While no official press release has gone out, Poker PROductions tweeted today that the popular televised heads-up tournament will make a comeback in the new year, and that invites are being sent to players.
Mori Eskandani, head of Poker PROductions, will once again be heading up production. Eskandani has produced poker TV shows like High-Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark and most recently the ESPN broadcast of the 2012 World Series of Poker.
Prior to 2012 the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship had been running since 2005. Its first incarnation took place at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas but it quickly moved to Caesars Palace on the strip where it’s lived since.
The NBC Heads-Up Championship is an invitational tournament with a $20,000 buy-in.
First place is typically $500,000 and past champions include Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, Paul Wasicka, Huck Seed,Erik Seidel and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson.
Will Chris Ferguson Return to NBC Heads-Up?
Chris Ferguson finished second in the first two NBC Heads-Up Championships and, amazingly, returned to win the tournament in 2008.
Given his track record he’d be a favorite to go deep again. But will he even play?
Since Black Friday Ferguson has been a ghost on the live tournament circuit. After a career that recorded multiple live scores every year since 1993 his Hendon Mob sheet stops dead at the end of 2010.
While Ferguson's cohort in the management of Full Tilt Poker Howard Lederer has been seen playing live in Las Vegas, Ferguson has chosen to keep a lower profile.
Considering it’s an invitational it’s unclear whether Ferguson will even receive an invitation.
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