Round 1 of NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship complete

The entire field of 64 was in action on Friday, all eyeing the $750k prize that will be awarded to the winner, as the 2011 GoDaddy.com NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship got underway. Here is a look at the 32 matches that took place on Friday at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Diamonds

• Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier defeated Justin Young
• Phil Galfond defeated Joe Hachem
• Vanessa Selbst defeated Eli Elezra
• Peter Eastgate defeated Chris Ferguson
• Jennifer Harman defeated Huck Seed
• Erik Seidel defeated Allen Cunningham
• Greg Raymer defeated Mike Matusow
• Phil Gordon defeated Thomas Marchese

Clubs

• Olivier Busquet defeated Dwyte Pilgrim
• Liv Boeree defeated Jason Alexander
• Jason Mercier defeated Ted Forrest
• Andy Bloch defeated John Juanda
• Barry Greenstein defeated Scotty Nguyen
• Ayaz Mahmood defeated Annette Obrestad
• Jonathan Duhamel defeated Melburn Whitmire
• Antonio Esfandiari defeated Nicolas Chouity

Hearts

• Andrew Robl defeated Kara Scott
• Emmitt Smith defeated David Williams
• Gavin Smith defeated Gus Hansen
• James Bord defeated Frank Kassela
• Phil Laak defeated Daniel Negreanu
• Michael Mizrachi defeated Vanessa Rousso
• Tom Dwan defeated Don Cheadle
• David Benyamine defeated Phil Hellmuth

Spades

• Doyle Brunson defeated Jennifer Tilly
• Dennis Phillips defeated Erick Lindgren
• Daniel Cates defeated Phil Ivey
• Chris Moneymaker defeated John Racener
• Carlos Mortensen defeated Sam Trickett
• David Oppenheim defeated Eric Baldwin
• Patrik Antonius defeated Sorel Mizzi
• Eugene Katchalov defeated Faraz Jaka

One of the most anticipated matches yesterday ended up finishing before the seats were even warm, as Daniel Cates’ Full House coolered Phil Ivey’s trips, sending Ivey to the rail just minutes into the match.

Another storyline that was dashed was the possible quarterfinal matchup pitting John Racener and Sorel Mizzi against each other, but both players lost their first round matches.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was NFL legend Emmitt Smith -sporting his new Full Tilt Poker badge-beat David Williams and will advance to take on Andrew Robl.

Odds & Ends:

• Three of the field’s seven women -the eighth woman, Annie Duke was a late scratch from the tournament– made it through to Round 2 -Vanessa Selbst, Liv Boeree, and Jennifer Harman
• Emmitt Smith was the only celebrity to advance to Round 2
• Former WSOP Main Event winners went 6-5 in their Round 1 matches
• Both reigning Player of the Year winners were eliminated in Round 1 -Sorel Mizzi and Tom Marchese. As was 2009 POY Eric Baldwin, 2010 WSOP POY Frank Kasella, and 2010 POY runner-up Dwyte Pilgrim