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Heads-up tournaments take on a different tone from the moment of registration. Players look through the list to see if they have notes on particular players, as it's going to be a one-on-one battle from the start. There are also no late entries allowed in the event, and anyone has the possibility of receiving a bye in the first round if the total number of players is not the right number (32, 64, 128, etc.). Many variables are in play in a heads-up event.

That brought us to Event 7, the no-limit hold'em event scheduled as a heads-up match play tournament. The medium level - this one - required a buy-in of $150 + $12 and offered a $150K guarantee. A quick look through early registrants indicated that there would be some tough matches ahead, but the unknowns or lesser-known players could produce some surprises.

Action began at 11:00 ET, and the numbers were in immediately:

Players: 1,942
Guarantee: $150,000
Actual prize pool: $291,300
Paid players: 256

Round 1 got underway with numerous players receiving byes. Players involved in matches started with 5,000 chips.

There were a number of Team PokerStars players who didn't make it through the first round of action: Team Pros Joep "Pappe_Ruk" Bijgaart, Nuno Coelho, Vicky Coren, Jonathan Duhamel, Pat Pezzin, Martin "AABenjaminAA" Hruby, and Bryan Huang; and Team Online's Anders "Donald" Hoyer Berg, Fredy "sirfreddy83" Torres, Kristian "CharismA3" Martin, and Diego "vgree22" Brunelli.

Round 2 started approximately one hour and 45 minutes into the tournament, and players were off and running, many eliminated in the first few minutes of play.

Team PokerStars Pro Gualter Salles was one who failed to make it to the next round, and others who followed included Gualter Salles, Alexios "J0hnny_Dr@m@" Zervos, Arnaud "frenchkiss" Mattern, Jan Heitmann, and Toni Judet.