$20,000 Heads-up Championship
Day 3 Completed
2010 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship
$20,000 Heads-up Championship
Day: 3
Event Info
2010 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship
Final Results
Event Info
Buy-in
$20,000
Prize Pool
$1,280,000
Entries
64
Players Left 1 / 64
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Over the past two days, she was involved in some of the longest, most dramatic matches we've seen before finally fighting her way to victory over a very tough opponent in Erik Seidel.
Duke started out the first round by beating her good friend Andy Bloch. She bested Darvin Moon in the Round of 32 before playing an epic match against 2007 NBC Heads-Up Champion Paul Wasicka in the Round of 16. In that match, Duke was all in and at risk of elimination with ace-ten against Wasicka's pocket aces and rivered a straight.
Today she started by playing a marathon match against Jerry Yang where Yang doubled up against her on numerous occasions before finally running out of luck in the quarterfinal round. The semi-final match against Dennis Phillips wasn't any easier.
Then, Duke played three more long matches against her good friend Seidel who, after never making it out of the first round in his previous five appearances, didn't offer any quarter at the final table.
After the match, two centurions escorted Caesar and Cleopatra into the tournament room to present Duke with the winner's trophy and $500,000 in first-place prize money. Seidel graciously stood by her side, $250,000 richer himself.
That concludes our coverage of the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. We hope you've enjoyed it.
Seidel moved all in pre-flop with
. Duke made an easy call with 
. Victory was that much closer for Duke after a great flop of 
. Some in the gallery thought the 
turn, which gave Duke a straight, ended the tournament. But Seidel still had two outs to chop the hand -- the remaining two nines.Once the river fell
, it was truly over. Erik Seidel was eliminated in second place.
, putting Duke's 
at a huge disadvantage.It didn't matter though as the flop fell
, giving Duke a pair. The on the turn gave her two pair and the on the river improved her hand even more.She now has roughly a 3-1 lead over Seidel.
Those 125,000 chips have trimmed Seidel's lead back down to about 8-to-5.
flop. The turn was a potential action card. Duke bet 80,000 and Seidel called.The river fell
. Duke checked, then surrendered her hand to a bet of 100,000 from Seidel.Immediately following this hand blinds went up to 15,000 and 30,000. Duke appears to have approximately 350,000.
, with Seidel check-calling. When the turn fell 
, Seidel led out with a bet of 100,000. Duke quickly mucked her hand.
.Both players checked, bringing the
on the turn and a bet of 50,000 from Duke. Seidel called and both players checked the 
on the river. We never saw their hands, but the pot was chopped as both Duke and Seidel held 7s for aces full.Their chip stacks still remain relatively close, with Seidel holding a small lead.
Duke led out for 25,000 on a flop of
. Seidel called. Both players checked the turn. Duke checked again when the river came a third club, , then folded to a bet of 50,000.The match is very close. Seidel might have a small lead.
Again, as has become the norm, neither player has been willing to build a big pot in the early going and both are instead happy to take down the blinds or to win small pots without much resistance.
