$20,000 Heads-up Championship Day 1 | 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship

$20,000 Heads-up Championship

Day 1 Completed

03-07-2009 00:04 UTC-7

Dim the Lights -- We're Done with Day One

[user75032]

The 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship kicked off today with 32 first round matches. Those matches produced 32 winners just before 11pm local time. It was a good day for all of the previous champions except for the defending champion. Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest and Paul Wasicka all advanced to Round Two. Defending champion Chris Ferguson did not, falling to Gabe Kaplan in one of the last matches of the day

The full list of second round matches is:

{A-Hearts}

Hearts {A-Hearts}

Eli Elezra v. Erick Lindgren
David Williams v. Scott Fischman
John Phan v. Jerry Yang
Sam Farha v. Peter Eastgate

{A-Diamonds}

Diamonds {A-Diamonds}

Kenny Tran v. Jen Harman
Phil Laak v. David Oppenheim
Gus Hansen v. Huck Seed
Glen Chorny v. Brad Garrett

{A-Clubs}

Clubs

Don Cheadle v. Paul Wasicka
Phil Ivey v. Vanessa Rousso
Scotty Nguyen v. Ted Forrest
Daniel Negreanu v. Dario Minieri

{A-Spades}

Spades {A-Spades}

Gabe Kaplan v. John Juanda
Ilari Sahamies v. Bertrand Grospellier
Jeffrey Ishbia v. Phil Hellmuth
Tom Dwan v. Barry Greenstein

Play resumes at 1pm tomorrow. See you then.

03-07-2009 00:02 UTC-7

'ElkY' Knocks Off Collins; Advances to the Round of 32

[user38449]

For awhile there, it looked like Fred Collins had more lives than a cat after he'd survived at least four all-in confrontations against heads-up opponent Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier. In the end, however, ElkY proved to be too much for Collins to handle.

With the blinds uber-high, Collins open-shoved all in holding the {A-Clubs}

and Grospellier looked him up with a pocket pair of fours. The board then ran out king-high and ElkY's baby pair held up to win the pot and the match.

Grospellier will face off against fellow online pro Ilari 'Zigmund' Sahamies in tomorrow's Round of 32.

Tags: Bertrand Grospellier Fred Collins

03-06-2009 23:56 UTC-7

Gettin' Ziggy With It

[user38449]

Gavin Smith has just been eliminated from the tournament after suffering a major league bad beat, put on by heads-up opponent Ilari 'Zigmund' Sahamies.

Sahamies put Smith all in before the flop holding {J-Clubs}

and Smith made the call with {A-?}

, having Sahamies dominated.

By the turn, the board had filled out {K-?}

and Gavin needed only to dodge a jack on the river to stay alive. As fate would have it, he couldn't, as Zigmund spiked a jack on the river to win the match, sending Smith to the rail.

Tags: Gavin Smith Ilari Sahamies

03-06-2009 23:55 UTC-7

The durrrr Machine Churns On

[user75032]

Tom "durrrr" Dwan is through the Second Round. He called with {A-Hearts}

after the short stack, Gavin Griffin, open-shoved the button with {J-?}

. Neither player hit the {5-?}

board. Griffin is eliminated; Dwan moves on to face Barry Greenstein tomorrow.

Tags: Gavin Griffin Tom Dwan

03-06-2009 23:52 UTC-7

Ferguson's Title Defense Ends

[user75032]

Last year, Chris Ferguson romped all the way through the field to capture his first NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship title. His past performance in this event made him, in many people's minds, the favorite to repeat. Gabe Kaplan just busted a lot of those brackets. He had Ferguson barely covered on a flop of {6-?}

when the chips went in. Kaplan rolled over two tens against Ferguson's straight draw and overcard, {J-Diamonds}

. Ferguson couldn't hit, with the turn pairing nines and the river falling {Q-?}

. Kaplan goes on; Ferguson goes home.

Tags: Chris Ferguson Gabe Kaplan

03-06-2009 23:48 UTC-7

Caesar Qualifier Ishbia to Come Back Tomorrow

[user75032]

"That's a very good flop for Jeffrey Ishbia," announced MOC Jordan Siegel as he stood over Ishbia's table. That meant it was a very poor flop for Leon Yanovsky, the all-in player at risk of elimination. Yanovsky's {J-?}

was in rough shape against Ishbia's {A-Spades}

after a flop of {Q-?}

. Ishbia's pair of queens held through a turn of {9-?}

and river of {5-?}

. He's through to the Second Round.

Tags: Jeffrey Ishbia Leon Yanovsky

03-06-2009 23:44 UTC-7

Blandino Bamboozled

[user38449]

Barry Greenstein moves on to the Round of 32 after eliminating PokerStars qualifier Blandino Gines from the competition. Gines led out with a 2,000 bet on a {7-?}

flop, Greenstein raised enough to put Gines all in and Gines made the call:

Gines: {9-?}

Greenstein: {A-?}

The turn and river brought running jacks giving both players two pair, but Greenstein's ace played to send Gines packing.

Interestingly enough, before their match began, Greenstein pointed out the fact that Gines beat almost 600,000 opponents to earn his seat in the tournament. For more on Gines' story, click here.

Tags: Blandino Gines

03-06-2009 23:40 UTC-7

Here Comes Fred Collins

[user75032]

Collins has the double-up virus in a very bad way. He's now doubled up against Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier three times in short succession, moving from about 3,000 in chips to the slight chip lead with approximately 22,000 in chips. The last of the three double-ups saw all the chips go in the middle on a flop of {A-Diamonds}

. Collins made top pair with {A-Hearts}

; ElkY was on a spade draw, {8-Spades}

. The turn {6-Hearts}

was not a spade; neither was the river {J-Hearts}

, giving Collins the pot and the chip lead.

The crowd is starting to come to Collins; side. Can he pull off a stunning first-round upset?

Tags: Bertrand Grospellier ElkY Fred Collins

03-06-2009 23:30 UTC-7

Something in the Water?

[user75032]

The double-up bug is going round and round the room for the Spades Bracket. Ilari Sahamies check-raised all-in after Gavin Smith led out on a flop of {J-?}