Annie Duke is National Heads Up Champ

Annie Duke has money many tournaments but the most recent game she won put her in the record books as the first woman to become the NBC Heads Up Champion.

The tournament was a three day event in which players faced off with players including Huck Seed, David Williams, Peter Eastgate, Scotty Nguyen and Chris Moneymaker.

Duke’s path to the final included victories over Andy Bloch (round 1), Darvin Moon (round 2), 2007 NBC Heads-Up champion Paul Wasicka (sweet 16 — the most exciting single match in the tournament), Jerry Yang (elite eight), and Dennis Phillips (final four).

Duke’s NBC Heads-Up resumes was weak heading into this year as well. She had fared slightly better than Seidel in her five previous appearances, winning one match for a 1-5 record with no cashes.

The battle between the two friends began with Duke scoring a victory to take a one-game lead in the best-of-three championship final. Seidel won the next game to even the score and ensure that the battle for first place would go the distance. Duke was all in for her tournament life at one point in the final game but she doubled up to take a large chip lead with a pair of queens.

Seidel moved all in shortly thereafter but Duke was waiting for him with pocket nines in the hole, which improved to make a straight and give her a 2-1 victory in the final.

Seidel was eliminated in second place and he took home $250,000. He improved his overall NBC Heads-Up record to 5-6 and grew his career earnings to more than $10 million. Duke added another landmark victory to her storied career and won $500,000 as the first woman NBC National Heads-Up Poker champion.

She now holds $2,247,824 in career earnings and adds this marquee win to her other top achievements, which include a World Series of Poker bracelet win in 2004 and her victory in the inaugural WSOP Tournament of Champions, which also occurred in 2004. She also improved her overall NBC Heads-Up record to 7-5. Read on below to see how all of the major hands played out on the final day of play at Caesars Palace.

Final Results:
1: Annie Duke — $500,000
2: Erik Seidel — $250,000
3: Scotty Nguyen — $125,000
3: Dennis Phillips — $125,000
5: Jerry Yang — $75,000
5: Doyle Brunson — $75,000
5: Jason Mercier — $75,000
5: Peter Eastgate — $75,000
9: Paul Wasicka — $25,000
9: Eli Elezra — $25,000
9: Annette Obrestad — $25,000
9: Barry Greenstein — $25,000
9: Gabe Kaplan — $25,000
9: Phil Laak — $25,000
9: Chris Moneymaker — $25,000
9: Jamie Gold — 425,000

News Added: 08 March, 2010

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