Neither Chris “Jesus” Ferguson or Annie Duke were invited to this year’s contest while fixtures Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Erik Seidel and Vanessa Rousso will return.
There are several interesting first-time invitees this year including TV producer and WPT Grand Prix de Paris winner Matt Salsberg and WSOP Main Event standouts Rob Salaburu and Gaëlle Baumann.
As usual the latest WSOP Main Event winner was also invited to the tournament so Greg Merson will take his shot grabbing some heads-up glory to go with his world champion status.
Duke, Ferguson Among Most Successful NBC HU Players
Chris Ferguson, who is arguably the best player in NBC Heads-Up history with two second-place finishes and an outright victory in 2008, has not played a poker tournament since Black Friday hit in 2011.
Meanwhile Annie Duke, who won NBC Heads-Up in 2010, has taken fire in the poker community since the Epic Poker League ended in 2012 and failed to pay out the $1 million-guaranteed freeroll originally promised.
Ferguson and Duke weren't the only players left off the Heads-Up roster, however, as David "Doc" Sands, who is up $3.5 million in tournaments since 2011, was not invited to the contest. He took to Twitter to voice his displeasure on the issue:
Very annoyed that I didn't get invited to play in the NBC heads up event. Absurd to me that they don't auto-invite the top 10 in the GPI
— David Doc Sands (@Doc_Sands) January 18, 2013The NBC National Heads-Up Draw Party is scheduled to take place at Caesars Palace this Wednesday, Jan. 23, with the tournament to run from Jan. 24-26.
Here’s a complete look at all 64 players in this year’s event:
1- Baumann, Gaelle2- Bellande, Jean Robert3- Bloch, Andy4- Blom, Viktor5- Boeree, Liv6- Bonomo, Justin7- Brunson, Doyle8- Busquet, Olivier9- Cates, Daniel10- Charania, Mohsin11- Cheong, Joseph12- Deeb, Shaun13- Duhamel, Jonathan14- Dwan, Tom15- Elezra, Eli16- Esfandiari, Antonio17- Failla, Will18- Frankenberger, Andy19- Galfond, Phil20- Glantz, Matt21- Greenstein, Barry22- Grospellier, Bertrand23- Harman, Jennifer24- Hastings, Brian25- Haxton, Isaac26- Hellmuth, Phil27- Hennigan, John28- Ho, Maria29- Ivey, Phil30- Jaka, Faraz31- Julius, Kyle32- Katchalov, Eugene33- Laak, Phil34- Lamb, Ben35- Lichtenberger, Andrew36- Matros, Matt37- Matusow, Mike38- Mercier, Jason39- Merson, Greg40- Mizrachi, Michael41- Moneymaker, Chris42- Monnette, John43- Moorman, Chris44- Mortensen, Carlos45- Negreanu, Daniel46- Oppenheim, David47- Raymer, Greg48- Rousso, Vanessa49- Salaburu, Rob50- Salsberg, Matt51- Schulman, Nick52- Seed, Huck53- Seidel, Erik54- Seiver, Scott55- Serock, Joe56- Sexton, Mike57- Simon, Sam58- Smith, Dan59- Smith, Justin60- Somerville, Jason61- Tilly, Jennifer62- Timoshenko, Yevgeniy63- Williams, David64- WSOP.com Qualifier
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