Sunday marks the final day of the 2011 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which is being housed at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Eight players remain including last year’s runner-up, Erik Seidel. The eight-time bracelet winner fell to Annie Duke in the best-of-three finale in 2010 and now has his sights set on revenge.

After getting past Allen Cunningham on Friday, Seidel outlasted Jennifer Harman and Phil Gordon on Saturday to advance to the final eight in the Diamonds bracket. He gingerly noted via Twitter, “Got by @REALjenharman. Now I play @PhilNoLimits in the 3rd round. That’ll be 3 Full Tilt players in a row.” Seidel then gave his 20,000 Twitter followers the lowdown on today’s match-up: “Long match vs @PhilNoLimits, very happy to get the win. Tmw round of 8 vs @vanessaselbst. Goodnight.”

As Seidel’s Tweet alluded to, PokerStars pro Vanessa Selbst awaits him in the Elite Eight. Selbst went on a tear to close out 2010. She won the Partouche Poker Tour’s Main Event in Cannes for over $1.6 million and then took down the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) High Roller event in London for $227,000.

Selbst also filled her 3,300 followers in on her progress in the made-for-television National Heads-Up Poker Championship, Tweeting, “Won match vs @PhilGalfond. He played very well and I ended up coinflip value betting the river, if that makes sense. Erik Seidel in Elite 8 tomo.” You can also catch Selbst on the seventh season of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker.”

In the Hearts bracket, Andrew “good2cu” Robl outlasted NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith and 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champ James Bord to punch his ticket to the Elite Eight. Robl Tweeted, “Won 3rd round match. Next vs Benyamine.”

Robl’s match against high-stakes cash game pro David Benyamine will determine the representative from the Hearts bracket in the Final Four. Benyamine is coming off wins on Saturday against Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Michael Mizrachi. He last made the Elite Eight in 2008.

On the other side of the bracket, Olivier Busquet will battle Jonathan Duhamel with a trip to the Final Four on the line. Both players are making their National Heads-Up Poker Championship debuts this year. Busquet, a last-minute replacement in the 2011 field, edged out Jason Mercier and Liv Boeree yesterday, while Duhamel outlasted WSOP Heads-Up champion Ayaz Mahmood and Victory Poker front man Antonio Esfandiari.

Busquet was down 4:1 in chips against Mercier before mounting the comeback of a lifetime to oust the WSOP bracelet winner from the field. He Tweeted, “Won my round of 16 match at the NBC Heads-Up. Elite 8 tomorrow against WSOP Main Event champ.”

The Spades bracket also has a Main Event winner in the hunt for the $750,000 top prize, as Chris Moneymaker survived after defeating Dan “jungleman12” Cates and Doyle Brunson on Saturday. Interestingly, Cates and Brunson were the youngest and oldest players in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship field, respectively.

Moneymaker’s opponent will be cash game guru David Oppenheim, who defeated Carlos Mortensen and Eugene Katchalov yesterday to advance. Oppenheim last made the Elite Eight in 2009, when he lost to eventual winner Huck Seed.

Here are the matches in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will play down to a winner today:

Clubs Bracket:
Olivier Busquet vs Jonathan Duhamel

Spades Bracket:
Chris Moneymaker vs David Oppenheim

Hearts Bracket:
Andrew “good2cu” Robl vs David Benyamine

Diamonds Bracket:
Vanessa Selbst vs Erik Seidel

The winners of the Clubs and Spades brackets will battle in the Final Four. Then, the winner of that match will face the champion of the Hearts and Diamonds brackets. The final is played in a best-of-three format and the tournament will air on NBC beginning on Sunday, April 17th at Noon ET.

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