Updated NBC Heads-Up Championship TV Schedule Released

An updated broadcast schedule for the fourth season of the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship was recently released, showing 12 Hours of coverage over six consecutive Sundays, beginning on April 13.

Coverage will include all three days of intense game play amongst the 64 poker pros and celebrities, held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where Chris Ferguson eventually defeated Andy Bloch in the last two rounds of the best out of three final, and emerged as the 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Champion.

The Championship was full of surprises from the beginning, as reported on NBC's site, with first round upsets including 2007 NHPC champion Paul Wasicka losing to Freddy Deeb; "Poker Brat" Phil Hellmuth going all in with pocket aces, and losing, against online poker phenomenon Tom Dwan on the third hand; and Shannon Elizabeth, the Cinderella story of last year's tournament, getting knocked out by Bloch. Other poker heavyweights eliminated in the first round were Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, and 2007 NHPC runner-up Chad Brown.

Baseball legend Orel Hershiser was the talk of the tournament. He stunned the crowd when, in true 'Bulldog' fashion, he simply outplayed his opponents and advanced to the quarterfinals. Left in his wake were five-time WSOP bracelet winner Ted Forrest, five-time WSOP winner Allen Cunningham and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Freddy Deeb. Just when it seemed he could not be beat, Hershiser's run was finally stopped by Bloch.

"This has truly been the best year ever for the National Heads-Up Poker Championship," said Jon Miller, Executive VP of NBC Sports. "The players were better than ever, Orel Hershiser provided a great deal of excitement and buzz, we had a superb final four players and a genuinely exciting finale."

Here is the updated scheduled sequence of Sundays of the 'Sports Specials' of the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship:

April 13 (Noon- 2pm ET) - National Heads-Up Poker Championship #1

Round of 64- Clubs Bracket

Round of 64- Spades Bracket

April 20 (Noon- 1pm ET) - National Heads-Up Poker Championship #2

Round of 64- Hearts Bracket

Round of 64- Diamonds Bracket

April 27 (Noon- 2pm ET) - National Heads-Up Poker Championship #3

May 4 (Noon- 2pm ET) - National Heads-Up Poker Championship #4

May 11 (Noon- 2pm ET) - National Heads-Up Poker Championship #5

May 18 (Noon- 3pm ET) - National Heads-Up Poker Championship #6

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