February 2008 Archives
Johnny Chan, J.C. Tran, Phil Laak and Gus Hansen all made it out of the first round of the Spades bracket. Chan defeated David Williams, Tran took out Annie Duke, Laak handled David Singer and Hansen outlasted actor Don Cheadle.
Scotty Nguyen advance advanced to the Round of 32 as he handled Bill Edler in the first round.
Nguyen will face the winner of Gus Hansen and Don Cheadle.
In a matchup of World Series of Poker Main Event champions, Jerry Yang defeated Chris Moneymaker by pulling a four on the river.
Yang will now face the winner of Phil Laak and David Singer.
Gus Hansen and Don Cheadle headline the final bracket of the first round. Check out the rest of the Spades bracket matchups.
Chris Moneymaker vs. Jerry Yang
Scotty Nguyen vs. Bill Edler
David Singer vs. Phil Laak
Phil Ivey vs. Alisha Kunze
David Williams vs. Johnny Chan
Daniel Schreiber vs. T.J. Cloutier
Annie Duke vs. J.C. Tran
Chris Ferguson put an end to the first round of the Clubs bracket by defeating John Juanda.
Ferguson will now face Gavin Smith in the Round of 32.
Clubs bracket Round of 32 matchups:
Jonathan Little vs. Gabe Kaplan
Greg Raymer vs. Scott Clements
Mike Matusow vs. Tom Dwan
Gavin Smith vs. Chris Ferguson
Mike Matusow outlasted Joe Hachem in the first round between two of poker's most popular players.
Matusow will now take on Tom Dwan in the Round of 32.
In the Clubs bracket, Gabe Kaplan defeated Patrik Antonius, Scott Clements downed Kenny Tran and Jonathan Little took out Erik Seidel.
Kaplan and Little will face each other in the Round of 32, while Clements will take on Greg Raymer.
Going all-in with Aces on the third hand of the match, Phil Hellmuth lost to online star Tom Dwan as the player known as "Durrrr" picked up a third 10 on the turn.
Dwan will now play the winner of the Joe Hachem - Mike Matusow match.
We're midway through the jfirst round as the Hearts and Diamonds brackets have ended. Updated bracket
Next up... the Clubs bracket. Here are the matchups:
Jonathan Little vs. Erik Seidel
Patrik Antonius vs. Gabe Kaplan
Greg Raymer vs. Hooman Nikzad
Kenny Tran vs. Scott Clements
Mike Matusow vs. Joe Hachem
Tom Dwan vs. Phil Hellmuth
Tom Schneider vs. Gavin Smith
Chris Ferguson vs. John Juanda
Erick Lindgren finished off the first round of the Diamond bracket with a win over Eli Elezra. Other late winners in the bracket were Clonie Gowen over Jennifer Tilly, Barry Greenstein over Howard Lederer, David Benyamine over Jennifer Harman and Brian Townsend over David Pham.
Diamond bracket Round of 32 matches:
Seed vs. Townsend
Gowen vs. Mizrachi
Greenstein vs. Benyamine
D. Brunson vs. Lindgren
Huck Seed defeated actor Jason Alexander in the first round of the Diomands bracket.
Alexander, known for his role as "George Costanza" on Seinfeld, lasted 47 minutes.
Seed will now face the winner of Brian Townsend vs. David Pham.
Michael Mizrachi advanced to the second round by defeating Daniel Negreanu.
Up next for Mizrachi is the winner of the Jennifer Tilly - Clonie Gowen match
Doyle Brunson won the first match of the Diamonds bracket, beating Sam Farha.
Brunson's King, Queen was dominated by Farha's Ace, but the Texas Dolly got a King on the turn to close out the match.
Brunson will face the winner of Erick Lindgren and Eli Elezra.
With the Hearts bracket's first round over, the Diamonds bracket is about to get underway. Check out the matchups:
David Pham vs. Brian Townsend
Erick Lindgren vs. Eli Elezra
Jennifer Tilly vs. Clonie Gowen
Jason Alexander vs. Huck Seed
Sam Farha vs. Doyle Brunson
David Benyamine vs. Jennifer Harman
Barry Greenstein vs. Howard Lederer
Daniel Negreanu vs. Michael Mizrachi
Shannon Elizabeth fell to Andy Bloch in the first round. Elizabeth made the semifinals in last year's event.
In other action, Sam Grizzle defeated Jean-Robert Bellande and Vanessa Rousso took down Antonio Esfandiari.
Hearts bracket second round matchups
Rousso vs. Bloch
Fischman vs. Gold
Hershiser vs. Cunningham
Grizzle vs. Deeb
Former baseball star pitcher Orel Hershiser surprised 2006 Heads-Up Champ, Ted Forrest to advance to the Round of 32.
Also in the first round, Scott Fischman defeated Todd Brunson.
It took Hershiser 61 minutes to advance, winning with trip sixes and he'll face Allen Cunningham in the second round.
Fischman will face Jamie Gold in the Round of 32.
2006 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Jamie Gold advanced to the second round, defeating Tom Kelly.
The match lasted 49 minutes with Gold winning with an Ace high.
Gold will face the winner of Todd Brunson and Scott Fischman in the Round of 32.
Two matches in the books and last year's two finalists are already out. After Chad Brown was knocked out by Allen Cunningham in 14 minutes, defending champ Paul Wasicka was ousted by Freddy Deeb only seven minutes later.
Deeb will face the winner of Jean-Robert Bellande vs. Sam Grizzle in the Round of 32 and Cunningham will play the winner of Ted Forrest and Orel Hershiser.
The Hearts bracket matches started at 11:44 a.m. PT and the featured match of Shannon Elizabeth and Andy Bloch began at 11:48.
Allen Cunningham almost dismissed Chad Brown before the feature table started as he beat Brown in 14 minutes.
Brown was runner-up to Paul Wasicka in last year's championship.
Play has begun... Hearts bracket matchups are:
Allen Cunningham vs. Chad Brown
Vanessa Rousso vs. Antonio Esfandiari
Paul Wasicka vs. Freddy Deeb
Jean-Robert Bellande vs. Sam Grizzle
Ted Forrest vs. Orel Hershiser
Jamie Gold vs. Tom Kelly
Todd Brunson vs. Scott Fischman
Shannon Elizabeth vs. Andy Bloch
Shannon Elizabeth, known for her role in American Pie and appearing on Dancing with the Stars on March 19, will play poker pro Andy Bloch in the first round of the Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Elizabeth and Bloch headline the Hearts bracket which will begin at 11:30 a.m. PT.
Thursday night's Heads-Up Championship Draw party at PURE nightclub in Caesars Palace brought out the biggest stars in poker as well as other celebrities.
On the poker side, Daniel Negreanu, Jamie Gold, Joe Hachem, Mike Matusow, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen and many others attended as brackets and first round matchups were drawn.
For the celebrities, Jason Alexander, Shannon Elizabeth, Don Cheadle and baseball star Orel Hershiser are participating and attended the event. Elizabeth made the semifinals last year and Cheadle defeated poker great Phil Ivey in the first round. Alexander and Hershiser are making their first appearances.
The Bus, Jerome Bettis, also stopped by the party as well as his former Pittsburgh Steelers teammate Hines Ward and some other Steelers players.
NBC's National Heads-Up Poker Championship will begin with a drawing party at the Pure Nightclub inside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on February 28, 2008, with the tournament taking place the following three days until the champion is crowned.
The time for the drawing party has been changed to begin at 9:00 p.m. instead of at 6:00 p.m. as was previously reported. Each player will put up $20,000 in an attempt to win the $500,000 first place prize.
By Dennis Oehring
As promised, here is the first of four brief profiles on each of the dealers appearing on Poker After Dark. The introductory article on all of them can be found by clicking here. Let's begin with Danette.
Danette Denise Morway (shown here with Freddy Deeb) began dealing poker at the Mirage in 1995, where she remained until February 2006. She then transferred to Treasure Island and helped open TI's new poker room, and is currently employed there as a shift manager. In addition to the shows mentioned in Part 1, she also dealt the final table for the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown in 2005.
Danette is originally from Kailua, Hawaii, and moved to Las Vegas fourteen years ago. She came to Las Vegas on a recommendation from her cousin, Angie Border, who is another of the dealers you will meet soon. Danette met her current husband seven years ago in the Mirage poker room, where he was playing side action games while a Harrah's tournament was going on.
Danette has a 14-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, and a 2-year-old son with her current husband. She states that Dr. Amir Nasseri, who played on the first season of High Stakes Poker, was the doctor who delivered her son. Nasseri drove all the way back to Las Vegas from Los Angeles two days after the death of his father in California to do so, and Danette says that Nasseri is probably the player she loves the most for that reason, aside from her husband.
The producers of NBC's Poker After Dark take pride in introducing players to the show that previously have not been seen or that fans may not be as familiar with as other top name pros.
Two newcomers in Paul Wasicka and long-time Las Vegas poker player and gambler Alan "Boston" Dvorkis take center stage this week on PAD to illustrate just these points. Joining them and competing for the $120,000 winner-take-all prize are Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, 2006 World Champion Jamie Gold, Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari, and veteran poker player and commentator Mike Sexton in a match that promises to be anything but quiet.
About this blog
NBC Sports breaks down the biggest news, bluffs, table talk and more during Poker After Dark and the Heads-Up Championship.