The first round of the NBC Heads-Up Championship Event concluded yesterday as the field of 64 became the field of 32 after a grueling day of play. There are four regions in the 64-man bracket, named after the suits in the deck, diamonds, spades, clubs, and hearts.
The $25,000 buy-in event pays $500,000 to the eventual champion. The biggest names in live and online poker are on hand, including defending champion Chris Ferguson. There were many interesting streaks on the line yesterday including Erik Seidel’s consecutive first round losses (currently at four) and Huck Seeds consecutive cash streak. One change before the day even started was the replacement of Layne Flack with David Oppenheim (a high-stakes mixed-game specialist). Rumor has it Flack was arrested the night before on suspicion of driving under the influence. Oppenheim took advantage of the opportunity by taking out Vanessa Selbst, a PLO WSOP bracelet-winner. Below one can find the results of all 32 Day 1 matches:
Spades Bracket
Gabe Kaplan defeats Chris Ferguson
John Juanda defeats Joe Hachem
Ilari Sahamies defeats Gavin Smith
Bertrand Grospellier defeats Fred Collins
Jeffrey Ishbia defeats Leon Yanovski
Phil Hellmuth defeats Mike Sexton
Tom Dwan defeats Gavin Griffin
Barry Greenstein defeats Blandino Gines
Hears Bracket
Eli Elezra defeats Johnny Chan
Erick Lindgren defeats Howard Lederer
David Williams defeats J.C. Tran
Scott Fischman defeats Jamie Gold
John Phan defeats Erik Seidel
Jerry Yang defeats Clonie Gowen
Sammy Farha defeats Allen Cunningham
Peter Eastgate defeats Andy Bloch
Clubs Bracket
Don Cheadle defeats David Pham
Paul Wasicka defeats Nicholas Joy
Phil Ivey defeats Jennifer Tilly
Vanessa Rousso defeats Doyle Brunson
Scotty Nguyen defeats Hevad Khan
Ted Forrest defeats Orel Hershiser
Daniel Negreanu defeats Chris Moneymaker
Dario Minieri defeats Mike Matusow
Diamonds Bracket
Kenny Tran defeats Antonio Esfandiari
Jennifer Harman defeats Greg Raymer
Phil Laak defeats Kenny Yeh
David Oppenheim defeats Vanessa Selbst
Gus Hansen defeats David Benyamine
Huck Seed defeats Jonathan Little
Glen Chorny defeats Chad Brown
Brad Garrett defeats Annie Duke
The biggest names advancing through Day 1 are Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, Barry Greenstein, and Erick Lindgren. There are definitely some interesting match-ups for day 2 including Durrrr vs. Greenstein, Bertand “Elky” Grospelier vs Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Daniel Negreanu vs. Dario Minieri, and Phil Ivey vs. Vanessa Rousso (who eliminated Doyle Bruson in Round 1).
NBC is covering the event, which is not being broadcast live. Make sure to check back in with this blog for final results once the tournament finishes tomorrow.