National Heads-Up Poker Championship to Air on NBC

The 3rd Annual National Heads-Up Poker Championship will soon begin its 7-episode run on NBC (beginning Sunday, April 8th at 12pm ET and running for 7 consecutive weeks). 64 of the world's best poker players will face each other in a single-elimination bracket format. One loss and you're gone, so there's very little room for error.

The players are a virtual who's who of the poker and celebrity poker worlds. Just a few of the players appearing are:

• Jennifer Tilly
  
• Phil Ivey
  
• Mike Matusow
  
• Jamie Gold
  
• Greg Raymer
  
• Gus Hansen
  
• Joe Hachem
  
• Johnny Chan
  
• Shannon Elizabeth
  
• Ted Forrest (last year's winner)
  
• Chris Ferguson (two-time runner-up)
  
• Daniel Negreanu
  
• Don Cheadle
  
• Gabe Kaplan

Players are divided into brackets designated as Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades. The first three episodes of the show will feature the tense early rounds of the tournament. Some key match-ups to keep an eye on in the first round:

• Mike Matusow vs. Daniel Negreanu
  
• Jennifer Tilly vs. Jamie Gold
  
• Kristy Gazes vs. Clonie Gowen
  
• Joe Hachem vs. Chris Moneymaker
  
• Don Cheadle vs. Phil Ivey

The first three episodes are one hour long, while episodes 4 through 6 are two hours in length. The final episode (which will be shown on May 20th) clocks in at a massive 3-hours!

National Heads-Up Poker Championship to Air on NBC