Mike Sexton on the National Heads-Up Poker Championship

The NBC National Heads-Up Championship at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas is quite an event.  It has a $20,000 buy-in ($500,000 first place prize) and 64 players, including many of the top names in the world.  The night prior to the start of the tournament, there is a big cocktail party where the drawing takes place.  This is always a fun time, as there is an air of excitement and anxiety about who will be playing who.

I happened to be standing next to two NBC executives at the party.  Prior to the drawing, they asked me who I’d like to play.  Well, there were some celebrities in the tournament that you wouldn’t mind drawing, but I really wanted to play Phil Hellmuth and told them so.  Incredibly (as you may know from watching the event unfold on NBC), I drew Hellmuth for my first round match.  One thing was for sure:  I knew our match would generate media attention.  I also thought we’d be at the feature table.  I turned out to be right about both.

I really have no fear of playing Phil.  I know how good he is.  I truly believe that Hellmuth is the #1 seed in any big-time Hold’em tournament (except this one, as he drew me in Round 1).  More importantly, I know how he plays.  Hellmuth likes “small ball,” meaning he doesn’t like to play big pots.  I also prefer small ball, so his style suits me, but I was confident that I could switch gears if necessary and come over the top with big raises if I had to just in case “small ball” wasn’t working.  I have confidence playing against Hellmuth.  I really feel like I have a good read on him.  In the past, I have had good results against him when he’s been at my table.  Finally, I knew all of the pressure would be on him and not on me, as most would expect him to win.

We started with $20,000 in chips and, after a couple levels of play, we were pretty much even when “the pot” came up.   As the dealer was dealing “the pot” ($300/$600 blinds), the producer of the show (Mori Eskandani) came over to our table and frustratingly said, “Phil, you’ve done it to me again.  Your hat doesn’t have the dot-net on it.  Why do you do this to me?  I’m sorry, but you’ve got to change it.”  He continued, “Go ahead and finish this hand and then we’ll do something about it.”

While Mori and Phil were talking, I peeked down and saw two lovely ladies (Queens).  So, as Phil sat back down, I said, “Don’t raise it here because you’re mad about your hat.”  In the blink of an eye as he looked at his hand, Phil said, “I raise it $1,500 more!”  I quickly reached down for a stack of chips and set them in the pot (which happened to be $5,500).  Hellmuth then said, “I know you think I’m mad right now and that I don’t have a hand.  You just don’t have any idea.”

From there, he just kept talking, saying things like, “I’m not going to call here.  I’m probably going to move all-in.  Do you want me to move all-in?”  I didn’t say anything for a while and he continued to babble.  Again, he said, “Do you want me to move all-in?”   I finally said, “Phil, do what you’ve got to do.”  About a minute later, he announced that he was all-in.  I quickly called and he said, “Have you got Queens?”  I said “Yes” and he angrily turned over an Ace-Jack offsuit.  Before the flop was dealt, he was trying to blame Mori for interrupting our game and causing him to lose focus.  The flop came J-9-8, a deuce on the turn, and then the dreaded Ace on the river – giving him Aces up and the win.

Hellmuth knew how fortunate he was to win and afterward during an interview with NBC said, “I was lucky to win this match.  Mike Sexton deserved to win.”  (How often have you heard Hellmuth say anything like that?)

I felt good about how I had played and was just unfortunate that I lost that huge pot on the river.  It was a fun time and I look forward to playing in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship again in the future.  Hopefully, I’ll get another shot at Hellmuth!

Kudos to runner-up Vanessa Rousso and winner Huck Seed.  Both put on very impressive performances!  To get to the finals, Vanessa beat Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu, and Bertrand “Elky” Grospillier in succession, a group that has incredibly won over $38 million in tournament prize money!  With his win, Huck became the most successful player in the five year history of the NBC Heads-Up tournament.  He has an 18-4 record and is the only player who has made the money every year.