UB's Annie Duke NBC National Heads-Up Poker Champ
ANNIE DUKE WINS NBC'S NATIONAL HEADS-UP POKER CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY
GODADDY.COM
LAS VEGAS (March 7, 2010) - Annie Duke , of UltimateBet, triumphed against the crème de la crème
of the poker world to win the 6th Annual National Heads-Up Poker Championship
presented by GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain name registrar, at the
Caesars Palace Poker Tournament Room. Duke defeated Erik Seidel, who has won
eight World Series of Poker bracelets and ranks 9th all-time money list, in the
tournament's best-of-three finals to claim the championship and the $500,000
first-place prize. Seidel takes home $250,000 as the second-place finisher.
The National Heads-Up Poker Championship is taped for broadcast on NBC over six
consecutive Sundays beginning April 18 (Noon - 1PM ET).
"I'm so excited to win such a prestigious event and join the likes of Huck Seed,
Chris Ferguson and Phil Hellmuth as Heads-Up Champion," said Duke, who became
the first-ever woman to win the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. "I came
into this tournament really focused and it feels great to finally break through
in this event."
In five previous NHUPC events, Duke had never made it past the second round and
had only advanced out of the first round once. On her way to the finals, she
defeated several top players, including Andy Bloch, Darvin Moon, Paul Wasicka,
Jerry Yang and Dennis Phillips. Duke's dramatic come-from-behind victory
against Wasicka in the third round was one of the most compelling matches of the
weekend.
The single-elimination competition began Friday, March 5 and continued through
Sunday, March 7, when a best-of-three championship match determined the winner.
The National Heads-Up Poker Championship features 64 top poker players competing
in a series of heads-up (one-on-one matches 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.
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NBC's television coverage:
April 18 - Noon - 1PM ET/9:00-10:00 AM PT
April 25 - Noon - 2PM ET/9:00-11:00AM PT
May 2 - Noon - 2PM ET/9:00-11:00 AM PT
May 9 - Noon - 2PM ET/9:00-11:00 AM PT
May 16 - Noon - 2PM ET/9:00-11:00 AM PT
May 23 - Noon - 3PM ET/9:00-Noon AM PT
National Heads-Up Poker Championship Prizing Structure:
Champion $500,000
Runner-Up $250,000
3rd & 4th Place $125,000
5th - 8th Place $75,000
9th - 16th Place $25,000
To see where Annie Duke plays, click here to visit UltimateBet.com
