Phill Hellmuth is the defending National Heads Up Champion.
Las Vegas Books may have broken the single day record wager record with Super Bowl XL. Once the tally of money is gathered it will probably be the new benchmark. Sports book all over the city were at capacity with the game representing an almost ideal Vegas paring and finish. East vs. West guarantees plenty of action both ways and the line would indicate that’s exactly how it was bet. The early money was mostly on the favorite Pittsburg Steelers with the line opening at 3 1/2 points, moved to 4, then 4 1/2 where it remained for most of last week before falling back down to 4 on Saturday when a bunch of Seattle Seahawks’ money hit town. A great profit finish for the books would have had Pittsburg winning the game but not covering the spread, a real possibility right to the end.
I cruised around the strip for awhile today and everything appears to be back to Las Vegas normal. Still crowded with some of the 38 million that comes every year to vacation and seek their fortune. Today was probably the slowest day since sometime before Christmas. The Super Bowl is the official signal that the holidays are finally over. Now we began the countdown for the coming summer and the six weeks of the 2006 World Series of Poker. A poker event that is already shaping up to break all of the records set in 2005. The main event is probably going to have 4 days of Day #1 flights, 2 days of Day #2 elimination rounds followed by daily eliminations until we get to the final table ten. The main event will fill close to two weeks with high stakes, high stress no-limit championship poker. Bring your endurance to this one.
Before the 2006 WSOP begins the deal this summer at the Rio we have a number of other tournaments to look forward to. The NBC Heads Up Championship will hold the second annual installment of the tournament at Caesars Palace in late March. The National Heads-Up Championship held last year at the downtown Golden Nugget casino proved to be a popular hit with viewers and drew respectable ratings for the NBC television network. Poker bad boy, Phil Hellmuth, outlasted the highly qualified field of 64 professional poker players to claim the championship, after going heads up with Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson for the championship. Like him or hate him, Phil is one of the most entertaining players to sit at a tournament poker table and he, alone, is a major drawing card for viewers. Phil is also one of the most skilled players to play tournament poker and he has the collected considerable hardware, including nine WSOP bracelets.
The Heavyweight Championship of Poker scheduled for early April at Sam’s Town Hotel & Gambling Hall will set a record for the most expensive poker tournament buy-in at $100,000. Limited to just 100 players the event will have a prize pool of $10,000,000 and the winner will leave with $5,000,000. Organized like professional boxing, players may qualify into the tournament via satellites held at casinos around the country. The player will then represent the casino where they played and won the entry. The other players at the final table you won own a piece of you, and so does the casino. they will receive a small cut of your future earnings in the Heavyweight series. Champions will also be required to defend the title on a timely basis. If this is the one tournament you must play, then contact us for additional details.
The Mirage Poker Showdown is on the calendar for May 4-17. The Mirage Resort is one of our favorite hosting casinos, always first class facilities and an accommodating professional staff. Always a pleasure to cover the poker action at the Mirage. We will provide coverage of all the ‘don’t miss’ Las Vegas poker events that attract the best poker players in the world.