As the PartyPoker.com Premier League IV draws closer, the field of 12 continues to take shape. On Tuesday, PartyPoker.com announced that poker’s newest bad boy, Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz, has been confirmed as the fifth player for the February contest. Schwartz joins Premier League III winner J.C. Tran, 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, World Poker Tour (WPT) Season 7 world champion Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, and “Triple Crown” winner Roland de Wolfe in the exclusive event, which will take place February 11th to 18th in Las Vegas.
Schwartz caught the attention of the poker world in 2009 by racking up seven-figure profits online, all the while beating an impressive list of players. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Brad Booth, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and David “Raptor” Benefield were among his victims. Perhaps more than his poker skill, it was his “in your face” personality that really turned heads. Known to trash talk to his heart’s content, Schwartz cemented himself as one of online poker’s most controversial figures when he called Dwan and Di “Urindanger” Dang “gay” in a public interview.
In October 2009, Schwartz took his behavior to another level, stealing a sandwich from a food stand after busting out of the European Poker Tour (EPT) London event. Having been previously banned from Grosvenor Casino properties for not obeying the dress code only to have the ban lifted in time for EPT London, he was banned once again for his actions.
Schwartz may be young, but he is far from intimidated by the already strong field. “For sure there are some big names playing but I have to be a huge favorite,” he told PartyPoker.com. “They need to know that I’m coming with my sharky hat on and it’s gonna be a whole week of soul owning from Full Flush.”
“He is poker’s new villain, no question about that,” Daniel Negreanu once wrote in his blog.
Seven players are yet to be determined and all but one will be hand picked by PartyPoker.com. The final competitor will be a PartyPoker.com online qualifier. A total of 16 qualifiers will square off in Las Vegas, battling it out in a series of sit and go tournaments to determine which skilled player will receive the final (and free) seat in the PartyPoker.com Premier League IV. In addition, PartyPoker.com will evaluate each of the 16 qualifiers and select one to receive a $100,000 sponsorship deal from the site. While one would assume that the winner will have a leg up on the competition, PartyPoker.com will also consider personality and marketability in addition to poker skill, so even those who do not win the 12th seat will have a chance at the sponsorship deal.
The PartyPoker.com Premier League has a unique format. The 12 players will compete in a series of six-handed sit and gos, or “heats,” with points awarded based on the order of finish. Once all the heats are completed, the top four point winners will advance to the six-handed Grand Final. The next four players will face off in heads-up matches to determine the fifth and sixth members of the final table.
With a $100,000 buy-in and $300,000 added by PartyPoker.com, the prize pool for the Premier League IV will be a whopping $1.5 million. The action, including the battle for the 12th seat, will be televised in Europe, with Team Party’s newest member, Kara Scott, serving as host.
