2010 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship Results

Some of the most well-known poker players in the world lined up to Duke it out (pun intended) and if you spotted the deliberate use of the word “Duke” in the sentence you may have guessed that the overall winner turned out to be Annie Duke. Annie must be regarded as one of the most recognisable poker faces in the world now, as she featured on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice program where her clashes with Joan Rivers were lauded as classic television in 2009. She now has the title of NBC Heads up Champion of 2010 to add to her glittering array of poker achievements. She won $500,000 for winning the event.

Annie beat a cast of poker superstars to make the final where she faced legend Erik Seidel. She overcame good friend and heads up specialist Andy Bloch in round one and beat World Series of Poker 2009 runner-up Darvin Moon in round two. In the last sixteen Paul Wasicka, who won this event in 2007 and is known as an excellent heads up poker player was beaten in a classic match, then the run of Jerry Yang was ended in the quarter final by Annie. She beat Dennis Phillips in the semi finals to make her first final. Seidel won the first of the best of three heads up matches but Annie held her nerve and won the title winning the next two matches.

The final payouts for the highest placed finishers in this event are as follows, which reads as a who’s who list of poker personalities.

1: Annie Duke — $500,000
2: Erik Seidel — $250,000
3: Scotty Nguyen — $125,000
3: Dennis Phillips — $125,000
5: Jerry Yang — $75,000
5: Doyle Brunson — $75,000
5: Jason Mercier — $75,000
5: Peter Eastgate — $75,000
9: Paul Wasicka — $25,000
9: Eli Elezra — $25,000
9: Annette Obrestad — $25,000
9: Barry Greenstein — $25,000
9: Gabe Kaplan — $25,000
9: Phil Laak — $25,000
9: Chris Moneymaker — $25,000
9: Jamie Gold — $25,000

Annie’s win is very respectable based on this field and she has a brilliant list of tournament wins that puts her on par with the most successful players of all time. Annette Obrestad may have to wait a little longer to become the best female player in the world now that Annie has re-established herself as a force in the game. Jason Mercier also deserves praise for living up to his EPT promise over the last year with a strong finish in this prestigious tournament winning $75,000. Dennis Phillips also continued to prove that appearances can be deceptive with another excellent result in a poker tournament. He was once mocked as a lucky player but has to be considered a player of massive talent with yet another great result.

In other news, if you have spared a thought for Tiger Woods during his fall from grace then remember he is pretty rich even without his sponsors. Paddy Power, the Irish bookmakers, recently offered him a five year sponsorship deal worth $75 million dollars which he turned down. They say they will return with a better offer. Should he refuse this increased offer and they seek an alternative poker player on a similar deal, I accept! Woods and fellow PGA tour pros are banned from promoting gambling websites anyway but Paddy Power are experts at using the media to generate publicity.

Whilst I wait for a reply from Paddy Power, I shall return to my favourite poker room bwin.com and play some Texas Hold’em poker.

Look out for more poker news in the near future.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Tags: annette obrestad, annie duke, erik seidel, jason mercier, nbc 2010, online poker, poker, Poker News