The selection committee that determines which players are invited to NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship has determined some standards by which several players will earn automatic berths into the tournament. Recent success in major tournaments, including the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, weighs heavily into the criteria.

The new guidelines will be used starting next year; the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship will mark the event’s fifth year. The 2008 tournament was
won by two-time runner-up Chris Ferguson and currently is airing Sundays on NBC. Previous champions include 2007 winner Paul Wasicka, Ted Forrest (2006) and Phil Hellmuth Jr. (2005).

This year’s field featured 11 world champions, six WPT players of the year and a total of 112 WSOP bracelets combined from the participants. The Heads-Up Championship qualifying criteria guarantees similarly strong fields for years to come.

Players who meet the following guidelines automatically earn a seat in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship:

● Previous five (5) National Heads-Up Poker Champions;
● Previous two (2) National Heads-Up runners-up;
● Previous year’s National Heads-Up semifinalists;
● Any player who cashes in the past four consecutive years of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship;
● Previous three (3) World Series of Poker Main Event champions;
● Reigning World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up;
● Beginning with the 2008 WSOP, multiple bracelet winners in the same year will receive an automatic invitation;
● Defending World Series of Poker Player of the Year;
● Defending World Series of Poker Heads-Up Champion;
● Defending World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Champion (must be 21 or older);
● Reigning World Poker Tour Player of the Year;
● Reigning Monte Carlo European Poker Tour Grand Final Champion (must be 21 or older);
● Reigning Card Player Magazine Player of the Year;
● Reigning BLUFF Magazine Player of the Year;
● Reigning All In Magazine Player of the Year;
● Online and NBC qualifiers;
● Host venue qualifiers (two).

The new format awards 27 guaranteed seats into the event, a number that could increase or decrease depending on whether any player qualifies in more than one category, and the number of players who win multiple bracelets at the WSOP.

Players who earn an automatic bid must still buy in to the tournament ($20,000), unless they win a seat through a qualifier. The National Heads-Up Poker Championship committee reserves the right to change policies at its discretion.
The 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship will continue to air Sundays May 4-18 on NBC. The May 18 show will be a three-hour finale.

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This year’s championship was won by Chris Ferguson, who won a best-of-three final against Andy Bloch. The series will also likely feature on the deep run made by former LA Dodgers great Orel Hershiser, who advanced to the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Bloch.

The
updated broadcast schedule for the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship:

Sunday, April 13th (Noon – 2pm ET)
NBC Sports Special: National Heads-Up Poker Championship #1

Round of 64 – Clubs Bracket
● Chris Ferguson vs John Juanda
● Mike Matusow vs Joe Hachem
● Patrik Antonius vs Gabe Kaplan
● Tom Dwan vs Phil Hellmuth

Round of 64 – Spades Bracket
● Chris Moneymaker vs Jerry Yang
● Phil Ivey vs Alisha Kunze
● David Williams vs Johnny Chan
● Don Cheadle vs Gus Hansen

Sunday, April 20th (Noon – 1pm ET)
NBC Sports Special: National Heads-Up Poker Championship #2

Round of 64 – Hearts Bracket
● Paul Wasicka vs Freddy Deeb
● Ted Forrest vs Orel Hershiser
● Shannon Elizabeth vs Andy Bloch

Round of 64 – Diamonds Bracket
● Jennifer Tilly vs Clonie Gowen
● Jason Alexander vs Huck Seed
● Sam Farha vs Doyle Brunson
● Daniel Negreanu vs Michael Mizrachi

Sunday, April 27th (Noon – 2pm ET)
NBC Sports Special: National Heads-Up Poker Championship #3

Sunday, May 4th (Noon – 2pm ET)
NBC Sports Special: National Heads-Up Poker Championship #4

Sunday, May 11th (Noon – 2pm ET)
NBC Sports Special: National Heads-Up Poker Championship #5

Sunday, May 18th (Noon – 3pm ET)
NBC Sports Special: National Heads-Up Poker Championship #6

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With the vast majority of the 64-player field made up of world-class players, there doesn’t appear to be an easy bracket. Join PokerNews.com’s live reporting today for what is bound to be exciting early-rounds action. The Hearts bracket will start at 10:15 am, with Diamonds at 1:15 pm, Clubs at 4:15 pm, and Spades at 6:45 pm.

Hearts:

Vanessa Rousso vs. Antonio Esfandiari
Shannon Elizabeth vs. Andy Bloch
Todd Brunson vs. Scott Fischman
Jamie Gold vs. Tom Kelly
Ted Forrest vs. Orel Hershiser
Allen Cunningham vs. Chad Brown
John Robert Bellande vs. Sam Grizzle
Paul Wasicka vs. Freddie Deeb

Diamonds:

Jason Alexander vs. Huck Seed
David Pham vs. Brian Townsend
Jennifer Tilly vs. Clonie Gowen
Daniel Negreanu vs. Michael Mizrachi
Barry Greenstein vs. Howard Lederer
David Benyamine vs. Jennifer Harman
Sam Farha vs. Doyle Brunson
Erick Lindgren vs. Eli Elezra

Clubs:

Jonathan Little vs. Erik Seidel
Patrik Antonius vs. Gabe Kaplan
Greg Raymer vs. Hooman Nikzad
Kenny Tran vs. Scott Clements
Mike Matusow vs. Joe Hachem
Tom Dwan vs. Phil Hellmuth
Tom Schneider vs. Gavin Smith
Chris Ferguson vs. John Juanda

Spades:

Don Cheadle vs. Gus Hansen
Scotty Nguyen vs. Bill Edler
Chris Moneymaker vs. Jerry Yang
David Singer vs. Phil Laak
Phil Ivey vs. Alisha Kunze
David Williams vs. Johnny Chan
Daniel Schreiber vs. TJ Cloutier
Annie Duke vs. JC Tran

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David Benyamine was the first player to make the money today when he defeated Barry Greenstein. After a series of pre-flop raises, all the chips went in the pot with Benyamine’s pocket tens
vying against Greenstein’s suited A-J. The board brought no help to Greenstein, who presented Benyamine with his signature bust-out gift, his book Ace on the River. With his defeat of Brian “sbrugby” Townsend, 1996 WSOP champion Huck Seed keeps his NBC Heads Up streak alive; he has cashed in all four annual events. Townsend met his demise when he called Seed’s check-raised all-in on a flop of T-7-5. Seed’s Q-T was in good shape against Townsend’s 6-5 and stayed that way as the board completed with 7-2.

Andy Bloch has been beating up on the women. Yesterday Bloch, a last-minute addition for the absent comedian Brad Garrett, eliminated actress Shannon Elizabeth. Today Vanessa Rousso ultimately fell to Bloch when she re-raised all-in on a board of holding for top pair and the nut flush draw. Bloch called with K-5 for two pair. A blank on the river moved Bloch into the sweet sixteen. Scott Fischman tied Huck Seed’s record of four cashes in the NBC Heads Up when he defeated 2006 WSOP Champion Jamie Gold. All the money went in pre-flop with Fischman’s A-4 vs. Gold’s K-J. The board missed them both and Fischman prevailed with ace high.

Former Major League pitcher Hershiser took an early lead against Allen Cunningham, but Cunningham battled back in two consecutive hands to take the lead. Hershiser is no stranger to performing under pressure and it wasn’t long before he regained the advantage. The boys got it all in pre-flop, Hershiser holding an A-T to Cunningham’s K-6. The board brought a ten for Hershiser and no help to Cunningham, who graciously added his signature to the baseball. Clonie Gowen was less lucky with her A-T all-in against Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. Mizrachi’s Q-J found a jack on the turn to send the last woman to the rail and himself into the sweet sixteen.

Two-time WSOP champion Doyle Brunson and Erick Lindgren were all in pre-flop on a race with Brunson’s pocket nines competing against Q-J. When the turn came, the board read 8-7-6-5 to give Brunson the straight and leaving Lindgren drawing dead. Freddy Deeb and Sam Grizzle battled it out the longest but finally terminated when Grizzle’s pocket kings couldn’t hold up against Deeb’s A-Q once an ace flopped. While Deeb moves on to the sweet sixteen, he is now on deck for Orel Hershiser in the next round.

Clubs and Spades Brackets:

A lot of people speculated that Phil Ivey wouldn’t be up for the NBC Heads Up championship after just winning the grueling LA Poker Classic. Instead, Ivey appears to be re-energized and demonstrated it by making quick work of two-time WSOP champion Johnny Chan. Chan and Ivey were all in on a J-9-3 flop; Ivey had the upper hand with K-J to Chan’s Q-9. The turn and river came 5-T and for the first time since the event’s inception, Ivey advanced to the money. In Round One, Gavin Smith was 6-for-6 winning hands where he was the underdog. The seventh time proved his undoing when his K-8 couldn’t catch up to Chris Ferguson’s pocket fours.

We lost our last player with acting creds when Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little called Gabe Kaplan’s all-in pre-flop bet; Little held A-8 to Kaplan’s J-4. The board delivered Q-3-4-8-K, giving Little the higher pair, and sending Kaplan off. “I can’t lay down two eights this time, baby,” said Scotty Nguyen to his second-round opponent, Gus Hansen, before calling Gus’ pre-flop all in bet. Hansen tabled K-9 and the race was on. At the turn, the board read to give the spade-less Hansen a higher pair and Nguyen, who held the , an embarrassment of outs. No outs came for Nguyen and Hansen advanced to the next round.

In Round One, Tom “durrrr” Dwan eliminated Phil Hellmuth on a decidedly bad beat when his pocket tens ultimately cracked Hellmuth’s pocket aces. Matusow, who was required to change into more politically correct attire prior to the match, may have had the extra motivation of avenging his friend’s bad beat when he faced off against Dwan. Whatever his motivation, Matusow successfully put away Dwan when his A-5 held up against Dwan’s K-T. 2007 WSOP champion Jerry Yang, holding K-8, re-raised Phil Laak all in pre-flop. Laak called with pocket nines and spiked a set on the flop to ensure his sweet sixteen appearance.

JC Tran prevailed over TJ Cloutier when his pocket fours held up against Cloutier’s A-4. The last match of the day saw 2004 WSOP champion Greg Raymer prevail against Scott Clements. Short-stacked, Clements pushed in with an A-6, only to run into Raymer’s A-J. The board brought an ace, but no salvation for Clements.

Sweet Sixteen Match-Ups

Andy Bloch vs. Scott Fischman
Orel Hershiser vs. Freddy Deeb
Huck Seed vs. Michael Mizrachi
David Benyamine vs. Doyle Brunson
Jonathan Little vs Greg Raymer
Mike Matusow vs. Chris Ferguson
Gus Hansen vs. Phil Laak
Phil Ivey vs. JC Tran

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Last year’s runner-up in this event was this year’s first casualty when Chad Brown ran into Allen Cunningham’s flush. In a day that was
particularly cruel to the Hollywood set, Brown’s acting credentials may have been a handicap. Within minutes of Brown’s elimination, last year’s champion, Paul Wasicka also made his exit at the hands of Freddy Deeb. Holding pocket tens, Wasicka led out on a flop of 8-8-5 and Deeb made the call. Wasicka pushed all-in when a jack fell on the turn and Deeb called, showing A-J. The river brought another jack for Deeb and salt in the wound for the fallen Wasicka.

Jamie Gold, in perhaps the day’s oddest series of hands, eliminated Caesar’s Palace qualifier Tom Kelly. Kelly went all in pre-flop and Jamie Gold folded pocket queens face up. People were still buzzing about Gold’s potential folly when Gold pushed all-in on the very next hand. Gold showed Kelly one card (allowable under the tournament’s rules); it was an ace. Kelly called with A-K only to discover that Gold had not one, but two, aces, which held up. Gold finished up the job in a subsequent hand. Scott Fischman is one of only three players to have cashed in every one of the past NBC Heads Up events. Fischman gave himself a chance for four when he eliminated Todd Brunson. Fischman had Brunson outchipped about 3-to-1 when he called Todd’s pre-flop all in with pocket deuces. Brunson’s K-9 was a slight underdog, but degraded quickly when the flop delivered a set for Fischman.

Orel Hershiser is a heads-up specialist; granted most of his mano y mano confrontations have been against major league batters. On the felt, Hershiser never got behind in the count and kept 2006 National Heads-Up champion Ted Forrest at a chip disadvantage throughout the match. Forrest fouled off a few to stay in the game, but Hershiser got the K when his pocket sixes held up against Forrest’s suited A-5. Andy Bloch was a last-minute substitution when invited comedian/actor Brad Garrett had to return to work after the resolution of the Hollywood writer’s strike. Bloch and actress Shannon Elizabeth seesawed through the match. Elizabeth, a “Dancing with the Stars” contestant, made the quarterfinals in last year’s event, but eventually succumbed when her good draw on a flop went bad.

If this was a match based on charm, it might have been a draw between Sam Grizzle and former “Survivor” contestant Jean-Robert Bellande. Luckily for Grizzle, it only took two pair. Vanessa Rousso bested her fiancé Chad Brown’s performance when she defeated Antonio Esfandiari. Rousso crippled Esfandiari when her overpair held up against his flopped top pair. Rousso finished Esfandiari off with a nut flush.

Round Two Hearts Bracket Match-Ups:

Vanessa Rousso vs. Andy Bloch
Scott Fischman vs. Jamie Gold
Orel Hershiser vs. Allen Cunningham
Freddy Deeb vs. Sam Grizzle

Diamonds Bracket

“I may lose, but I’m sexy as hell,” said actor Jason Alexander as he flipped over his , all in pre-flop against Huck Seed’s . The flop of looked bad for Alexander, but the turn brought the and a plethora of outs. Alexander got up behind the dealer and started giving him a shoulder massage in the hopes it would coax out a seven, ten, or spade. The fell and so did Jason Alexander. Sammy Farha and Doyle Brunson wasted no time, jousting with all-in bets. They found one they both liked in relatively short order when Farha woke up with A-Q vs. Brunson’s dominated K-Q. A fortune-reversing king hit the board and Brunson advanced.

Jennifer Tilly got the early lead on Clonie Gowen, but eventually the actor’s curse kicked in. In their final altercation, Tilly pushed all-in with a flopped straight and Gowen called with a flush draw. Gowen’s suited 2-3 caught the flush on the river and dismissed Tilly. David “The Dragon” Pham was in good shape when he pushed in with pocket nines against Brian “sbrugby” Townsend’s T-9 until the board brought two tens and no salvation for Pham.

All-in pre-flop, Michael Mizrachi’s Q-T held up against Daniel Negreanu’s Q-4 and propelled “The Grinder” to the next round. David Benyamine also advanced when his A-9 held up against Jennifer Harman’s 9-8. Harman flopped a straight draw that never delivered. Howard Lederer hung on with a short stack for a long time but was finally defeated by Barry Greenstein. In the longest match of the bracket, Erick Lindgren finally put away Eli Elezra with a flush.

Round Two Diamonds Bracket Match-Ups:

Huck Seed vs. Brian Townsend
Clonie Gowen vs. Michael Mizrachi
Barry Greenstein vs. David Benyamine
Doyle Brunson vs. Erick Lindgren

Clubs Bracket

Without a doubt, the most stunning bad beat of the evening ousted former WSOP Champion and 2005 NBC Heads-Up champion Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth insta-called Tom “durrrr” Dwan’s pre-flop all in raise; Hellmuth had vs. Dwan’s . The flop came . When the dealer flipped over the on the turn, the crowd erupted. Hellmuth’s hopes of the flush or an ace were dashed with the river.

Gabe “Welcome Back Kotter” Kaplan was the only player with acting credentials to advance when his A-5 caught an ace on the board to oust Patrik Antonius and his poker twos. Former WSOP champion Greg Raymer eliminated Caesar’s qualifier Hooman Nikmad when he pushed all-in with pocket sevens on a jack-high flop. Nikad’s pair of jacks looked good until another seven fell on the turn. Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little battled back to advance against Erik Seidel. Little was short stacked but pulled back to even when the board four flushed in his favor against Seidel’s pocket nines. Little finally prevailed when his pocket fours held up against Seidel’s A-9.

Kenny Tran and Scott Clements saw a lot of swings in their match, but Tran’s run finally came to an end when his A-7 couldn’t overcome Scott Clements’ A-K. Gavin Smith gained a significant chip advantage when his 7-8 went all-in against Tom Schneider’s pocket queens. Smith called for a miracle and got one in the form of an eight high straight. Schneider subsequently took his pocket nines against Smith’s Q-T, but a ten on the board sent Schneider home.

2005 WSOP Champion Joe Hachem hit a six-outer to cripple Mike Matusow in the early going, but it was Matusow who advanced to the second round. In honor of their match, Mike was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt with a kangaroo on it, waved a miniature Australian flag and occasionally chanted “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!” On their final hand, Hachem raised Matusow all-in on a flop of T-2-3. Matusow called, showing J-T vs. Hachem’s T-4. The rest of the board delivered an ace and a jack, giving Matusow two pair and the match. The longest match of the Diamonds bracket was that between John Juanda and Chris Ferguson, with Ferguson maintaining the edge for the majority of the match. Ferguson was the NBC Heads-Up runner-up in 2005 and 2006 and with his eventual defeat of Juanda gets yet another shot at the title this year.

Round Two Clubs Bracket Match-Ups:

Jonathan Little vs. Gabe Kaplan
Greg Raymer vs. Scott Clements
Mike Matusow vs Tom Dwan
Gavin Smith vs Chris Ferguson

Spades Bracket

2007 WSOP Champion Jerry Yang caught a two-outer to defeat 2003 WSOP Champion Chris Moneymaker. Yang opened pre-flop, triggering a succession of re-raises until the players were all in. Yang’s pocket fours were in trouble against Moneymaker’s pocket tens – that is, until he caught another four on the river. 1997 WSOP Champion Scotty Nguyen was able to advance when he hit a higher flush than that of Bill Edler. This is the first year since the event’s inception that Nguyen has made it past the first round.

PokerStars qualifier Alisha Kunze was hoping that Phil Ivey’s $1.6 million victory in the LA Poker Classic this week would find him a little tired and less hungry for the win. But Ivey seemed content to play the rush, eliminating Kunze when his J-9 hit two pair against her short-stacked pocket sevens. David Singer got all his money in on the turn with two pair, only to discover that Phil Laak would advance with a flush.

Don Cheadle is an Academy Award-nominated actor, which in this field spelled trouble. Cheadle’s trouble finally came when he got his pocket jacks all in against Gus Hansen’s K-J. Needless to say, the board delivered a king for Hansen and brought down the curtain on Cheadle. While it wasn’t a good day for actors, it was an equally bad day for former heads-up champions. All three NBC Heads-Up champs had already fallen by the time WSOP Heads-Up Champion Dan Schreiber squared off against TJ Cloutier. It looked like Schreiber was going to escape the heads-up champions’ curse when his was all-in against Cloutier’s , until Cloutier caught a five on the board to advance.

David Williams found himself all-in with A-9 against two-time WSOP Champion Johnny Chan’s pocket jacks. Williams was only able to catch a nine on the board which wasn’t good enough to keep him in the match. A short-stacked Annie Duke pushed her remaining chips in with T-6 only to have JC Tran call her in the dark with a dominating T-9. Tran caught both a ten and a nine on the board to advance to the next round.

Round Two Spades Bracket Match-Ups:

Gus Hansen vs. Scotty Nguyen
Jerry Yang vs. Phil Laak
Phil Ivey vs. Johnny Chan
TJ Cloutier vs. JC Tran

Join PokerNews.com for today’s live coverage of Round Two of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship starting at 11:30 am local time.

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Huck Seed was the first player to advance into the semifinal round when David Benyamine, believing his pocket nines were good, moved all in on a board of 2-3-7-3-5. Seed, however, called with pocket twos for the boat. In 2006, Seed advanced to the NBC Heads-Up semifinals but was then defeated by Chris Ferguson.

Understandably, the feature table for the Hearts and Diamonds bracket hosted the match between Orel Hershiser and Andy Bloch. Bloch was able to gain a sizable advantage in the early going, but Hershiser pulled ahead when his all in with A-5 bested Bloch’s Q-J. The crowd erupted on the A-Q-8 flop. Although Hershiser was ahead, any queen or jack would give Bloch the edge. Bloch was also quick to point out, “A ten on the turn gives me a lot of outs.” The rest of the board filled in with running sixes and the game resumed. They seesawed back and forth until Bloch was finally able to put an end to Hershiser’s run. Bloch raised all in pre-flop with A-9 and got called by Hershiser with J-T. The board of 9-7-6-6-2 gave Bloch unneeded assistance and Hershiser signed his ball over to Bloch. While I’m sure there are many that have autographed baseballs by Hershiser, the provenance of this particular ball has to be the envy of any collector.

Perhaps the most intense quarterfinal battle was that between Chris Ferguson and Jonathan Little. Ferguson had advanced to the semifinal round in two out of the last three NBC Heads-Up events. This was Little’s first appearance in this event. It looked like an upset in the making when Little got off to an early lead and continued to extend it to a 6-to-1 advantage. Ferguson battled back, managing to execute two double-ups. The first double-up found Little with the against Ferguson’s . The flop gave both players the gutshot draw to a jack, but Ferguson’s would be the higher of the two potential straights. A paired Ferguson but gave Little the flush draw. The on the river pushed the pot to Ferguson. Ferguson’s pocket nines held against Little’s pocket fours for the subsequent double-up. Finally, at a slight chip disadvantage, Little pushed with a suited T-7 only to run into Ferguson’s pocket nines, which held for the win.

Phil Ivey had been chipping away at Gus Hansen for much of their match, gaining about a 2-to-1 chip lead. Hansen shoved all his chips in the middle on a flop, only to have Ivey call and flip over . Hanson grimaced as he turned over with only a runner-runner straight flush hope for survival. An on the turn left Hansen drawing dead and sent Ivey into the semis.

Semifinals

Off to a slow start, Chris Ferguson was able to eek out a slight advantage against Phil Ivey. About forty minutes into their match, Ivey pushed all in on a board of . Ferguson went into the tank for well over a minute but subsequently called with pocket eights; Ivey turned over pocket sixes. Ivey had outs to a set and straight but the fell, sending Ferguson to the semifinals for an unprecedented third time.

An hour into their match, Andy Bloch and Huck Seed were still virtually neck and neck. Bloch was finally able to get an edge on Seed before their final hand, where Bloch pushed all in with A-Q and got called by Seed with pocket nines. Bloch had to wait until the river for the ace that would send him through to the finals.

The finals between Chris Ferguson and Andy Bloch have begun as this report runs. Coincidently, back in the late 1990′s Bloch and Ferguson discovered that they had run the same computer simulations to determine a rank of hands for heads-up play.

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A hand developed that provided an interesting moment of discovery for some at the table.

I was dealt a queen up and a couple of blanks in the hole. I had played very few hands all night. My image among the regulars was that of a tight player. The two newbies were also aware of my tight nature since I had played so few hands. They also
tended to fold on the stud hands since they were pretty much saving their ammunition for the hold’em games they were familiar with.

There were five opponents. Two players folded to me. I raised it to $5 with just my queen. All of the players folded around to the bring-in – one of the new guys who hadn’t learned how to play stud. He reluctantly called. I would have been happy if he had folded.

On fourth street he got a suited card – a queen, as it turned out. I got a king. I kept up my bluff and bet. He hemmed and hawed for a long time, showing his hand to others – who remained respectfully silent, waiting for him to act before commenting on what he should do. Reluctantly he folded. He then exposed his hand and we commented on it. I folded my hand into the muck so no one would know that this rock actually bluffed. (I decided to maintain the fiction that I never bluff.)

He had four hearts. He remembered that two other hearts had folded and commented that he figured he was far behind because of how few hearts were left. And he gave me credit for a pair of queens.

Another good player at the table said that he definitely should have called and maybe should have even raised – even giving me complete credit for queens.

The table concluded that the player should have called (and they didn’t even guess I was bluffing.)

I did the math by checking with my favorite on-line hand calculator, twodimes.net. They will instantly analyze heads-up matchups (and offer multi-way as well). Based on the number of suited cards that were out and the cards they thought we each held (again, giving me credit for a pair of queens I didn’t have), the guy with the four-flush should indeed have called. He was a 52% to 48% favorite.

I shared this story with a friend of mine. He concluded that the guy made a good choice in folding, since if he didn’t hit a flush on fifth street he’d be an underdog. Though he was barely a favorite on fourth street, my friend concluded, he’d be forcing himself to call bets where he’d be the underdog – thus making it prudent, if not mathematically correct, to fold.

My friend is wrong. My opponent should certainly have called, if not raised. He should have raised if he detected even the slightest chance that I was bluffing. He also should have raised because he had the advantage, however slight, in a limit game – building a pot that he’d expect to win more than half the time. Similarly, by raising he was expanding the size of the pot he’d be drawing for if he missed on fifth and sixth street – giving himself a better price to continue to draw on later streets.

Many players make the mistake my friend made – in assuming that a drawing hand should fold into a made hand. This is a mistake that costs otherwise good players money in the long run.

Let’s take a look at the math behind the good decision to call with the four-flush. We’ve already looked at fourth street. The four-flush is ahead, which is perhaps counter-intuitive since his hand isn’t yet made. But he’s ahead, nevertheless. So, what about my friend’s point regarding fifth street?

Let’s assume that I caught a blank and my opponent caught a non-suited card. He will win the hand, roughly 40% of the time. He has fallen into being a 3:2 underdog.

There is $25 in the pot from the prior rounds, antes and bring-ins. I have bet $10. So He’s being asked to spend $10 to win $35. Here’s how he should do the calculation.

If he stays to the river and wins, which he’ll do 40% of the time, he’ll win a pot of what would be $85. It will cost him $30 more, including his $10 call on fifth street, to do so, for a profit of $55. So 40% of $55 = $24 profit.

On the other hand, if he doesn’t improve to a winning hand, which will happen 60% of the time, he’ll spend $20 more (since he won’t bother to call or bet on the river if he doesn’t catch his flush). This means that he is profiting $4, overall, by calling on fifth street with a four-flush.

Let’s take it to sixth street. If he still hasn’t caught his flush, should he call on sixth street with a four-flush into what he assumes is a pair of queens?

By sixth street the pot is $55. A call costs $10. He is getting 5.5:1 for his call. And the odds against him making a flush are about 4.7:1. That’s an overlay – a good bet. He should still call.

With all that, my opinion is that sometimes the best play is a raise on fourth street. First of all, there’s the chance that the person who is betting with the exposed queen is bluffing. Your raise will give him a chance to fold, awarding you a pot on what amounts to a semi-bluff raise. It will also cause your opponent to be less inclined to bet strongly against you when you appear to have a drawing hand. The raise you make in this hand may translate into checks he makes in future games, saving you even more money in the long run.

The other reason for raising is that you may buy yourself a free card on fifth street. Your opponent may well check. You can then check behind him for a free card on sixth. So for the $5 raise on fourth you’re saving a $10 bet on fifth.

You might also be able to buy the pot on fifth. If you raise on fourth and he does call you, he may well check into you on fifth and then fold if he hasn’t improved, convinced that you are ahead. Of course he may well call your bet on fifth. But a passive call on fourth may also have resulted in his bet on fifth. At least with your raise you give yourself the possibility of two ways of saving money on fifth if you hit.

And if you hit on fifth street with another suited card, your raise has given you excellent deceptive value, since it’s unlikely he’ll put you on a flush. If he improves to two pair or trips he’s likely to bet into you. He will think that since you raised on fourth you probably had a pair and that the third suited upcard only looks scary. You’ll be able to extract an extra bet either then or on a later street when you raise him and he calls.

The bottom line is that a four-flush on fourth street is surely a hand worth playing, not folding, even when it’s heads-up.

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With the majority of the field set, it is apparent that one of the dynamics at play will be pitting some of the biggest and established names in poker against some of poker’s young up-and-comers. Almost every World Series of Poker champion in recent history has been invited, including 2007 WSOP winner Jerry Yang; only former WSOP champ Carlos Mortensen appears to among
the missing. All the 2007 Player of the Year recipients will be represented: David Pham (Card Player), J.C. Tran (All In), Bill Edler (Bluff), and Tom Schneider (WSOP).

NBC has also given a decided nod to “new school” of poker by inviting a number of younger players, most of whom honed their skills online. Representing the online rounders will be 2007 Heads-Up World Series of Poker bracelet winner Daniel ‘rekrul’ Schreiber, Brian ‘sbrugby’ Townsend, Jonathan ‘FieryJustice’ Little, Scott ‘BigRiskky’ Clements, and Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan.

NBC always has a short list of celebrities adding spice to the field and this year is no different. Comic actors Brad Garrett and Jason Alexander have both made appearances at the WSOP and will be battling on the heads-up felt here. Academy Award nominee and “Ante Up for Africa” organizer Don Cheadle will be present as well. And although his “Welcome Back, Kotter” roots will be how most casual viewers remember him, we know invitee Gabe Kaplan as the acclaimed host/commentator of “High Stakes Poker.” Jennifer Tilly and Shannon Elizabeth will also be returning this year. While some might find Orel Hershiser’s name a surprising add, the Las Vegas resident is no stranger to the felt. Hershiser played in the WPT Invitational at the Commerce last year and has been known to partake in the $30/60 game at the Bellagio.

Each of this year’s players will put up a $20,000 buy-in for a shot at the $500,000 first-place prize. The field will be capped at 64 players, comprised of 60 invitees and four special qualifiers; those four have yet to be determined. The event will begin with a drawing party at the Pure nightclub inside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on February 28, 2008, with the tournament taking place the following three days. The NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship debuted in 2005 as replacement programming during the NHL lockout. The format was a surprising success and the event has continued to pull in poker’s highest television ratings. With the announcement of the 2008 invitees, it looks like another great year for the event. Replacements for any invitee not able to attend will be announced at a later date.

The total list of invitees follows:

1. Alexander, Jason
2. Antonius, Patrik
3. Bellande, Jean-Robert
4. Benyamine, David
5. Brown, Chad
6. Brunson, Doyle
7. Brunson, Todd
8. Chan, Johnny
9. Cheadle, Don
10. Clements, Scott
11. Cloutier, T.J.
12. Cunningham, Allen
13. Deeb, Freddy
14. Duke, Annie
15. Dwan, Tom
16. Edler, Bill
17. Elezra, Eli
18. Elizabeth, Shannon
19. Esfandiari, Antonio
20. Farha, Sam
21. Ferguson, Chris
22. Fischman, Scott
23. Forrest, Ted
24. Garrett, Brad
25. Gold, Jamie
26. Gowen, Clonie
27. Greenstein, Barry
28. Grizzle, Sam
29. Hachem, Joe
30. Hansen, Gus
31. Harman, Jennifer
32. Hellmuth, Phil
33. Hershiser, Orel
34. Ivey, Phil
35. Juanda, John
36. Kaplan, Gabe
37. Laak, Phil
38. Lederer, Howard
39. Lindgren, Erick
40. Little, Jonathan
41. Matusow, Mike
42. Mizrachi, Michael
43. Negreanu, Daniel
44. Nguyen, Scotty
45. Pham, David
46. Raymer, Greg
47. Rousso, Vanessa
48. Schneider, Tom
49. Schreiber, Daniel
50. Seed, Huck
51. Seidel, Erik
52. Singer, David
53. Smith, Gavin
54. Tilly, Jennifer
55. Townsend, Brian
56. Tran, J.C.
57. Tran, Kenny
58. Wasicka, Paul
59. Williams, David
60. Yang, Jerry

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The 2008 COPC features five events and a total prize pool projected to exceed $1.3 million, with the $5,000-buyin Main Event (which starts on March 6) unique in that it’s a heads-up format, limited to 128 players, unlike the large-field freezeouts that mark most other poker gatherings. The complete schedule of events is as follows; all are no-limit hold’em variants:

Date Event

3-5 $500 Freezeout Charity Event
3-6 $5,000 Main Event (Day 1) —
Heads-Up, 128-player max
3-7 $1,500 Short-Handed (6-player tables)
3-8 $1,000 Freezeout
3-9 $500 Freezeout

The first day’s charity event is capped at 250 players, with a portion of the proceeds donated to breast-cancer research. The main event is expected to be filmed for later broadcast, and the last COPC drew a good selection of well-known players, including Antonio Esfandiari, Andy Bloch, Nenad Medic, Huck Seed, and Canadian stars Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller and Brad ‘Yukon’ Booth.

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It came as no surprise that the “first twenty” was replete with WSOP Championship winners, including Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, Jamie Gold and Jerry Yang. Former National Heads-Up champs Ted Forrest (2006) and Paul Wasicka (2007) were also represented in the first group of invitations. Five-time WSOP bracelet
winner Phil Ivey made the early list of invitees along with fellow WSOP bracelet holders Jennifer Harman, Barry Greenstein, Mike Matusow, Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, and Antonio Esfandiari.

WPT winners Erick Lindgren, Gavin Smith, and Jonathan “Fiery Justice” Little also made it into the first group. This is the first NBC Heads-Up invite for Little and along with the inclusion of online heads-up specialist Brian “sbrugby” Townsend, may represent NBC’s growing awareness of the skill and popularity of online players. Actress Shannon Elizabeth also made it into the first twenty. Last year Elizabeth was one of the more controversial picks, but her advance to the semifinals made her selection more likely this year.

While NBC has done an admirable job of selecting among poker’s top talent for its event, they have also shown some deference toward industry and celebrity players, creating opportunities for discussion among poker fans. Although experienced players, past invitations to LA Lakers owner Jerry Buss, actor James Woods, Celine Dion’s manager/husband Rene Angelil and Las Vegas attorney David Chesnoff each drew fire as being somewhat controversial selections.

There are no guarantees for the next round of invitees, but it would be hard to imagine NBC would “shuffle up and deal” without its 2005 Heads-Up champ, former WSOP Champion and eleven-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. The short list of other likely invitational candidates includes Daniel Negreanu, Huck Seed, TJ Cloutier, Erik Seidel and Carlos Mortensen, each of whom have made the invitation cut every year since the event’s inception. It also remains to be seen whether NBC will give the nod to 2007 WSOP Heads-Up Champion Dan “rekrul” Schreiber. Although a relative newcomer to the B&M world, the young Schreiber’s bracelet has obvious relevance and he has made a name for himself in the online poker and gaming space.

The 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship will take place Feb. 29th – Mar. 2nd at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and will begin airing on NBC in April.

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