$20,000 Heads-up Championship Day 1 | 2010 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship

03-05-2010 10:56 UTC-12

Blinds Become Prohibitive

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Things are quickly getting out of control in our last match. With blinds of 600 and 1,200, there are only 33 blinds total in play. This will be over very, very quickly.

Erick Lindgren still seems to be in a jovial mood, joking around with MOC Jordan Siegel. The NBC online qualifier Dan Ramirez looks a little stressed.

Tags: Dan Ramirez Erick Lindgren

03-05-2010 11:05 UTC-12

All Square

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With blinds now at 1,000-2,000, the match between Erick Lindgren and Dan Ramirez is back to even. The blinds will not go any higher. Someone has to win at this level.

03-05-2010 11:17 UTC-12

Lindgren Survives to End Clubs Matches

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A ripple of astonishment went through the crowd when Erick Lindgren and Dan Ramirez finally got all the chips in. Incredibly, both showed up with a premium hand! Lindgren tabled {A-Clubs}

while Ramirez showed down {Q-Clubs}

.

"I was trapping him," joked Lindgren.

With the crowd on its feet, it was Lindgren who hit the flop, pairing kings {k-Spades}

. He made two pair with the turn {A-Diamonds}

and was on to Day 2 when the river bricked {5-Diamonds}

. It was a crushing defeat for the qualifier Ramirez, who literally took the tough Lindgren all the way to the wire.

03-05-2010 11:21 UTC-12

Break Time

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The tournament will be on a short break now with the conclusion of the Clubs Bracket Round of 64 matches. When we return at 4pm local time, the Diamonds Bracket players will take their seats. This is the bracket that promises the most Day 1 excitement:

Feature Table

Sam Farha v. Antonio Esfandiari

Outer Tables

Barry Greenstein v. Vanessa Rousso
Jennifer Harman v. Jennifer Tilly
Jerry Yang v. Mike Matusow
Darvin Moon v. Bill Huntress
Andy Bloch v. Annie Duke
Andrew Wilson v. Paul Wasicka
Gus Hansen v. Greg Raymer

03-05-2010 11:46 UTC-12

We're Back

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Cards are in the air as players in the Diamonds bracket begin their quest to reach the round of 32.

While this is the second round of play in today's event, it will be the last shown when the NBC National Heads-Up Championship is broadcast next month.

03-05-2010 11:53 UTC-12

In the Room

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A few folks have come out to sweat their friends in this round of the tourney. Familiar faces in the crowd include Shawn Rice and Phil Gordon (both playing in the Spades bracket) who are here sweating Annie Duke and Andy Bloch in their heads-up match. Also cheering Annie on is her boyfriend Joe Reitman.

A crowd of about seven people in neon red and green baseball caps are taking up a chunk of bleacher real estate as they root on Vanessa Rousso in her first-round match against Barry Greenstein.

03-05-2010 12:07 UTC-12

Bits of Color

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While the action heats up, we have a few minutes to make some observations about the players in this round.

The "always well dressed" Sammy Farha showed up for his match in jeans and a gray sweater while his opponent, Antonio Esfandiari, is wearing a pink shirt so bright its likely to blow out the color on your high-def TV next month.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Rousso hobbled to her table with her right ankle bandaged tightly. According to Barry Greenstein's twitter, she fell and sprained it about an hour before the match.

03-05-2010 12:17 UTC-12

Double Bracelet Winner?

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Yang's wrist must be strong to sport all that bling.

Jerry Yang showed up to the tourney dressed all in black and sporting a lot of bling in the form of his WSOP Main Event bracelet and a second gold bracelet that we can't identify at this time.

03-05-2010 12:18 UTC-12

The Magician Disappears

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In what turned out to be a very short feature table match, Sammy Farha made quick work of Antonio Esfandiari.

Esfandiari moved all in with {A-?}

and got called by Farha who had him dominated with {A-Hearts}

. When MOC announced Esfandiari's hand, Mike Matusow mis-heard him.

"Wow, Antonio. You got it in with 8-5?" Matusow asked. Esfandiari quickly corrected him before calling for, "Five, one time!"

Both players caught top pair on a flop of
{A-Spades}

. The

on the turn meant that fives were no longer good for Esfandiari, and he changed his call for a king, queen or jack to chop the pot. "Five's no good," he told someone in the crow.

The {7-Diamonds}

held no magic though, and Farha moves on to tomorrow.

03-05-2010 12:23 UTC-12

Hansen, Late to Set, Among First to Win

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Gus Hansen showed up to the set late enough that he missed the Diamonds Bracket group photo. But that didn't stop him from taking down Greg Raymer as the second match to end in this group. Gus check-raised the shorter-stacked Raymer all in on a flop of {K-?}