best poker players competing in a series of heads-up matches to determine who is the best one-on-one player. NBC Sports presents exclusive coverage of the 2006 National Heads-Up Poker Championship from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas beginning Sunday, April 16th at Noon ET.
"I'll be a little worried if I have to face Phil Hellmuth," Lochner joked of the prospect of facing the 2005 Heads-Up Champion. "But everyone has a chance and everyone gets dealt cards from the same stack."
The tournament has a unique, one-on-one, single-elimination, bracket-style format. Win your match and advance to the next round; win six matches and be crowned champion. The first round is seeded randomly in a live drawing held the night before the tournament begins. Players are divided into four brackets - Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades - and advance to the second round by winning a heads-up match against their randomly drawn opponent.
Lochner, a student at the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale starting practicing on nbcheadsup.com in late December. When the weekly rankings period began in early January, Lochner began to increase his playing time. "I started out playing a little bit each day," Lochner said. "It got to the point where I started to get carried away. Sometimes I would play for about three hours at a time. I had to take a break." Lochner played in one of the four weekly qualifying tournaments before receiving notification that he had qualified for the final 64-player tournament. "I knew I had a chance to qualify because of my ranking," Lochner said. "But when I got that email telling me I was one of the 64, I was thrilled."
He sailed through the first few rounds of the final tournament before meeting his match in the finals. Lochner was down to his final $200 before he went all in on A 5. His opponent called and Lochner doubled. "I don't think he won another hand after that," Lochner said.
Lochner will now take on his next opponent in Las Vegas. And although he's in school, he's not worried he may have to miss a class or two to attend the tournament. "I would have dropped out of school to go," Lochner joked.
The inaugural National Heads-Up Poker Championship tournament was held at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas in March 2005. Among the 64 competitors were 11 World Series of Poker Main Event champions: Greg "Fossilman" Raymer (2004), Chris Moneymaker (2003), Carlos Mortensen (2001), Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (2000), Scotty Nguyen (1998), Huck Seed (1996), Hellmuth (1989), Johnny Chan (1987, 1988), Tom McEvoy (1983), Bobby Baldwin (1978), and Doyle Brunson (1976, 1977).
Also participating were some of the top younger players in the world, including Daniel Negreanu, the 2004 player of the year; Erick Lindgren, the 2004 World Poker Tour player of the year; and Phil Ivey, arguably the best high-stakes cash game player in the world; as well as celebrity poker enthusiasts including Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss and Hollywood actor and Oscar nominee James Woods.
The tournament also generated solid ratings on NBC. The first season averaged four million television viewers for each of the six telecasts (eight total hours), and six million people watched the season finale on May 22, when Hellmuth bested Chris Ferguson during a two-hour telecast.
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