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The Clubs Bracket is, arguably, one of the toughest brackets in the field. WSOP Main Event Champions Scotty Nguyen, Doyle Brunson and Chris Moneymaker are all here, along with fellow bracelet winners Ted Forrest, Dario Minieri, Mike Matusow, Phil Ivey, Jennifer Tilly, David Pham and Daniel Negreanu. 2007 NBC Heads-up Champion Paul Wasicka is here as well, along with poker-playing celebrity Don Cheadle.
Here's a look at today's Clubs match-ups:
Feature Table:
Daniel Negreanu v. Chris Moneymaker
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Earlier, Jennifer Tilly sweated Phil Laak's marathon match against Kenny Yeh. Now it's Laak's turn to sweat Tilly's match against Phil Ivey. Also in attanedance: Lacey Jones and David Plastik.
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It's hard to believe, but the blinds have already begun to move up at each table to 200 and 400. There's not much room for skilled play given the fifteen-minute levels and 20,000-chip starting stack. These matches will quickly devolve into a series of pre-flop all-in raises by the short stack once we reach the third blind level (300 and 600).
We told you earlier that Mike Matusow's glasses broke about a half hour before play began. His match has been delayed pending the arrival of his spare pair. Daniel Negreanu just offered "the Mouth" some good-natured ribbing, telling him that if a blind person can compete on American Idol, Matusow should be able to play poker without his glasses.
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Earlier we reported that Layne Flack missed his heads-up match. Producer Mori Eskandani told us it was because Flack was in an accident on his way home last night.
It's unclear whether or not there was any accident, but we can now confirm that Flack was arrested last night on his way home from the bracket-drawing party. The stated charges are driving 21MPH or more over the speed limit, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, and driving under the influence.
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The Dario Minieri v. Mike Matusow match is finally underway after Mike's spare pair of glasses were delivered to the set. Their match will be timed using a separate clock so that they receive an equal amount of playing time as the rest of the group.
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Jennifer Tilly
Well, at least Jennifer Tilly can say she got her money in good against Phil Ivey. Ivey had the chip lead when he opened with a raise from the button. Tilly moved all in and Ivey called. Tilly's went from the dominant preflop hand against Ivey's to the severely dominated hand after a flop with two eights and no kings. One of the remaining aces fell on the turn, giving Tilly at most a chop possibility, and only if the case ace hit the river. It didn't; the river was a , eliminating Tilly and putting Ivey through to tomorrow's action.
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Chris Moneymaker had opened up a roughly three-to-one chip lead over Daniel Negreanu on the feature table. With the board showing , all of the chips went in the middle. Negreanu showed down top pair with ; Moneymaker turned over . Moneymaker stood up and walked around the table as the river came down. He needed an ace or a six to win the match but got neither; the river fell to double up Kid Poker and level off the match.
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Doyle signs an autograph before his match against Vanessa Rousso
Vanessa Rousso and Doyle Brunson got it all on on a flop; Rousso with and Brunson with .
"Vanessa shows a flush and Doyle shows jack-ten and has a lot of work to do," said Tournament Emcee Jordan Siegel, drawing a big laugh from Daniel Negreanu over on the feature table.
Doyle found himself drawing dead by the turn after the dealer tabled the .
"Doyle Brunson down... Phil Ivey to go. Jesus!" said Rousso after the match, alluding to the fact that she'll be playing Phil Ivey in the Round of 32.
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Chris Moneymaker
No sooner had Daniel Negreanu taken a slight chip lead from Chris Moneymaker than the two were all in again. Negreanu thought he might be in trouble based on the speed of Moneymaker's all-in call, but it turned out to be a flip: Negreanu's pocket nines against Moneymaker's .
Moneymaker refused to watch the flop, going so far as to walk off the set. Negreanu, having some fun at Moneymaker's expense, over-acted as if the flop had already come down and contained an ace. When the real flop came, however, it was about as good as Negreanu could have hoped for: , giving Negreanu a set of nines.
The turn was the first half of a runner-runner combination that would give Moneymaker the win with a Broadway straight.
"It's never easy," said Negreanu.
"Don't worry, I never hit these," replied Moneymaker.
"He's moaning, he's moaning!" exclaimed a jovial Negreanu. "That should be illegal! That's so dirty. You can't do that." It didn't matter; the river was the , making a full house for Negreanu and giving him the Round One victory.
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Things were looking pretty grim for Paul Wasicka. He moved all in as the short stack with and was called by qualifier Nicholas Joy, who tabled . Wasicka was the underdog and needed to improve to avoid elimination. He did so on a flop of . The that hit the turn gave Joy a few additional outs, but Wasicka breathed a sigh of relief when the river fell , missing Joy entirely.
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went from the dominant preflop hand against Ivey's 
to the severely dominated hand after a flop with two eights and no kings. One of the remaining aces fell on the turn, giving Tilly at most a chop possibility, and only if the case ace hit the river. It didn't; the river was a 
, eliminating Tilly and putting Ivey through to tomorrow's action.
, all of the chips went in the middle. Negreanu showed down top pair with 
. Moneymaker stood up and walked around the table as the river came down. He needed an ace or a six to win the match but got neither; the river fell 
to double up Kid Poker and level off the match.
flop; Rousso with 
and Brunson with 
.
.
, giving Negreanu a set of nines.
, making a full house for Negreanu and giving him the Round One victory.
and was called by qualifier Nicholas Joy, who tabled 
. Wasicka was the underdog and needed to improve to avoid elimination. He did so on a flop of 
that hit the turn gave Joy a few additional outs, but Wasicka breathed a sigh of relief when the river fell 
