Harrah's Entertainment has announced that the National Heads-Up Poker
Championship, which brings together 64 of the world's best players
competing in a unique one-on-one, single-elimination, bracket-style
format, will move to Caesars Palace starting in 2006.
NBC will broadcast 10 hours of tournament action over six shows next
April and May.
The first run of the tournament at The Golden Nugget in Vegas in March
2005 generated solid ratings on NBC and a strong buzz in the poker
community. Television audiences grew as the tournament progressed,
with a total audience of six million watching the finale on May 22,
when Phil Hellmuth bested Chris
Ferguson in the two-hour telecast.
The next event, featuring a total purse of $1.5 million, including
a top prize of $500,000, will be contested March 3- 5 in the casino
at Caesars Palace.
The 2006 TV coverage will be expanded to 10 hours over six shows to
be telecast on Sundays in April and May. Hellmuth will defend his
title against many of the sport's most prominent players, with the
field expected to include legendary Hall of Famers Doyle
Brunson and Johnny Chan, plus established stars such as Howard
Lederer and 2003 Player of the Year Erick Lindgren.
Others expected to compete include 2005 Poker Superstars champion
Gus Hansen; 2003
World Series of Poker champion Chris Moneymaker; 2004 Player of the
Year Daniel Negreanu; 2004 World Series of Poker champion Greg Raymer;
and 2005 and National Heads-Up Poker Championship semifinalists Antonio
Esfandiari and T.J. Cloutier.
A blind draw will put the contestants into college basketball tournament-
like brackets that, because of the quality of the invitational field,
produce attractive match-ups between some of the best players in the
world throughout the competition. Tournament officials will conduct
the draw at Caesars Palace on Thursday evening, March 2, as part of
a media event to be attended by the 64-player field.