National Heads-Up Poker Championship returns to Caesars Palace

LAS VEGAS -- After a one-year hiatus, the National Heads-Up Poker Championship will return to Caesars Palace this spring and will be televised on the both NBC and the NBC Sports Network.

The tournament features 64 players competing in one-on-one games of No Limit Hold’em and styled is after the NCAA Basketball Tournament bracket. The players are seeded and then compete in a single-elimination format.

A player wins a match and advances to the next round; wins six matches and becomes the National Heads-Up Poker Champion.

The reigning champion is eight-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Erik Seidel, who defeated 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker to win the title in 2011.

The Heads-Up Championship had been sponsored by online poker companies before the federal government’s crackdown on illegal Internet poker. The World Series of Poker (WSOP.com) is the new presenting sponsor.

Three original airings on NBC and three on NBC Sports Network will begin March 14. The championship match will be televised on NBC on April 20.

This year’s event marks the eighth installment of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Heads-Up Poker Championship competitors have included Phil Hellmuth Jr., Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Antonio Esfandiari.