NBC Sports to Air 2013 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, Beg. 3/14

NBC Sports Group today announced the return of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship to NBC and NBC Sports Network. Coverage of the invitational tournament from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nev., includes three original airings on NBC and three on NBC Sports Network beginning March 14 at 9 p.m. ET.

The National Heads-Up Poker Championship features 64 of the world's most compelling poker players as they compete in a series of Heads-Up matches (one-on-one games of No Limit Texas Hold'em). The tournament is a single-elimination, bracket-style format modeled after the NCAA Basketball tournament. A player wins a match and advances to the next round; wins six matches and becomes the National Heads-Up Poker Champion.

This year's event marks the eighth installment of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. For the seventh time, the tournament will be held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nev., a resort with a long history of exclusive poker tournaments and cash games. The reigning champion is eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel, who defeated 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker to win the title. Previous Heads-Up Poker Championship competitors have included Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Antonio Esfandiari.

NBC SPORTS GROUP'S FULL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (All times ET and subject to change):

DATE TIME NETWORK

March 14 9 p.m. NBC Sports Network

March 21 9 p.m. NBC Sports Network

March 28 9 p.m. NBC Sports Network

April 6 1 p.m. NBC

April 13 1 p.m. NBC

April 20 1 p.m. NBC

CAESARS PALACE

Reigning at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, Caesars Palace features 3,960 hotel guest rooms and suites, including the brand new Octavius Tower and 181-room Nobu Hotel. The 85-acre resort offers 25 diverse dining options including celebrity chef-branded restaurants by Gordon Ramsay, Bobby Flay,Nobu Matsuhisa and Guy Savoy, nearly 130,000 square-feet of casino space, a five-acre Garden of the Gods pool oasis and the award-winning Qua Baths & Spa. The Forum Shops at Caesars showcases more than 160 boutiques and restaurants and the 4,300-seat Colosseum spotlights world class entertainers such as Celine Dion, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Shania Twain and Jerry Seinfeld. For more information, please visit www.caesarspalace.com or caesars.thedigitalcenter.com to access media materials and request high-resolution images. Find Caesars Palace on Facebook and follow on Twitter.

When the Comcast-NBCUniversal transaction was completed in January 2011, the sports assets of the two companies combined to form the NBC Sports Group, which serves sports fans 24/7 with premier live events, insightful studio shows, and compelling original programming. The sports media company consists of a unique array of broadcast television, cable television, radio and digital sports assets, including NBC Sports, NBC Olympics, NBC Sports Network, Golf Channel, 11 NBC Sports Regional Networks, NBC Sports Radio and all of their respective digital properties. The NBC Sports Group possesses an unparalleled collection of television rights agreements, partnering with some of the most prestigious sports properties in the world: the International Olympic Committee and United States Olympic Committee, the NFL, NHL, PGA TOUR, PGA of America, USGA, Churchill Downs, MLS, Tour de France, French Open, IndyCar and many more.