Annie Duke, showed the boys the short way home in 2010
NBC has announced the cancellation of one of the sports most prestigious poker tournament, the invitation only NBC National Heads-up Poker Tournament (NHUPT). Beginning in 2005 and continuing every spring at Caesars Palace, the 64 player field included the world's best poker players, a few poker playing celebrities and a couple of lucky satellite winners in a poker tournament based on the single elimination format of college basketball's championship in March.
Some of the notable moments from the seven years of the NHUPT were watching Phil Hellmuth defeat Chris Ferguson in the 2005 inaugural event, Huck Seed running over the field in 2009, and Annie Duke taking the championship from the men in 2010. The Heads-Up tournament lasted throught the golden years of tournament poker when the card game became the world's game.
Unfortunately, the feds decided to destroy poker's popularity under the guise of protecting citizens from themselves and and declaring moral standards that include gambling an illegal activity. As a result of this political meddling poker's spectacular rise in popularity waned, TV viewership was decimated and sponsor money dried up. The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship joins Poker After Dark and The Big Game in poker's dustbin of cancelled tournament shows.
