Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007

• Email
• Print

Traniello makes 63 for Heads-Up Championship

By Christopher Hunt

He used to be known, in the poker world anyway, more for being the husband of big game legend Jennifer Harman. Today, Marco Traniello is a poker pro of repute in his own right, flashing his acumen again last weekend by winning one of two final spots in the exclusive 64-player NBC Heads-Up Championship field.

Sixty-two of the most famous poker players in the world have already been invited for the March 2-4 event, and Traniello had to wind his way through 70 more aspirants at a $230 with re-buys satellite to win sought-after seat #63.

His spoils: $2,500 in prize money and a $20,000 seat in the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where he may very well end up staring across the table at his wife Harman, also on the exclusive guest list.

Reigning champ Ted Forrest will be back to defend his title in the single-elimination, bracket-style tournament format modeled after the NCAA's college basketball playdowns, with NBC broadcasting the tournament every Sunday for seven weeks, starting April 8.

The list of 62 invitees follows, with an online qualifier to be determined the last to be added:

• Rene Angelil
• Patrik Antonius
• Bobby Baldwin
• David Benyamine
• Andy Bloch
• Brad Booth
• Humberto Brenes
• Doyle Brunson
• Todd Brunson
• Chad Brown
• Johnny Chan
• Don Cheadle
• T.J. Cloutier
• Allen Cunningham
• John D'Agostino
• Annie Duke
• Eli Elezra
• Shannon Elizabeth
• Antonio Esfandiari
• Sam Farha
• Chris Ferguson
• Scott Fischman
• Ted Forrest
• Jamie Gold
• Barry Greenstein
• Phil Gordon
• Clonie Gowen
• Tony G
• Joe Hachem
• Gus Hansen
• Jennifer Harman
• Phil Hellmuth
• Cheryl Hines
• Phil Ivey
• Kenna James
• John Juanda
• Gabe Kaplan
• Phil Laak
• Howard Lederer
• Nam Le
• Tuan Le
• Erick Lindgren
• Jeff Madsen
• Mike Matusow
• Isabelle Mercier
• John Michael
• Michael Mizrachi
• Chris Moneymaker
• Yosh Nakano
• Daniel Negreanu
• Scotty Nguyen
• Greg Raymer
• Chip Reese
• Huck Seed
• Erik Seidel
• Mike Sexton
• Shawn Sheikhan
• Jeff Shulman
• Gavin Smith
• Jennifer Tilly
• JC Tran
• David Williams

Related Articles:

Star-Studded Field Named for Heads-Up Championship
Sweet 16 named for National Heads-up Poker Championship
Forrest Beats Ferguson for Heads-Up Title

More News

• Oktoberfest returns to PKR
• Andrew Feldman: Reformed and ready
• Sebok signs with UltimateBet
• Isabelle Mercier quits Team PokerStars
• Ultimate re-signing for Tiffany Michelle
• Antonius impersonated, stalked
• Scotty Nguyen comes back
• Kopp signs with Team UB