NBC National Heads-Up Championship Sends Out Invites

The fourth annual NBC National Heads-up Poker Championship is scheduled to take place this February 29th through March 2nd. It will take place in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace and NBC will air the event on their television in April. The station has already begun sending invitations to players to participate in the event.

The 2007 champion of the event, Paul Wasicka, has been invited back to defend his title. A few WSOP Main Event Winners have also been invited. Doyle Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Jamie Gold, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson and Jerry Yang are those lucky winners who have been invited. Successful players Phil Ivey and Ted Forrest have been invited as well as celebrity Shannon Elizabeth. She managed to make it to the semi-finals last year but was kicked out by Wasicka.
The tournament will have 64 players and they will participate in the best of three matches. Winners will advance after each round. It is an invitation only tournament so players must be invited to play. If a player accepts their invitation, they must pay a $20,000 buy-in which could lead to the $500,000 first prize.

Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harmon, Gavin Smith, Howard Lederer, Barry Greenstein, Jonathon Little, Brian Townsend, Erick Lindgren and Antonio Esfandiari have been invited as well. No one has accepted their invitation as of yet and more invitations will be sent out before the year ends.