NBC National Heads Up Championship has progressed to the semifinal stage with Erik Seidel, Scotty Nguyen, Annie Duke and Dennis Phillips battling for the title and the $500,000 first prize money.


In Round 2, one of the most anticipated matches was between Phil Hellmuth and Annette Obrestad. The last hand was a bit embarrasing for Hellmuth: Obrestad pushed all-in with the board reading Qc 9h 2h Tc 8c; Hellmuth thought for a long time before making the call with just Ad 9s. Annette had a straight with jacks, so this time Hellmuth's reading abilities had deserted him.

Annette's next opponent was another WSOP legend, Doyle Brunson. The young Norwegian didn't manage to get another big scalp, as Texas Dolly progressed to the quarter finals along with no less than three other former World Champions (Nguyen, Jerry Yang and Peter Eastgate).

At the Quarter-finals, Dennis Phillips was awed to be playing against the poker legend Doyle Brunson but that did not stop him from beating his idol to progress to the Top 4. In the last hand Brunson pushed with flush draw + bottom pair with 9d 7d on a flop of Kd Qd 9s, but Phillips made the call with AK and Brunson got no help from turn or river.

Semifinal pairings:

Erik Seidel vs Scotty Nguyen
Annie Duke vs Dennis Phillips

Semifinals are just starting, you can follow the updates on Pokernews.

5th    $ 75,000    Jerry Yang     
6th    $ 75,000    Doyle Brunson     
7th    $ 75,000    Jason Mercier     
8th    $ 75,000    Peter Eastgate     

9th    $ 25,000    Paul Wasicka     
10th    $ 25,000    Eli Elezra     
11th    $ 25,000    Annette Obrestad     
12th    $ 25,000    Barry Greenstein     
13th    $ 25,000    Gabe Kaplan     
14th    $ 25,000    Phil Laak     
15th    $ 25,000    Chris Moneymaker     
16th    $ 25,000    Jamie Gold