Phil Ivey Sucks - Erik Seidel to Win NBC National Heads-Up Title

Things were going pretty well for me until the last bracket last night. The first three brackets saw 5 out of 6 of my picks for the elite 8 advance. Then disaster struck during the spades bracket.



Phil Ivey fell to Dan Cates. Dammit! There went my winner. Hell, I only went 2 for 8 in the spades bracket, and my last 2 elite 8 members were knocked out. As such, time to modify my picks.

Hearts Bracket

Andrew Robl wound up subbing for Peat and wound up advancing over Kara Scott. Gavin Smith managed to beat my pick of Gus Hansen and now Smith and Robl will face each other. I see Robl beating Smith to face Mizrachi in the final of the hearts bracket. Mizrachi still wins the bracket.

Clubs Bracket

I only missed one match in this bracket, and both of my elite 8 picks advanced. Mercier to still take this one.

Diamonds Bracket

Greg Raymer vs. Phil Gordon does not have the same ring as Matusow vs Marchese, but it's going to happen. I see Raymer advancing to take on Erik Seidel. He is going to have to beat Jennifer Harman, which should prove to be a bit easier than heads-up monster Huck Seed. Seidel to still face Selbst in the final with Seidel winning.

Spades Bracket

This bracket got turned on its head. Brunson will face Dan Cates in the semi-finals after Cates wipes up Moneymaker. Brunson will then fall to setup a match between Mortensen and Patrik Antonius.

I didn't see Mortensen advancing past Baldwin, but David Oppenheim changed that when he knocked out Baldwin in the first round. Mortensen should be able to take Oppenheim to play Antonius. I was 50 - 50 on who to pick to advance to the bracket final, but I went with Mortensen since he is just coming off a WPT final table. However, his run will end in the bracket final as I think that Dan Cates is going to have too much for Mortensen.

So now it will be Jason Mercier vs. Daniel Cates and Michael Mizrachi vs. Erik Seidel in the final four. I still see Mercier and Seidel advancing to the finals, but this time around I am going to have to go with the man who is having the hot 2011.

Erik Seidel will move up to take the lead on the All-Time money list after winning the 2011 NBC National Heads-Up Championship.