Huck Seed becomes champion of champions at World Series of Poker

By Case Keefer (contact)

Monday, July 5, 2010 | 4:05 a.m.

When conversations come up about the greatest poker players of the modern era, Huck Seed’s name is usually absent.

Perhaps that’s about to change. Seed added to his already-sterling poker résumé early Monday morning at the Rio when he won the 2010 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions after nearly 16 hours of play.

“I thought I would be tired at this point, but I feel pretty good,” Seed said. “There was a lot of great play at this final table.”

Seed beat out 27 of the World Series of Poker’s elite bracelet winners as voted in by the fans in an all-star game format to snag the $500,000 first-place prize. It was far from Seed’s first prestigious win.

Seed, who has lived in Las Vegas for more than a decade, has four World Series of Poker bracelets and won the 1996 Main Event. He also took down the coveted National Heads-Up Championship two years ago at Caesars Palace.

In this tournament, Seed beat good friend Howard “The Professor” Lederer in heads-up play when his Ace-2 of spades held up against Lederer’s Queen-8 of clubs.

“Huck Seed is a fantastic player,” Lederer said. “I think he’s under-rated as far as poker history.”

Lederer probably couldn’t help but feel the Tournament of Champions trophy belonged in his corner. Minutes before Seed clinched the title, Lederer was one card away from winning the event.

On a flop of 6-5-3, Lederer got all of his chips in and had a chance to finish the match with pocket 10s against Seeds’ 9-6 of clubs. Although Seed was a 4-to-1 underdog, he caught an 8 on the turn and a 7 on the river to make a straight.

“I’m thrilled with how I played, but very disappointed,” Lederer said. “I really wanted to win. I don’t think I can play any better than I did today.”

Lederer, who had to fight back from a severely small chip stack at the start of the day with 18 players remaining, received $250,000 for his runner-up finish.

Lederer knocked out third-place finisher and two-time Main Event champion Johnny Chan when his pair of Jacks dodged Chan’s open-ended straight draw.

“Everyone plays so good nowadays, it’s tough to make it this far,” said Chan, who won $100,000.

The rest of the players who made the final table received $25,000 in the freeroll tournament. The day featured a couple of notable collapses.

Las Vegas native Mike “The Mouth” Matusow came in with the chip lead after two days of play, but ended up being the first player eliminated and leaving empty-handed.

He lost most of his chips to Daniel Negreanu, who let a major chip lead at the final table turn into a disappointing sixth-place finish. The trouble players like Matusow and Negreanu encountered likely can be attributed to the quality of competition.

“This was undoubtedly one of the toughest fields in poker history,” World Series of Poker Tournament Director Jack Effel said.

If Seed beat the best, he’s clearly among the best. The notoriously soft-spoken Seed was simply grateful for the opportunity.

“I really appreciate all the fans voting,” Seed said. “This is your victory as well for voting for me.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or case.keefer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer for live updates from the Main Event.