NBC Heads-Up Championship First-Round Matchups Set

The 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship kicked off festivities at PURE Nightclub inside Caesars Palace to announce the first-round matches. Nearly all of the 64 contestants walked the red carpet on the way into the pairing party, anxious to find out who would be their first opponent.

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Here are the official first-round matchups:

Clubs

Jonathan Little vs. Erik Seidel

Patrik Antonius vs. Gabe Kaplan

Greg Raymer vs. Hooman Nikzad

Kenny Tran vs. Scott Clements

Mike Matusow vs. Joseph Hachem

Tom Dwan vs. Phil Hellmuth

Tom Schneider vs. Gavin Smith

Chris Ferguson vs. John Juanda

Hearts

Vanessa Rousso vs. Antonio Esfandiari

Shannon Elizabeth vs. Andy Bloch

Todd Brunson vs. Scott Fischman

Jamie Gold vs. Tom Kelly

Ted Forrest vs. Orel Hershiser

Allen Cunningham vs. Chad Brown

Jean-Robert Bellande vs. Sam Grizzle

Freddy Deeb vs. Paul Wasicka

Spades

Don Cheadle vs. Gus Hansen

Scotty Nguyen vs. Bill Edler

Jerry Yang vs. Chris Moneymaker

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

Diamonds

Jason Alexander vs. Huck Seed

David Pham vs. Brian Townsend

Clonie Gowen vs. Jennifer Tilly

Daniel Negreanu vs. Michael Mizrachi

Barry Greenstein vs. Howard Lederer

David Benyamine vs. Jennifer Harman

Sam Farha vs. Doyle Brunson

Erick Lindgren vs. Eli Elezra

The start times for each bracket are as follows: Hearts 10:15 a.m., Diamonds 1:15 p.m., Clubs 4:15 p.m., and Spades 6:45 p.m.

The Card Player tournament reporting team will follow all of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship action, so be sure to check back on CardPlayer.com for instantly updated brackets and photos.