National Heads-Up Poker Championship Begins

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The first episode of the 2009 National Heads-up Poker Championship aired Sunday on NBC and it had an eclectic mix of poker stars and notable players from other venues. 

The Championship is run in a bracket style with 64 players starting out and playing single elimination heads-up matches through six rounds until a winner is crowned.  In a format akin to the NCAA college basketball tournament, the players are separated into four separate brackets (named after the four card suits).

Among the 16 playing in the so-called Clubs bracket, were legends such as Doyle Brunson and Scotty Nguyen, multiple WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey, and 2006 Heads- up Champion Ted Forrest, as well as more recreational players such as actor Don Cheadle and baseball Hall-of-Famer Orel Hershiser.

Unlike March Madness, there is no precise formula for how someone wrangles an invitation to this dance.

Still, it was hard to argue with the caliber of the players at the tables.  Table one had Paul Wasicka against Nicolas Joy.  Table two pitted Cheadle against David "The Dragon" Pham.   Bracelet winner Jennifer Tilly took on Ivey, while Mike "The Mouth" Matusow had the diminutive Dario Minieri to contend with. 

Hershiser challenged Forrest, while Brunson was face to face with the lovely Vanessa Rousso.  Table seven had Hevad Khan against Scotty Nguyen and the feature table had Daniel "Kid Poker" Negreanu going up against the man who virtually started the poker craze, Chris Moneymaker.

Not surprisingly, the feature table was a chatty one as Negreanu uses his conversational skills to get a read on his opponent, while trying to confuse and unsettle them.  So it seemed almost unfair he should start the match with A-J to Moneymaker's K-9. 

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