A few days ago, PartyPoker Premier League IV in Las Vegas kicked off. 11 pros and 1 internet qualifier are now playing for a prize pool of $1,5 million dollars + a sponsorship contract worth $100,000. So far, three heats out of 12 have been played.
Heat 1: Phil Laak wins the first heat!
Phil Laak is a very good poker player. No doubt about that! Anyhow, even a good poker player like Phil can get lucky once in a while. Well, he got lucky many times in Heat 1 as he flopped sets numerous times when his opponents had big hands. Nothing could stop Phil this day, and after 8 hours of play, it was all over as JC Tran, last year's winner, was eliminated in second place.
Standings after Heat 1
1. Phil Laak - 16 points
2. JC Tran - 11 points
3. Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 8 points
4. Vanessa Rousso - 6 points
5. Luke Schwartz - 4 points
6. Roland De Wolfe - 3 points
7. Ian Frazer - 2 points
8. Daniel Negreanu - 0 points
Heat 2: Phil Laak wins again!
Heat 2 of PartyPoker Premier League IV ended up almost the same way as Heat 1. Even though Phil Laak wasn't running as good as in Heat 1, he still managed to stay in the action and also win the heads-up against Roland De Wolfe, who had played great poker the whole day and was a big favorite to win.
Standings after Heat 2
1. Phil Laak - 32 points
2. JC Tran - 17 points
3. Roland De Wolfe - 14 points
T-4. David Benyamine - 8 points
T-4. Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 8 points
6. Vanessa Rousso - 6 points
T-7. Luke Schwartz - 4 points
T-7. Giovanni Safina - 4 points
9. Phil Hellmuth - 3 points
T-10. Ian Frazer - 2 points
T-10. Tony G - 2 points
12. Daniel Negreanu - 0 points
Heat 3: Amazing comeback by David Benyamine
David Benyamine, the French poker pro, had been running quite well so far in the tournament. However, he hadn't been close to a win so far. Heat 3 seemed to be no different than the 2 previous heats as he was short-stacked many times. However, everything changed after that he got lucky river cards a few times and managed to build up a big stack. David Benyamine then made it to heads-up against Safina Giovanni.
This is how the final hand was played out.
David Benyamine limped the button with K
10
and Safina Giovanni raised from the big blind to 140,000 with K
J.
Flop came K 7 2
This flop meant trouble for David - he had flopped top pair with worse kicker than Safina Giovanni.
Safina bet 150,00 and David raised to 340,00. Safina then moved all in and David made the call.
The turn 10 is a terrible card for Safina. Sudently, David Benyamine is the big favourite to win the hand.
The river card 2 was no help at all for Safina who was eliminated in second place.
Standings after Heat 3
1. Phil Laak - 32 points
2. David Benyamine - 24 points
3. JC Tran - 17 points
4. Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 16 points
5. Giovanni Safina - 15 points
6. Roland De Wolfe - 14 points
T-7. Vanessa Rousso - 8 points
T-7. Ian Frazer - 8 points
9. Phil Hellmuth - 6 points
T-10. Luke Schwartz - 4 points
T-10. Daniel Negreanu - 4 points
12. Tony G - 2 points
how manny rounds to go?
