2011 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship

If it's March we must be at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for the annual NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. As always, 64 players have been invited to this bracket-style made-for-television tournament. They are a mix of veterans and up-and-comers, cash game players and tournament champions, amateurs and celebrities.

The draw party was held last night at PURE Nightclub. A PokerNews video team was on hand to catch the red-carpet festivities out front; a PokerNews blogging team was on hand to catch the draw (and empty the bar of free booze) inside afterwards. The draw was completely random for all 32 first-round matches and produced these pairings:

Diamonds Bracket (1:30pm PT)

Bertrand Grospellier v. Justin Young
Joe Hachem v. Phil Galfond
Vanessa Selbst v. Eli Elezra
Peter Eastgate v. Chris Ferguson
Huck Seed v. Jen Harman
Erik Seidel v. Allen Cunningham
Mike Matusow v. Greg Raymer ***FEATURE TABLE***
Tom Marchese v. Phil Gordon

Clubs Bracket (4:00pm PT)

Dwyte Pilgrim v. Olivier Busquet
Liv Boeree v. Jason Alexander ***FEATURE TABLE***
Jason Mercier v. Ted Forrest
Andy Bloch v. John Juanda
Barry Greenstein v. Scotty Nguyen
Annette Obrestad v. Ayaz Mahmood
Jonathan Duhamel v. Melvin Whitmire
Nicolas Chouity v. Antonoi Esfandiari

Hearts Bracket (7:00pm PT)

Kara Scott v. David Peat
David Williams v. Emmitt Smith
Gavin Smith v. Gus Hansen
James Bord v. Frank Kassela
Phil Laak v. Daniel Negreanu ***FEATURE TABLE***
Michael Mizrachi v. Vanessa Rousso
Don Cheadle v. Tom Dwan
Phil Hellmuth v. David Benyamine

Spades Bracket (9:30pm PT)

Doyle Brunson v. Jen Tilly ***FEATURE TABLE***
Erick Lindgren v. Dennis Phillips
Daniel Cates v. Phil Ivey
John Racener v. Chris Moneymaker
Sam Trickett v. Carlos Mortensen
Eric Baldwin v. David Oppenheim
Patrik Antonius v. Sorel Mizzi
Eugene Katchalov v. Faraz Jaka

Play is scheduled to start at 1:30pm but this is a TV production. Expect things to kick off a little late.

Players are slowly making their way on stage for the first round matches in the Diamonds Bracket. Greg Raymer was chatting with Eli Elezra about a half hour ago. He told Elezra that he knew he would be at the Diamonds Bracket feature table when he learned he drew Mike Matusow as his opening-round opponent. "They'll play it as a rematch from 2004," he said.

In addition to Raymer, four other WSOP Main Event champions landed in the Diamonds Bracket. 2005 champion Joe Hachem will face off against internet wunderkind Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond; Huck Seed has drawn Jen Harman; and in a battle of former champions, Chris Ferguson and Peter Eastgate will square off.

Cards in the air in a few moments. For the Round of 64, players start with 25,000 in chips. Blinds starts at 150-300.

Production just hushed the crowd so Leann Tweeden could begin introducing today's event. After some quick interviews, the audience gave a cheer (as instructed) and cards are in the air.

We here at PokerNews miss the days when our former colleague, Change100, provided her assessment of players' sartorial selections. While we don't have nearly her fashion sense, we still have eyes. Around the room we go!

* Eli Elezra and Vanessa Selbst may have compared notes last night. They're each wearing gray.

* Phil Gordon is in a jacket and tie. Tom Marchese, as befitting the internet generation, is in a hoodie and a ball cap.

* An anonymous media member feels Greg Raymer in a straw hat looks like Wayne Knight in Jurassic Park; Mike Matusow is wearing a white button-down shirt that displays a little too much chest hair.

* At the back feature, it's a clone of the Gordon-Marchese match. Joe Hachem is looking his usual dashing self in a blazer; Phil Galfond is sporting a hoodie.

I gotta wear shades. With all of the talk recently about whether sunglasses should be allowed in high stakes games, we are interested in which players will break out their shades on tv. Of the 16 players in the diamonds bracket, only one person is wearing sunglasses - Jennifer Harman. They might be prescription since she often wears glasses, but they're definitely dark enough to hide her eyes. Interesting, since Harman is a regular in the big game, where sunglasses aren't allowed.

Tags: Jennifer Harman

We're pinned at a media desk but we'll try getting as many snaps as we can.

We've had our first all in of the tournament, and moments later, our first elimination. And it came in one of the toughest matches of the tournament. Erik Seidel, last year's runner up, raised preflop, and Allen Cunningham made the call. The made-for-tv flop fell , and Cunningham check-raised Seidel. After a flurry of raises, all the money was in the middle. It took a minute to count the stacks and determine which player was at risk. Seidel had a slight lead, and once the hands were flipped, it was clear that Cunningham needed to catch to stay alive.

Seidel: for top two pair
Cunningham: for flush and open-ended straight draws

The on the turn was as hard a brick as possible, and the river was just as useless for Cunninghum. He took his leave to a round of applause, and Seidel is the first one to move on to Saturday's round of 32. He will play the winner of the match between Huck Seed and Jennifer Harman. Definitely no soft spots in this bracket.

Tags: Allen CunninghamErik Seidel

Justin Young is one of the qualifiers in this invitational field. He came through as the sole survivor of a $200 satellite tournament held at Caesars Palace a few weeks ago, an accomplishment which earned him an entry into this field.

The bearded Young drew shock-blonde ElkY as his first-round opponent and has already doubled up. ElkY check-raised Young on a board of . Young pushed all in with a made straight, . ElkY had the chip lead and called with , flush and straight draws. All of Young's hard work just to get on stage was at risk, as ElkY had the chip lead. The river stayed clean for Young. He got to stick around a while longer when the came off.

Tags: ElkYJustin Young

It's an apt metaphor for poker in 2011: youth has triumphed over experience in the battle of former Main Event champions. Peter Eastgate opened his button to 900, then called Chris Ferguson's all-in shove of 8,700. Eastgate's led Ferguson's . The board provided Ferguson with no relief, . He is the second person eliminated from the Diamonds Bracket.

After the match ended, Eastgate and Ferguson stood table-side and discussed several hands that preceded Ferguson's elimination. That knowledge isn't much use to Ferguson now. He'll go home and sleep on his pile of Full Tilt millions; Eastgate will move on to the Round of 32.

Tags: Chris FergusonPeter Eastgate