Annie Duke Wins NBC National Heads-up Match

March 8th, 2010

The NBC National Heads-Up Championship just concluded and it was an exciting weekend of poker. Pros, celebrities, and a couple of amateurs all descended on Caesars Palace in Las Vegas looking to take down the $500,000 top prize. Among those in the field were Doyle Brunson, Erik Seidel, Phil Hellmuth, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Orel Hersheiser, Annie Duke, Paul Wasicka, and Phil Ivey.

Day 1 saw a field of 64 whittled down to 32. Among those that moved on to the second round were Main Event Champions Chris Moneymaker, Jerry Yang, Joe Hachem, Jamie Gold, and Peter Eastgate. Phil Ivey and Gabe Kaplan both advanced as well as Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Annette Obrestad.

Day 2 saw the field narrowed from 32 to 8. First, the players had to play to the final 16. Moneymaker, Yang, Gold, and Eastgate all managed to make it into the sweet 16 as well as former November Niner Dennis Phillips. Doyle Brunson headlined those making the sweet 16, as he took on Annette Obrestad. She knocked out Phil Hellmuth heads-up. Gabe Kaplan showed that he is more than a commentator, lasting into the final 16. Barry Greenstein, Eli Elezra, Annie Duke, Scotty Nguyen, Erik Seidel, Phil Laak and Jason Mercier rounded out the field of 16.

Sixteen played to eight to conclude Day 2. Gabe Kaplan’s storybook run ended, but Jerry Yang and Dennis Phillips continued their unlikely runs as they both made the final eight. Scotty Nguyen and Jason Mercier made the elite eight and faced each other. Peter Eastgate made it as well and faced Erik Seidel. Doyle Brunson put the poker world on notice that he isn’t done yet and faced Dennis Phillips. Jerry Yang took his run good against Annie Duke.

The final four has three players that people expected and one they did not. Amazingly, Dennis Phillips took out Doyle to make the final four. Jerry Yang and his “Astronaut suit” went down to Annie Duke. Jason Mercier hit the rail, baby, as Scotty Nguyen advanced. Peter Eastgate didn’t fare any better against Scotty Nguyen.

It was Phillips vs. Duke and Nguyen vs. Seidel in the final four. Phillips never got much going against Duke and eventually went out when his A-8 failed to outrun Duke’s sevens. Scotty Nguyen and Seidel were involved in a big pot. Nguyen flopped top pair with strong kicker with K-9 and Seidel flopped the same pair but worse kicker with 9-7. A seven on the turn gave Seidel two pair, but both players checked. The river fell another nine and Nguyen bet out 100,000 with his trips. Seidel moved all-in and Nguyen made the call. Seidel showed his 9-7 for the full house and the final two was set.

The final of this heads-up championship featured two friends. Erik Seidel, eight time bracelet winner and Full Tilt Poker pro, and Annie Duke, bracelet winner and UB pro. The finals are a best of three, so a player had to win twice to take the title. Annie jumped out to an early lead. The final hand of the first round saw Seidel all-in on a flop of Ks-Js-7h. He held 8s-6s for a flush draw. Duke held As-Kd for top pair. The turn fell the Jh and river the Ah and Duke was up 1-0.

Match two was pretty much one sided as Seidel controlled the action from the opening bell. The final hand of the match saw a short stacked Annie all-in with Kh-5d and Seidel with 8s-7h. The flop of 6h-9d-4h gave Seidel a straight draw. The turn fell the 5h to fill Seidel’s straight, but Duke now had a flush draw. The river fell the 9s and we were knotted at one a piece.

Seidel took a sizable chip lead in the third match and looked destined to win the whole thing. Then a huge hand went down between the two that swung momentum into Duke’s favor. After a raise to 80,000 by Seidel pre-flop, Duke shoved. Seidel called with Ad-Kd and had Duke’s Qd-9d crushed. Diamonds were not a girls best friend in this case. However, clubs were as the board fell Qc-4c-10c to give duke the lead with a pair of queens. Seidel needed an ace or a king to take down the hand and the title. The turn and river both fell nines and Duke took a 3 to 1 chip lead.

It didn’t take long before Seidel tried for his own double up. He moved all-in with Ah-2c and Duke called with pocket nines. The flop was about as bad as you could want for Seidel’s hand as it fell 8h-6h-7c to give duke an open-ended draw. The turn fell the 5d to complete Duke’s draw. Seidel’s only chance was for one of the remaining nines to hit the river. The river fell the 8s and Annie Duke was the champion.

Annie Duke is the 2010 NBC National Heads-up Champion. She took the title and $500,000 in prize money. She had no easy road to the finals as she had to beat Andy Bloch, Darvin Moon, Paul Wasicka, and Dennis Phillips to get her shot at close friend Erik Seidel. She ran well at the right time and took down this prestigious event. Congratulations to Annie Duke, NBC National Heads-up Champion.