In breaking news from Las Vegas, NBC has canceled the annual National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which took up shop at Caesars Palace. PocketFives.com can independently confirm the news, which Wicked Chops Poker first broke on Thursday, through NBC’s public relations firm. Although the tournament likely won’t be held in any form in 2012, the door is certainly open for its return down the road. 2012 would have marked the eighth season of the made-for-television event, which according to Wicked Chops averaged a 1.5 rating on NBC.

Steve Preiss of Wicked Chops Poker told PocketFives.com on Thursday evening, “It’s definitely symbolic of the end of an era. While not a time buy – every poker program other than the WSOP and NBC Heads-Up is a time buy – it was an event specifically made to capitalize on ad dollars from U.S.-facing sites. As those sites have left the market, it made it difficult for NBC to justify spending the production cost.”

The 2011 National Heads-Up Poker Championship was filmed in March at Caesars Palaceand aired in April and May on NBC. On whether another network could pick up the franchise, Preiss assessed, “I don’t see it being picked up or the concept being picked up. There are no advertising dollars in poker anymore. There aren’t enough sponsor dollars to go around. On top of that, the online sites picked up a large portion of the buy-ins for players. Without those, I don’t think the poker ecosystem can accommodate too many big buy-in events.”

This year’s tournament boasted a $25,000 buy-in and Erik Seidel (pictured) came away with the win after besting Chris Moneymaker heads-up. Other former Heads-Up champs included Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, Paul Wasicka, Chris Ferguson, Huck Seed, and Annie Duke, who became its first female winner in 2010.

Why wouldn’t Caesars Palace run the National Heads-Up Poker Championship without TV coverage? According to Preiss, NBC came to Caesars with the original concept for the show: “NBC Heads-Up was a made-for-TV event. It would be counterintuitive for Caesars to hold it, even with a smaller buy-in, if it weren’t going to be on TV. Given the blind structures and the way the tournament was, the pros wouldn’t be willing to spend the $25,000. You could certainly change the structure, but if it’s not on TV, it’s going to be difficult to get the top guys involved.”

Add ongoing U.S. Department of Justice investigations of Full Tilt, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker and you have a very sticky situation when trying to produce a full-fledged TV show.

The National Heads-Up Poker Championship featured a lightning quick structure. Preiss, however, noted that each winner was deserving of praise: “While none of the pros would deny that it’s a fast structure with a high level of variance, the winners are some of poker’s all-time elite. These are the top names in the game. That said, I don’t know of any pros that would say this tournament is a true test of who is the best in the world in heads-up play, but it’s one of the pros’ favorite stops on the tour.” Now, it’s but a distant memory, at least for next year.

A representative from Poker Productions, which produced the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, told PocketFives.com on Thursday, “What can you do? There’s nothing you can do about it. You have to let it play out. Do I think some of these shows will come back stronger than ever? Of course. The legalization of online poker in the U.S. will be a big factor as to when.” Poker Productions also creates GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” and ESPN’s coverage of the WSOP.

Speaking of “High Stakes Poker,” whether that show will return for an eighth season in 2012 on GSN remains to be seen. The cash game series typically films in November or December, but PocketFives.com has not heard a peep about it since last year, and the same Poker Productions rep could not confirm or deny an eighth season. Meanwhile, shows like PokerStars’ “Million Dollar Challenge” and Full Tilt’s “Face the Ace” have fallen by the wayside.

Stay tuned to PocketFives.com for the latest on this developing story.