2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship

$20,000 Heads-up Championship
Day: 3
123
Event Info

2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k♠7♥
Prize
$500,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$20,000
Entries
64
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Level Two Commences

[user75032]
[user75032]
The blinds have already moved up to 2,000 and 4,000. Huck Seed has opened up a greater than two-to-one chip lead on Sammy Farha, about 440,000 to 200,000.

Faces in the Crowd

[user75032]
[user75032]
From left to right, Daniel Negreanu, Jean Robert Bellande, John Hennigan and Phil Hellmuth, Jr.
From left to right, Daniel Negreanu, Jean Robert Bellande, John Hennigan and Phil Hellmuth, Jr.
With two fewer tables on the set today, the gallery has been expanded to accomodate more spectators. Roughly 100 people have been allowed onto the set to watch the semifinal matches. Phil Hellmuth, Jr., unceremoniously eliminated in the quarterfinals by Bertrand Grospellier, is seated between Phil Hellmuth, Sr. and Johnny "World" Hennigan. Jean Robert Bellande is on Hennigan's right.

On the other side of the room, Daniel Negreanu is watching the proceedings with an interested air but perhaps not as much as Chad Brown, whose fiancee is playing for a berth in the final.

Best Structure

[user75032]
[user75032]
In a weird quirk of structuring, the semifinal matches have the best structure of the whole tournament. Each player started with 320,000 chips for limits of 1,500 and 3,000. The fifteen-minute levels are still in effect, but the deeper stacks should stretch things out more than in any of the earlier rounds.

For the best-of-three final, the stacks will be 640,000 with starting blinds of 5,000 and 10,000.

Here We Go!

[user75032]
[user75032]
Sammy Farha rushes to get his mic hooked up
Sammy Farha rushes to get his mic hooked up
Ok, one Sam Farha has been produced and we're ready to rock in the semifinals. Farha and five-time NBC Heads-Up money winner Huck Seed are on the feature table, while Vanessa Rousso and Bertrand Grospellier are on the back table. The winner of each match will advance to the best-of-three final later today.

Tags: Sam Farha

Delay

[user75032]
[user75032]
Well, producers were hoping to get cards in the air by 3:30pm. There's only one small problem -- Sammy Farha isn't here yet. Things are on hold until he turns up.

Next Up: The Semifinals

[user75032]
[user75032]
The 11-star General has left the building.
The 11-star General has left the building.
The four quarterfinals matches were as exciting as anyone could have hoped. In the early draw, Sam Farha dispatched David Williams inside of fifteen minutes by rivering a bigger full house against Williams' flopped full house. Just two minutes later, Huck Seed and David Oppenheim flipped for their stacks, with Seed's pocket eights emerging victorious against Oppenheim's ace-queen.

Phil Hellmuth and Bertrand Grospellier one-upped the early draw when their match got underway just after 1pm. They got all their chips in on the fifth hand, with Hellmuth's pocket queens going down in flames to Grospellier's pocket aces. Vanessa Rousso and Daniel Negreanu provided a bit more play for the gallery and the NBC cameras. Negreanu took a 3-to-1 chip lead in the early stages of the match, but two ill-advised calls wound up costing him his whole stack and a place in the semifinals.

And so the semifinals are set. It's Team PokerStars on the black side of the bracket and Team "Old School" on the red side. Rousso and Grospellier will play for a spot in the finals against the winner of Farha v. Seed. Those matches were originally scheduled to begin at 4:45pm, but play has been so fast today that they will likely begin closer to 3:30pm.

See you then!

Negreanu Makes Hero Call; Rousso Shows the Goods

[user38449]
[user38449]
Kid Poker - Vanessa Rousso's fourth victim
Kid Poker - Vanessa Rousso's fourth victim
Vanessa Rousso has just exterminated another world-class pro in Daniel Negreanu to earn a spot in the final four. Few could argue that Rousso's had the toughest road to the semis, having had to play the likes of Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, 2007 NBC Heads-up Champ Paul Wasicka and now Negreanu. Here's how the final hand went down:

Negreanu made it 12,000 to go from the button and Rousso called. The flop came down {2-Clubs} {3-Hearts} {6-Hearts} and Rousso checked to Negreanu, who fired a continuation bet worth 12,000. Rousso countered with a check-raise, making it an additional 13,000 for Negreanu to call and call he did.

The {3-Spades} was the next card off the deck, and Rousso chose to pass the first action to Negreanu, who bet 28,000. Rousso immediately moved all in, sending a visibly perplexed Negreanu into the tank.

"Blech!" said Negreanu, while executing a vomiting motion. "Yuck, I'm so gonna lose right now!"

After a solid four minutes in the tank, Negreanu emerged with a call and Rousso quickly tabled {2-Spades} {2-Hearts} for a full house.

"I need a six or a three" said Negreanu, as he revealed his own hand -- {Q-Diamonds} {6-Spades}.

He'd get neither as the {10-Diamonds} fell on the river completing the board and Rousso took down the pot and the match with deuces full.

After a quick post-match interview with Leeaan Tweeden, Daniel graciously posed for photos with a large group of fans, while Vanessa left the set to prepare for her upcoming semifinal match against fellow Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier.

Tags: Bertrand GrospellierDaniel NegreanuVanessa Rousso

Let's Start Over

[user75032]
[user75032]
Sometimes the hands that develop into big pots start out so slowly. Vanessa Rousso and Daniel Negreanu took a flop of {J-Diamonds} {J-Clubs} {4-Hearts}. When the turn came {4-Spades}, Rousso, the first player to act, moved all in.

"Why oh why would you do that?" Negreanu asked Rousso. He could be seen trying to puzzle it out. "I could be drawing dead here."

"I don't have a jack, that's clear," Daniel joked with the crowd.

Negreanu finally made the call with {A-?} {5-?} and was shown that his fear was correct -- he was drawing dead against Rousso's {J-Spades} {7-Diamonds}. Rousso unnecessarily paired her kicker with the river {7-Clubs}. With that double-up, she has just about leveled the match.

Tags: Daniel NegreanuVanessa Rousso

Negreanu Opens Lead

[user75032]
[user75032]
On a board of {6-Diamonds} {J-Clubs} {4-Spades} {3-Diamonds}, Vanessa Rousso asked how much Negreanu had in his stack before checking. Negreanu bet 28,000 and Rousso, after a few moments of thoughts, called. A ripple passed through the gallery as the two players took a river of {2-Hearts}. Rousso studied the board for twenty seconds before checking. Negreanu fired again for 30,000 and took down the pot. He now has the chip lead.

Tags: Daniel NegreanuVanessa Rousso

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