This week, in our regular feature about poker appearances on television and at the cinema throughout the ages, we talk about a classic in TV poker terms.

Taking place at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas in 2005 and at Caesars Palace between 2006 and its conclusion in 2013, the NBC National Heads-Up Championship is one of those TV shows which should never have gone away and which, if it came back today, would likely be twice as popular as it was in its heyday. 

Ali Nejad and Matt Vasgersian were the commentary team from 2007, with Gabe Kaplan in the Ali Nejad role in 2005 & 2006. The undoubted stars of the show, however, were the players, who went heads-up against each other one-on-one through the Round of 64 to a winner.

The buy-in to the event was a massive $25,000, and was by invitation-only, meaning only the best and most exciting players were invited along to play. Each round – with players already part of the full draw in four sections of clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds, naturally – would see a heads-up game determine which player moved on to the next round. The final was a best-of-three match to see who would become champion.