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Emmitt Smith has taken the lead again in his match against David Williams. The two were all-in pre-flop in a race situation. Williams had a small pair of 
; Smith had two over-cards with 
. Score this round in favor of Smith, 
.
Phil Hellmuth had the lead in his match against David Benyamine, but he picked the wrong time to move in with 
. Benyamine called with 
and made a full house, 
. He's got the lead now in a match that has to end sometime... right?
Meanwhile, David Williams and Emmitt Smith just walked off stage. Toilet break, perhaps.
The long, tough match between Phil Hellmuth and David Benyamine has come to a close. The two got the chips all in pre-flop again. This time Hellmuth had 
and Benyamine showed two overs, 
. Benyamine flopped two pair, 
, then dodged Hellmuth's six-card draw on the 
turn and 
river. He'll advance to the Round of 32.
Tom Dwan had Don Cheadle up against the wall, all in and way behind. Dwan led with 
. Cheadle's got some help on the 
flop. The 
turn meant Dwan had one card left to sweat before he could move on. And there it was, the 
on the river, to bring this match back to even with the blinds climbing to the nosebleed level durrrr is used to.
Once again, when all the money went into the middle, Tom Dwan had the chip lead and the best hand. His 
needed to hold against Cheadle's to bring the match to an end. The board fell 
, and Dwan moves on to play David Benyamine in the next round.
We're not entirely sure what happened. After Leeann Tweeden finished an "exit interview" with Don Cheadle and Tom Dwan, MOC Jordan Siegel was at the back table, the last remaining match between Don Cheadle and David Williams.
"Emmitt needs a queen or a six to end the match," he said. "Here's the river..."
Well, we caught the board. 
. And we caught Smith's winning hand, 
. We didn't see what Williams had but we assume it was at least a 
. In any event, Williams is busto.
Smith was gracious enough to autograph Williams' Cowboys jersey before the two left the stage, finally ending the first round of the Hearts Bracket.
A marathon Hearts Bracket first round is finally over. Michael Mizrachi was the first to advance, dispatching Vanessa Rousso early on when both flopped top pair. Phil Laak soon joined Mizrachi by flopping a set against Daniel Negreanu's top pair.
The next three matches to end took a bit longer: Andrew Robl knocked out Kara Scott, Gavin Smith handled Gus Hansen, and James Bord rivered a flush against Frank Kassela.
The last three matches took a very, very long time. David Benyamine had Phil Hellmuth on the ropes early but needed the full allotment of blind levels to finally beat him. Don Cheadle give Tom Dwan a tough time before knuckling under. And in the biggest surprise of the first round, former NFL star Emmitt Smith came from behind to knock off David Williams.
The tournament is on a short break while we prepare for the Spades Bracket, the last round of matches for the night. Here are the match-ups:
Spades Bracket
Doyle Brunson v. Jennifer Tilly
Erick Lindgren v. Dennis Phillips
Daniel Cates v. Phil Ivey
John Racener v. Chris Moneymaker
Carlos Mortensen v. Sam Trickett
Eric Baldwin v. David Oppenheim
Patrik Antonius v. Sorel Mizzi
Eugene Katchalov v. Faraz Jaka
There's plenty of action to come. Stick around!
The last bracket of the night, the Spades Bracket, has started play.
In without a doubt the fastest match of the day, Faraz "the Toilet" Jaka has been eliminated by Eugene Katchalov. Katchalov raised his button pre-flop, then called Jaka's re-raise. Jaka bet the flop and the 
turn. Katchalov called the flop bet and raised the turn bet all in, with Jaka quickly calling.
Jaka: 
Katchalov: 
Jaka flopped top and bottom pair but was out-done by Katchalov's middle set. When the river fell Katchalov was the first Spades player through to the second round.
Daniel Cates drew one of the toughest first-round opponents: Phil Ivey. But a cooler of a hand allowed Cates to get the best of Ivey and advance to the Round of 32. With all five cards already on board, 
, Ivey and Cates got all the chips in, with Ivey at risk. Ivey showed trip eights but was out-done by Cates's full house, . The two men remained on stage for a brief interview with Leeann Tweeden and then (perhaps?) headed back to whatever high-stakes game was waiting for them.
