NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship Starts Today

Annette Obrestad will play her first NBC NHUPC match today.

The draw party for the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship was held last night at Caesars Palace’s PURE Nightclub in Las Vegas, and there will be plenty of interesting pairings when the first round begins later today.

Several of the first-round matchups will be skill showcases, at least until the blinds get too high and they players have to shove or fold. Two pairings in particular - Daniel Negreanu versus Jason Mercier and Gavin Smith versus Phil Ivey - feature a top Canadian player facing off against a top American players. Two of the most successful European players of the last few years, Peter Eastgate and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, will also face off in the first round. 

Then there are the matches that fit into the “great for TV” category. Tom “durrrr” Dwan played nitbuster in the first round against Phil Hellmuth last year, creating a memorable Poker Brat meltdown, and he’ll have a similar opportunity this time around when he takes on Phil Gordon. Two old-schoolers from the WSOP will meet when Gabe Kaplan and two-time WSOP Main Event winner Johnny Chan face off – and in all honesty, Hellmuth and Howard Lederer are nearly old enough to fall into that category themselves. And the pairing of two loose-aggressive favorites, Antonio Esfandiari and Sammy Farha, should make for plenty of fireworks in their first round match.

And of course, a tournament like this wouldn’t be complete without a few “lamb to the slaughter” pairings. Annette Obrestad will take on Orel Hershiser, Mike Matusow will face down Jerry Yang, and Dario Minieri will take on Jamie Gold.

If we had to pick our dream Final Four from the available brackets, it would probably be Patrik Antonius from the Clubs Bracket, Phil Ivey from the Spades Bracket, Annette Obrestad from the Hearts Bracket and Jennifer Harman from the Diamonds Bracket. Two men and two women, all highly skilled and all deserving of holding the title of National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner for the next year. Check out the full brackets here and tell us what your dream Final Four matchups would be.