Huck Seed Wins 5th Annual National Heads-Up Poker Championship at
Caesars Palace
Huck Seed Defeats Vanessa Rousso in the Final to Claim $500,000
First-Place Prize; NBC's Broadcast to Air on Six Consecutive Sundays
Beginning April 12
LAS VEGAS (March 8, 2009) - Huck Seed outdueled and outlasted an elite
field of 63 of poker's best to win the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker
Championship presented by GoDaddy.com at the Caesars Palace Poker
Tournament Room. Seed defeated Vanessa Rousso in the tournament's
best-of-three final table to claim the championship from a group that
boasted more than 100 World Series bracelets and take home the $500,000
first-place prize. Heads-Up is taped for broadcast on NBC over six
consecutive Sundays beginning April 12, with rebroadcasts on CNBC and
Universal HD.
"This has always been one of my favorite tournaments of the year," said
Seed, who has participated and finished in the money in every Heads-Up
event. "I've played well in the past, but things especially went my way
this weekend and I was able to make a run all the way to the top."
Seed reached the final table by defeating Jonathan Little, Gus Hansen,
Glen Chorny David Oppenheim and Sam Farha, while Rousso ended up in the
last pairing by taking down poker heavyweights Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey,
Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu and Bertrand Grospellier along the way.
Seed took the first two matches of the best-of-three final, as his
off-suit king/seven in the final hand was enough to claim the title.
With her runner-up finish, Rousso, who was recently signed as the newest
GoDaddy.com spokesperson, completed the best run for a woman competitor
in a Heads-Up tournament. Shannon Elizabeth reached the semi-finals in
2007.
"Huck Seed showcased his tremendous skills by defeating the best group
of participants we've ever had," said Jon Miller, Executive Vice
President of NBC Sports. "We had a fantastic tournament. The response
to this year's event has been tremendous and we look forward to many
more years of this prestigious competition."
The celebrity participants, led by Don Cheadle and Brad Garrett, once
again made some noise in the tournament with upsets over some of poker's
best players. Garrett advanced to the second round by defeating poker
pro and Celebrity Apprentice star Annie Duke, while Don Cheadle reached
day two of the tournament with a win over David Pham.
The single-elimination competition began Friday morning, March 6 and
continued through Sunday, March 8, when a best of three championship
match determined the winner.
The National Heads-Up Poker Championship features 64 poker players
competing in a series of heads-up (one-on-one games of No Limit Texas
Hold'em) matches to determine the best heads-up poker player in the
world. This tournament has a unique, single-elimination, bracket-style
format modeled after college basketball's championship tournament,
except that the finals are the best-of-three. The brackets are set
during the tournament's draw party held at PURE Nightclub the day before
the Championship begins.
The entire field (alphabetical order):
David Benyamine
Andy Bloch
Chad Brown
Doyle Brunson
Johnny Chan
Don Cheadle
Glen Chorny
Fred Collins (online qualifier)
Allen Cunningham
Annie Duke
Tom Dwan
Peter Eastgate
Eli Elezra
Antonio Esfandiari
Sam Farha
Chris Ferguson
Scott Fischman
Ted Forrest
Brad Garrett
Blandino Gines (online qualifier)
Jamie Gold
Clonie Gowen
Barry Greenstein
Gavin Griffin
Bertrand Grospellier
Joe Hachem
Gus Hansen
Jennifer Harman
Phil Hellmuth
Orel Hershiser
Jeffrey Ishbia (Caesars qualifier)
Phil Ivey
Nicholas Joy (online qualifier)
John Juanda
Gabe Kaplan
Hevad Khan
Phil Laak
Howard Lederer
Erick Lindgren
Jonathan Little
Mike Matusow
Dario Minieri
Chris Moneymaker
Daniel Negreanu
Scotty Nguyen
David Oppenheim
David Pham
John Phan
Greg Raymer
Vanessa Rousso
Ilari Sahamies
Huck Seed
Vanessa Selbst
Erik Seidel
Mike Sexton
Gavin Smith
Jennifer Tilly
J.C. Tran
Kenny Tran
Paul Wasicka
David Williams
Jerry Yang
Leon Yanovski (online qualifier)
Kenny Yeh (Caesars qualifier)
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