Home / Poker News January 2013 / NBC Heads-Up Action Continues
NBC Heads-Up Action Continues
Posted by: Mark Baldwing - Sun, 2013-01-27 09:46
Scheduled to last 3 days, the NBC’s National Heads-up Poker Championship has made quite a bit of progress during its first couple of days. After the first day of action, half the starting field was gone. After the second day, only 8 players were left standing.
Daniel Cates earned his place in the top 8 with a victory over Antonio Esfandiari. Cates will face Scott Seiver next. Seiver made it this far in the
poker tournament by defeating Will Failla, Kyle Julius and Vanessa Rousso. The Cates/Seiver match-up will decide the player who wins the club bracket, moving into the final 4.
In the spade bracket, Mike Matusow will face John Hennigan. Matusow battled his way into the top 8 by disposing of Michael Mizrachi, Viktor Blom and Barry Greenstein: not a shabby performance indeed.
Hennigan on the other hand defeated David Williams, Sam Simon and Phil Ivey. The red side of the brackets has Eugene Katchalov facing off with Phil Hellmuth in the heart bracket. Hellmuth fought his way into the final 8 through Mike Sexton, Justin Smith and David Sands.
Katchalov proved his valor against Faraz Jaka, Phil Galfond and Joseph Cheong.
The diamond bracket has Brian Hastings battling it out with Joe Serock. Hastings made it this far in the event by disposing of Matt Matros, Eli Elezra and Tom Dwan. Serock’s path went through Greg Merson, Huck Seed and Dan Smith, the current leader of the GPI PoY list.
With the final stages of the event appearing ever clearer, betting is on regarding the eventual winner. Phil Hellmuth certainly has a bit of history in this tournament: in 2005, he won it. Mike Matusow on the other hand finished 9th twice, in 2007 and in 2008, pocketing $25k each time.
