Premier League Poker Kicking Off Soon
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
London will be seeing the return of the Premier League Poker
between February 10th-16th with some of the best players in the
world slogging it out over a cool $1 million prize pool.
London will be seeing the return of the Premier League Poker
between February 10th-16th with some of the best players in the
world slogging it out over a cool $1 million prize pool.
This season will see the return of several players who took part
in the inaugural PartyPoker televised event, including Phil
Hellmuth, Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott, Tony G, Andy Black, Ian Fraser,
Roland De Wolfe, Vicky Coren, Juha Helppi and Eddy Scharf. The
series will also be showing off their newest signings, with Marcel
Luske, Annie Duke and Alexander Kravchenko making their debuts.
'We are delighted to announce the lineup for Premier League
Poker II. It's great to welcome back the likes of Phil Hellmuth,
Devilfish, Tony G and last year's champion Juha Helppi and we are
also thrilled that Annie Duke, Marcel Luske and Alex Kravchenko
will be joining the field,' said Eddie Hearn, Poker Director of
Matchroom Sport.
Last year’s event saw Juha Helppi win the title on his birthday,
leaving Phil Hellmuth smarting at his second place finish and eager
to make amends this time around.
'After winning four out of six matches in the Premier League
last year, I was in massive pain when Juha Helppi beat my KK with
his 8-7 off suit and made me finish third in the finale,' Hellmuth
said. 'I told Helppi, 'I'll be back!' Now it's 2008, and here I
come.'
Each player will buy in for $60,000, with PartyPoker topping up
the prize pool with an extra $280,000 to make the total prize kitty
$1 million.
'This is one of the strongest lineups assembled in poker and
with the buy-in increased to $60,000, coupled with the vast
international TV distribution, Premier League Poker is now
established as the world's leading televised poker event,' Hearn
said.
Defending champion Helppi may not be the bookies favourite for a
repeat success this time around, but he has stressed he won’t be
giving the title away easily.
'It will be very hard to take this title from me,' he said. 'I
will do anything it takes to defend it.'
A spokesman for PartyPoker has said they expect a success from a
fish – Devilfish no less. 'Devilfish's recent form makes him the
favorite to win, a status that he is bound to embrace much to the
annoyance of Hellmuth and Tony G,' said the representative.
The event will be filmed for broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK in
March.