Annie Duke Wins NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship

Monday, March 08, 2010

By Bodog Sportsbook

Annie Duke has become better known for her appearance on The Apprentice than her performance at the poker tables. It seems like when cameras are rolling Duke consistently brings her "A" game though as she won the 2010 NBC Heads-up Poker Championship last Sunday.

To get to the final match Duke had to beat Andy Bloch, Darvin Moon, Paul Wasicka, Jerry Yang and finally Dennis Phillips.

In the final round of the 64-player field, Duke took on eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Eric Seidel. Seidel also had his own tough path to carve as he defeated Huck Seed, Chris Moneymaker, Peter Eastgate, Scotty Nguyen and Bodog's own David Williams.

Williams won his first round against last year's WSOP Main Event champion, Joe Cada, before facing Seidel in the second round.

The final showdown between Duke and Seidel will make for great television. Annie Duke scored the win for round one when she took down two huge pots through a straight and a flush before sinking the win with A-K against a flush draw that never came through for Seidel. Keeping things interesting, Seidel went on to win the second round thanks mostly due to scoring a huge pot after flopping trips. Seidel finished round 2 with 8-7 against Duke's K-5.

The final round proved as exciting as you could hope for when Seidel held a 3-1 chip lead only to have Annie Duke come back with a vengeance. Duke put the brakes on her slide when she pushed all-in with Q-9 while Seidel held A-K. Annie Duke caught two pair and made the crucial double up and get a slight chip lead. A short-stacked Seidel ended up shoving with A-2 soon after and Annie Duke called with pocket nines. With no ace hitting the board Annie Duke took down the 2010 NBC Heads-up Poker Championship and the $500,000 that went with it.

Test your own heads-up skills in the Bodog Poker room today!