The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship will not be returning for an eighth season. Adam Freifeld, NBC Sports Senior Director of Communications, has confirmed the cancellation. The invitation-only event was launched in 2005, inviting only 64 of the top poker players around the world. Phil Hellmuth earned the first champion title. He was followed by a string of celebrity winners, including Chris Ferguson, Ted Forrest, Annie Duke, and the 2010 winner Erik Seidel.
Yet again, a commercial poker venture has fallen prey to the closings of PokerStars’ and Full Tilt Poker’s U.S. markets. Poker After Dark and the Big Game are another two recent casualties. Many of the sponsored players at the Heads-Up Championship had their $20,000 buy-ins covered by their poker site employers. This, combined with the dramatic loss in poker advertising revenue, has made the continuation of the show impossible.
In the meantime, however, the future of televised poker looks strong. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) just recently signed a long-term deal with ESPN, and the World Poker Tour (WPT) is in its tenth season, with plans to continue airing on Fox Sports. Annie Duke’s new venture, the Epic Poker League (EPL), is also doing well, with air dates through May, 2012.
The Heads-Up Championship may return in some form. It was a popular mainstay among poker fans for the last seven years, and as American poker slowly recovers over the next few years, we may well see its return.