Internet Texas Holdem

We are just hours away from the start of the 2011 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship. Last night, at the swanky Pure nightclub in Las Vegas, brackets for the competition were drawn up. Poker’s elite gathered together to see who would be paired against who for the world’s premiere one-on-one poker contest.

The resulting bracket has thrown up a host of exciting matchups, but perhaps the biggest story of the Championship is that defending Annie Duke will has withdrawn from the running. To date, there has been no official word on her departure.

She is replaced by Olivier Busquet, known as “livb112” on Full Tilt and adonis112 on the PokerStars Download. Poker fans may recognize him from a dodgy outing on Poker After Dark or as the winner of the Borgota WPT Winter Poker Open. Online he is known primarily as a heads-up specialist, which should stand him in good stead in this high profile event.

The other unexpected absentee is Gabe Kaplan. The recently ousted host of High Stakes Poker has his spot filled by Carlos Mortensen. The Spanish legend is one of the best tournament players in the world and could rightly have complained about not being included…

World Series Main Events aside, the most prestigious and popular poker tournament of the year has to be the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. With the 2011 edition just days away, rumor and speculation have been swirling for weeks. Much of the talk was focused on the list of 64 entrants. Who would be selected and who would be shunned?

Well, speculate no more, because NBC have seen fit to release the full list. It’s a roster packed with big names and more than a couple of surprise packages. Mere hours after the list hit, the muck-flinging has already begun.

A good chunk of the list contains the obvious contenders. Last year’s champion Annie Duke is joined by former winners such as Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, and Ted Forrest. Phil Ivey and PokerStars Download pro Daniel Negreanu arrive on merit, as do former WSOP champs, Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, and Greg Raymer.

The list is definitely tilted towards the old school pros, NBC executives perhaps relying on their existing notoriety from poker video shows like Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker. ESPN’s Gary Wise was brazen enough to question the inclusion of David Benyamine, Phil Gordon, and…