Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr. and Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson are among the top professional poker players who are scheduled to compete in the upcoming National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

The event is to be held at the Caesars Palace hotel and casino in Las Vegas, from February 28 to March 2, 2008.

A total of $1.5 million in prize monies is to be awarded, with $500,000 going to the winner.

The event is to be televised=A0on NBC in April and May of this year.

According to event organizers, the National Heads-Up Poker Championship works like this: The tournament starts with 64 players, like the NCAA basketball tournament, and eliminates players in head-to-head competition until there’s one player left. That player wins the tourney and the half-million bucks.

In addition to Hellmuth, who has won more World Series of Poker (WSOP) championship gold bracelets than anyone in the world, 11, and Brunson, who is perhaps the most legendary poker player of them all, other top pros scheduled to compete in the Caesars Palace tourney are Phil “Poison” Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Annie Duke, Johnny “The Orient Express” Chan, Huck Seed, Chris Moneymaker, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, John Juanda, Howard “The Professor” Lederer, Gus Hansen, Clonie Gowen, Jamie Gold, Erik Seidel, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Phil “Unabomber” Laak, Sam Farha, Joe Hachem, Ted Forrest, T.J. Cloutier, Sam Grizzle, Kenny Tran, Todd “Son of Doyle” Brunson, Paul Wasicka, Andy Bloch, Jerry Yang, Allen Cunningham, Scotty Nguyen and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, event organizers said.

Also scheduled to participate in the tournament is a pro from another world–baseball.

Former professional baseball player Orel Hershiser, who pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers and several other teams, has jumped head-first into the gambling waters since his retirement from baseball.

Last year he participated in the World Series of Blackjack in Las Vegas, and now he is to play in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

“Some days, you may not have your 90 mile per hour fastball, and you may have to rely on your slider and your change-up,” Hershiser said.

“In poker, you have to play with the cards you’re dealt so that means adjusting your game accordingly, and adjusting your game relative to whom you’re playing against.”

Other celebrities scheduled to participate in the Caesars Palace extravaganza, event organizers said, are comedian Gabe Kaplan, actors Jason Alexander and Don Cheadle and actresses Jennifer Tilly and Shannon Elizabeth.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)