Spoiler – Who Won NBC Heads Up Poker Championship?

I won’t name the player in this post, in case you want to wait and watch the NBC televised Heads Up Poker Championship and be surprised, but the winner is….XXXXXX.

I will tell you this much, the winning player almost didn’t even play in this event. When Phil Hellmuth was unable to play in the NBC event due to prior commitments, this player was offered a seat…and made the most of the opportunity.

Heads up poker is really poker in its purest form. Other than going really deep in a big tournament, I can honestly say that poker is the most fun, the most exciting, when played in heads up sit and go tournaments settings. These heads up SNG tourneys are also excellent training for those times when you do make it to the final table in a big tournament.

New Season of High Stakes Poker

The best show on television, hands down, bar none, is High Stakes Poker on GSN. The new season begins Monday January 15th at 9 pm Eastern. Even though NL Holdem is not my cash game of choice, there is nothing I enjoy watching more than this show.

The interaction amongst the players is always good, and sometimes outstanding. Last season’s taunting of Phil Hellmuth and his ultimate meltdown were just hilarious. The same can be said for Mike Matusow, whom the other players actually paid a few thousand dollars to stick around when he had announced that he was finished playing. Of course, they cleaned him out in the next few hands, busting him for about $100,000.

Players in this third season include:
Daniel Alaei
Patrik Antonius
David Benyamine
Brad Booth
Doyle Brunson
Todd Brunson
Bill Chen
John D’Agostino
Eli Elezra
Antonio Esfandiari
Sam Farha
Chris Ferguson
Jamie Gold
Barry Greenstein
Jennifer Harman
Dan Harmetz
Phil Ivey
Phil Laak
Erick Lindgren
Mike Matusow
Daniel Negreanu
Victor Ramdin
Daniel Shak
Shawn Sheikhan
Brian Townsend
Illya Trincher
Paul Wasicka
David Williams

High Stakes Poker on GSN

This is my new favorite poker show. Televised weekly on Monday nights from the Golden Nugget Casino in downtown Las Vegas, this cash game features top players buying in for $100,000 minimum (sometimes $1 million). The play ranges from too tight to unbelievably loose, and the pots can be anywhere from $2,500 to $350,000+. I feel like I am from a different planet than these guys (and gals) when I watch this show. It is always entertaining, and sometimes amazing to watch. Check it out.

2005 WSOP Tournament of Champions

Did you catch ESPN’s telecast of the 2005 WSOP Tournament of Champions on Christmas Eve? This is some great television for the poker fan. Crank up the TIVO and grab the next showing. ESPN is running the entire 3 hour telecast here and there, and also individual 1 hour blocks of coverage. Final table action included Hellmuth and Matusow, and they were in prime form, both in terms of their play and their antics. I can’t stand these guys for their behavior, but for some reason I always seem to end up rooting for them to win. Hoyt Corkins was also in the final mix, and since he and Hellmuth already shared some bad blood, that just added more fuel to the final table fire. Check out Cardplayer magazine’s coverage of the tournament, as well as some of the controversy away from the felt.