Erik Seidel beats Chris Moneymaker in the final round of the 2011 Heads-up Poker Championship inside the poker room at Caesars Palace on Sunday, March 6, 2011.
Sunday, March 6, 2011 | 11:30 p.m.
2011 National Heads-Up Poker Championship Bracket and Results
Erik Seidel carried a reputation as poker’s most heralded runner-up for years.
Those days are long gone. In case anyone hadn’t noticed, Seidel confirmed it by winning the 2011 National Heads-Up Poker Championship Sunday at Caesars Palace.
Seidel beat Chris Moneymaker in the finals to win the title and $750,000.
“It’s a great feeling,” the 51-year-old Seidel said. “Any time you win, you don’t have that lingering ‘what did I do wrong?’ or ‘Maybe I should have done something different.’”
Seidel finished second to Annie Duke in last year’s heads-up championship. It was a position he’s been frequently associated with throughout his career.
Seidel famously finished second to Johnny Chan in the 1988 World Series of Poker, a moment the 1998 film “Rounders” immortalized.
But Seidel has transformed from the game’s token silver medalist to its ultimate winner. With the heads-up championship, Seidel moves into first on the all-time poker tournament money list with winnings of more than $14.6 million.
“I think it’s nice,” Seidel said of passing Daniel Negreanu to move into first place. “I kind of expect it will be a temporary thing, but I’m happy to be there now.”
Seidel ranked 11th at the beginning of this year, according to poker tournament database The Hendon Mob. But he’s won a major championship in each month of 2011 including a $250,000 buy-in Super High Roller tournament at the Aussie Millions in January and a $25,000 buy-in High Roller tournament at the Los Angeles Poker Classic in February.
When asked about his recent surge, Seidel shook his head and made a joke.
“I started with a poker coach in early January to teach me about winning,” he said. “He had lost his job on a TV show, ‘Two and a Half Men’. That’s pretty much it. That’s all I’ve done differently.”
Seidel shut out Moneymaker in the championship match, winning the first two games in a best-of-three series.
The first one ended when a short-stacked Moneymaker went all in with Queen-10 after a flop of Jack-9-4. Seidel called with Jack-6 and dodged Moneymaker’s possible straight on the turn and river.
The second contest lasted longer and Moneymaker actually held a lead for a while before his chips whittled down again. Moneymaker attempted to bluff Seidel out of a pot by moving all in with the board reading 5-5-9
But Seidel immediately called with 4-5, three of a kind, and Moneymaker could only show King-high with King-10 as his hole cards. Moneymaker’s 4 percent chance of winning didn’t materialize and Seidel took the trophy.
“I tried everything,” Moneymaker said. “I tried to check-raise, I tried to bluff him, I tried to trap him. He’s just a true champion.”
Moneymaker, who by winning the 2003 World Series of Poker helped the game explode, took home $300,000 for second place. Seidel and Moneymaker outlasted 62 other invited poker players in the single-elimination tournament.
In the semifinals, Moneymaker took out 2010 World Series of Poker champion Jonathan Duhamel and Seidel beat Internet standout Andrew Robl.
“Robl was very tough,” Seidel said. “I thought he was really good. But there were a lot of tough matches.”
NBC starts airing round-by-round coverage of the event on Sunday, April 17. For once, Seidel will look forward to watching it.
Before last year, Seidel had participated in the heads-up championship five times and never made it out of the first round. Those memories are far behind him.
“I’m loving it right now,” Seidel said.
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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