2011 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship

NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Day: 1
Event Info

2011 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
54
Prize
$750,000
Event Info
Entries
64

Clubs Concluded for the Day

The clubs bracket jumped out of the gate once Scotty Nguyen finally arrived. He was back out the door a few minutes later, falling prey to Barry Greenstein's flopped two pair and turned boat. Annette Obrestad was the next quick casualty when her flush draw missed against 2010 WSOP Heads-Up Champion Ayaz Mahmood.

After some friendly banter for the cameras, Liv Boeree defeated Jason Alexander on the feature table. Not long after, Olivier "LivB" Busquet skewered Dwyte Pilgrim, making the dream Liv B v. Liv B. match a reality. Jason Mercier busted Ted Forrest, and Antonio Esfandiari went runner-runner on Nicolas Chouity to flatten his jacks with a wheel.

Esfandiari hugged the dealer and left, taking all of the momentum with him out of the room. Andy Bloch and John Juanda traded chips back and forth in what felt like a dozen all ins, while Jonathan Duhamel and Melburn Whitmire had us wondering if someone should check for a pulse. But eventually Bloch put together two all-in wins in a row to oust Juanda, and Duhamel found the sweet spot in the deck available only to former Main Event winners. With quads, a flopped flush, and a flopped set, he finally busted the second of two qualifiers to hit the rail.

Here are the club bracket match-ups for Saturday's round of 32:

Olivier Busquet v. Liv Boeree
Jason Mercier v. Andy Bloch
Barry Greenstein v. Ayaz Mahmood
Jonathan Duhamel v. Antonio Esfandiari

Action will resume with the hearts bracket at 6:45 pst.