Odds for 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship

Published on March 6th, 2009 1:41 am EST

A number of online sportsbooks have released odds for the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship that is taking place this weekend.

Sportsbook.com and Bodoglife.com have both released odds for the event.

On Sportsbook.com, Phil Ivey currently has the best odds of winning at 20/1. He is followed by names such as Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu and Andy Bloch, who are all listed at 22/1 to win.

On Bodoglife.com, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson is listed at 22/1. He is followed by Phil Ivey (25/1), Tom "durrrr" Dwan (25/1), Daniel Negreanu (25/1) and Vanessa Selbst (25/1).

Sportsbook.com has both Barry Greenstein and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier listed at 22/1 to win, while Bodoglife has the two players listed at 35/1.

If you were planning to put some money down on your favorite player, then it is obviously in your best interests to shop around and find the best odds.

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson should absolutely be the favorite to win this event. His record in the Heads-Up Championship is absolutely sick - he won the event last year (defeating Andy Bloch in the finals), plus he finished second in both the 2005 and 2006 events. He has a lifetime record of 16-3 in the Heads-Up Championship, which is absolutely ridiculous.

Practically every player in this tournament is entirely capable of winning, but the names that really stick out for me are:

Chris Ferguson - for the reasons stated above

Howard Lederer - 50/1 odds on Bodoglife is pretty tempting to me

Phil Ivey - for obvious reasons

Daniel Negreanu - playing exceptionally well as of late

Vanessa Selbst - phenomenal heads-up player

Tom Dwan - hopefully he draws Phil Hellmuth again

I like this line-up of players, and would be comfortable putting money down on each of them to win.

The drawing party is currently taking place in Las Vegas as we speak. I believe that all of the invited players will be participating, except for Ivan Demidov (who was apparently unable to participate due to visa issues).

Here are the first round match-ups:

Hearts Bracket


Johnny Chan v Eli Elezra

Erick Lindgren vs Howard Lederer

J.C. Tran vs David Williams

Jamie Gold vs Scott Fischman

Erik Seidel vs John Phan

Jerry Yang vs Clonie Gowen

Allen Cunningham vs Sam Farha

Andy Bloch vs Peter Eastgate


Diamonds Bracket


Kenny Tran vs Antonio Esfandiari

Greg Raymer vs Jennifer Harman

Kenny Yeh vs Phil Laak

Vanessa Selbst vs Layne Flack

David Benyamine vs Gus Hansen

Huck Seed vs Jonathan Little

Chad Brown vs Glen Chorny

Annie Duke vs Brad Garrett


Spades Bracket


Gabe Kaplan vs Chris Ferguson

Ilari Sahamies vs Gavin Smith

John Juanda vs Joe Hachem

Fred Collins vs Bertrand Grospellier

Jeffrey Ishbia vs Leon Yanovski

Mike Sexton vs Phil Hellmuth

Gavin Griffin vs Tom Dwan

Barry Greenstein vs Blandino Gines


Clubs Bracket


Don Cheadle vs David Pham

Paul Wasicka vs Nicholas Joy

Jennifer Tilly vs Phil Ivey

Doyle Brunson vs Vanessa Rousso

Hevad Khan vs Scotty Nguyen

Ted Forrest vs Orel Hershiser

Daniel Negreanu vs Chris Moneymaker

Mike Matusow vs Dario Minieri


Here are the first round match-ups that stand out for me, for various reasons:

Mike Matusow vs Dario Minieri (lol)

David Benyamine vs Gus Hansen

Ilari Sahamies vs Gavin Smith

Hevad Khan vs Scotty Nguyen

Gabe Kaplan vs Chris Ferguson




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