Wicked Chops Poker Insider

Read more Insider articles →

Posts tagged as:

nbc national heads up poker championship

BREAKING: No NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2012

by Wicked Chops Entity on 10.13.2011 in Poker News | 2 comments

The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship will not take place in 2012.

Wicked Chops Poker has confirmed that NBC will not hold their popular National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2012.

We can’t say that this is surprising news, as PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker were the primary advertisers for the event and fronted the majority of buy-in money for the players. Still, it’s yet another blow for the poker industry in the U.S.. Averaging a 1.5 rating over its seven-year run, the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship was consistently the game’s top rated program.

While the event will definitely not take place in 2012, NBC has left the door open for its future return. NBC Sports Senior Director of Communications Adam Freifeld told WCP that the network will “continue to evaluate our poker programming” moving forward.

Here’s hoping for a speedy return once online poker is regulated in the U.S.. NBCHU was always one of our favorite events of the year and made for “good TV.” It’s list of winners include some of poker’s biggest names, including Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, Erik Seidel, and Huck Seed.

We’ll be writing more about the future of televised poker next week as one of our first Wicked Chops Insider features. Sign up for Insider here.

Tagged as: featured, nbc national heads up poker championship, Poker News, Wicked Chops Insider

{ 2 comments }

2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship Field Announced

by Wicked Chops Entity on 2.23.2010 in Uncategorized | 8 comments

Kara Scott is among the surprise names in the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship field list.

The full field for the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship was released today.

With so many automatic qualifiers there isn’t room for too many surprises. However, some names that did stand out on the list included:

  • Kara Scott: We’re big fans of Kara, but apparently her hostess gig with the WPT carries more weight within the industry than we thought?
  • Jamie Gold, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer: Looks like former WSOP ME champs will continue getting invites for another year.
  • Dennis Phillips: Same goes to non-former WSOP ME champs who people think are former WSOP ME champs.
  • Annette Obrestad: This is the first big-time televised event she’ll be playing in the States. Expect big things.
  • Phil Gordon: He didn’t play last year and doesn’t play much anymore in general.
  • Phil Laak: Yeah, he’s running good for the past week, but that doesn’t excuse the past five years.
  • Johnny Chan: People still care about him?

The field feels a little light on the celebrity/athlete angle too. Just the usual suspects of Don Cheadle, Jennifer Tilly, Orel Hershiser, and Gabe Kaplan. No Michael Phelps. Not even…dare we say…Trishelle.

Also, Layne Flack did not get an invite back this year. Wonder why.

Go below the fold for the full field listing.

[click to continue…]

Tagged as: Kara Scott, nbc national heads up poker championship, Poker News

{ 8 comments }

Huck Seed Wins NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship

by Wicked Chops Entity on 3.8.2009 in Poker News,Tournaments | 3 comments

Huck-seed
Huck Seed is clearly the breast heads up poker player alive.

Huck Seed made relatively short work of Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke, to win the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship.

This was clearly just Seed's time. After four straight deep runs in the event (and four WCP endorsed picks to win it all), Seed finally came through and won it all, defeating Rousso 2-0.

Despite the two matches to nil defeat, to Rousso's credit, she had without a doubt the hardest route to get to the finals, having to defeat Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospillier, and the fact that she's a woman.

For the win, Seed will bank $500,000. He becomes the third WSOP Main Event winner to capture a NBC Heads Up title, joining his ex-best friend Phil Hellmuth and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.

Seed now has an 18-4 overall NBC Heads-Up record, giving him the second greatest record in everything ever, just behind the United States in wars (18-0-2).

Tagged as: Huck Seed, nbc national heads up poker championship, Poker News, vanessa Rousso

{ 3 comments }

Huck Seed, One Other Advance to NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship Final

by Wicked Chops Entity on 3.8.2009 in Poker News,Tournaments | no comments

NBC_National_Heads-Up_Poker_Championship_trophy Well this couldn't have gone any better for GoDaddy.com.

A couple of days after GoDaddy.com named her as a new spokesmodel for their company, Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke, has advanced to the final of the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship.

The fix is in. There is no other explanation.

(kidding, kidding)

No seriously though, is the fix in?

Anyway, Rousso defeated Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier to become the first female to make it to a NBC Heads Up final table.

In way less shocking news, Huck Seed, our pick to win it all, made the finals as well, defeating Sam Farha to get there.

Tagged as: Huck Seed, nbc national heads up poker championship, Poker News

{ 0 comments }

Huck Seed, Three Others Advance to NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship Semifinal

by Wicked Chops Entity on 3.8.2009 in Poker News,Tournaments | no comments

While Huck Seed (expectedly) advanced to another NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship semi-final, the real story to everyone else will probably be Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke, did as well.

Safe to say that as bad as Layne Flack's year has been, Rousso has been the equivalent on the good side. First, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Then the GoDaddy.com commercial (view again below). And now a semi-final run that will surely be the lead storyline when NBC starts editing this all together.

Unlike Shannon Elizabeth's run two years ago, it's kind of hard to call Rousso's advancement a fluke. She's defeated Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, and most recently Daniel Negreanu to get to the final fourTM. Now, she'll face the tour's hottest player, Bertrand Grospellier, for a spot in the finals.

On the other side of the bracket, Huck Seed will go against Sam Farha. Matches are expected to begin around 3:30 PST.

Watch Vanessa Rousso New GoDaddy.com Girl on RawVegas.tv

Tagged as: GoDaddy.com, Huck Seed, nbc national heads up poker championship, vanessa Rousso

{ 0 comments }

← Previous Entries