A $230 qualifier for the final seat in the 64-person field of the 2011 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship tournament went to poker pro Justin Young, who outlasted a slew of poker talent to earn the coveted entry –as well as $25,000 in cash. One of the players Young defeated was 2009 Card Player Magazine Player of the Year and UB Poker pro Eric ‘BaseBaldy’ Baldwin, in the semi-final of the event.
The qualifier attracted a massive number of entrants –217 in all—and plenty of top-flight poker talent: Some other top players who entered the qualifier that was held at the 2011 Caesars Winter Poker Classic were Kathy Liebert, Chris “Fox” Wallace, Sam Grizzle, Jonathan Friedberg, and Ari “Bodog Ari” Engel.
The tournament started off as a typical Multi-Table Freezeout poker tournament, but when the field was trimmed to just 16 players they switched to the heads-up style format of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Young is an up-and-coming poker pro who has about $400,000 in live tournament earnings during his two years on tour, including a win in the 2010 Doyle Brunson Five Diamonds Poker Classic $5k NLHE event where he booked his biggest win to date, a $171,000 score. Young also finished 2nd in the 2010 NAPT Los Angeles, No Limit Holdem Bounty Shootout tournament, where he pocketed $26,000.
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