An iconic poker present will quickly return for the primary time in additional than a decade.
The Nationwide Heads-Up Poker Championship, beforehand on NBC, will premiere completely within the fall of 2025 on Peacock, an NBC-brand streaming channel. PokerGO, in partnership with PokerStars, will then stream the $25,000 buy-in match at a later date.
World Sequence of Poker (WSOP) Principal Occasion champion Michael Mizrachi is among the many gamers confirmed to compete within the first Nationwide Heads-Up Poker Championship since 2013.
The present, which ran from 2005-2011 after which one last run in 2013, brings in high poker professionals to compete in opposition to celebrities and content material creators who get pleasure from poker.
This yr’s full listing of gamers is not but accessible, however the names becoming a member of Mizrachi embrace Jason Koon, Liv Boeree, Bryce Corridor, Richard Seymour, Chris Moneymaker, Erik Seidel, Doug Polk, Phil Galfond, Shaun Deeb, Nick Wright, T.J. Lavin, Rob Riggle, and Rob “Boston Rob” Mariano, with extra celeb names anticipated.
Historical past of the Nationwide Heads-Up Poker Championship
The heads-up tournament-style poker present ran as soon as per yr on NBC, with Phil Hellmuth taking it down throughout the 2005 inaugural yr. The “Poker Brat” would lose within the finals to Mike Matusow in 2013, the present’s most up-to-date season.
Matusow outlasted the 64-player area, successful six consecutive matches to assert the $750,000 first-place prize. Hellmuth obtained $300,000 for second place.
Matt Vasgersian and Ali Nejad, who now works for PokerGO, have been the commentators on NBC. The match happened at Golden Nugget in Las Vegas in 2005 earlier than transferring to Caesars Palace.
No participant had extra success within the heads-up match than Chris Ferguson, who completed runner-up in 2005 and 2006 earlier than successful it in 2008. Seidel additionally reached the finals in consecutive years: Second place in 2010 and winner in 2011.
4 WSOP Principal Occasion champions made the ultimate spherical a minimum of as soon as (Hellmuth, Ferguson, Moneymaker, and Huck Seed).
“The Nationwide Heads-Up Poker Championship helped outline the golden period of televised poker,” mentioned Mori Eskandani, President of PokerGO. “We’re proud to companion with PokerStars to carry again a very iconic model and share it with a brand new era of followers.”
The long-awaited return of one of the crucial common exhibits throughout the poker increase period will quickly return to Peacock, PokerGO, and PokerStars.
