The ever-animated Greg "FBT" Mueller

When players in the NBC Heads-Up event are all-in, they have to keep their cards face down until the camera crew is set up to film all the action. At one point during the Hearts bracket matches, there were so many all-ins that Orel Hershiser joked that it was like one of those dry cleaning places where you have to take a ticket and then wait to be served.

In other words, players in this last set of matches seemed intent on finishing with time to make a late dinner or a midnight movie. Once again, the feature table was the first to call it a day when Phil Hellmuth defeated Howard Lederer. Hershiser and Obrestad, who were far away the most talkative and lively match we’ve seen today, were moved to the feature table in their stead. That wrapped up with an Obrestad victory, leaving Don Cheadle and JP Kelly as the last match of the night. Once Cheadle dispatched with the two-time WSOP bracelet winner the night drew to a close.

Action resumes at 1PM tomorrow, when we will have more live Tweeting and round by round breakdowns for you. Until then, check out the breakdown of the Hearts bracket matches from the end of the night:

Allen Cunningham def. Jesper Hougaard
Hougaard earned his invite to this event thanks to his dual WSOP and WSOPE bracelet wins in 2009. Allen Cunningham has a pretty impressive WSOP resume in his own right and their match was a back and forth affair where Hougaard pulled to the early lead, Cunningham doubled up to take the lead back from Hougaard and put the final nail in Hougaard’s coffin when he called Hougaard’s all-in holding A2 to Hougaard’s KQ. The 964T9 board favored Cunningmham and he advanced to face Eli Elezra in tomorrow’s opening round.

Eli Elezra vs. Greg Mueller
These two Red Pros kept the pots small during the early goings of their match, but once the blinds got bigger, the duo was content to get it all-in on a T97Q board with Elezra showing TT for top set and Mueller showing K7 for a pair with a flush and straight draw combo. The river was a blank and sent the Canadian known as FBT to the rail.

Annette Dworski vs. Chris Ferguson
This match saw more all-ins than just about anyone else all day. First, Ferguson doubled through Dworski to leave her on the ropes. Then Dworski doubled up to stay alive, but the third time was not the charm for the online qualifier. She got it in holding J9 to Ferguson’s Q3 and queen high was good enough to bust Dworski as the board ran out AK6T2.

Kara Scott vs. Dennis Phillips
Kara Scott’s debut as a player in this event didn’t exactly go as she hoped. She and Phillips seemed to be keeping the action small, but they couldn’t help but get their chips all-in when Scott picked up KQ to Phillips’ 88. The coin flip favored Phillips as the board ran out T9336 and Scott made an early exit.

Brock Parker vs. Doyle Brunson
Doyle Brunson surprised poker fans by even taking part in this event after he suggested in his blog that his health might prevent him from participating. Texas Dolly seemed to be feeling just fine today though, as he defeated two-time 2009 WSOP bracelet winner Brock Parker when his AQ prevailed over Parker’s 88 on a Q969T board.

Don Cheadle def. JP Kelly
The last match of the day saw Cheadle and Kelly fight tooth and nail for the final spot in the second round. In a remarkably similar race to Brunson’s and Parker’s Cheadle’s AQ defeated Kelly’s 88 to nab the last spot and bring Day 1 to its conclusion.

Phil Hellmuth def. Howard Lederer
Even though these poker big timers were at the feature table, both seemed rather nonchalant about the match and even took a break during play to shake hands with some of the people in the audience. While many in the forums suggested this would be a lengthy match, it was actually over in a jiffy. Hellmuth’s AK got the best Lederer’s TT on a K529K board and the match was in the books not too long after bracket play began.

Annette Obrestad def. Orel Hershiser
This would not be the match you would expect to be the liveliest and chattiest in the room, but it certainly was from our perspective. Whether it be Hershiser trying to negotiate a swap with the Norweigan wunderkind or both players chatting it up with their family and friends on the rail, these two were having a great time. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and this one did when Obrestad’s KQ held up against Hershiser’s 9T on an A645Q board.

Round Two Pairings:
Allen Cunningham vs. Eli Elezra
Chris Ferguson vs. Dennis Phillips
Doyle Brunson vs. Don Cheadle
Phil Hellmuth vs. Annette Obrestad

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