Bridesmaid No Longer: Paul Wasicka Wins Heads-Up Championship

In a dominant performance in the best of three final series, 2006 World Series of Poker runner-up, Paul Wasicka, defeated Chad Brown to win the 2007 National Heads-Up Poker Championship (NHUPC). With the $500,000 victory, Wasicka completed a stellar week of tournament poker, also having placed fourth in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic. The combined finishes totaled just short of $1 million.

It was a surprise final four of the NHUPC, with few “favorites” even making it close to the title. In the end, it was Wasicka, Brown, Gavin Smith, and actress Shannon Elizabeth advancing out of their brackets to face off on the main stage. Elizabeth’s run was probably the most shocking, as she knocked off Rene Angelil, Jeff Madsen, Barry Greenstein, and Humberto Brenes to make the final four. Next to her “Cinderella” story, the biggest upset of the tournament had to be actor Don Cheadle besting Phil Ivey in the first round.

When it got down to Wasicka and Brown, who himself has been playing great poker, having been named Bluff magazine’s 2006 Player of the Year, the format changed from single elimination to best-of-three.

The first match lasted a while, almost two hours, with both players starting with $640,000 in chips and blinds at $5,000/$10,000. There was a lot of room to play and neither player was too willing to get involved a huge pot early. Brown took an early lead, but Wasicka started winning many small pots to eventually build quite an advantage, almost 3-to-1 after an hour. Wasicka actually doubled Brown up a few times, but his lead had become so large that it didn’t make a huge difference.

Finally, when the blinds were up to $40,000/$80,000, Wasicka nailed down the first match after calling Brown’s all-in on a flop of 6-3-3. Wasicka’s 8-6 beat Brown’s A-J and put Brown in a must-win situation in the second match.

The second contest went quite quickly, as Wasicka gained almost a 3-to-1 chip lead within ten minutes and had around 80 percent of the chips within twenty minutes. At about the half-hour mark, Wasicka clinched the Championship, flopping the nut straight on K-10-9 board.

National Heads-Up Poker Championship Results

Quarterfinals
Gavin Smith def. Andy Bloch
Chad Brown def. Kristy Gazes
Shannon Elizabeth def. Humberto Brenes
Paul Wasicka def. Nam Le

Semifinals
Chad Brown def. Gavin Smith
Paul Wasicka def. Shannon Elizabeth

Finals
Paul Wasicka def. Chad Brown

Prize Distribution

1. Paul Wasicka -- $500,000
2. Chad Brown -- $250,000
3. Shannon Elizabeth -- $125,000
3. Gavin Smith -- $125,000
5. Humberto Brenes -- $75,000
5. Nam Le -- $75,000
5. Andy Bloch -- $75,000
5. Kristy Gazes -- $75,000
9. Barry Greenstein -- $25,000
9. Huck Seed -- $25,000
9. T.J. Cloutier -- $25,000
9. Ted Forrest -- $25,000
9. Mike Matusow -- $25,000
9. Phil Gordon -- $25,000
9. Scott Fischman – $25,000
9. Brad Booth -- $25,000


Originally published 1:29 PM Monday, March 05, 2007