64 players took the stage at the sixth-annual NBC National Heads-Up Championship here at Caesars Palace, but only 32 will return to play again tomorrow.
It was a generally subdued day here in the tournament room, with very few players chatting at the tables, let alone expressing any real emotion when they won or lost. Then again, there weren't all that many dramatic bust-out hands, aside from Annie Duke's come-from-behind catch to make trip 10s on the river after being out-flopped by Andy Bloch's ace-king.
While most of the day's matches could have easily gone either way, there were a few upsets, including online qualifier Stephen Quinn's victory over past champion Ted Forrest and Phil Gordon's surprising win against Tom "Durrrr" Dwan. Other unexpected players in tomorrow's field include Jerry Yang who beat Mike Matusow and Chris Moneymaker who defeated Patrik Antonius. The full list of tomorrow's Round of 32 match-ups is below:
Clubs
Chris Moneymaker v. Leo Wolpert
David Williams v. Erik Seidel
Erick Lindgren v. Peter Eastgate
Stephen Quinn v. Jamie Gold
Diamonds
Barry Greenstein v. Sam Farha
Jennifer Harman v. Jerry Yang
Darvin Moon v. Annie Duke
Paul Wasicka v. Gus Hansen
Spades
Phil Ivey v. Scotty Nguyen
Joe Hachem v. Gabe Kaplan
Jason Mercier v. Pieter de Korver
Phil Gordon v. Phil Laak
Hearts
Allen Cunningham v. Eli Elezra
Chris Ferguson v. Dennis Phillips
Doyle Brunson v. Don Cheadle
Phil Hellmuth v. Annette Obrestad
Play will kick off once again at 1pm local time tomorrow. If you cant join us here on the set in the Caesars Poker Room then make sure you follow along with all the live updates here at PokerNews.
In the end, it came down to a flip for Don Cheadle and J.P. Kelly. Cheadle moved all in with and Kelly called with . Cheadle's support on the rail, including Annie Duke, was thrilled to see a queen flop, . The on the turn, however, was a sweat card as it gave Cheadle a flush draw. He needed an eight or a heart to prolong the match even further, but the river blanked .
Cheadle will return tomorrow to play Doyle Brunson in Round 2.
Don Cheadle and J.P. Kelly finally got it in. It was after a flop of . Cheadle had flopped the joint with and was looking to close out Kelly, who showed down bottom pair and a gutshot draw, . The turn was a very disgusting-for-Cheadle card, . It gave each player the same straight. The pot was chopped and the match continued.
Orel Hershiser and Annette Obrestad played a slow, conservative match with neither player getting all in until the last hand.
The Dodger great moved all in with and got called by Obrestad who held . The flop of missed both players, as did the on the turn. Obrestad sealed the victory with the on the river and the always gracious Hershiser shook her hand and presented her with a signed baseball before leaving the stage.
There are two matches remaining -- Don Cheadle against J.P. Kelly, and Annette Obrestad against Orel Hershiser. Despite playing for almost an hour and a half now, neither table has yet to have a player go all in and be called.
Rapidly escalting blinds will force a conclusion to each match soon enough.
Dennis Phillips and High Stakes Poker host Kara Scott played a very quiet match on Table 3. Neither one was all in until the final hand. That's when the short-stacked Scott got her chips in with . Phillips called with a pair, , and drew a good board of . The two players shook hands, with Scott also then thanking the dealer, before departing the set.
We're down to two matches remaining -- Don Cheadle against J.P. Kelly on Table 4, and Orel Hershiser against Annette Obrestad on the feature table.
Well if Team Canada captures the "gold medal" in this tournament, it won't go to Greg "FBT" Mueller. Mueller moved all in on the turn with , holding a pair, a straight draw and a flush draw. Eli Elezra made three tens and needed to fade the river to move on to the Round of 32. He did so, and we lost one very large red shirt from the field.
Shortly after taking control of the match with a well-timed double up, Allen Cunningham sent Jesper Hougaard to the rail when he re-raised the Scandi pro all in preflop.
Hougaard put his chips at risk with and found himself just slightly behind Cunningham's . The flop of provided no help for Hougaard and the on the turn limited his outs as Cunningham picked up the nut flush draw. The river brought the and send Hougaard packing while Cunningham advances to Day 2.
Qualifier Annette Dworski drew a first-round opponent with plenty of success in this tournament, Chris Ferguson. Ferguson quickly took a chip lead on Dworski and kept pounding away. Dworski made a small double-up by out-flopping Ferguson's with , but she was soon all in and behind a second time.
Dworski shoved and was called by Ferguson with . Neither player connected in any way with a board of . Queen-high was enough for Ferguson to cinch the victory.