“The National Championship is about the grind,” narrated a video package introducing the World Series of Poker National Championship, which aired on ESPN for two hours on Tuesday night. The special event, which rewarded the top finishers from the WSOP Circuit and the top players in poker, began with 157 runners. ESPN picked up its coverage on Tuesday at 8:00pm ET when eight players remained. Andy Hwang was the chip leader with a stack of 1.2 million and first place was scheduled to make $416,000.

To get the action started, Amanda manderbuttMusumeci dropped a pot worth 440,000 after turning two-pair and whiffing on a flush draw. Then, she 3bet all-in before the flop for her last 15 big blinds with pocket nines, but ran into the cowboys of Wisconsin pokercommunity member Nikolas Stone. Musumeci busted in eighth place for $48,000.

Sam KingKobeMVPStein raised pre-flop with A-K and, curiously, Oklahoma’s Huy Nguyen folded pocket tens. Behind him, Hwang re-raised with A-J and Stein shoved all-in over-the-top. Hwang called, putting Stein at risk, and both players hit their kickers on the flop. Stein, whose father is a famous horse trainer, doubled up.

Then, the suckout fest began. Rather than folding tens pre-flop, Nguyen 5bet all-in with them and ran square into Hwang’s aces. Hwang flopped an ace to boot, leaving Nguyen as a meager 2% favorite to win, but a running Q-J gave him a miracle straight. Nguyen shot up to second in chips, while Hwang stood looking at the board in disbelief.

Stein (pictured) was crippled at the hands of Ryan Eriquezzo, whose A-J drew out on Stein’s queens to knock him down to 10 big blinds. Stein’s remaining stack subsequently went in with J-10 against Stone’s K-Q. No upset was in store this time and Stein hit the deck in seventh place in the WSOP National Championship for $61,000.

As the credits rolled on the first one-hour episode on Tuesday night, David “OTB” Baker open-shoved all-in for his last 14 big blinds with K-J, but could not out-race Nguyen, who had eights. Nguyen flopped a set, but Baker picked up a flush draw by the river. A fifth club didn’t come, however, and Baker was out in sixth place for $79,000.

After returning from a commercial break at 9:00pm ET, the second one-hour episode began. Hwang, the one-time chip leader, ran A-4 into A-10 on his final hand to go out in fifth place for $103,000. Then, Stone doubled up in a race against Nguyen to become the tournament’s chip leader.

Four-handed, Stone stacked half of the chips in play in a monumental hand against two-time bracelet winner Matt Keikoan. Stone rivered a boat with K-3 on a 5-4-3-4-3 board and Keikoan, holding 6-2 for a flopped straight, folded his hand. Keikoan then doubled up with eights against Stone’s A-K to exact a small amount of revenge.

Also doubling up in the late stages of the tournament was Eriquezzo, whose jacks held against Nguyen’s pocket fives. Both players hit sets in the hand, but Nguyen could not find one of the two remaining fives on the river for an upset.

Then, on a board of J-8-6-9, Keikoan 3bet all-in with pocket sixes for a set and Stone, who had Q-10 for a turned straight, insta-called. Keikoan needed the board to pair on the river, but no such card came and he was knocked out in fourth place for $137,000. Stone entered three-handed action with 60% of the chips in play.

Nguyen was the next to go after his pocket sixes could not withstand Eriquezzo’s K-2. Then, Eriquezzo (pictured) re-raised all-in for 1.76 million with pocket queens and Stone snap-called with A-7. ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad chastised that it was an “awful call” and Stone paid the price, as Eriquezzo doubled up to take the chip lead heads-up.

Stone doubled with nines against Eriquezzo’s A-4, but ultimately could not overcome his error with A-7. In the end, he moved all-in for his last 18 big blinds before the flop with Q-J and Eriquezzo called with K-J. Stone hit top pair on a flop of 10-Q-4 to take the early lead, but a nine on the river gave Eriquezzo a straight, the WSOP National Championship victory, $416,000, and a WSOP bracelet.

Next Tuesday, the 2012 WSOP Main Event will begin airing on ESPN. Check your local listings for details.