NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship Contestants Announced: Series March 5-7

On February 23, 2010, and following several weeks of buzz, the complete list of poker pros and other celebrities participating in the upcoming NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship was announced.

The list includes several expected names, many from NBC Heads-Up Poker Championships of years past, like

That’s not to mention the champions of this event from years past: Huck Seed, Chris Ferguson, Paul Wasicka, Ted Forrest, and Phil Hellmuth, and the previous two runner-ups Vannessa Rousso and Andy Bloch, who qualified automatically.

Also on the list by virtue of automatic qualification were: 2010 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada, his runner-up Darvin Moon, the 2009 WSOP Main Event champ Peter Eastgate, and the inimitable Phil Ivey, as well as Eric Baldwin, Sam Farha, Peiter de Korver, Jason Mercier, Greg Mueller, Brock Parker, Leo Wolpert and Jerry Yang.

There were the self-evident invitees: rivals Patrik Antonius and Tom Dwan, Godfather of Poker Doyle Brunson, the first online qualifier to nab a WSOP Main Event title Chirs Moneymaker, and PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge star Daniel Negreanu, along with Annie Duke, Antonio Esfandiari, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Scotty Nguyen, and Mike Sexton.

And the usual suspects of actor cum poker stars were also on the list, namely: Don Cheadle, Orel Hershiser, Gabe Kaplan, and Jennifer Tilly.

But there are also a bevy of new faces scheduled to sit in at one of broadcast television’s biggest and most popular televised poker tournament , such as obscure WSOP bracelet winners Jesper Hougaard (2008) and John Paul Kelly (2009).

The NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship will take place from March 4 to 7, 2010 and the total list of players includes 68 names.

Notably absent from the list were 2010 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) main event winner Barry Shulman and multiple 2010 WSOP bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro.