Get Ready to Rumble!

A hearty good afternoon and welcome from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Today marks Round One of the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Over the next three days, 58 invited players and six qualifiers will engage in a single-elimination, bracket-style poker battle royale. At the end, a single player will be left standing and will earn a juicy payday of $500,000.

This event was new to the poker tournament calendar in 2005 when the Poker Brat, Phil Hellmuth, was crowned the inaugural champion. He was followed in 2006 by Ted Forrest, in 2007 by Paul Wasicka and in 2008 by Chris Ferguson. Each of those men will be in today's field, looking to be the first two-time champion.

In order to do so, each will have to win six consecutive matches. It sounds easy enough -- until you sit down and actually try to do it. Heads-up poker is about adapting to the strengths and weaknesses of your opponent while simultaneously avoiding bad luck. All it takes is one unfortunate river card to end the tournament early.

Play kicks off at 1:30pm with the Hearts bracket matches. Stick around!