The second day of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship begins with sixteen players remaining from the 64 that started the tournament on Saturday.
Today’s match-ups follow with the winner of each match marked by (w):
Mimi Tran vs. Chris Ferguson(w)
Mike Sexton(w) vs. Hassan Habib
Barry Greenstein vs. John Juanda(w)
TJ Cloutier(w) vs. John Henningan
Lyle Berman(w) vs. Carlos Mortensen
Huck Seed vs. Phil Hellmuth(w)
Ted Forrest vs. Antonio Esfandiari(w)
David Sklansky vs. Scott Fischman(w)
The second round pairings follow with the winners marked with a (w):
Chris Ferguson(w) vs. Mike Sexton
John Juanda vs. TJ Cloutier(w)
Lyle Berman vs. Phil Hellmuth(w)
Antonio Esfandiari(w) vs. Scott Fischman
The crowds of fans stand in line waiting for seats to open so they may watch the professional players vying for the first prize money of $500,000. The excitement runs high and for some seeing these stars of poker was worth the trip to Vegas. The NBC Sports production crew continues to keep the event under control and running smoothly. I am impressed with their professionalism and efficiency. The set is one of the best I’ve seen while working televised poker tournaments. Should I expect anything less form a big network like NBC? I think they probably did make an error in estimating the time required to complete this tournament. Saturdays elimination continued into the small hours of the morning and today the players are consuming even more time because they become very cautious as they get closer to cashing in for the big money. Scott Fishman was the first out of the eight when he went all-in with an A,4o and was called by Antonio’s A,Jo. The board didn’t help either and Scott was eliminated when his four was outkicked by Antonio’s jack.
Phil Hellmuth had moved out to a small chip lead over Lyle Berman and Chris Ferguson was ahead of Mike Sexton. John Juanda was playing solid poker with no mistakes and had control of his match with TJ Cloutier.
The final four have been determined. TJ mounted a great comeback and defeated John Juanda. Chris Ferguson outlasted Mike Sexton and Phil Helmuth sent Lyle Berman home. Antonio Esfandiari completes the group.
The pairings for the final four follow with the winner denoted by a (w):
TJ Cloutier vs. Chris Ferguson(w)
Phil Hellmuth(w) vs. Antonio Esfandiari
The stage is now set for the final Heads up match between two former world champions, Chris Ferguson vs. Phil Hellmuth. Between the two they have collected a total of 14 WSOP bracelets with each having won the WSOP Championship. Continue reading for additional photos.
More photos from the NBC National Heads-Up poker Championship at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas.