Filling the Vacuum

  Nature hates a vacuum. Instead she seems to prefer a brutal competitive order. This is why wildebeest cannot roam the Savannah without having to face down lions, leopards, and opportunistic hyenas. This sort of balance can be seen everywhere in nature. Giant squid and sperm whales wage vicious battles beneath ocean waves while cattle ranchers and sheepherders blow raspberries at each other across meadows. Of course whenever a lonely Supermodel walks down a city street, Tom Brady is never far behind. In other words, competitive balance is part of the natural order. With this in mind should anybody be surprised that there are rumblings of a heads up event to compete with Caesars Palace's National Heads-Up Poker Championship?  Phil Zajac of Henderson, NV has figured out a unique structure that could very well be a road map for anyone who wants to create an event to compete with the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.  Taking some inspiration from the structure that is best known as "duplicate bridge", Zajac has come up with the idea for "duplicate poker".  In duplicate Texas Holdem poker, players in a particular seat position at each table would receive the same two starting cards from identically arranged decks. The five community cards also would be the same, and winners would be determined by how many chips players have in relation to their opponents who were dealt the same cards. This is a way of playing the game that is not dissimilar to the style that was used when Phil Laak played against a computer last summer.  The National Heads-Up Poker Championship is about to play its fourth Championship event. This may be the last one where they have a monopoly on the genre.