$20,000 Heads-up Championship | 2010 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship

03-07-2010 09:12 UTC-12

Chip Updates

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Bearing in mind that we don't have the greatest vantage point (and are forbidden from walking onto the set), it looks like Jerry Yang has a small chip lead against Annie Duke.

On the feature table, Doyle Brunson is down about 2-to-1 to Dennis Phillips, who recently posted to Twitter about how awed he is to be playing heads-up for $50,000 against the legendary Brunson.

03-07-2010 09:07 UTC-12

Lots of Logos

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All of the major online poker sites have to be loving this set of Quarterfinals matches, as each player is sporting a different logo.

At the back table, Annie Duke is repping for UB while Jerry Yang's pure white outfit is broken up by a few black and red Full Tilt Poker patches. At the feature table, Dennis Phillips is rocking his usual Cardinals baseball cap and PokerStars badge while Dolly is sporting his signature Stetson and Doyle's Room patches

03-07-2010 08:53 UTC-12

Sharp Dressed Man

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Every girl is crazy for a sharp-dressed Yang?

While the players in the early matches didn't sport any unusual outfits today, we do have one item from the second matches. Jerry Yang has shown up in what we can only imagine qualifies as his poker Sunday best -- a pure white baseball cap, pure white ribbed sweater, pure white dress pants, fancy white socks and square-toed white leather shoes.

Across the table from him, Annie Duke is dressed all in black, creating a Spy-versus-Spy effect at the back table.

03-07-2010 08:44 UTC-12

Shuffle Up and Deal

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The second round of the Quarterfinals is now underway. Follow along and root for your favorites as Annie Duke battles Jerry Yang and Doyle Brunson takes on Dennis Phillips.

03-07-2010 08:38 UTC-12

Players are Making Their Way to the Set

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Doyle Brunson is the first player of the next flight take his place on stage. He walked into the room to a rousing round of applause from the crowd. His opponent, Dennis Phillips, has also taken his seat at the table.

Annie Duke and Jerry Yang have yet to arrive, but we expect them within a few minutes.

03-07-2010 07:59 UTC-12

Coming Up

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We're resetting the stage for the day's next two matches, which should start within 30 minutes.

Dennis Phillips and Doyle Brunson will occupy the feature table while Annie Duke and Jerry Yang battle it out at the secondary table.

Stick around because the action will resume soon.

03-07-2010 07:58 UTC-12

Jason Mercier Eliminated ($75,000)

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Jason Mercier lived by the river in some of his earlier matches. Today the river finally let him down.

After being forced to fold a few big pots to Scotty Nguyen, Mercier found himself short-stacked. He moved all in with {5-Clubs}

and was called by Nguyen's premium pair, {J-Diamonds}

.

With the crowd on its feet, Mercier flopped a flush draw, {Q-Clubs}

. Given Mercier's performances in such situations to this point, it would not have been surprising to see a club fall on the river. But this time the board blanked, {3-Diamonds}

and

.

Mercier leaves with $75,000 and plenty of time to catch a flight to San Jose for the start of the Shooting Stars tournament tomorrow.

03-07-2010 07:55 UTC-12

Eastgate Eliminated ($75,000)

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When Erik Seidel breaks a streak, he does it right. Coming into this year's NBC National Heads-Up Championship, Seidel had never made it out of the first round. Now, with his elimination of Peter Eastgate in the Elite 8, he moves on to the Semi-Finals.

Eastgate's final hand started after he shoved over Seidel's button raise. Seidel called and showed {k-Diamonds}

, putting him ahead of Eastgate's {q-Clubs}

.

Eastgate promptly sucked out on the flop, which fell {7-Hearts}

, but Seidel re-sucked on the turn, catching the {k-Hearts}

. The

on the river changed nothing and Eastgate leaves the tourney with $75,000.

03-07-2010 07:45 UTC-12

Never Too Early to Hit the Bottle

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Perhaps in an effort to improve the energy in the room, a cocktail waitress just materialized with a tray full of Coors Light. No sooner had she started passing them out then Dan O'Brien, here to sweat Jason Mercier, let loose the first cheer and applause of the day.

Mercier is behind in his match, however. Scotty Nguyen just took down a nice pot, moving all in on a board of {2-?}

. Mercier didn't call, and a good thing for him -- Nguyen flashed {3-?}

.

03-07-2010 07:35 UTC-12

They're Back

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Jason Mercier and Scotty Nguyen have both returned to the set. They didn't disappear long enough for a smoke, so we're not really sure what their departure was all about.