On Saturday, the quarterfinals and semifinals of the National Heads-Up Poker Championshipaired on NBC. The action started in the round of eight, with Dan Cates facing off against Scott Seiver and Mike Matusow (pictured), who reached his first career quarterfinal match, battling John Hennigan.

On a board of 10-5-4-K, Seiver, holding K-5 for kings-up, check-called a bet from Cates, who held jacks. The river was another K, giving Seiver a full house, and he check-raised to 100,000. Cates got out of the way and verbal sparring ensued. Seiver said in part, “You need to come out of [your shell]. It’s television – the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Live a little. Have fun. Enjoy yourself.”

Then, on a board of 2-3-A-J-8, Seiver, armed with A-7, checked and Cates, holding A-J for two pair, bet 48,000. Seiver called the bet, which amounted to two-thirds of the pot, shipping the chips to Cates. Seiver told Cates he had A-2, which Cates said wasn’t true.

In the defining hand of the Cates/Seiver match, Seiver bet all-in with K-6 of spades on a flop of 6-10-4 with two spades for a pair and a flush draw. Cates (pictured) called with 6-4 for two pair and 99% of the chips in play were up for grabs in a coin flip. A spade on the river gave the mammoth pot to Seiver and Cates was eliminated on the next hand.

At the featured table, Matusow called all-in pre-flop with K-J and survived against Hennigan’s Q-J of diamonds. Then, Hennigan moved all-in over the top of a raise from Matusow on a flop of 5-4-7 with two spades. Matusow called and showed A-6 of spades for flush and straight draws and was statistically ahead of Hennigan’s top pair. Matusow spiked a straight on the river to win and screamed, “It’s my time! I told you it was my time!”

The next set of quarterfinal matches featured reigning WSOP Heads-Up champ Brian Stinger885Hastings against Season X WPT Player of the Year Joe leemurSerock and Eugene Katchalov against 13-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.

On a flop of 4-9-K, Serock, holding K-K, bet 23,000 and Hastings called with 9-8 of clubs. The turn was the 5c, putting two of the suit on board, and the action went check-check. The river was a red 4 and Hastings folded after Serock put him all-in to drop a pot of 138,000. Hastings was then bounced after his 8-8 could not outlast 5-5 after all of the money went in pre-flop.

At the featured table, Katchalov limped with A-10 of clubs and Hellmuth raised to 20,000 with jacks. Katchalov shoved all-in and Hellmuth snap-called. The board ran out 10-6-9-Q-3 and Hellmuth advanced to the semifinals to face Serock. “The Poker Brat” improved to 14-5 in National Heads-Up Poker Championship play.

The second hour of coverage on NBC featured the two semifinal matches pitting Matusow against Seiverand Hellmuth(pictured) against Serock. At one point, there were all-ins at both tables simultaneously. Seiver 4bet all-in before the flop with pocket sevens and won a race against Matusow’s A-K to take the lead. Then, Hellmuth eliminated Serock with A-J of clubs against Q-J of hearts to move on to the finals.

A fairly boisterous Matusow then raised all-in pre-flop with A-J and was up against 9-9. The board came A-10-K-Q-2, giving Matusow a double up with Broadway. Matusow remarked, “A couple more of those and we’ll be sending you home, young sir.” Seiver then dropped a pot worth 380,000 in chips, resulting in a Matusow taunt of “Punish time! Punishment time!”

In the final hand of the match, Seiver was all-in before the flop with J-10 against Matusow’s A-10 of hearts. Seiver moved out in front early by hitting a J on the flop, but Matusow found an A on the river to send Seiver to the rails. “The Mouth” yelled, “It’s my time, baby! Bring on Phil Hellmuth!”

You can catch the finals between Hellmuth and Matusow next Saturday at 2:00pm Eastern Time on NBC. Coverage is scheduled for two hours.

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