The long-awaited final table of the third Party Poker Premier League is set and, needless to say, the lineup will not disappoint fans of the spectacle. Featuring six of the world’s top poker players, including 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Peter Eastgate, the final table will offer a top prize of $300,000 to its winner.
Joining Eastgate at the final table will be accomplished poker pros Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, Juha Helppi, Tony G, Roland de Wolfe, and J.C. Tran. Here is a look at the chip stacks of the remaining contestants heading into final table play as well as seating assignments when the action resumes:
Seat 1 – Tom Dwan (United States), 260,000
Seat 2 – Juha Helppi (Finland), 340,000
Seat 3 – Tony G (Australia), 260,000
Seat 4 – Roland de Wolfe (United Kingdom), 230,000
Seat 5 – J.C. Tran (United States), 450,000
Seat 6 – Peter Eastgate (Denmark), 390,000
The stoic Eastgate is fresh off his win in poker’s most prestigious tournament, the WSOP Main Event. He took home $9.1 million for his efforts, defeating Russian poker player Ivan Demidov heads-up. Eastgate was subdued following his victory in the tournament, telling Poker News Daily that he was still in shock from the win. Eastgate shattered Ultimate Bet pro Phil Hellmuth’s record as the youngest Main Event champion ever at 22 years-old; Hellmuth was 24.
Dwan made a pair of final tables during the 2008 WSOP, finishing eighth in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship Mixed Event for $54,144 and also placing eighth in a $5,000 rebuy No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball tournament for $45,111. He reached the final table and finished fourth in the World Poker Tour’s Foxwoods World Poker Finals in 2007 for $324,244. He took ninth in the WPT Championship during Season IV for $184,670.
Tran dominated the fifth season of the World Poker Tour. He made three final tables, headlined by a win at the World Poker Challenge for $708,973. His largest cash came after finishing second in the L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino for $1.2 million. Tran took sixth in the World Poker Open for nearly $150,000. In 2006, he found success online as well, winning the Main Event of the annual PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for $670,000. His career WPT earnings are over $3.1 million and he’s a spokesman for the Asian Poker Tour (APT).
Tony G, whose real last name is Guoga, took home £94,380 after finishing third in a £5,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha tournament held during the 2007 WSOP Europe. He finished second in the World Poker Tour’s Grand Prix de Paris during Season II for over $400,000, famously berating his opponents at the table and earning a reputation as a true bad boy of poker. He was involved in a well-publicized spat with Ultimate Bet Star Player Tiffany Michelle over the last woman’s standing sponsorship in the 2008 WSOP Main Event.
Helppi and de Wolfe represent two of the top European poker pros on the planet. Helppi won the Aruba Poker Classic during Season I of the WPT for $50,000. That tournament pitted 100 amateurs against eight pros. The final two players remaining from each pool battled it out to determine the winner. Helppi, the amateur, defeated poker commentator Phil Gordon, the pro. De Wolfe won the European Poker Tour’s Dublin stop in 2006 for $737,000. He’s one of the few pros to capture victory on multiple poker tours, also winning the WPT’s Grand Prix de Paris during Season IV for $599,000.
Prize money at the final table will be awarded as follows:
1st Place – $300,000
2nd Place – $150,000
3rd Place – $80,000
4th Place – $50,000
5th Place – $40,000
6th Place – $30,000
We’ll have a full recap for you right here on Poker News Daily.
