Heads Up!
Friday, March 6, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship starts this afternoon and both Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke have interesting first-round matches. Phil is pitted against the World Poker Tour’s Mike Sexton, while Annie faces off against actor Brad Garrett. Phil could possibly face a rematch with Tom “durrrr” Dwan in the round of 16–if you recall, Phil got all his money in with pocket Aces against durrrr’s pocket tens on the 3rd hand of the match and a ten peeled on the turn. Which caused Phil just a wee bit of consternation–I’m sure you’ve seen the video, but if not, here’s the match in it’s entirety:
Just about everyone on the planet Earth would like to see the two tangle again but each will have to win two matches to make it happen.
My pick to win it all? Uh…Phil Hellmuth or Annie Duke. I am a company man, after all. But one player I think could win it all is Vanessa Selbst, who’s made the final four of the last two WSOP Heads-Up events (and won a PLO bracelet in 2008 as well). She’s a super, ultra, mega, hyper-aggressive player and when I covered her a couple of times at the WSOP the other folks at her tables were having a really miserable time dealing with her. She goes up against Layne Flack in round one and could possibly face Kenny Tran, who won the bracelet in the 2008 WSOP Heads-Up event, in the round of 16.
Of course predicting heads-up poker matches is an inexact science at best. Last year Phil Ivey was nearly bested by an amateur player in round one, and Orel Hershiser ended up finishing fifth. That’s why they play the games, and this should be a most interesting weekend of poker and personalities.
Tags: Annie Duke, brad garrett, nbc heads-up, nbc heads-up poker, nbc national heads-up poker championship, nbc poker, Phil Hellmuth, phil hellmuth heads-up, vanessa selbst
