NBC Heads up Poker Championship List
The full roster of the NBC Heads up Poker Championship has now been announced. I’d like to take a little look at this list and see how well they did. Some are pretty obvious. Others, less so:
1. Alexander, Jason: I guess you have to get some celebs to boost non-poker players’ interest? Meh.
2. Antonius, Patrik
3. Bellande, Jean-Robert: He made a couple of final tables in the 2006 WSOP and now he’s on this kind of list. No. This guys is annoying. THE ROCK of poker.
4. Benyamine, David
5. Brown, Chad
6. Brunson, Doyle
7. Brunson, Todd
8. Chan, Johnny
9. Cheadle, Don: I like Cheadle better than most of the actors on here, so that can slide.
10. Clements, Scott: Who?
11. Cloutier, T.J.
12. Cunningham, Allen: My pick to take down the title.
13. Deeb, Freddy
14. Duke, Annie: NO. Stop. NO. It’s time this charade was put to an end.
15. Dwan, Tom: Who?
16. Edler, Bill
17. Elezra, Eli
18. Elizabeth, Shannon: Surprisingly, she did pretty well last year. She doesn’t have a beer gut. OK.
19. Esfandiari, Antonio
20. Farha, Sam
21. Ferguson, Chris
22. Fischman, Scott
23. Forrest, Ted
24. Garrett, Brad
25. Gold, Jamie: Gross.
26. Gowen, Clonie
27. Greenstein, Barry
28. Grizzle, Sam: I like this pick. Old school. Funny. Good.
29. Hachem, Joe
30. Hansen, Gus
31. Harman, Jennifer
32. Hellmuth, Phil
33. Hershiser, Orel: For real? That Orel Hershiser? Weird… I thought he was dead.
34. Ivey, Phil
35. Juanda, John
36. Kaplan, Gabe
37. Laak, Phil
38. Lederer, Howard
39. Lindgren, Erick
40. Little, Jonathan: Who?
41. Matusow, Mike
42. Mizrachi, Michael
43. Negreanu, Daniel
44. Nguyen, Scotty
45. Pham, David
46. Raymer, Greg
47. Rousso, Vanessa
48. Schneider, Tom
49. Schreiber, Daniel
50. Seed, Huck
51. Seidel, Erik
52. Singer, David
53. Smith, Gavin
54. Tilly, Jennifer
55. Townsend, Brian
56. Tran, J.C.
57. Tran, Kenny: I like this pick.
58. Wasicka, Paul
59. Williams, David
60. Yang, Jerry: Seriously? I mean I guess they had to. But ugh. I’d rather watch Shannon Elizabeth and Orel Hershiser.
A pretty standard list, really. With a couple of sore thumbs. I guess I’ll watch it. Okay.
They did manage to leave off Chris ‘The Donk’ Moneymaker. Nice job.
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7 opinions for NBC Heads up Poker Championship List
Jereme
Jan 22, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Am I the only one who thinks Antonio Esfandiari is a horrible player? Well not horrible, mediocre is a better word.
I don’t understand how this guy keeps showing up at big events.
And I’ve done a count, he says the word “sick” about every 30 seconds when the camera is “on” him.
Blake
Jan 22, 2008 at 3:30 pm
i used to hate him too. now i think he’s okay. he’s at least a solid play who is capable of a move.
he does say sick way too much though. and god i can’t stand when he does the magician’s wave. or the fact that they call him the magician at all.
ok, i hate him.
Jason
Jan 22, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I would have replaced one of the “who?” people with Tuan Le personally.
Jereme
Jan 22, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Jason I agree.
My picks to place high/win are:
Chris Ferguson
Paul Wasicka
Allen Cunningham
Todd Brunson
Don Cheadle
I imagine Farha, Gold, Nguyen, Negreaneau, Matusow, Mizrachi, and some others will be out of contention rather quickly. The guys who like to gamble are going to lose early is my thinking.
I would easily pay the entrance fee to stare at Vanessa Rousso up close.
Jason
Jan 22, 2008 at 5:43 pm
I think a Wasicka/Cunningham showdown would be one for the ages without a doubt. The young gamblers have a tough time in events like these because the go for broke gambling mentality doesn’t work well against more complete types of players such as those two as well as Ferguson, either Brunson, or even a John Juanda type…guys who just shift their games to their opponents so well the player sitting across from them has no idea they made an adjustment until they’ve lost.
In addition to Tuan Le, I’d bring in Nam Le as well. Those guys are capable of gambling in image, but in reality both of those guys are very calculated, very methodical in how they approach things….a mentality which has served both of them well. They know when to gamble and when to pull back.
Jereme
Jan 22, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I went to cardplayer and looked up some of the “who?”s. It appears that they were invited because of a high placing or win in a heads up tournament at other events like the WSOP.
Jason
Jan 23, 2008 at 11:39 am
They also would have been better off inviting the OTHER Jerry Yang…you know, the guy who founded Yahoo.
How about a heads up match between Shannon Elizabeth and Vanessa Rousso? That would get more than your share of railbirds.
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