NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship First Round Pairings Announced

Last night the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship pairings party was held at the nightclub Pure, at Caesars Palace. The results yielded some interesting first round match-ups. Online phenom Jonathan "FieryJustice" Little will be pitted against eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel. Fellow online specialist Tom "durrrr" Dwan also caught a tough draw against 1989 WSOP Champion and 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. Clonie Gowen, whose 2007 NBC Heads-Up first round match was against Kristy Gazes, will go against another formidable female player this year when she squares off against Jennifer Tilly.

Mike Matusow and Joe Hachem met up at the 2005 WSOP final table and will meet again in their first round bout today. Online freeroll qualifier Alisha Kunze, the last entrant into the field, has a tough draw indeed, against Phil Ivey. And then there's the match between Sammy Farha and Doyle Brunson, who have probably played against each other more times than either can count.

With the vast majority of the 64-player field made up of world-class players, there doesn't appear to be an easy bracket. Join PokerNews.com's live reporting today for what is bound to be exciting early-rounds action. The Hearts bracket will start at 10:15 am, with Diamonds at 1:15 pm, Clubs at 4:15 pm, and Spades at 6:45 pm.

Hearts:

Vanessa Rousso vs. Antonio Esfandiari
Shannon Elizabeth vs. Andy Bloch
Todd Brunson vs. Scott Fischman
Jamie Gold vs. Tom Kelly
Ted Forrest vs. Orel Hershiser
Allen Cunningham vs. Chad Brown
John Robert Bellande vs. Sam Grizzle
Paul Wasicka vs. Freddie Deeb

Diamonds:

Jason Alexander vs. Huck Seed
David Pham vs. Brian Townsend
Jennifer Tilly vs. Clonie Gowen
Daniel Negreanu vs. Michael Mizrachi
Barry Greenstein vs. Howard Lederer
David Benyamine vs. Jennifer Harman
Sam Farha vs. Doyle Brunson
Erick Lindgren vs. Eli Elezra

Clubs:

Jonathan Little vs. Erik Seidel
Patrik Antonius vs. Gabe Kaplan
Greg Raymer vs. Hooman Nikzad
Kenny Tran vs. Scott Clements
Mike Matusow vs. Joe Hachem
Tom Dwan vs. Phil Hellmuth
Tom Schneider vs. Gavin Smith
Chris Ferguson vs. John Juanda

Spades:

Don Cheadle vs. Gus Hansen
Scotty Nguyen vs. Bill Edler
Chris Moneymaker vs. Jerry Yang
David Singer vs. Phil Laak
Phil Ivey vs. Alisha Kunze
David Williams vs. Johnny Chan
Daniel Schreiber vs. TJ Cloutier
Annie Duke vs. JC Tran