An Inside Look at the National Heads-Up Poker Championship Part 2

By Dennis Oehring

This is the second installment of my behind-the-scenes look at the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. You can read about the first couple of days prior to the beginning of the tournament by clicking here.

Pure is an exclusive nightclub inside Caesars Palace, which on most nights has lines full of some of the most beautiful women and hippest dudes you will ever see waiting to get in. The drawing party was held inside the nightclub, where the players and their guests socialized over drinks in the back room of the club for about an hour before the initial pairings were announced.

A handful of players could not make the party itself due to conflicts in their schedules. For instance, both Paul Wasicka and J.C. Tran were competing at the final table of the WPT's L.A. Poker Classic, an event where Wasicka finished 4th and Tran 2nd. Phil Ivey and Johnny Chan were also in route from other locations.

At a little after 8:00 PM, Ali Nejad took over the emcee responsibilities and got the pairings started, with help from Shana Hiatt. After a couple of sponsors and guests drew the first few names, Ali and Shana alternated the random pick of ping-pong balls with the players' names written on them to see who each of the players would face in the opening round.

Each player waited anxiously to hear their name called, and once it was they made their way up to the podium area to have their picture taken with their opening round opponent. Some of the pairings elicited more response from the crowd than others, notably the announcements of 2003 World Champion Chris Moneymaker playing 2005 World Champion Joseph Hachem, and actor Don Cheadle drawing one of the pre-tournament favorites in Phil Ivey.

As each pairing was announced, the players' names were placed in their respective bracket, which was visible on a huge plasma screen for everyone to see. Copies of the completed brackets were made available a few minutes after all the pairing were announced.

Some of the players remained in the club to party for a while after the pairings were completed, while others left to either prepare for the tournament or to play some poker in Caesars poker room that adjoins the nightclub. Faced with three long days of work ahead of them, many members of the NBC team, along with the event organizers, took the opportunity to enjoy a final meal together while continuing to make last-minute preparations for the tournament which was scheduled to begin at 11:00 the following morning.

I'll have more on the tournament itself in future reports.