Officials from Caesars Entertainment and the organizing committee for the event have named the final 32 players for the 2013 National Heads Up Poker Championship, with some outstanding players among those selected as well as some left outside looking in.
Leading the list of the 32 remaining players who have been invited and confirmed their participation in this year’s NHUPC is defending World Series of Poker Europe champion Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth, who won this same event its inaugural year, would have been an obvious selection due to his former champion status, but his play over the last year made it difficult to overlook him. Along with his WSOP-E championship, Hellmuth won his first ever non-No Limit bracelet at the WSOP in Las Vegas and, for the second consecutive year, finished as the runner-up in the WSOP Player of the Year race.
Hellmuth is joined by a host of notables that have made their mark on the game over the past year. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi has been confirmed as a player, coming off his historic second victory in the WSOP’s $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship, and is joined by the defending World Poker Tour Player of the Year Joe Serock. One of the two men who took down a part of the Player of the Year crowns, Dan Smith (the Global Poker Index Player of the Year), is also a part of the field, while Bluff Magazine POY Marvin Rettenmaier either turned down an invitation or wasn’t invited to compete.
The remainder of the 32 players named on Friday is fairly evenly split between the “young guns” and the “old guard” of poker. Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom, Justin Bonomo, Joseph Cheong, Isaac Haxton, Kyle Julius, Andrew Lichtenberger, Dan Cates, Jason Mercier, Chris Moorman, Matt Salsberg, Shaun Deeb, Rob Salaburu, Jason Somerville and Nick Schulman have accepted the invitation to play in the NHUPC. From the “old guard,” such notables as Eli Elezra, Jennifer Harman, Phil Laak, Carlos Mortensen, Matt Matros, David Williams, Jean-Robert Bellande, Chris Moneymaker and former NHUPC champ Huck Seed made the cut.
Two more women are in the field to bring the total number of ladies in the 2013 NHUPC to four. Along with Jennifer Tilly (who was a part of the original 32 confirmed players) and Harman, 2012 WSOP Championship Event discovery Gaelle Baumann will once again come to Las Vegas to look for a big payday (the other lady who stormed the WSOP Championship Event, Elisabeth Hille, did not make the list). Liv Boeree, a member of the GPI Ladies’ Top Five, will also be in the hunt for this prestigious title.
With the field now complete (Sam Simon garnered a “celebrity spot” and one spot is reserved for a satellite winner from WSOP.com), there are some omissions. The all-time leading money earner for female players, Vanessa Selbst, actually turned down her invitation according to her Twitter feed. “I was invited but declined,” Selbst stated to her followers. “Great tournament but decided to go to Aussie Millions instead this year.”
“I didn’t expect to be invited to play,” Tweeted Steve O’Dwyer (who is currently ranked in the GPI Top Ten and was overlooked along with David ‘Doc’ Sands, Michael Watson, Phillip Gruissem, Roberto Romanello and Mike McDonald), while citing some of the reasons. “Doubtful that I would have attended even if I was invited…I’d rather be in Europe anyway.” Other names that didn’t make the final 64 players include Gus Hansen, John Juanda, Allen Cunningham, Kathy Liebert, Sorel Mizzi, Sam Trickett, Melanie Weisner, Lucille Cailly, Brian Rast and four of the former champions of the NHUPC (Ted Forrest, Paul Wasicka, Chris Ferguson and Annie Duke).
While the field is set by invitation, the players still have to pony up $20,000 to participate in the tournament. This will build an initial prize pool of $1.28 million, with Caesars covering the remainder of the $1.84 million ($560,000) it will take if they pay out the Top 16 as they did in 2011. If the same structure of payouts is used for the 2013 NHUPC, the first place prize will be $750,000, with second receiving $300,000, the two semi-finalists $125,000 each, the four quarterfinalists $75,000 each and the eight players beaten in the “Sweet Sixteen” $30,000 each.
With the field of 64 (OK, 63 and the WSOP.com qualifier to be determined) set, the stage is ready for “Selection Wednesday” next week on Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace. The draw party will set the first round matchups and the brackets for the tournament, at which point the poker community will be able to handicap the tournament. First round play begins on Thursday at 1:30PM (Pacific Time) at Caesars Palace and the public is encouraged to come out to view the rebirth of the National Heads Up Poker Championship as it plays out through next Saturday.
