NBC Heads-Up Brackets and the Commerce Crapshoot
I just arrived home from the L.A. Poker Classic and read the results of the “drawing party” for the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championships that will begin tomorrow. Courtesy of Card Player, here they are:
The clubs:
- Shannon Elizabeth vs. Rene Angelil
- Steve Zolotow vs. Jeff Madsen
- Erick Lindgren vs. Vanessa Russo
- Barry Greenstein vs. Carlos Mortensen
- Eric Seidel vs. Humberto Brenes
- Marco Traniello vs. Phil Laak
- Patrik Antonius vs. Huck Seed
- Paul Darden vs. Chip Reese
The spades:
- Tuan Le vs. Antonio Esfandiari
- Cyndy Violette T.J. Cloutier
- Joe Hachem vs. Chris Moneymaker
- Paul Wasicka vs. Eli Elezra
- Gus Hansen vs. Shawn Sheikhan
- Ted Forrest vs. Sammy Farha
- Annie Duke vs. Jeff Shulman
- Greg Raymer vs. Nam Le
The hearts:
- John Michael vs. Allen Cunningham
- Jennifer Harman vs. Andy Bloch
- Mike Matusow vs. Daniel Negreanu
- Michael Mizrachi vs. John Juanda
- David Benyamine vs. Gavin Smith
- Johnny Chan vs. J.C. Tran
- Jennifer Tilly vs. Jamie Gold
- Phil Gordon vs. Scotty Nguyen
The diamonds:
- Kristy Gazes vs. Clonie Gowen
- NBC Online Qualifier Eric Larrivee vs. Isabelle Mercier
- Don Cheadle vs. Phil Ivey
- Chris Ferguson vs. Scott Fischman
- Brad Booth vs. Howard Lederer
- John D’Agostino vs. David Williams
- Gabe Kaplan vs. Todd Brunson
- Chad Brown vs. Yosh Nakano
We certainly have some interesting match-ups here. I mean, Don Cheadle must be shitting bricks tonight knowing he has to play Phil Ivey heads-up on television tomorrow. The Jennifer Tilly-Jamie Gold match is sure to have some lively table talk and it’ll be interesting to see two of poker’s great female players fare mano-a-mano in the Kristy Gazes-Clonie Gowen match. Erick Lindgren vs. Vanessa Rousso should be a good one since both of them play such aggressive styles and we have two recent WSOP champions going head-to-head in Chris Moneymaker and Joe Hachem. Though perhaps the best (and loudest) pairing of all is sure to be the Daniel Negreanu-Mike Matusow matchup. Over the last few days I’ve noticed both Matusow and Lindgren brushing up on their heads-up skills by playing a bunch of $2,250 heads-up SNGs on Full Tilt.
* * * * *
The L.A. Poker Classic ended just a few hours ago, with tournament rookie Eric Hershler besting J.C. Tran for the title and the $2.4 million. Heads-up play lasted exactly one hand and all the money went in on an A-J-6 flop, J.C. having flopped top pair and Hershler holding bottom two. The blinds were so astronomical at that point there was really no other move for J.C. to make (you can watch the hand here on the nifty PokerNews hand simulator).
I really feel for J.C. Having bubbled the TV final table at the 2004 LAPC and finishing fifth last year on a one-outer by Alan Goehring, not taking the title this year after holding the runaway chip lead for the last three days has got to hurt BAD.
Everyone talks about how WPT events become a crap-shoot at the end, but that fact really came to light for me tonight after covering the final table hand-for-hand. With three players remaining and a staggering 53% of the prize pool in play between them, we had two guys with 10 BB or less and a chipleader with only 18 BB. In the last 2 hours of play, the stacks and blinds were more akin to those in a Poker Stars turbo SNG than what’s supposed to be a world-class poker tournament. It invites push-monkey poker. Or, in this case, preflop raise, fold, fold, “ohmygod if I miss this flop I could lose over a million real dollars” poker. I think it’s sad. The distribution of over $3 million shouldn’t rest on who hits a lucky flop in the last hour of play after everyone has worked for SIX DAYS to get there.
Say what you want about Jamie Gold lucksacking his way to victory in the WSOP (and I’ve said a lot myself), but at least that final table structure left room for some actual poker play.
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March 2nd, 2007 at 5:53 am
OK, some interesting questions about the HU draw:
>> Who is the favorite, Jennifer Tilly or Jamie Gold?
>> Toughest bracket: The Hearts. Throw out Tilly/Gold, and every player there could take any tourney they play in.
>> Top five matches I’d want to watch in first round: Dags-Williams, Antonius-Seed, Ferguson-Fischman, Booth-Lederer, Le-Esfandiari.
>> Final Eight: Mortensen v Antonius, Le v Forrest, Juanda v Tran, Ferguson v Dags.
Thanks for the post, and I’d be interested in your thoughts.
March 2nd, 2007 at 7:07 am
Go Isabelle! Beat the crap outta that scumball online qualifier!!
March 2nd, 2007 at 9:10 am
Sad that all the prior day’s play comes down to gritting your teeth and hoping to get lucky. Is it feasible to reset blinds lower at a final table? The big stack loses some of his advantage, but I don’t think it is that great.
Seeing the brackets for the HE tournament is interesting. I see what the Quiet Lion complains about not being invited. Elizabeth and Cheadle? Come on.
March 2nd, 2007 at 11:10 am
I’m surprised Paul Darden isn’t considered a Spade. Ba dum dum!
Also, while you have more first-hand experience witnessing the blind structure problem, I have to say that I sincerely believe that even when players are in a situation like that, it takes more than just being a push monkey. You have to know when to push and when to pull back. It is certainly a different game than one with longer blind levels or lower blinds relative to the stacks, but if you can get in your opponents’ heads, there is still a lot of skill involved.