Monday evening saw the wrap of the heat stages of the partypoker Premier League VII at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal, Quebec, with Scott Seiver earning the victory in Heat 6 and, along with it, a trip to the playoff round of the event.
Coming into Monday’s action, Seiver needed to at least earn a fourth place finish in Heat 6 to have a logical shot at making the playoffs and he was joined by several players in that same position. Jeff Gross was already assured of a slot at the Championship Table with his 36 points over his three heats and Sorel Mizzi was in good position to either lock up his seat or make the playoffs. Jonathan Duhamel, Antonio Esfandiari, Brian Rast, Vanessa Selbst and defending champion Dan Shak all needed a solid finish or (in Selbst and Shak’s cases) to win the day’s heat to even have a chance at making the playoff round.
As has been usual during the preliminary heats due to their large starting stacks, the players spent nearly the first 50 hands getting a feel for the table. On Hand 49, Seiver limped into the pot and, after Duhamel completed his small blind, Selbst stunningly pushed her stack to the center. Seiver made the call and, after Duhamel got out of the way, showed Selbst his dominating pocket Aces over her A-J. The flop was blank and, after the case Ace came on the turn, Selbst was drawing dead and out of both the Heat 6 action and the Premier League play.
Seiver’s good fortune continued in knocking off Gross in seventh place on Hand 70, his Big Slick holding firm over Gross’ A-J. Only 12 hands later, Seiver would again perform the ugly deed of elimination by dumping Shak from the table, once again getting pocket Aces against Shak’s unfortunate pocket tens. Once he eliminated Esfandiari in fifth place in Heat 6, Seiver had captured his spot in the playoff round, but he was looking for more than just the playoff seat.
On Hand 98, it was time for Rast and Mizzi to lock horns. On a monochrome 10♥ 9♥ 2♥ flop, Mizzi tried to check-raise Rast off his hand, but the former World Series of Poker Players’ Champion refused to budge. He made the call, tabling his 10-9 for the flopped two pair against Mizzi’s J-10 for flopped top pair and, after an innocent six on the turn and a four on the river, Rast’s two pair survived and sent Mizzi packing in fourth place.
With the remaining three players guaranteed at least a spot in the playoffs, a dinner break was taken. After coming back from that break, however, the players wasted little time in getting to heads up play after Rast rivered the nut flush against Duhamel’s short stack all in to knock him out in third. Going to heads up play on Hand 107, Seiver held an approximate 350,000 chip lead.
Rast and Seiver headed to battle and an epic one it would be. Rast, looking for that 14 point victory (by the way, did we tell you that each Premier League point was worth $2000 to the players?). By Hand 113, he had completely switched the tables on Seiver, putting him down by 1.3 million chips, before Seiver slowly climbed back into the lead. By Hand 192, Rast was the player at risk on an all in-but he would catch a miraculous flush on the flop to come from behind to cut Seiver’s edge to 2:1. Two hands later, Rast would double again when his pocket tens stood up to Seiver’s pocket threes.
The see-saw tipped the other way on the very next hand. Seiver, all in with pocket fives, was able to find another five on the flop to topple Rast’s pocket Kings and retake the lead. Although it would take another 25 hands, Seiver would eventually top Rast on Hand 220 to take the victory and his place in the playoffs for the Premier League:
1. Scott Seiver – 14 points
2. Brian Rast – 11 points
3. Jonathan Duhamel – 9 points
4. Sorel Mizzi – 7 points
5. Antonio Esfandiari – 5 points
6. Dan Shak – 3 points
7. Jeff Gross – 1 point
8. Vanessa Selbst – 0 points
With the six heats completed, there was one more bit of business to conduct. The top four players – Dan Colman (37 points), Gross (37) Mizzi (33) and Rast (31) – were comfortably at the Championship Table, but four other players – Jason Koon (29 points), Duhamel (26), Seiver (25) and Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates (24) – would have to fight it out for the last two seats (Esfandiari (20 points), Phil Laak (19), Shak (10) and Selbst (9) were all eliminated). To determine those two players, one of the best of three heads up matches began right after the Heat 6 conclusion.
The first heads up matchup pitted Koon versus Cates and, with plenty of ammunition at their disposal (starting stacks were 100K), they put it to work. Koon made quick work of Cates in the first match, winning within 22 hands, and stunningly took the second stage even quicker. After 18 hands, Cates pushed all in with pocket fives and Koon called with an A-7 that found an Ace on the flop. With that 2-0 win over Cates, Koon assured his seat at the Championship Table:
Dan Colman
Jeff Gross
Sorel Mizzi
Brian Rast
Jason Koon
??????
After playing so deep into the Montreal night, Duhamel and Seiver were allowed to go home for some rest before picking up their playoff match. Before the start of today’s Championship Table, the twosome will decide who will take the final seat at that patch of felt and there is quite a bit riding on the Duhamel/Seiver outcome. $1.5 million will be divided up by the six players at that Championship Table later today, with the eventual champion walking off with the big score of $400,000.
