On Wednesday, the fifth heat of the PartyPoker World Open VI panned out and featured Unabomber Poker front man Phil Laak defending his title. Last year, Laak banked $250,000 and took down the fifth PartyPoker World Open. However, he came up short this time around and bowed out of the match in fifth place.
Dale Hoy captured victory in Laak’s heat, besting Toby Lewis heads-up. You can’t fault Laak for getting his money in behind, either. He was all-in pre-flop with A-10 of spades and up against the Q-10 of hearts of Ben Johnson. However, a queen hit on the flop, propelling Johnson into the lead. Laak ultimately whiffed on an ace or jack for a straight and exited the Palm Beach Casino in London.
Following Laak’s elimination, Heather Sue Mercer open-shoved pre-flop with A-9 of hearts and found herself in a race against Lewis’ wired pair of sixes. Lewis made a boat by the time the board filled out Q-Q-7-8-Q and Mercer landed in fourth place in Heat #5. Lewis held a healthy chip lead entering three-handed play as a result.
John Tabatabai was the next casualty of Laak’s heat after running K-6 into K-8. Hoy flopped an eight to preserve his lead in the hand and Tabatabai bricked on the turn and river. After the elimination, Hoy held a 3:2 chip lead entering heads-up play. Ultimately, Hoy’s K-J held up against Lewis’ 9-5 suited all-in pre-flop for the win.
Former World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship winner Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko continued his dominance of the poker industry by winning the fourth heat of the PartyPoker World Open. In a battle of the titans, Timoshenko outlasted current World Series of Poker (WSOP) Player of the Year contender Frank Kassela. In the final hand of the heat, Kassela ran A-K into Timoshenko’s pocket aces and no upset was in the works.
In Heat #3, European Poker Tour (EPT) founder and PokerStars pro John Duthie edged out M.B. Mahmood to claim victory. In the small blind, Mahmood shoved pre-flop with J-8 and received a call from Duthie, who held A-Q. Duthie flopped one ace and turned another, leaving Mahmood drawing dead to the river. Noteworthy in this heat was that Annette Obrestad was its first casualty after the youngster ran pocket fours into pocket aces.
Victory Poker pro Andrew “good2cu” Robl took down Heat #2 of the PartyPoker World Open. He bested UB.com pro and two-time bracelet winner Brandon Cantu heads-up. In the final hand of the heat, Cantu was all-in with K-10 and facing Robl’s A-3. Robl turned a pair to stay ahead in the hand and no king or ten came on the river to save the day for Cantu.
The “W” in Heat #1 went to Sam Trickett, who is fresh off a final table at EPT Vilamoura. Trickett defeated Marty Smyth in the finals of Heat #1 after drawing out on A-3 with Q-9 of diamonds. There are a total of six eight-man heats on tap and seven players will move on to the PartyPoker World Open final table. The seventh spot will be determined after the runner-ups compete in a turbo on Friday morning, with its champ advancing to the final table. The winner of the PartyPoker World Open VI will take home $200,000.
Everest Poker’s Fabrice Soulier, Laak’s significant other Jennifer Tilly, and Titan Poker’s Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi are among those in action today in Heat #6, which is ongoing from London. Tilly has struggled in the early going and, according to PartyPoker’s Blog, lamented at one point, “Why didn’t I just go with my gut? In an interview before we started, I said that when my gut says fold like a p****, fold like a p****. I didn’t follow my own advice.”
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the PartyPoker World Open VI.
