Jennifer Tilly, Jason Alexander to Play in National Heads-Up Poker Championship

Unconfirmed reports have actress Jennifer Tilly and “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander playing in the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will air on NBC. Officials from Poker PROductions have not released an official cast list.

Tilly’s better half, Unabomber Poker namesake Phil Laak, commented in a blog entry this week, “Opened my e-mail this morning and couldn’t have been happier. I was cc’ed on an e-mail to Jennifer and she is officially in. This will be her fourth year to play the NBC heads up tournament at Caesar’s this March 4th – 7th.” Laak added that he awoke before Tilly saw the e-mail and chose a creative way to share the news: “I said, ‘Your only hints are that it’s good news and it has to do with an e-mail that I read this morning.’ She thought for about 10 seconds and then said, ‘Am I playing the NBC Poker Heads Up?’ and I said, ‘Wow, 1 question and you nailed it.’”

Laak claims that 2010 will mark Tilly’s fourth appearance in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. However, it will actually be her fifth, as Tilly has competed in each running of the event since 2006; she has never made it out of the first round. Four years ago, the Academy Award nominee faced off against World Poker Tour (WPT) titleholder Paul Phillips in the first round, ultimately falling. Phillips, however, did not survive past the second round.

In 2007, it was a clash of the titans in the opening match of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, as Tilly battled then-reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Jamie Gold. Tilly once again dropped her first round match and Gold succumbed to Full Tilt Poker’s Phil Gordon in the round of 32. In 2008, Tilly battled fellow female pro Clonie Gowen in the first round, but could not come out on top. Gowen went on to lose to Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi in the second set of matches.

Last year, Tilly drew 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey in the first round. The match ended with Ivey taking down the title, but falling to Team PokerStars Pro member and 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship runner-up Vanessa Rousso in the second round. Rousso stormed through opponents that included Doyle Brunson, Ivey, Victory Poker pro Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu, and Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier to reach the finals against eventual champion Huck Seed.

On the February 3rd installment of the UB.com poker news show “Poker2Nite,” actor Alexander revealed that he’ll return to the National Heads-Up Poker Championship felts in 2010. Alexander relayed to show hosts Joe Sebok and Scott Huff what he tells his pro opponents: “If I lose to you, no big deal. If you lose to me, your career will never be the same.” Alexander has only appeared in the Heads-Up’s 2008 edition and fell to Seed in the first round. Seed owns the best record in National Heads-Up Poker Championship history at 18-4 and is the only player to cash in every season.

Two years ago, National Heads-Up Poker Championship officials established automatic bids to the invite-only tournament. Although not every person who qualifies will make time in their schedule to play, here’s how the bids stack up for the series’ 2010 running:

Previous five National Heads-Up Poker Championship winners: Huck Seed (2009), Chris Ferguson (2008), Paul Wasicka (2007), Ted Forrest (2006), Phil Hellmuth (2005)

Previous two National Heads-Up Poker Championship runners-up: Vanessa Rousso (2009), Andy Bloch (2008)

Defending National Heads-Up semifinalists: Sammy Farha, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier

Any player who has cashed in the past four consecutive years of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship: Huck Seed

Previous three WSOP Main Event Champions: Joe Cada (2009), Peter Eastgate (2008), Jerry Yang (2007)

Defending WSOP Main Event runner-up: Darvin Moon

Multiple WSOP bracelet winners from the previous year: Phil Ivey, Jeffrey Lisandro, Brock “t soprano” Parker, Greg “FBT” Mueller

Defending WSOP Player of the Year: Jeffrey Lisandro

Defending WSOP Heads-Up Champion: Leo Wolpert

Defending WSOP Europe Main Event Champion: Barry Shulman

Reigning World Poker Tour (WPT) Player of the Year: Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier

Reigning European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final Champion: Pieter de Korver

Reigning CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year: Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin

Reigning Bluff Magazine Player of the Year: Jason Mercier

Reigning All In Magazine Player of the Year: Phil Ivey

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Useful poker terms:

RACE - In tournaments it is sometimes convenient to remove all lower-denomination chips from play, as the remaining players' stacks tend to grow. Small chips are converted to larger chips and any odd chips are "raced off" in the following way: each player with odd chips places them in front of his stack and is dealt one card for each chip. Highest card (rank and suit) takes all the small chips and converts them to higher-denomination chips.
TIGHT - [1] A style of play that entails playing fewer hands than average. Antonym: LOOSE. [2] A FULL HOUSE.
TOURNAMENT - A highly structured game involving potentially dozens of tables where all participants pay an entry fee and obtain a fixed number of chips. Once a tournament has started, additional players may not enter. As the game progresses players bust out and are eliminated until only one winner remains.
CHECK RAISE - To check initially, then raise a bet made later on in the same betting round. Frequently a sign of strength, but may be a bluff.
STRING BET - An unethical and often illegal means of raising whereby a player puts a call-size stack of chips into the pot and, after observing the reactions of the players, then goes back to his stack and puts out more, thus raising.
FOUR OF A KIND - A hand containing all four cards of the same rank.

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