Starting on Monday from the Palm Beach Casino in London is the sixth incarnation of the PartyPoker World Open. Last October, Phil Laak took down the title of PartyPoker World Open V champ after defeating a final table that included Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz, Laak’s girlfriend Jennifer Tilly, and World Poker Tour (WPT) host and Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton.
This year, Laak will return to defend his title. A total prize pool of $480,000 is up for grabs in the $10,000 buy-in tournament. Forty-eight players will be in action across eight heats, the first of which features Victory Poker CEO Dan Fleyshman taking on Marty Smyth, Sam Trickett, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Niner James Akenhead, Neil Channing, Lee Atherton, Peter Jetten, and U.K. poker pro Ian Frazer.
The second heat, which will be played on September 6th and 7th, features three of North America’s hottest players in Andrew “good2cu” Robl, UB.com’s Brandon Cantu, and former National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Huck Seed. The group’s opposition in Heat #2 includes James Mitchell, Matt Perrins, Josh Gould, Dragan Galic, and Felipe “Mojave” Ramos.
The third heat of the PartyPoker World Open VI, which will pan out on September 7th, features young guns Schwartz and Full Tilt pro Annette Obrestad taking to the felts together. European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie and high-stakes cash game pro David “Viffer” Peat will join them, as will Liam Flood, John Eames, Barny Boatman, and Giovanni Safina.
That’s a lot of pros already and we’re only halfway through the opening seat of heats in the annual PartyPoker tournament. Former WPT Championship winner Yevgeniy Timoshenko will be part of Heat #4 on September 8th. His competition includes “Dixie,” 2010 bracelet winner Praz Bansi, Simon Zach, recent WPT London winner Jake Cody, Fabrice Souiler, and 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event champ Tyron Krost. This heat also has an open seat.
Laak will defend his title as part of Heat #5 on September 8th and 9th. However, he’ll have to get past Tom “durrrr” Dwan, who is in the midst of completing a pair of online Million Dollar Challenges against Patrik Antonius and Dan “JungleMan12” Cates. Others in the eight-player field will include John Tabatabai, Toby Lewis, Roland De Wolfe, Dale Hoy, Heather Mercer, and Jason Grey.
The final heat of the PartyPoker World Open VI will kick off on September 9th and feature some of the top talent Europe has to offer. Juha Helppi, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Sandra Naujoks, Roberto Romanello, and Bruno Fitoussi will be a part of the Heat #6 field. Sexton, a sponsored pro of PartyPoker, will also be in the running, as will Titan Poker pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi and Tilly.
The starting stacks in the PartyPoker World Open VI have been tripled and the final table, which is set to occur on September 10th, will be played seven-handed. The top seven players made the money during the fifth World Open, which also featured a field of 48. Heading into his title defense, Laak told PartyPoker officials, “Last year was a wild roller coaster ride. This year, I am looking forward to coming back to defend my title – it is ideal that it comes straight off the back off the WPT London Poker Classic – hopefully I can win both!”
Jesse May and PartyPoker’s Kara Scott will front the event’s broadcast, which can be seen on Five in the U.K. in late 2010. Spectators are welcome.
