The Party Poker Premier League pitched 12 of the world’s top poker players on a league-style competition for a share of $1,250,000. After 3 days, JC Tran and Peter Eastgate are coming out on top, followed closely by Juha Helppi, Vicky Coren and Tony G.
The popular Premier League has an impressive lineup this year: seasoned veterans Phil Hellmuth and Dave Ulliott are locking horns with young internet stars Tom “Durrrr” Dwan and Annette Obrestad; and the youngest Main Event winner, 22 year old Peter Eastgate, is set to demonstrate he is no one-hit wonder. Each player contributed $75,000 to the pot, and Party Poker added $350,000 to make up a $1,250,000 prize pool.
The Premier League has players face each other in 6-seat matches to earn points. After playing 12 preliminary heats (meaning each player plays 6 times,) the top 4 scorers make it automatically to the final table, the bottom four go home, and the middle four face each other heads-up for the last two seats in the final table. All starting chip stacks for final table are relative to the player’s accumulated points. Party Poker has introduced an interesting blind structure for these STTs: blinds go up every 21 hands instead of after a set time, which leaves room for a lot more play.
These are the players’ standings after six heats:
JC Tran – 26 points
Peter Eastgate – 16 points
Juha Helppi – 14 points
Tony G – 14 points
Vicky Coren – 14 points
Phil Hellmuth – 13 points
Tom Dwan – 12 points
Roland De Wolfe – 12 points
Annette Obrestad – 10 points
Andy Black – 10 points
Nenad Medic – 6 points
Devilfish Ulliott – 3 points
JC Tran has practically earned his final table seat, but it is anyone’s guess which five players will join him there. Nenad Medic and Devilfish Ulliott need nothing short of a miracle to make it back into the middle four at least, and the remaining seven players are bound to play their A game to ensure a seat into the final and their share of $1,250,000.
Premier League commentator Jesse May has predicted run-ins among several pairs of “poker rivals,” and today’s line-up will put several of them together at the same table. For starters, Heat 7 will pit Tom “Durrrr” Dwan against Phil Hellmuth; Jesse May declared: “Tom might be the better player in a cash scenario, but here Phil will dominate him in the play and crush the poor twenty-one year old with the abuse.” May also expects there to be good poker played between Durrrr and Roland de Wolfe: “Roland likes to be the fanciest player making the fanciest plays, something Tom Dwan owns here and anywhere else.” Finally, point leader JC Tran should expect a barrage of psychological abuse from notorious loudmouth Tony G: “JC is friendly and easygoing. Tony comes on friendly and then hits where it hurts. This is where the rubber meets the road.”
Heat 8 should be no less entertaining, as it pits the only two women in the league against each other. May looks forward to the sparks between the poker veteran and the internet prodigy: “Obrestad is very confident, arrogant even, and Vicky and she have absolutely no chance of getting along. I can’t wait for this one.” May also expects Annette to teach the Devilfish some respect for female players: “Devilfish always gets outplayed by strong females, because he shows them no respect. Liz Lieu hammered the Devilfish in Premier League I, and she’s not half the player Annette is. Look for Annette to make him feel foolish in many pots.”
These are the complete line-ups for Heats 7 and 8:
Heat 7
Phil Hellmuth
Roland De Wolfe
Tony G
JC Tran
Tom Dwan
Nenad Medic
Heat 8
Devilfish
Andy Black
Peter Eastgate
Juha Helppi
Annette Obrestad
Vicky Coren
