2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship

$20,000 Heads-up Championship
Day: 3
Event Info

2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k7
Prize
$500,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$20,000
Entries
64

Seed Takes Over the Lead

With all five community cards on the board and showing {Q-Hearts} {7-Hearts} {A-Diamonds} {10-Spades} {4-Hearts}, Vanessa Rousso bet 100,000 chips. Shortly thereafter, Huck Seed became the first player to move all in during this match. Rousso gave the matter about thirty seconds of thought before mucking her hand.

Seed now has the chip lead.

Rousso Out to Early Lead

Vanessa Rousso is out to an early lead in this match. She had to come from behind in her quarterfinal match against Daniel Negreanu and her semifinal match against Bertrand Grospellier, so this is surely a welcome change.

Quiet on the Set

It's quiet in here. Damn quiet in here. The few spectators who are talking are doing so in hushed tones. Rousso and Seed haven't said so much as a word to each other. The dominant sound in the room is that of riffled poker chips.

Blinds have increased to 10,000 and 20,000. MOC Jordan Siegel hasn't called any of the action yet; from our vantage it's hard to tell who has the chip lead.

We've Made it to the Final!

Huck Seed and Vanessa Rousso were introduced to the gallery and received a round of applause for making it to the final. They took their seats, and after a television introduction by Leeann Tweeden that included a few words with each player, cards were finally in the air.

This final is a two-out-of-three format. Each player has been given 640,000 chips. Blind levels start at 5,000 and 10,000 and will be fifteen minutes long.

Seed Outlasts Farha; Will Face Rousso in Final

Sam Farha - eliminated
Sam Farha - eliminated
It took two-and-a-half hours, but we finally have a winner in the "red" side semifinal. Sam Farha moved all in as the short stack with {A-Clubs} {k-Diamonds}. Huck Seed called with {8-Clubs} {10-Clubs}, which might seem like a loose call until the blinds of 20,000 and 40,000 and the average stack of 320,000 is factored into the equation. Seed flopped a gutshot straight draw, {7-Clubs} {5-Spades} {J-Spades}, then turned a flush draw ({3-Clubs}) to go with it. We've had lots of dramatic turn cards in this match. It was inevitable that one of the draws produced by those turn cards would finally fill. Fill it did, as the river came {9-Clubs} to give Seed a club flush and the win.

Seed will advance to the best-of-three final, where he will face the player who has become the story of the tournament, Vanessa Rousso.

Tags: Huck SeedSam FarhaVanessa Rousso

Chop It Up?

This match doesn't want to end. Huck Seed moved all in preflop with the chip lead and Sam Farha called. They were flipping for the right to move onto the final, with Farha's {4-Spades} {4-Diamonds} a slight favorite to Seed's {k-Spades} {7-Clubs}. Seed paired his seven on a flop of {7-Hearts} {5-Diamonds} {8-Diamonds}, but Farha picked up additional outs by drawing at a gutterball straight around a six. The {9-Spades} on the turn turned those outs into "chop" outs; Farha could only win with a four on the river. The river fell {6-Spades}, putting a straight on the board to the disbelieving gasp of everyone in the room. The pot was chopped up, and so the match continues.

Tags: Huck SeedSam Farha

The Turn Keeps on Providing Drama

Huck Seed was all in again, this time with {K-Spades} {7-Hearts}. Sam Farha called with {J-Clubs} {10-Diamonds} and the chip lead. Things got very interesting on the turn (again!) of a {6-Spades} {7-Diamonds} {8-Diamonds} {k-Diamonds} board. Seed made two pair, kings and sevens, but Farha was the one with two different draws. He missed them both when the river fell {5-Spades}, giving Seed another double-up. He might have the chip lead at this point.

Tags: Huck SeedSam Farha

Round and Round They Go!

Blinds are a staggering 20,000 and 40,000 now. The chip lead is being traded back and forth virtually every hand.

Huck Seed open-shoved his button with {A-Diamonds} {2-Hearts} when he had the chip lead. "I call," said Sam Farha. Farha turned over {A-Spades} {Q-Clubs}. In a repeat of an earlier hand, the {10-Hearts} {9-Hearts} {3-Diamonds} helped neither player, but the turn {Q-Hearts} was the perfect sweat card. It gave Farha top pair and the smallest possible flush draw to Seed. The river blanked out to give Farha the pot and the lead.

The next hand, Farha raised and Seed called all in without looking at his hand. Farha had {A-Hearts} {K-Clubs} against Seed's {K-Spades} {4-Spades}. Seed managed to pair his four on the flop and duck any damaging cards thereafter. He doubled up but remains at a chip disadvantage to Farha.

Tags: Huck SeedSam Farha

Deadlocked at the Feature Table

We have yet another lead change to report as Huck Seed just doubled through Sammy Farha to bring the match virtually dead even.

Seed moved all in from the button before the flop for a total of 159,000. Farha flashed the {A-Clubs} then took a look at his stack before making the call:

Seed: {Q-Hearts} {Q-Clubs}
Farha: {A-Clubs} {4-Diamonds}

"We need an ace!" shouted one railbird.

"How bout a queen for Huckleberry!" replied another.

The flop came a boring {K-Clubs} {3-Clubs} {J-Spades}, but the {5-Clubs} that fell on the turn changed all that, as it gave Farha a plethora of new outs. No matter, Seed's queens held up in the end when the board paired ({K-Spades}), doubling him through to 318,000 in chips. Farha was left with 322,000.

Tags: Huck SeedSam Farha

Farha on Top Again

Sam Farha put in the first raise preflop before Huck Seed moved all in. He had the chip lead again, but he did not have the best hand. Farha double-fist-pump-snap-called with {A-Spades} {A-Clubs}, a hand that had Seed's {2-Diamonds} {2-Clubs} crushed. The board ran out {4-Diamonds} {5-Hearts} {8-Hearts} {Q-Clubs} {6-Hearts} to give Farha the double up, to the delight of the seemingly partisan crowd.

Farha now has an approximately three-to-one chip lead.

Tags: Huck SeedSam Farha