With the flop reading 
, Huck Seed check-called a 600 bet from Olivier Busquet. Seed again check-called a 800 bet from Busquet on the 
turn. The 
fell on the river and a third check from Seed prompted a nearly pot-sized bet of 4600 from Busquet. Seed fell into the tank before eventually folding to Busquet's pressure. Huck stands around 15,000 to Busquet's 35,000.
We caught up on a match between Patrik Antonius and Eric Froehlich on a board of 
for a pot of over 8,000. Antonius checked to Froehlich who also checked the river, but both were reluctant to be the first to turn up their cards. The floor was called and Antonius flipped up 
which was enough to make Froehlich muck his cards and scoop the pot.
In her heads-up match against Chris Moorman, Vanessa Selbst is employing her usual strategy of unrelenting aggression to take control. On a board of 
, Selbst checkraised Moorman and committed her entire stack, forcing Moorman to think deeply before eventually mucking his hand. Selbst grinned wryly while stacking her chips and said "that was an interesting board," prompting a shake of the head by Moorman, who was clearly flummoxed by Selbst's unorthodox style.
Huck Seed and Olivier Busquet are roughly even after the first 10 minutes with no large pots developing. Seed gave his first walk from the small blind, to which Busquet grinned and revealed aces.
The strong field has plenty of interesting matchups throughout the Purple section.:
Daniel Negreanu vs Alex Kostritsyn
Daniel Alaei vs Thomas Marchese
Vanessa Selbst vs Chris Moorman
Galen Hall vs Ashton Griffin
Vivek Rajkumar vs Praz Bansi
Erik Seidel vs Daniel Stern
Isaac Haxton vs Robert Mizrachi
Jason Mercier vs Gus Hansen
We'll probably get tired of hearing "Shuffle up and deal" before this summer is over, but right now it sounds pretty good. The words have come from Jack Effel's booming voice, and this inaugural $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship is a go!
If you're wondering what to expect when you get to the Rio, here is Kristy Arnett, Lynn Gilmartin, and Sarah Grant giving you a tour.
2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela has been given the honors of speaking before this field. We've got 128 players lined up and ready to play, and it's quite a group that's been assembled. Negreanu, Seidel, Greenstein, a Mizrachi or two -- everyone's here.
The button has been hit, and the table draw is set. We'll try to give you some highlights here quickly. The first round of matches will begin at 5:45pm in just about seven minutes!