Does the back of this head look familiar to anyone?

The first elimination of the Spades bracket came just five minutes in and, from there, the players dropped like flies as we plowed through the round of play.   Like the rounds that preceded it, the room was exceptionally quiet, especially after the boisterous Daniel Negreanu made an early exit from his match.  Seems as though the players realize the prestige associated with this event and are focused on winning their matches moreso than winning over the crowd.

Here are some quick recaps of all the Spade bracket Round 1 matches, with the Round Two pairings listed below as well:

Phil Ivey def. Gavin Smith
Fans of Poker After Dark will recall that this match-up here at Caesars was not the first time Gavin Smith and Phil Ivey have faced off in a heads-up battle. The two previously got heads-up in an episode of Poker After Dark and it was Smith prevailed over Ivey. This time Ivey got the best of the Smith, whittling him down to 8,000 chips then getting it all-in holding AJ to Smith’s AT. The J63 connected with both players and Smith jokingly offered to run it twice. Ivey declined, the turn and river whiffed Smith and Ivey advanced to the next round.

Scotty Nguyen def. Richard Edwards
Scotty Nguyen is the latest pro to crush the hopes and dreams of an online qualifier. He had his opponent Richard Edwards on the ropes and the qualifier shoved all-in holding A-3. Nguyen called just a small amount more holding 6-7 and caught a lucky river on an 843T6 board to advance to play Ivey in Round Two.

Joe Hachem def. Shawn Rice
Shawn Rice may have been a Caesars qualifier, but he is a known pro in his own right and has been featured in past World Series of Poker (WSOP) coverage. He put up quite the fight against Hachem despite getting short early on and managed to double up his short stack to extend his run at the table. Rice’s second attempt to double up was less successful. He got it all-in holding A5 to Hachem’s TT and was drawing pretty slim after the T82 flop gave Hachem top set. The 8 on the turn left Rice drawing dead and Hachem advanced.

Gabe Kaplan def. Johnny Chan
It was a battle of two old schoolers in this match, which was moved to the feature table after the Negreanu v. Mercier bout ended so abruptly. The “High Stakes Poker” announcer prevailed over the high stakes poker pro in the end when Kaplan’s Q9 outflopped Chan’s K2 on an A9734 board.

Jason Mercier def. Daniel Negreanu
Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier must have gotten word that the feature tables were finishing first and decided they wanted to show some people up. Their match was over in record time after the two got it all-in on a J-3-3-2 board with Mercier holding pocket queens to Daniel’s pocket fives. The river brought a nine and Mercier’s superior hand propelled him to a Round 2 match. Negreanu explained his thought process in the hand after the match was over. “It’s hard to get a pair and I got one,” he told NBC’s Leanne Tweeden.

Pieter de Korver def. Mike Sexton
Reigning European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Champion Pieter de Korver may not be familiar to American television audiences just yet, but if he can keep defeating big names in the game like Mike Sexton, that will all change shortly. De Korver got it all-in with the superior AK to Sexton’s AT and had the World Poker Tour (WPT) host drawing dead by the turn on a KK75 board. That was the end of the match for Sexton and de Korver will take on another player with a lot of EPT success, Mercier.

Phil Gordon def. Tom Dwan
This was a bout drawing quite a bit of online poker forum attention, but like Mercier v. Negreanu, it was over in a flash. Gordon and Dwan were fairly evenly stacked with Gordon holding 23,000 chips to durrrr’s 17,000. A series of preflop raises found the duo all-in with Dwan holding AQ to Gordon’s 77. The pocket pair held up as the board ran out KT234 and Dwan made an early exit. Perhaps since he and Antonius are both out, we might see some Challenge play?

Phil Laak def. John Juanda
Jennifer Tilly pointed out that Laak’s victory over John Juanda made it three for three for the Phils and the pressure is now on Hellmuth to make it a perfect four for four for the moniker. On the final hand of play Laak actually got it in with the worst of it, holding A2 to Juanda’s 66. The AKQ flop favored Laak though and, while Juanda picked up a diamond draw with the 9 on the turn, the river 8 was no help to Juanda, so Laak advanced.

Round Two Pairings:
Phil Ivey vs. Scotty Nguyen
Joe Hachem vs. Gabe Kaplan
Jason Mercier vs. Pieter de Korver
Phil Gordon vs. Phil Laak

The action at Caesars Palace is well underway as the first half of the Round One matches of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship are over and done with in time to spare.  The Diamond bracket flew by and was dominated by players who are best known for their WSOP Main Event runs like Jerry Yang, Darvin Moon and Paul Wasicka.

Here’s the breakdown of how the Diamond matches went down and the pairings you’ll see tomorrow in Round Two:

Barry Greenstein def. Vanessa Rousso
We overheard Rousso tell her friends and family on the rail that she was quite card dead during her match with Greenstein. The only time she picked up an ace, Greenstein showed up with a bigger one. The match came down to a hand in which Greenstein put a short-stacked Rousso all-in holding [Jd8d] to Rousso’s K6. The board favored Greenstein as it ran out J74T7 and he busted last year’s runner-up finisher.

Sam Farha def. Antonion Esfandiari
So far it seems the players at the feature table seem to be the ones wrapping up their matches the fastest. The audience was treated to just a few minutes of table talk before Farha got it all-in holding A-10 to Esfandiari’s A-5. The board had chop potential, as the flop and turn fell A969, but the 7 on the river sent Esfandiari to the rail as the first elimination of the bracket.

Jennifer Harman def. Jennifer Tilly
Battle Jennifer was the only female vs. female match of the tournament and it was the blonde who prevailed over the brunette. On the final hand of play, the ladies got it all-in on a 5-4-4 board with Harman holding both the chip lead and Q-5 for top pair. Tilly had straight possibilities with her 2-3, but the turn and river came 8 then 3 to send Tilly to the rail.

Jerry Yang def Mike Matusow
Somehow Mike Matusow managed to refrain from any comments or blow-ups following his elimination in his match against Jerry Yang. Matusow slowplayed his pocket kings against Yang and both players checked an 8-6-2 flop. The money went in after the turn brought a 4, making Yang two pair and leaving Matusow drawing slim. The river seven was no help for The Mouth and he lingered quietly for a minute or two before exiting the tournament area.

Darvin Moon def. Bill Huntress
It was a hard fought battle in this match as the Caesars online qualifier took on this year’s WSOP Main Event runner-up. Moon would not settle for second this time around though. He got the best of Huntress when the duo got it all-in on an AQ4 flop each holding a club draw. Moon had the best hand with the worst draw as he held KT, while Huntress had the opposite with his J8. The turn and river came 9 then 7 and Moon wins with the king high to advance to Round 2.

Annie Duke def. Andy Bloch
The award for the most dramatic bustout hand has to go to this match. Even though the two got it all-in in a coin flip situation with KQ for Bloch and TT for Duke, the order of the cards kept it interesting. The flop fell K33 to pair Bloch’s king and the 4 on the turn changed nothing. The river brought the T to give Duke her set and send her into the next round though, ending the bout in dramatic fashion. After the match, Duke stuck around to catch the tail end of Moon vs. Huntress to do some recon work on her Round 2 opponent.

Paul Wasicka def. Andrew Wilson
Paul Wasicka’s chances at repeating his Heads-Up success of the past are still alive after defeating online qualifier Andrew Wilson. Their match ended in a 60/40 situation in which Wasicka’s A3 prevailed over Wilson’s K-J to send him into a Round Two match against Hansen.

Gus Hansen def. Greg Raymer
The Great Dane got the best of Fossilman early on in the session when he got it all-in holding bottom pair against Raymer’s open-ended straight draw on a KQ6. Raymer held JT while Hansen held 3-6. Hansen improved to two pair with the 3. The river 7 sent the pot to Hansen and eliminated Raymer. Hansen collected his souvenir fossil from Raymer and headed out to prepare for his second round match with Paul Wasicka tomorrow.

Round Two Pairings:
Barry Greenstein vs. Sammy Farha
Jennifer Harman vs. Jerry Yang
Darvin Moon vs. Annie Duke
Paul Wasicka vs. Gus Hansen

Forrest was one of the eight players who did not advance to Round Two

It was, by all accounts, a crazy first batch of pairings at the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.  The Twitterverse exploded with Tweets declaring their bracket was all but destroyed after just eight matches.  Huck Seed made an uncharacterstically early exit, losing to Erik Seidel in the opening round, while online qualifier surprised the room with his upset over Ted Forrest.

We know you’re dying to update your bracket, so here’s the scoop on all the Round One Clubs bracket match-ups, including Round Two pairings:

Chris Moneymaker def. Patrik Antonius
The forum fiends are probably a little sad to hear that their favorite online high stakes dreamboat fell to the 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion. Antonius got it all-in drawing pretty slim to the Team PokerStars pro, holding 5T against Moneymaker’s 55 on 765 board. The turn brought a four to give Antonius some chop outs, but he failed to go runner runner and he was the first elimination of the day.

Leo Wolpert def. Eric Baldwin
When the oddsmakers set lines on these two players, most poker fans believed these two to be some of best bargains in the bunch. The two battled in the second-longest match of the session and the pivotal hand came when Baldwin limped the button and a short-stacked Wolpert shoved all-in. Baldwin insta-called with his pocket queens, which had Wolpert in bad shape as he held Q-`10. However, the board ran out KhJc6s9hJh to double Leo up. A few hands later Wolpert’s K8 spiked an eight on the river against Baldwin’s A6 to eliminate Baldwin and advance to the next round.

David Williams def. Joe Cada
David Williams and Joe Cada were the feature table for this bracket and Williams used the opportunity to debut his new Farnsworth Bentley/dapper gent look complete with sweater vest, tie and thick-framed glasses. His new style proved to be a winning one as he defeated the reigning WSOP Main Event Champ to advance to a match against Erik Seidel in Round Two.

Erik Seidel def. Huck Seed
This is one of the more interesting match-ups of Round One, as you had the player with the best NBC Heads-Up record, reigning champ Huck Seed, squaring off against the player with the worst record (0-5) in this tournament, Erik Seidel. Though Seed had a winning record on his side, it was Seidel who prevailed. He doubled through Seed late in their match to take an overwhelming chip lead, and when Seed’s KT failed to catch up against Seidel’s KQ, Seidel booked his first career NBC Heads-Up victory.

Erick Lindgren def. Dan Ramirez
The longest match of the session came down to a classic race, as Lindgren and NBC Sports qualifier Dan Ramirez spent much of the match in a virtual dead heat in terms of chips.  In the end, it came down to a classic race situation as Lindgren’s A-K flipped against Ramirez’s pocket queens.  The board brought K94A5d] to give Lindgren the pot and advance him to play against Peter Eastgate tomorrow afternoon.

Peter Eastgate def. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier
In what we like to call the “Battle of Euro Domination”, Eastgate prevailed over ElkY. The 2009 WSOP Main Event Champion had the chip advantage when he got it all-in holding AT to ElkY’s A3. The board ran out AQ9xK8x and Eastgate advanced to Round #2.

Stephen Quinn def. Ted Forrest
In a bracket full of surprises, the biggest upset might be PokerStars online qualifier Stephen Quin getting the best of former NBC Heads-Up Champion Ted Forrest. It was a coin flip that decided this match, as the two got it all-in with Forrest holding AT to Quinn’s pocket fours. The board ran out J54KA to give Quinn a set, the hand and the match.

Jamie Gold def. Dario Minieri
With his mother Jane watching from the audience, Gold out to the lead early in his match against Minieri and it was only a half an hour into play before he got it all-in holding pocket sevens to Minieri’s pocket deuces. The board ran out duck-free and Gold advanced to the second round.

Round Two Pairings:
Chris Moneymaker vs. Leo Wolpert
David Williams vs. Erik Seidel
Erick Lindgren vs. Peter Eastgate
Stephen Quinn vs. Jamie Gold

The field for the sixth annual NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship has been announced. The 64-player field will meet at Caesar’s Palace March 5-7 and will be  broadcast over six weeks on NBC starting on April 18 at 1 p.m. EST through  May 23rd.

Some of the best players in the poker world today will be competing for the $500,000 first place prize. “The lineup of competitors for this year’s event is the best yet, ” says Jon Miller, executive vice president of NBC Sports. “Continually bringing together the best of the best to compete in this unique format has mad the National Heads-Up Poker Championship one of the most anticipated poker events of the year.”

The first round match ups will be determined at the GoDaddy.com Draw Party which will be held Thursday, March 4 at PURE Nightclup at Caesars Palace.

In addition to the field that boasts twelve WSOP Main Event Champions, a handful of celebrities, and Jason Mercier - who got the nod after winning the  2009 BLUFF Player of the Year. There are also seven spots open for online qualifiers.

Official List of Invited Players

• Patrick Antonius
• Eric Baldwin
• Andy Bloch
• Doyle Brunson *
• Joe Cada
• Johnny Chan
• Don Cheadle
• Allen Cunningham
• Pieter De-Korver
• Annie Duke
• Tom Dwan
• Peter Eastgate
• Eli Elezra
• Antonio Esfandiari
• Sam Farha
• Chris Ferguson
• Ted Forrest
• Jamie Gold
• Phil Gordon
• Barry Greenstein
• Bertrand Grospellier
• Joe Hachem
• Gus Hansen
• Jennifer Harman
• Phil Hellmuth
• Orel Hershiser
• Jesper Hougaard
• Phil Ivey
• John Juanda
• Gabe Kaplan
• John Paul Kelly
• Phil Laak
• Howard Lederer
• Erick Lindgren
• Mike Matusow
• Jason Mercier
• Dario Minieri
• Chris Moneymaker
• Darvin Moon
• Greg Mueller
• Daniel Negreanu
• Scotty Nguyen
• Annette Obrestad
• Brock Parker
• Dennis Phillips
• Greg Raymer
• Vanessa Rousso
• Kara Scott
• Huck Seed
• Erik Seidel
• Mike Sexton
• Gavin Smith
• Jennifer Tilly
• Paul Wasicka
• David Williams
• Leo Wolpert
• Jerry Yang

*Although Brunson is on the list he recently stated in his blog here that he will be skipping the event for health reasons.

Broadcast Dates for National Heads-Up Championship - All shown on NBC.

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

Huck Seed has long been considered one of the better heads-up No Limit Hold’em players playing today. In 2008 he took home the Canadian Open Poker Championships, a heads-up tournament similar in structure to the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Now he has that title as on his resume as well.

Seed swept Vanessa Rousso in the finals Sunday night in Las Vegas to win the $500,000 first place prize and win a title he’s been close to on a number of occasions. In 2005, the first year of the event, Seed finished 9th. He followed that up in 2006 with a 3rd place finish. He finished 9th again in 2007 before getting close to the finals again last year with another 3rd place finish.

In the first match of the best-of-three finals Seed had Rousso down by nearly 200,000 when he called her pre-flop all-in. Rousso showed Q J and found her hand dominated by Seed’s K J. The board bricked out for both players giving Seed a 1-0 lead.

The next match followed a similar pattern and took just under an hour to complete. With the board showing K 8 3 T Rousso moved all-in and Seed called. The newest Go Daddy Girl tabled J T and Seed showed K 7.

Rousso, fresh off of filming a set of commercials for tournament sponsor Go Daddy, walked away with $250,000 for second place. That pushes her live tournament earnings to over $1,000,000.

Phil Hellmuth has his fans. He also has his haters. Only one group can be happy though after Sunday morning’s Elite Eight saw the elimination of Hellmuth by Bertrand “eLKy” Grospellier in only five hands.

But before those two tangled in the Spades bracket final there were two other matches. In the Hearts bracket final David Williams was forced to relive the horror of his runner-up finish in the 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event. After a flop of Q Q 6 Williams bet and Sammy Farha called. After the 4 on the turn both players checked. The T on the river got Williams to move all-in and Farha made the call. Williams revealed [Q] [6] for a flopped full house but Farha showed [Q] [T] for a bigger full house.

Next up was the Diamonds bracket final between Huck Seed and David Oppenheim. Seed, who has cashed in this event for the past five years, and Oppenheim, a last-minute replacement for Layne Flack who was unable to play after being arrested for DUI Thursday night, kept the trend of quick matches going. Early in their match the two players got it all-in pre-flop with Seed holding 8 8 and Oppenheim racing with A Q. The board brought no help for Oppenheim running out K 4 3 8 3 and Seed advanced to the Final Four.

In maybe the most watched match so far on Sunday, on the fifth hand of play Hellmuth raised from the button with Q Q and Grospellier reraised with A A, Hellmuth moved all in and Grospellier called. The board came T 8 3 T 2 and Hellmuth’s weekend was over. The win by Grospellier puts him position for his second major title of the year after he took down the EPT High Rollers event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in early January.

Daniel Negreanu and Vanessa Rousso were the last match on the docket. Rousso’s already had a big week with the announcement that she had signed on as the next Go Daddy Girl as was filming a series of commercials for the domain name registrar. Her big week continued Sunday though. After letting Negreanu take an early lead Rousso stormed back and on a board reading 2 3 6 3 moved all-in and after he spent some time considering his options Negreanu made the call. Rousso showed pockets deuces for a turned boat while Negreanu showed [Q] [6] for top pair.

The semi-final matches will get underway at 4:45 pm PT and will pit Rousso against Grospellier and Seed against Farha.

Layne Flack, who was arrested Thursday night and charged with DUI, has released the following statement through a publicist:

“I attended the Draw Party at Pure on (Thursday) night and then met with my brother, who had flown into Vegas for Heads Up. I was under the impression that I was to play in the last bracket the next evening at around 8 pm. I was pulled over for speeding and refused a breathalyzer test as I have been instructed to do.  I have no idea why I was written a ticket for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. There were no emergency vehicles around, besides the police car. A test, given by the Las Vegas PD, later revealed that I had a blood alcohol content of zero. I also took a blood test, as I have nothing to hide. I was held for the mandatory 6 hours and released.  I always go out of my way to not drink and drive.  I regret that I was not able to play in NBC Heads Up and hope to be invited next year to play in this prestigious event.”

According to the police report, Flack has been charged with failing to yield to an emergency vehicle, speeding and driving under the influence. He was replaced in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship by David Oppenheim who defeated Vanessa Selbst in the opening round.

2009 Heads-Up Championship Bracket. Click on the image to view the bracket in PDF format

There are a number of interesting first round matches and poker fans can be excited to know that the potential for a rematch between Tom Dwan and Phil Hellmuth is there if both players win their first two matches. Dwan would need to get past Gavin Griffin in the first round and the winner of the Barry Greenstein/Blandino Gines match in the second. For his part Hellmuth would have to defeat Mike Sexton in his first match and then outlast the winner of the Jeffrey Ishbia/Leon Yanovski match.

Another intriguing possible match-up has Clonie Gowen vs. Howard Lederer. Both players ended up in the Hearts bracket and could meet in that bracket’s final match. Gowen is currently suing Lederer and Full Tilt Poker over an endorsement contract. Here’s a breakdown of each bracket:

Clubs Bracket

Don Cheadle vs. David Pham
Paul Wasicka vs. Nicholas Joy

Jennifer Tilly vs. Phil Ivey
Doyle Brunson vs. Vanessa Rousso

Hevad Khan vs. Scotty Nguyen
Ted Forrest vs. Orel Hershiser

Daniel Negreanu vs. Chris Moneymaker
Mike Matusow vs. Dario Minieri

Spades Bracket

Gabe Kaplan vs. Chris Ferguson
John Juanda vs. Joe Hachem

Ilari Sahamies vs. Gavin Smith
Fred Collins vs. Bertrand Grospellier

Jeffrey Ishbia vs. Leon Yanovski
Mike Sexton vs. Phil Hellmuth

Gavin Griffin vs. Tom Dwan
Barry Greenstein vs. Blandino Gines

Hearts Bracket

Johnny Chan vs. Eli Elezra
Erick Lindgren vs. Howard Lederer

J.C. Tran vs. David Williams
Jamie Gold vs. Scott Fischman

Erik Seidel vs. John Phan
Jerry Yang vs. Clonie Gowen

Allen Cunningham vs. Sam Farha
Andy Bloch vs. Peter Eastgate

Diamonds Bracket

Kenny Tran vs. Antonio Esfandiari
Greg Raymer vs. Jen Harman

Kenny Yeh vs. Phil Laak
Vanessa Selbst vs. Layne Flack

David Benyamine vs. Gus Hansen
Huck Seed vs. Jonathan Little

Chad Brown vs. Glen Chorny
Annie Duke vs. Brad Garrett

The first round of matches will be held Friday beginning at 1 pm PT. On Saturday the remaining field will play down from 32 players to the Elite 8.

Ivan Demidov is the newest client for PokerRoyalty.

Russian poker superstar Ivan Demidov got one piece of good news this week and one piece of bad news.

The good news is that he’s the latest professional poker player to sign with Las Vegas-based poker agency PokerRoyalty. Demidov joins the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Erick Lindgren and Gus Hansen on the PokerRoyalty roster.

“While my career takes me all over the world, Russia is always home. Working with Poker Royalty, with their resources around the world, will help me successfully navigate my career and build on exciting opportunities available in Russia and elsewhere,” said Demidov, who made history in 2008 by making the final table of both the World Series of Poker and World Series of Poker Europe Main Events.

Last November PokerRoyalty announced that they had opened a European office. The signing of Demidov gives them their first heavyweight signing out of that office. Demidov, who still lives in Russia, plans on focusing on European Poker Tour events and only expects to play in North America for the WSOP.

“Ivan is a player with enormous talent and unlimited potential. Ivan’s success has created much excitement for the game of poker in his home country of Russia, and Poker Royalty is thrilled to be helping him manage his career and the many exciting opportunities that will undoubtedly develop for him around the world,” said James Sullivan, President of Poker Royalty.

The bad news for Demidov is that he’s no longer in the field for the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championships. Thanks to problems with acquiring a visa that would allow him to work in the U.S. in time for the event Demidov elected to stay home in Moscow. The 27-year-old, who has an endorsement deal with PokerStars, was replaced in the event by Hevad Khan, who also represents PokerStars.

Vanessa Rousso, Danica Patrick and Go Daddy founder Bob Parsons on set filming the new commercial for the domain name registrar.

Vanessa Rousso, who created some buzz in the poker industry earlier this year with an appearance in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, is joining IndyCar superstar Danica Patrick as a spokesmodel for domain name registrar GoDaddy.com.

Rousso is currently filming commercials for GoDaddy with Patrick and the original GoDaddy girl and current WWE wrestler Candice Michelle in Las Vegas. The commercials are expected to air during the upcoming NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, the 2009 National Football League season and possibly the Super Bowl.

“Vanessa is smart, she’s aggressive and she’s hot,” said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “She has an economics degree from Duke. She’s working on a law degree at the University of Miami. And, like Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick, she’s competing successfully in what has been a man’s sport. She is definitely Go Daddy material.”

Rousso’s career live earnings total $875,746 with her biggest cash coming from the 2006 World Poker Tour World Championship where she finished 7th for $263,625. That same year she won $285,450 by winning a $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament at the Borgata Open.

Her success at the tables earned her a sponsorship from online poker giant PokerStars.com where she plays under the name “LadyMaverick”. The appearance in the SI Swimsuit Issue was via an advertisement for the online poker room’s play-for-free equivalent PokerStars.net.

“Poker is my passion, but that actually started with my interest in economics,” said Rousso. “I know a strong company when I see one and Go Daddy is absolutely dominant. Go Daddy is world leader in so many Internet categories, plus it has a reputation for being fun, edgy and aggressive. It’s just my style.”

The decision by GoDaddy to add Rousso to their stable of isn’t their first venture into the world of poker. Last month the organizers of the NHUPC announced that the domain registrar would be the presenting sponsor for the 2009 event at Caesars Palace.

Peter Eastgate is amongst the impressive field at the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Championship.

The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship has established itself as one of the most prestigous tournaments of the year and one look at the quality of the field for the 2009 event tells you why.

Eleven former winners of the World Series of Poker Main Event, including defending champion Peter Eastgate, are among the 60 players anounced Tuesday. Joining Eastgate as Main Event winners in the field will be Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Chris Moneymaker, Scotty Nguyen, Greg Raymer, Chris Ferguson, Huck Seed, Jamie Gold and Jerry Yang.

“We’ve got a great mix of celebrity participants and top poker pros, including veterans and newcomers, for this year’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship,” said Jon Miller, executive vice president of NBC Sports. “It’s a combustible combination bound to produce the inevitable upsets and compelling action that will excite poker fans everywhere.”

In 2008 tournament organizers announced that the winner of BLUFF Magazine Player-of-the-Year would get an automatic berth in the tournament and with that John Phan will make his NHUPC debut. Also making their debut will be 2008 WSOP Main Event runner-up Ivan Demidov, Dario Minieri, 2008 European Poker Tour Grand Final champion Glen Chorny, Ilari Sahamies, Vanessa Selbst, Gavin Griffin, Bertrand Grospellier, comedian Brad Garrett and the two qualifiers who have been determined so far, Jeffrey Ishbia and Leon Yanovski.

And yes poker fans, there will be a chance that Hellmuth and Tom Dwan reprise their now famous three-hand battle from last year. Dwan was also named to the field and will now have to wait until the draw party on March 5 to see if the brackets might allow for a rematch of one of the most talked about matches from 2008.

The most glaring omission from the field appears to be that of Michael Binger. In 2008 Binger was runner-up to Phan for BLUFF POY and he recorded three seperate wins including a WSOP Circuit event at Lake Tahoe in November.

Annie Duke, who will apparently make a deep run on the upcoming season of Celebrity Apprentice, is also in the field and is one of six women in the field joining Jennifer Harman, Jennifer Tilly, Clonie Gowen, Vanessa Rousso and Selbst. The inclusion of Gowen could lead to some interesting match-ups given her current lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker in which she has named a number of players in this event as defendants.

There are still four spots to be determined with one still to come from Full Tilt Poker, two from PokerStars and one final player from a Caesars qualifier being held this weekend. The drawing party will be held at PURE nightclub next to the Caesars poker room on Thursday, March 5 where the opening match-ups will be determined. The tournament begins on Friday, March 6 and continues until the best-of-three final on Sunday, March 8. NBC will air 12 hours of coverage from the event on six consecutive Sundays beginning April 12.

2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship Field

• David Benyamine
• Andy Bloch
• Chad Brown
• Doyle Brunson
• Johnny Chan
• Don Cheadle
• Glen Chorny
• Allen Cunningham
• Ivan Demidov
• Annie Duke
• Tom Dwan
• Peter Eastgate
• Eli Elezra
• Antonio Esfandiari
• Sam Farha
• Chris Ferguson
• Scott Fischman
• Layne Flack
• Ted Forrest
• Brad Garrett
• Jamie Gold
• Clonie Gowen
• Barry Greenstein
• Gavin Griffin
• Bertrand Grospellier
• Joe Hachem
• Gus Hansen
• Jennifer Harman
• Phil Hellmuth
• Orel Hershiser
• Jeffrey Ishbia
• Phil Ivey 
• John Juanda
• Gabe Kaplan
• Phil Laak
• Howard Lederer
• Erick Lindgren
• Jonathan Little
• Mike Matusow
• Dario Minieri
• Chris Moneymaker
• Daniel Negreanu
• Scotty Nguyen
• David Pham
• John Phan
• Greg Raymer
• Vanessa Rousso
• Ilari Sahamies
• Huck Seed
• Vanessa Selbst
• Erik Seidel
• Mike Sexton
• Gavin Smith
• Jennifer Tilly
• J.C. Tran
• Kenny Tran
• Paul Wasicka
• David Williams
• Jerry Yang
• Leon Yanovski

When professional poker players talk about the most prestigous tournaments on the yearly schedule there’s a few that come to mind.

The WSOP Main Event, the EPT Grand Final, the WPT Championship, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at the WSOP and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship on NBC. This March 64 of the of the world’s best poker players will be invited back to compete for this title and the event will again be back at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

One of the reasons the event is held in such high esteem is the tough field. This year’s elite group of 64 will include reigning champion Chris Ferguson, world champion Peter Eastgate, BLUFF Magazine Player-of-the-Year John Phan and Doyle Brunson. A complete field is expected to be announced later this month.

“The National Heads-Up Championship’s exciting and unique one-on-one format creates the most compelling poker action anywhere,” said Jon Miller, executive vice president of NBC Sports. “We’ve got another great lineup of talent for our fifth season, which will provide fans with the kind of riveting match-ups they have come to expect from our tournament.”

Along with the top notch venue and field, the tournament now has a major corporate sponsor as domain registrar GoDaddy.com has stepped up to become the “presenting sponsor of the tournament” according to a press release issued Tuesday.

“The popularity of poker has grown thanks in large part to television and the Internet,” said Go Daddy CEO & Founder Bob Parsons. “Being an industry leader for domain names and Web sites, we only sponsor the most exciting events. NBC and Caesars Palace are assembling a top-notch tournament with world-class players and I look forward to seeing some great action.”

The tournament, produced by POKER PROductions, will be broadcast on NBC over six consecutive Sundays in April and May.