The National Heads-Up Poker Championship returned in 2025 after a 12-year break in motion for the enduring one-on-one shootout event. The reborn NHUPC was gained by Sam Soverel for $500,000. The high-stakes star will try to defend his title as one in every of 64 contenders within the $25,000 buy-in occasion
The 2026 operating consists of the likes of Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, and Tom Dwan, all of whom missed the most recent version. Other notables embrace Kristen Foxen, Nick Schulman, Michael Mizrachi, Doug Polk, Vanessa Selbst, Phil Laak, Jason Mercier, Alex Foxen, and Jeff Platt.
The first block of 4 episodes is now streaming on Peacock and also will air from 8:00 PM to midnight ET on Friday, Aug. 21 on NBC Sports NOW. The remaining 4 episodes will go stay the next week on Aug. 28 utilizing the identical broadcast method.
All eight episodes of the 2026 NHUPC will finally land on PokerGO, which acquired the rights to the occasion final 12 months.
Below is the entire listing of first-round matchups throughout all 4 brackets.
Spades Bracket – Round 1
- Liv Boeree vs. Jeremy Ausmus
- Tom Dwan vs. Randy ‘3Coin’ Sadler
- Cary Katz vs. Steven Jones
- Jimmy D’Ambrosio vs. Kirk Brown
- Turbo Nguyen vs. Shaun Deeb
- Andrew Pacheco vs. Jesse Lonis
- Erick Lindgren vs. Eric Persson
- Luis ‘Brazil God’ Rizental vs. Doug Polk
Clubs Bracket – Round 1
- 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
Hearts Bracket – Round 1
- Scott Seiver vs. Justin Young
- Jeff Platt vs. Sam Laskowitz
- Igor 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
Diamonds Bracket – Round 1
- 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
Full Bracket (Click To Enlarge)
Photo credit score: PokerGO / Miguel Cortes.
