Caesars Heads-Up Championship
March 3-5, 2006
Results of Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 at bottom of page, do not read if you would rather not know until you see it on NBC
Caesars Palace hosted the 2006 Heads Up Poker Championship and a new champion has been crowned. Do NOT scroll down to the bottom of this page if you'd rather not know the final results until you see the excitement on NBC as though it were live. The televised episodes will be seen starting April 16. The event brought out the superstars, as did the event last year at the Mirage, won by poker's biggest brat, Phil Hellmuth. There was a super satellite event Saturday, Feb 25 at Caesars Poker Room, buy-in for the event was $230. Unlimited $200 re-buys during the first hour and a half, along with a $200 add-on at the end of the third level.
First prize for the National Heads Up Championship at Caesars Palace was $500,000. The total prize pool was $1.5 million.
Superstars competing were defending champion Phil Hellmuth, 2005 runner-up Chris Ferguson, and a who's who of others including Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, Annie Duke, Doyle Brunson, Jennifer Harman, Howard Lederer, Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker and Sam Farha.
| Date | Event | Buy-In |
| Fri, Mar 3 | Heads Up - No Limit Hold'em (Day 1) | $20,000 |
| Notes: The Draw for the Heads Up Matches | ||
| Sat, Mar 4 | Heads Up - No Limit Hold'em (Day 2) | $20,000 |
| Notes: Rounds of 64, 32 and 16 | ||
| Sun, Mar 5 | Heads Up - No Limit Hold'em (Day 3) | $20,000 |
| Notes: Rounds of 8, 4 and finals | ||
Caesars Palace
3570 Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV
Toll-Free: 800-634-6001, 702-785-6565
Results of Day One
Hellmuth Out in Round 1 against Ferguson
Phil Hellmuth was not able to defend his National Heads-Up Championship. Last year's runner-up, Chris "Jesus" Feguson, Hellmuth's opponent in the finals in 2005, moved on to Day 2 with a victory over Freddy Deeb. Hellmuth's defeat was at the hands of Chip Reese. Other notable contests saw Doyle Brunson beat John Juanda, Phil Ivey, arguably the greatest poker player on the planet today was defeated by Chad Brown. Player of the year Men Nguyen lost to Dee Long and 2004 World Series of Poker champion Greg "Fossilman" Raymer defeated Layne "back to back" Flack. Look for the taped broadcast on NBC coming soon.
Complete Day 1 Results
Round 1
Clubs Bracket
Dan Harrington wins against Todd Brunson (Brunson, the great Doyle Brunson's son, is considered to be one of the best heads-up players in the world)
David Chesnoff over Jennifer Harman
James McManus over Josh Lochner
Mike Sexton over Annie Duke
Eli Elezra over Mike "the mouth" Matusow
Josh Arieh over David Williams
Chris Ferguson over Freddy Deeb
Chip Reese over Phil Hellmuth
Spades Bracket
Erick Lindgren over Steve Glassner
Huck Seed over David Oppenheim
Scott Fischman over Hollywood celebrity James Woods
Dee Luong over Men Nguyen
Mike "the mad genius" Caro over Antanas Guogo
Amir Vahedi over Jerry Buss
Barry Greenstein over Cyndy Violette
Tuan Le over 2003 World Series of Poker champion Chris Moneymaker
Hearts Bracket
Phil "Unabomber" Laak over Gavin Smith
T.J. Cloutier over Jeff Shulman
Greg Raymer over Layne Flack
Daniel Negreanu over Evelyn Ng
David Grey over Lyle Berman
Carlos Mortensen over Johnny Chan
Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson over John Juanda
Sean Sheikhan over Gus Hansen
Diamond Bracket
Ted Forrest over Erik Seidel
Chad Brown over Phil Ivey
Paul Phillips over Hollwyood celebrity Jennifer Tilly
Barry Shulman over Antonio Esfandiari
Sammy Farha over Rene Angelil
Howard Lederer over Allen Cunningham
Michael "the grinder" Mizrachi over Mark Seif
Ernie Durek over Scotty Nguyen
Results of Day Two
As we head into the final day of the Heads-Up Poker Championship, the excitement mounts. Results were fairly even in round 2 as to whether or not the most well-known players came out on top. But in round 3, which was also played during day 2, the more well-known player usually won, leaving the cream of the crop for the final day, (March 6, 2006). 2005 Heads-Up finalist Chris "Jesus" Ferguson has advanced to the quarterfinals along with Daniel Negreanu, Ted Forrest, Barry Greenstein, Sammy Farha, Sean Sheikhan, Huck Seed, and James McManus. The only "major player" knocked out during round 3 was Michael "the grinder" Mizrachi
Complete Day Two Results
Round 2
Clubs Bracket
David Chesnoff over Dan Harrington
James McManus over Mike Sexton
Josh Arieh over Eli Elezra
Chris "Jesus" Feguson over Chip Reese
Spades Bracket
Huck Seed over Erick Lindgren
Scott Fischman over Dee Luong
Amir Vahedi over Mike Caro
Barry Greenstein over Tuan Le
Hearts Bracket
T.J. Cloutier over Phil Laak
Daniel Negreanu over Greg Raymer
David Grey over Carlos Mortensen
Sean Sheikhan over Doyle Brunson
Diamonds Bracket
Ted Forrest over Chad Brown
Ernie Dureck over Paul Phillips
Sam Farha over Barry Shulman
Michael Mizrachi over Howard Lederer
Round 3
Clubs Bracket
James McManus over David Chesnoff
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson over Josh Arieh
Spades Bracket
Huck Seed over Scott Fischman
Barry Greenstein over Amir Vahedi
Hearts Bracket
Daniel Negreanu over T.J.Cloutier
Sean Sheikhan over David Grey
Diamonds Bracket
Ted Forrest over Ernie Durek
Sam Farha over Michael Mizrachi
Results of Day Three
The crowd was huge, the final day was intense, the adjoining regular poker room was packed with cash game players and all-in-all it was a great spectacle. Caesars Palace provided the scene in typical Caesars fashion, with a gradiose tournament room changed especially for this event with special poker tables made for three, the dealer and the 2 participants, and a backdrop of Caesars themed decorations, roman pillars and all, for the made-for-TV event. NBC covered all 3 days and will be showing the tapes beginning Apr 16th, 2006.
Blinds kept going up throughout the event so that the final day could easily accommodate all three rounds, the quarterfinals, semis, and championship match. 2005 runner-up Chris Ferguson, after defeating James McManus and Huckleberry Seed in the quarters and semis, would become the runner-up for the 2nd straight year. Last year he lost the championship match to Phil Hellmuth, who was knocked out in the 1st round this year. And in 2006, Ferguson became the victim of Ted Forrest. Forrest is considered by some to be the best cash game player on the planet. And now he has become the 2006 National Heads-Up champion, earning 1/2 million dollars, with 2nd place Ferguson earning a quarter million. In the final hand, Ferguson's Q7 could not catch up to Forrest's KJ, Ted making trip K's on the river. Congratulations Ted Forrest!
Complete Day Three Results
Quarterfinals
Clubs Bracket
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson over James McManus
Spades Bracket
Huck Seed over Barry Greenstein
Hearts Bracket
Sean Sheikhan over Daniel Negreanu
Diamonds Bracket
Ted Forrest over Sammy Farha
Semifinals
Chris Ferguson over Huck Seed
Ted Forrest over Sean Sheikhan
Championship Match
Ted Forrest over Chris Ferguson