The action at the National Heads Up Poker Championship 2011 was fast and intense, with the field of 64 elite pros narrowed down to the final two in just a matter of days. Competition was extremely fierce with all the top pros all battling it out for the title and the $750,000 grand prize, but in the end, it all boiled down to a Chris Moneymaker vs. Erik Seidel Heads Up battle, with the latter walking away as the 2011 Heads Up Champion.

The Ladder

The two finalists of the National Heads Up Poker Championship had to go through some of the toughest opponents to get where to the top. At the first round, Erik Seidel battled it out with Allen Cunningham while Chris Moneymaker fought against John Racener. At the second round, Seidel went against Jennifer Harman while Moneymaker went against Daniel Cates. Seidel’s next opponent was Phil Gordon whereas Moneymaker’s was the Godfather of Poker himself, Doyle Brunson. At the quarterfinals, Seidel had another female opponent, Vanessa Selbst. Moneymaker fought David Oppenheim. Seidel was the representative of the Diamond Suite at the Semifinals and he fought against Andrew Robl of the Heart Suite. Chris Moneymaker, on the other hand, was the representative of the Spades and he fought against Jonathan Duhamel from the Club Suite. Of course, these two won their respective matches at the Semifinals and met at the Championship round.

The Championships

They were playing a best-of-three heads up series at the Championship round, of which Seidel won the first two, never even giving Moneymaker a chance. At the first one, Moneymaker was short-stacked and thus went all-in with Q-10, with the board revealed as J-9-4. Seidel had J-6, which gave him a pair while Moneymaker never completed his straight at the turn and the river. At the second match, Moneymaker’s bluff went awry when he went all in at a flop of 5-5-9. Seidel had 4-5 as his hole cards, giving him three of a kind. The turn and river were no help to Moneymaker either, his K-10 being ineffectual in the face of Seidel’s hand. Seidel thus became champion of the NHUPC, a fitting achievement, considering that he was the runner up winner of last year.

Moneymaker won $300,000 for his runner up finish and he was gracious enough to call Seidel a ‘true champion, saying that he tried everything, he tried to check-raise Seidel, bluff, trap, all to no avail.

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