Congratulations to Huck Seed, 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Champion!
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Seed's road to the championship started in the Diamonds Bracket, where he drew Jonathan Little as his first round competitor. Seed won that match going away and was the first player from Diamonds through to the second round, where he squared off against Gus Hansen. He beat Hansen there and Glen Chorny in the third round to make it to the quarterfinals that started earlier today.
Seed's quarterfinal match was over inside of fifteen minutes after he and Oppenheim got all the chips in the middle on a coin flip. Seed's pocket eights bested Oppenheim's ace-queen to reach the semifinals, where he drew the always-tough Sammy Farha. Farha and Seed played an epic match that stretched to roughly two-and-a-half hours and featured as much drama as one could hope for in a heads-up match.
To win the championship, Seed needed to get by Vanessa Rousso, the player who consistently drew the toughest matches in every round of the championship. Rousso faced, and dispatched, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, 2007 National Heads-Up Champion Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. There's not a soft spot in that lineup.
Seed, however, was able to handle the dangerous Rousso with seeming ease, slowly chipping up against her in each of the finals matches and then leaning on her when the blinds were big and Rousso's stack was short. He played masterful poker for three days and is deserving of the title of champion.
That concludes our coverage from Caesars Palace. Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to join us for our next stop on the tournament circuit, the 2009 World Series of Poker Circuit event at Caeasar's Atlantic City on March 12.
Good night!