The Nightly Turbo: NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship Field Announced, New Poker League Going to CBS, and More
If you're looking for the day's top poker news stories, you've come to the right place. The full 64-player list for the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship has been released, and we've got it for you. Also, rumor has it that Annie Duke and Jeffrey Pollack's new poker league may be headed to CBS. We'll give you all the details and more - but you'll have to read on.
In Case You Missed It
It's strategy time again. This week, John "Nicolak" Kim analyzes two cash game hands he played.
The Multi-Entry tournaments from Full Tilt Poker have created some massive prize pools. Should they become the norm? In our latest PokerNews Op-Ed, Rich Ryan gives you his take on why they should be enjoyed in moderation.
Coverage of the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe has been on ESPN for the past few weeks. It's all over now, and if you missed any of it, you can catch up on all the action in our WSOP-E recap.
The 6th Annual Full Tilt Mariam Foundation Montreal Open is set to take place in March. Find out which of your favorite pros are headed to Canada for the event, as well as how you can get in on the game too in our preview.
Who's on The List?
With the Draw Party for the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship next week, we're glad to finally have the full list of 64 players who will participate. The buy-in for the event is $25,000, up $5,000 from last year, with first place taking home $750,000. The event will be filmed for broadcast on NBC and will take place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, March 4 though 6. Now for "The List."
| Jason Alexander | Patrik Antonius | Eric Baldwin | David Benyamine | Andy Bloch |
| Liv Boeree | James Bord | Doyle Brunson | Joe Cada | Daniel Cates |
| Johnny Chan | Don Cheadle | Nicolas Chouity | Allen Cunningham | Jonathan Duhamel |
| Annie Duke | Tom Dwan | Peter Eastgate | Eli Elezra | Antonio Esfandiari |
| Chris Ferguson | Ted Forrest | Phil Galfond | Phil Gordon | Barry Greenstein |
| Bertrand Grospellier | Joe Hachem | Gus Hansen | Jennifer Harman | Phil Hellmuth |
| Phil Ivey | Faraz Jaka | John Juanda | Gabe Kaplan | Frank Kassela |
| Eugene Katchalov | Phil Laak | Howard Lederer | Erick Lindgren | Ayaz Mahmood |
| Thomas Marchese | Mike Matusow | Jason Mercier | Michael Mizrachi | Sorel Mizzi |
| Chris Moneymaker | Daniel Negreanu | Scotty Nguyen | Annette Obrestad | Dennis Phillips |
| Dwyte Pilgrim | John Racener | Greg Raymer | Vanessa Rousso | Kara Scott |
| Huck Seed | Erik Seidel | Vanessa Selbst | Emmitt Smith | Gavin Smith |
| Jennifer Tilly | Melburn Whitmire | David Williams | Justin Young |
If you want to find out more, check out the press release.
CBS to Broadcast New Poker League?
Rumor has it, the yet-to-be-named new poker league that has been announced by Annie Duke and Jeffrey Pollack is in discussions with CBS to broadcast the first season of the league.
Variety reached out to CBS for either a confirmation or denial of the report, but CBS declined to comment.
For more, head on over to Variety.com.
I See You
888poker has launched a new innovation to its online poker software - the Pokercam Table. Players who sit down at Pokercam tables will be able to play face-to-face with their opponents. The tables will be specially marked and will employ the use of built-in online communication technology similar to Skype.
“We believe that real poker is not just about winning money, but it’s about the thrill, the fun, the excitement and the social poker experience. Online poker has been traditionally focused on the ‘money making’ element – we feel that there is no reason why online poker should not enable players to meet, socialize and play together. Our new pokercam tables offer our customers a place to meet, play and socialize and are a true indication of our commitment to play different. It’s all about opening our doors to customers that want a casual game of poker, some may play for fun and some may play for real money what we offer is a fun and exciting game of poker against people who share the same interests as you and now you can actually see and talk to them," VP of poker at 888Holdings, Maytal Ginzburg said.
Want to check out these exclusive 888poker tables? Sign up for an 888poker account through PokerNews and you'll also be eligible for our $5,000 Leo Margets Freerolls!
Same Rules; 1/10th the Stakes
The SuperStar Showdown is back this Sunday - sort of. It's a special 1/10th-sized edition of the challenge. Viktor "Isildur1" Blom will be taking on Hungarian player, DodgyFish72, Sunday, Feb. 27, at 15:00 EST.
The same rules of the SuperStar Showdown apply, 2,500 hands across four tables, but the stakes are much smaller. The two will be playing $5/$10, with each player putting up $15,000. DodgyFish72 qualified though an $11 satellite which put him into a 140-player heads-up tournament for the chance to play Blom. He will be staked by PokerStars for the match and whatever he has left at the end, he gets to keep. There's a $10,000 knockout bonus that will be awarded to the winner if a player goes broke before the end of the challenge.
Want to check out the match? You'll need a PokerStars account first.
Hitting the Nuts Wins Again
Hitting the Nuts, the poker movie we told you about back in October, has won yet another film festival award. Last year, the movie won Best Feature Film at the Cincinnati International Film Festival. Over the weekend, the movie won Best Feature Film yet again, this time at the Derby City Film Festival.
The movie is described as an "improvised mockumentary" and uses up-and-coming improvisational actors. It was written and directed by Second City alum, Joe Boyd.
“We had one goal with Hitting the Nuts,” Boyd said. “We wanted people to laugh from start to finish. We had over 500 people come to three screenings in Cincinnati and several hundred at Derby City in Louisville. One thing we know for sure is this film has tremendous regional appeal.”
Check out the press release for upcoming release plans for the movie.
Calling the Clock: Jake Cody
Sarah Grant caught up with Jake Cody at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Copenhagen and decided to Call the Clock on him after he gave us his acceptance speech for his Player-of-the-Year and Rookie-of-the-Year honors at the European Poker Awards that he was unable to accept because he was too busy winning the UKIPT High Roller event.
Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
Prove your skills and play for $55,000 of added money league games in our weekly PokerNews Skills Challenge on Full Tilt Poker.
