The finale of the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship saw the first female winner crowned, as UB.com pro Annie Duke took down the title and its $500,000 cash prize. Duke’s run to the finals included wins over Full Tilt Poker’s Andy Bloch, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon, 2007 National Heads-Up Championship winner Paul Wasicka, 2007 WSOP Main Event winner Jerry Yang, 2008 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Dennis Phillips, and eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel.

Duke told NBC officials following her monumental win, "I'm so excited to win such a prestigious event and join the likes of Huck Seed, Chris Ferguson, and Phil Hellmuth as Heads-Up Champion. I came into this tournament really focused and it feels great to finally break through in this event." Duke had only made it out of the first round once in five years, defeating CardPlayer Magazine’s Jeff Shulman in 2007 only to fall to former World Poker Tour (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star champion Nam Le in the round of 32. Her heads-up opponent, Seidel, had never made it out of the opening round of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
The final match was played in a best-of-three format and Duke jumped out to an early lead. In the final hand of the first match, Seidel was all-in with 8-6 of spades on a flop of 7-K-J with two of the suit for a flush draw. Duke held A-K, which held when two red cards came on the turn and river. Duke was up 1-0 over Seidel and another win would give her the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship title.

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Seidel (pictured at left) would not lie down, however. He jumped out to a quick lead over Duke in the pairing’s second match-up and then scooped a major pot with 10-2 for trip deuces. Duke doubled up with 7-4 against Seidel’s K-10, but ultimately fell to her longtime friend. Duke pushed with K-5 and Seidel made the call with 8-7. The flop came 6-9-4, giving Seidel a straight draw, which hit on the turn when a five came. The board then contained three hearts, giving Duke a flush draw, but a nine of spades on the river sealed Seidel’s win to tie the match at one apiece.

In the rubber match of the series, Duke pushed all-in over the top of a raise by Seidel pre-flop with Q-9 of diamonds, but ran into Seidel’s A-K of diamonds. However, the flop came queen-high and running nines improved the UB.com pro to a full house. Then, Seidel put his tournament life on the line with A-2 and found himself up against Duke’s wired pair of nines. Duke wound up with a straight in the hand and took down the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Jason treysfull21 Mercier’s (pictured at right) ride through the event came to an end at the hands of Scotty Nguyen. A short-stacked Mercier moved all-in with 5-7 of clubs and ran into Nguyen’s pocket jacks. Neither player improved and Nguyen advanced to the Final Four, where he fell to Seidel. Mercier banked $75,000 and earned some all-important face time on NBC. He’s had a highly successful start to 2010 after being named the 2009 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year.

Here were the final results:

1st Place: Annie Duke - $500,000
2nd Place: Erik Seidel - $250,000
3rd Place: Scotty Nguyen - $125,000
4th Place: Dennis Phillips - $125,000
5th Place: Jerry Yang - $75,000
6th Place: Doyle Brunson - $75,000
7th Place: Jason treysfull21 Mercier - $75,000
8th Place: Peter Eastgate - $75,000
9th Place: Paul Wasicka - $25,000
10th Place: Eli Elezra - $25,000
11th Place: Annette Annette_15 Obrestad - $25,000
12th Place: Barry Greenstein - $25,000
13th Place: Gabe Kaplan – $25,000
14th Place: Phil Laak - $25,000
15th Place: Chris Moneymaker - $25,000
16th Place: Jamie Gold - $25,000

If you’re more of a visual person, here’s a look at the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship bracket:



Next up for Mercier, Duke, and the rest of the industry is the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star event, which emanates from San Jose, California. Day 1A of the WPT tournament takes place today, while Day 1B will pan out on Tuesday.