NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Day 3 Started
2011 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship
NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
2011 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Entries
64
From Eight, One Will Emerge
![[user75032]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
The 2011 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship started Friday afternoon with 64 players in the field. (Actually, if you want to be technical about it, the tournament started the night before at the open bar at the bracket party in PURE Nightclub). Half of the players were eliminated by the end of the day Friday. Three-quarters of the remainder hit the rail yesterday, paring the field down to a manageable eight players.
Those eight players will have to win three more matches to claim the top prize of $750,000 in this event. Only one of them will do it. Will it be last year's runner-up, Erik Seidel? Perhaps perennial first alternate David Oppenheim? Or will it be one of the three newcomers to the event: Andrew Robl, Jonathan Duhamel and Olivier Busquet?
Today's schedule will break the quarterfinal matches into two separate groupings. Spades/Clubs will take the floor at 11am, with Olivier Busquet against Jonathan Duhamel on the feature table and Chris Moneymaker against David Oppenheim on the back table. Hearts/Diamonds will follow at roughly 1:30pm. Vanessa Selbst and Erik Seidel are front and center at that time, with Andrew Robl and David Benyamine relegated to the back.
Once the quarterfinal matches are complete, there will be a one-hour break for the crew. The semifinals are scheduled to start at approximately 4:45pm, with the best-of-three finals to follow at about 7:15pm. This could be a very long day, but for one of these eight players the pot of gold at the end of it will ease all hurts.
See you back here in about 30 minutes.
Shuffle Up and Deal
The Clubs/Spades quarterfinals are underway. Up front, it's the battle of men with French heritage: Olivier Busquet and Jonathan Duhamel. For once, the French *have* to win. In the back, 2003 Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker is taking on Las Vegas cash game regular David Oppenheim.
Players start with 200,000 in chips. Blinds start at 1000-2000.
A Note on the Proceedings
As is standard for this tournament, we're pinned at a media desk in the back corner. Although we have a monitor here, nobody is calling the action (something to do with the TV production, we assume). We're trying to track the progress of each match from the monitor and will report on any noteworthy hands we see. The information, however, may be limited.
In the early going there hasn't been much movement in either match.
Advantage: Moneymaker
With blinds at 1,500 and 3,000, David Oppenheim opened his button with a standard raise. Chris Moneymaker three-bet from the big blind, then led a flop of 
for 22,000 after Oppenheim called. Oppenheim pondered his action briefly. He decided to raise to 48,000, a raise that drew a snap-shove from Moneymaker. Oppenheim didn't take long to fold.
Moneymaker has the lead in the match. He has been very aggressive with his three-bets out of the big blind.
Into the Third Blind Level We Go
Blinds are up to 2500-5000 at both tables. Chris Moneymaker still has the lead over David Oppenheim. On the feature table, it looks like Olivier Busquet has a slight lead over reigning WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel.
Chris Moneymaker Defeats David Oppenheim
Chris Moneymaker is through to the semifinals. On the final hand of his match against David Oppenheim, the two players made it to the turn of a 
board. Moneymaker bet 34,000. Oppenheim raised all in; Moneymaker called.
"I'm in trouble," Moneymaker announced as he turned up 
. It wasn't as bad as Moneymaker feared. Oppenheim tabled 
for two pair. Moneymaker could still win the hand, and the match, with any trey, queen, eight or club.
The river club filled Moneymaker's flush draw and sent "Opie" to the rail. Moneymaker is guaranteed at least one more match and at least $125,000; Oppenheim leaves with $75,000.
Double for Duhamel
Jonathan Duhamel was behind in the feature-table match when he got his money in ahead with 
against Olivier Busquet's 
. The 
flop paired Duhamel. His rail called for another eight as insurance. Duhamel didn't need it as the dealer brought running deuces to double up the Main Event champ.
A Chip at a Time
In contrast to the Moneymaker-Oppenheim match, which was characterized by plenty of big pots, the Busquet-Duhamel match is proceeding very, very cautiously. Both players are taking a small-ball approach, with lots of turn and river cards being checked through.
It appears that Busquet has the chip lead for now.
Jonathan Duhamel Defeats Olivier Busquet
One-half of the semifinals is decided. With the blinds moving inexorably upwards, Jonathan Duhamel was able to take over the chip lead from Olivier Busquet. On the final hand of their match, Busquet moved all in pre-flop with 
and Duhamel called with 
. Busquet was at risk but had the best hand pre-flop and after a flop of 
. The turn 
, however, was unlucky for Busquet. It paired Duhamel and left Busquet looking for a queen or an ace on the river. No such luck this time; the river fell to eliminate Busquet. He gets $75,000; Duhamel gets Chris Moneymaker in the semifinals.