OT: National Heads-Up Poker Championship

[Honolulu Blue]

In NBC's quest to fill in time until they get Sunday Night Football, they came up with this gem. The premise: take 64 (or so) of the top Hold 'Em tournament players, set up a random draw and NCAA Basketball-style bracket, give 'em a few chips, ask 'em to play heads up, and watch the sparks fly.

The first 32 matches were broadcast last Sunday and yesterday. Matt "Mr. XFL" Vasgersian does the play-by-play, Gabe "Mr. Kotter" does the analysis/color commentary, and Lindsay Czarniak provides the token cheesecake as the sideline reporter/exit interviewer. All are decent, though I'm thankful ESPN doesn't use the cheesecake most other poker shows have. Man cannot live on cheesecake alone, though it is tasty in small quantities. :p

The first matchups mostly had good players against good players. The field had more bracelets than an Ivy League sorority. Chances are if he (or she) is a tournament player of some repute, he/she was in the field. Both Brunsons (Doyle & Todd) lost. Both Lederers (Howard & Annie) lost. Both the African American players (Phil Ivey & David Williams - good to see him again, if briefly) lost. Recent WSOP champs and PokerStars hosts Chris & Greg both won. Three of the women won (Mimi Tran, Evelyn Ng, and Jennifer Harman) and three lost (Annie, Kathy Liebert & Cyndy Violette). To the delight of the producers, muck-stirrers Josh Arieh and Phil Hellmuth both won. Josh didn't get much airtime, while Phil had one cry-my-a-river incident. Not bad for him. Token celebrities James Woods, Jerry Buss, and Rene Angelil (whose wife works down the street about 5 miles) all lost. The other guy I'd never heard of, Dennis Wager, took out Eric Seidel in the upset of the first round. Who says poker players aren't lucky? :D Anyway, Dan Harrington was a no-show again; I'm sure we'll see him again when ESPN gets around to broadcasting this year's WSOP.

Anyway, the next broadcast will be today at noon on your local NBC station, right before the Arena Football Game of the Week. More details are on their Web site (http://www.headsuppokerchamp.net/index.html). I'll be there, and if we can get a few FOFCers to watch, we'll double the audience!

P.S. The matches all took place about two months ago at the Golden Nugget. No spoilers, pretty please?

[Honolulu Blue]

On the off chance anyone cares, here's a summary of last week's action:

More good players squared off against good players in the 2nd round. All 16 matches were broadcast in one hour. One of the criticisms I have of the tournament is that there are SO many matches going on at the same time, there's barely any time to see and analyze hands other than the ones at the feature table (and even that table gets short shrift at times).

Anyway, Chris & Greg can go back to being PokerStars hosts full-time because they lost; Cinderella Dennis Wager's clock finally struck midnight as he lost to Crew member Scott Fischman; Jennifer & Evelyn lost, but Mimi won; and Jesus lives on.

Good news & bad news in the bad boy department. Bad news: Josh Arieh lost. More bad news: no bad behavior was shown from him. Good news: Hellmuth played at one of the feature tables. More good news: he won.

Third round matches broadcast tomorrow at noon on your local NBC station.

[Honolulu Blue]

Third round:

Jesus over Mimi Tran; Sexton over Hasan Habib; Juanda over Greenstein; T.J. over World
Esfandiari over Forrest; Fischman over David Sklansky; Lyle Berman over Carlos Mortensen

and, in good news for the producers...

Hellmuth over Huck Seed

Quarterfinals today at 3:30 ET (right before the Preakness); Semis & Finals tomorrow at 1 PM ET. Still on NBC.

[Ragone]

God.. please someone take out fischman.. i hate that whole posse bs

[Comey]

The Crew is no more, according to things I've read.

[Leonidas]

NBC has a done a good job with this. I'm surprised how well it's translated to TV. And Esfandiari has got to be the luckiest player ever.

[Honolulu Blue]

God.. please someone take out fischman.. i hate that whole posse bs

You got your wish; Esfandiari did the trick, moving on to the final four.

In other news, Jesus continues to mow down the mortals in his wake, taking down Mike Sexton; TJ Cloutier defeated John Juanda...

and, to the delight of the producers...

Phil Hellmuth beat Lyle Berman, bringing his brand of excitement to the semifinals.

Semis and finals today in a special 2-hour episode at 1 PM ET on your local NBC station.

[Honolulu Blue]

Semis:

TJ Cloutier and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson met in a replay of the 2000 WSOP final. Jesus won that one and this one was no different.

At the feature table (again) Phil Hellmuth took on Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari. After being confused by him for a little bit (and, of course, whining about it), eventually Phil won. The producers were thrilled.

Finals:

'Twas Jesus against The Crybaby. The format was different for the finals, being best of three games. Hellmuth won the first. In the second, he took a wickedly bad beat, losing a 4-outer to lose virtually all his chips (had he won, he would have won the match). He collapsed to the floor, muttering to himself. I think I would have done the same. Anyway, in the rubber match, he started out playing too tight (at least in the hands that we saw), then turned it around, won it, and took the match. Mr. Hellmuth is less fun in victory than defeat.

The producers, of course, were beyond the moon at this result.

[Leonidas]

Semis:

TJ Cloutier and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson met in a replay of the 2000 WSOP final. Jesus won that one and this one was no different.

At the feature table (again) Phil Hellmuth took on Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari. After being confused by him for a little bit (and, of course, whining about it), eventually Phil won. The producers were thrilled.

Finals:

'Twas Jesus against The Crybaby. The format was different for the finals, being best of three games. Hellmuth won the first. In the second, he took a wickedly bad beat, losing a 4-outer to lose virtually all his chips (had he won, he would have won the match). He collapsed to the floor, muttering to himself. I think I would have done the same. Anyway, in the rubber match, he started out playing too tight (at least in the hands that we saw), then turned it around, won it, and took the match. Mr. Hellmuth is less fun in victory than defeat.

The producers, of course, were beyond the moon at this result.

Considering the way Fossilman (a total nobody up to then) was followed from the start on last year's WSOP, I think the producers of these shows after the fact focus on the key players of the tournament. Granted, Helmuth never is short for good TV fodder, but I'm willing to bet the whole series was slanted towards him because when he won it made it easy for NBC to produce it with him as the star. I'm sure if Jesus had won we'd have seen a lot more of him, although Jesus rarely gives any juicy quotes away (does he even talk?) so would probably be a lot less interesting than the Phil lovefest.

[rkmsuf]

That was one heck of a tourney. Great action yesterday.

[Desnudo]

My favorite part was Howard Lederer telling Helmuth to grow up.

[rkmsuf]

My favorite part was Howard Lederer telling Helmuth to grow up.

Lederer is an odd dude. Maybe I'm in the minority that doesn't take offense to Helmuth and think he's geniunely being himself.

[Desnudo]

I think he's being himself, that doesn't change the fact that himself is a jerk.

[primelord]

Considering the way Fossilman (a total nobody up to then) was followed from the start on last year's WSOP
Actually Raymer wasn't even shown until several days in. And then the only time he was even shown before he was at a feature table (when he was near the leaders in chips) was when he had the altercation with Matasow.

[Honolulu Blue]

One last thing: if by chance you missed any of the episodes, you can preorder the DVD featuring all the episodes, the draw, and a couple of other extras. All for $34.95. This is the link (http://www.customflix.com/207258). It's due to be released June 13.

[Lathum]

My girlfriend wouldn't let me watch. She made me watch a lifetime movie instead. I know, I am a pussy.