The invites for the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship have been sent out. The poker players have been informed and now the tournament just needs to start.
Many well-known poker pros were invited to the poker tournament. They also invited some poker players that aren’t as well known but had a great run in 2007. There were 64 poker players around the world invited to this tournament and they are playing for a big first-prize and bragging rights for the next year.
Some of the players who were asked to come back from previous years were: Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, Antonio Esfandiari, Erick Lindgren, Johnny Chan, Phil Ivey, and Gavin Smith. Paul Wasicka, who won the tournament last year, has been invited back to defend his title. Another well-known poker player that has been invited to the tournament is Chris Ferguson.
A celebrity that has been invited to the tournament is Shannon Elizabeth, who was also at the tournament last year and finished third. She is quite the poker player as well as an actress. Elizabeth has been improving on her poker skills over the years and has gotten pretty good. She can hang with the best of them.
There are also some players who have never been to the Heads-Up Poker Championship that were invited this year. They too will have a chance to win the title. Some of those players are: Jonathon Little, who was in the race for Card Player Player of the Year for 2007, Jerry Yang, who was the winner of the 2007 World Series of Poker main event, Brian Townsend, who is a high-stakes cash game player. They all did really well in 2007, so that is why they were invited to participate in this tournament.
Now none of these players that were mentioned have said if they are going to be at this tournament or not but most of the time players are very honored to even be invited. So, most of them will show because this tournament is invitation only. You can’t buy your way into this tournament. This tournament is planned to be played at Caesar’s Palace on the February 28, 2008 and the winner will be announced on March 2, 2008. The event will start by having a party at Caesar’s Palace’s nightclub, Pure. This should be a very good tournament with good competition, just like it is every year.