The field of 64 players is set in the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which begins today from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The online poker community is well represented, with players like Jason treysfull21 Mercier and Eric basebaldy Baldwin taking to the invite-only tournament. Both were automatic qualifiers for the event, with Baldwin capturing CardPlayer Player of the Year honors and Mercier winning Bluff Player of the Year. Let’s check out the first round match-ups in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Mercier (pictured at left) will square off against Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu in the first round. Negreanu made the final table of February’s PartyPoker Premier League at the M Casino in Las Vegas and took second in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event last September. Negreanu finished in the money in six WSOP tournaments in Las Vegas last year, two of which were for final tables. He is the proud owner of four WSOP bracelets, the most recent of which came in 2008 in a $2,000 Limit Hold’em event.
Mercier is no slouch, either. He’s fresh off a final table appearance in the L.A. Poker Classic’s High-Roller tournament and won a $1,000 event during the Southern Poker Championship in Biloxi. In December, the buzz around the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic was over Mercier’s $5,000 HORSE event win. The Florida native captured his first bracelet during the 2009 WSOP in a $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha contest and won a Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) $100 Pot Limit Omaha Rebuy for $86,000.

Baldwin (pictured at right) will dance with Leo Wolpert in first round action. A few months removed from his CardPlayer honors, Baldwin, a UB.com pro, will make his National Heads-Up Poker Championship debut. Like Mercier, Baldwin captured his first bracelet during the 2009 WSOP. For the Wisconsin native, the victory came in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. He narrowly missed out on a second bracelet after turning in a third place showing in the World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em. The two cashes were worth nearly $800,000 combined and Baldwin promptly donated $200,000 to his alma mater’s baseball program.

Other members of the online poker community who learned their fate last night at a draw party at the PURE Nightclub included Bertrand ElkY Grospellier, who will match up with 2008 WSOP Main Event champ Peter Eastgate in the first round. Meanwhile, Betfair pro Annette Annette_15 Obrestad (pictured at left), the inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event champion, will meet former baseball great and current ESPN analyst Orel Hershiser in the round of 64. Obrestad is the youngest player in the field at age 21 and one of just seven female entrants.

Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Brock t soprano Parker (pictured at right) will have his work cut out for him in the first round, as he’ll face Doyle Brunson. The DoylesRoom namesake is coming off major dental surgery and originally hinted that he may not appear. Meanwhile, longtime PocketFives.com member Shawn westtexasman Rice, who qualified for the National Heads-Up Poker Championship through Caesars Palace, will tango with 2005 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Hachem in the first round. You can check out Rice's thoughts on his draw by visiting Poker Discussion.

Other members of the community who will play include Barry barryg1 Greenstein, Annie Duke, and reigning Main Event winner Joe jcada99 Cada. Greenstein will face 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship runner-up Vanessa Rousso, Duke will take on Andy Bloch, and Cada will match up with Bodog pro David Williams. Here are the first round pairings:

Clubs Bracket
Patrik Antonius vs Chris Moneymaker
Leo Wolpert vs Eric basebaldy Baldwin
David Williams vs Joe jcada99 Cada
Erik Seidel vs Huck Seed
Dan Ramirez vs Erick Lindgren
Peter Eastgate vs Bertrand ElkY Grospellier
Stephen Quinn vs Ted Forrest
Dario Minieri vs Jamie Gold

Spades Bracket
Gavin Smith vs Phil Ivey
Richard Edwards vs Scotty Nguyen
Shawn westtexasman Rice vs Joe Hachem
Gabe Kaplan vs Johnny Chan
Daniel Negreanu vs Jason treysfull21 Mercier
Pieter de Korver vs Mike Sexton
Phil Gordon vs Tom durrrr Dwan
Phil Laak vs John Juanda

Hearts Bracket
Jesper Hougaard vs Allen Cunningham
Eli Elezra vs Greg “FBT” Mueller
Annette Dworski vs Chris Ferguson
Kara Scott vs Dennis Phillips
Brock t soprano Parker vs Doyle Brunson
J.P. Kelly vs Don Cheadle
Howard Lederer vs Phil Hellmuth
Annette Annette_15 Obrestad vs Orel Hershiser

Diamonds Bracket
Barry barryg1 Greenstein vs Vanessa Rousso
Sammy Farha vs Antonio Esfandiari
Jennifer Harman vs Jennifer Tilly
Jerry Yang vs Mike Matusow
Darvin Moon vs Bill Huntress
Andy Bloch vs Annie Duke
Andrew Wilson vs Paul Wasicka
Gus Hansen vs Greg Raymer

The festivities will hit television airwaves on NBC beginning on April 18th. Stay tuned to PocketFives.com for the latest National Heads-Up Poker Championship results.