UB.com is bringing back its monthly Annie Duke Heads-Up Challenge this Sunday, April 25th at 1:00pm ET. To coincide with the six-week telecast of the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship on NBC in April and May, UB.com is giving away four seats to each of the $1,050 buy-in $128,000 Guaranteed Heads-Up Matches on April 25th and May 30th. Duke took down the National Heads-Up Poker Championship earlier this year.
UB.com players can qualify for one of four $128,000 Heads-Up seats through freerolls and $1 buy-in heads-up tournaments. As a bonus, any player who knocks Duke out of the April or May Heads-Up tournaments after making their way into it through one of these satellites will receive an extra $1,500 in Tournament Dollars on top of the usual bounty prize, a $530 seat to the following Sunday’s $150,000 Guaranteed.
There are other ways to compete in the Annie Duke Heads-Up Challenge if you are unable to qualify via the special satellite tournaments. Players can buy into the $1,000+50 event directly, participate in one of the many daily satellites with a buy-in of $100+9 starting at 4:10pm ET, or try their luck in one of the cheaper qualifiers for as low as $8.80 that kick off at 10:30am ET every day.
“It was an amazing experience to win the live Heads-Up event against some of the best names of the game, including good friends Andy Bloch and Erik Seidel,” Duke said about her National Heads-Up Poker Championship victory. “I’m equally excited to host the monthly Heads-Up event online at UB.com. The higher buy-in and top prize money is guaranteed to attract a quality field of online players.”
The inaugural Annie Duke Heads-Up Challenge was held on March 28th, but ran into technical difficulties that ultimately forced its cancellation. The event started with 109 players, giving several randomly selected entrants byes to the second round. The problems began when UB’s software allowed late entries in numbers that eclipsed the 128-player limit.
Once players win their first round matches, many found themselves matched up against opponents with uneven chip stacks due to the software glitch. Those who won matches in the first round began Round 2 with 6,000 chips, while players who had byes in the first round were given 3,000 chips in the second round. Players immediately contacted UB support and the tournament was terminated.
As a result of the software problems, UB.com refunded everyone’s $1,050 buy-in. The site also held a pair of freerolls for those who had registered for the Heads-Up Challenge. The top five finishers in the first freeroll received entries into the $75,000 Guaranteed on UB, while the top ten in the second freeroll received entries into a Canada Poker Pro SS tournament.
The Annie Duke Heads-Up Challenge can be found in the “Events” Tab in the UB.com tournament lobby. Qualifiers to the celebrated event are listed in the “Satellites” Tab.
