The bracket is set in the 2011 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, whose pairings were determined last night at a drawing at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Recent World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic final tablist Carlos Mortensen was a late addition to the field and will face off against heralded young gun Sam Trickett in the first round.
Mortensen took third in the L.A. Poker Classic yesterday and is the WPT’s all-time money leader at $6.4 million, almost a million dollars more than Daniel Negreanu’s second place total of $5.5 million.
Trickett is no slouch, either. He went on a tear at the recent Aussie Millions, finishing second in the AUD $250,000 Super High Roller Event for USD $1.4 million and winning the AUD $100,000 High Roller Event for USD $1.5 million. You can bust out your abacus to see that his run marked nearly $3 million in earnings for the youngster in the span of a week. According to the Hendon Mob, Trickett has $4 million in earnings in 2010 and 2011 combined.
One of our favorite National Heads-Up Poker Championship match-ups pits two of the game’s top cash game pros, Phil Ivey and Dan “jungleman12” Cates, against each other in the Spades bracket. Also in the bracket is a gauntlet of talent including Doyle Brunson, Chris Moneymaker, Patrik Antonius, and Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka.
John Racener and Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, who were involved in a recent altercation involving Chinese Poker, could meet in the Elite Eight should they both win out. Here are the first round match-ups in the Spades bracket:
Doyle Brunson vs Jennifer Tilly
Erick Lindgren vs Dennis Phillips
Dan Cates vs Phil Ivey
John Racener vs Chris Moneymaker
Carlos Mortensen vs Sam Trickett
Eric Baldwin vs David Oppenheim
Patrik Antonius vs Sorel Mizzi
Eugene Katchalov vs Faraz Jaka
The Clubs bracket, which is paired with the Spades bracket, features two veterans of the game squaring off against each other in Round 1, Barry Greenstein and Scotty Nguyen. Also in the bracket is Jonathan Duhamel, who gets the honor of facing off against an online qualifier, Melburn Whitmire, to start the tournament. Duhamel became the first Canadian World Series of Poker Main Event champion winner ever last year and banked nearly $9 million. Here are the first round match-ups in the Clubs bracket:
Dwyte Pilgrim vs Olivier Busquet
Liv Boeree vs Jason Alexander
Jason Mercier vs Ted Forrest
Andy Bloch vs John Juanda
Barry Greenstein vs Scotty Nguyen
Annette Obrestad vs Ayaz Mahmood
Jonathan Duhamel vs Melburn Whitmire
Nicolas Chouity vs Antonio Esfandiari
The Hearts bracket could feature a second round battle between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Phil Hellmuth. Dwan defeated Hellmuth in 2008 after “The Poker Brat” won the event in its inaugural 2005 running. In 2009, Hellmuth exacted revenge by besting Dwan in the third round. Now, the poker world could see the bubble match. Here are the opening round Hearts matches:
Kara Scott vs David “Viffer” Peat
David Williams vs Emmitt Smith
Gavin Smith vs Gus Hansen
James Bord vs Frank Kassela
Phil Laak vs Daniel Negreanu
Michael Mizrachi vs Vanessa Rousso
Don Cheadle vs Tom Dwan
Phil Hellmuth vs David Benyamine
Finally, the Diamonds bracket, which is paired with the Hearts bracket, features a wealth of former Main Event champions: Joe Hachem, the briefly un-retired Peter Eastgate, Chris Ferguson, Huck Seed, and Greg Raymer, who showed up to the event in a Full Tilt Poker patch in what is believed to be a one-off deal. Here are the first round match-ups in the Diamonds bracket:
Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier vs Justin Young
Joe Hachem vs Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond
Vanessa Selbst vs Eli Elezra
Peter Eastgate vs Chris Ferguson
Huck Seed vs Jennifer Harman
Erik Seidel vs Allen Cunningham
Mike Matusow vs Greg Raymer
Tom “Kingsofcards” Marchese vs Phil Gordon
Absent from the field was 2010 winner Annie Duke, who was announced as being in the original field, but was replaced by Olivier Busquet. Also out at the last minute was Gabe Kaplan, whom Mortensen replaced. According to Mike Matusow’s Twitter account, a family emergency is to blame for Duke’s departure. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest.
