Hellmuth, Dwan, and Negreanu Return to National Heads-Up Poker Championship

Less than a year after the reboot of the classic $25,000 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, another group of 64 poker pros, celebrities and content creators gathered in the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas for another shot at a title in the $25,000 buy-in event.

American high-stakes pro Sam Soverel won last year’s event — the first edition in 12 years — and he is back this year competing against four-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit ring winner Kasey Lynn Mills. But that isn’t the only matchup to keep an eye on.

Poker Superstars Are Back

Poker Hall of Famers Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu were notably absent from last year’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship, as was poker legend Tom Dwan, who once triggered an all-time Hellmuth blow-up after cracking his aces in the 2010 edition.

But all three poker superstars are competing this year, with Hellmuth, who won the event in 2005 and finished runner-up in 2013, getting matched up against seven-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh and Negreanu facing 2023 WPT World Championship winner Dan Sepiol. Dwan, meanwhile, will face off against Randy “3Coin” Sadler.

There are no shortage of interesting lineups to look out for. For example, recently semi-retired Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel will face off against high-stakes end-boss Alex Foxen, who is fresh off of winning a record-tying 13th PokerGO title inside the PokerGO Studio.

Speaking of players on fire right now, Pittsburgh ambassador Nicholas Rigby, who recently won a handful of RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) rings, got matched up against poker veteran Dan Shak.

Other notable lineups include Poker Hall of Famer Nick Schulman against Sam “SeniorTilt” Kiki, poker legend Vanessa Selbst against online wizard Marius Gierse, six-time bracelet winner Jason Mercier against four-time bracelet winner David “ODB” Baker, and Brazil God against content creator Doug Polk, who has plenty to be happy about after a major legal victory this week for his Lodge Card Club.

The National Heads-Up Poker Champion was previously on NBC before moving to Peacock for last year’s edition. Like in 2025, the episodes will premiere on Peacock and will later air on PokerGO. The episodes are expected to be released this summer.

The heads-up matches kicked off today inside the PokerGO Studio. PokerNews will avoid any spoilers before the matches air on TV.

Each match-up in the Spades, Hearts, Clubs and Diamonds brackets are available below.

Spades Bracket

• Liv Boeree vs Jeremy Ausmus
• Tom Dwan vs 3Coin
• Cary Katz vs Steven Jones
• Jimmy D vs Kirk Brown
• Turbo Nguyen vs Shaun Deeb
• Andrew Pacheco vs Jesse Lonis
• Erick Lindgren vs Eric Persson
• Brazil God vs Doug Polk

Hearts Bracket

• Scott Seiver vs Justin Young
• Jeff Platt vs Sam Laskowitz
• Irgor Kurganov vs Phillip Frankland Lee
• Kristen Foxen vs Ryan Bartlett
• Vinny Lingham vs Matt Hanks
• Jeremy Becker vs Dan “Jungleman” Cates
• Gabriel Andrade vs Darin Feinstein
• Seth Davies vs Sean Winter

Clubs Bracket

• Victoria Livschitz vs Chris Hunichen
• Phil Laak vs Chino Rheem
• Josh Arieh vs Phil Hellmuth
• Ben Lamb vs Jared Bleznick
• Andrew Robl vs Keith Lehr
• Randall Emmett vs Robbi Jade Lew
• Sam Soverel vs Kasey Lyn Mills
• Daniel Negreanu vs Dan Sepiol

Diamond Bracket

• Nick Schulman vs Sam Kiki
• Matthew Wantman vs Kelly Lucas
• Alan Keating vs Jeff Gross
• David “ODB” Baker vs Jason Mercier
• Marius Gierse vs Vanessa Selbst
• Alex Foxen vs Erik Seidel
• Nicholas Rigby vs Dan Shak
• Brandon Steven vs Justin Gavri

Connor Richards is a Senior Editor U.S. for PokerNews and host of the Life Outside Poker podcast. Connor has been nominated for three Global Poker Awards for his writing.