Poker Premier League 5
- The 1987–88 season saw the club promoted to the First Division, then the highest tier of English league football, for the first time.Sheringham scored the first goal in Millwall's.
- Heat 5 of the ongoing PartyPoker Premier League played out from the M Casino in Las Vegas on Tuesday.Ian Frazer, a member of Team PartyPoker, outlasted Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz heads-up.
Luke Schwartz has played in the Party Poker Premier League several times including Party Poker Premier League 4 where he finished second and won $200,000, beaten by David Benyamine. 5 What has perhaps garnered more attention is his outspoken nature, both on and off the table.
Table Of Contents
The fourth season of the partypoker-sponsored Premier League put the unique televised tournament format on the map, and captured the imagination of players and fans alike in 2010. For the series commentator, legendary host Jesse May, the devil really was in the detail.
“There were a lot of special things about that Premier League season,' May told PokerNews. 'The first three were all held in the U.K. It was supposed to be a combination of the best in poker and also the biggest TV stars in poker. We wanted the best poker and the best TV.”
Premier League Season IV Steps Up the Game
The first three seasons had become dominated by Phil Hellmuth’s running battle with the late Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott, although Tony G stole the scene each time he was on screen. But for the fourth season, partypoker wanted to step it up. They moved it to the U.S., the M Hotel in Las Vegas, for what would be the only time in the league's six editions between 2007 and 2013.
They maintained the premise of a league format that demanded players pay attention to the points system to give themselves the best chance of winning. According to May, the vision for the league really came to fruition in season IV, a season that was even live reported by PokerNews.
“Game theory was an aspect of the Premier League which was something we’d been trying to build into the series from the start,” says May. “The last couple of hands in the last heat before the final was the first time in the Premier League where the points were so complicated and the money up top was so huge that it really became all about the game theory.
“It was quite a production at the M Hotel,' May recalled. 'We wanted to get Hellmuth and Negreanu and some other big stars. The buy-in jumped in a big way and there was money paid back in each heat.”
There was a method to money being paid out before the final, something that wasn’t commonly done in other league formats.
“The theory was that even if you did poorly, you were going to get at least some money back. As it turned out, a couple of people, including Phil Hellmuth, were absolutely crushed.”
Colorful Cast of Characters
It was a stellar field. The returning champion was the colorful character J.C. Tran, with Ukrainian Yevgeniy Timoshenko also in the line-up.
“Timoshenko was very well respected at the time, I was a huge fan of Yevgeniy’s. But for me, that entire series was about Luke Schwartz. That was his coming out party.”
Schwartz, storming around the set in a bicep-hugging t-shirt, crushing dreams with one curl of his lip, was a British Brando at the felt in those days. May thought he was fantastic, and not just for ratings.
“Even though 'Full Flush' has made a name for himself, he’s seriously underachieved in terms of what his potential was and I’m sure he’d admit that himself. In one of the early heats, he made a four-bet shove with 6-4 off-suit and it felt legendary at the time.”
Schwartz earned respect from each table he was on, from almost every player. He struck up a rivalry with David Benyamine that lasted throughout the series, but others like Daniel ‘Kid Poker’ Negreanu held him in high esteem.
“Negreanu and he had a great relationship; Daniel had a lot of respect for him. Schwartz also got on well with Roland [De Wolfe], and Phil Laak loved him.”
May often shared the mic that season with Ike Haxton, who is known more for his own high-stakes prowess than commentary work but provided plenty of insights on the action.
“Listening back to my commentary with me and Ike, he probably should have been playing in the Premier League! But he wasn’t, he was doing commentary. You could hear us trying to figure out the permutations and how that should affect the strategy.”
Game Theory of the League Format
The game theory side of the league format meant that some players found themselves in unfamiliar territory, having only played poker as a straight-bat game before that. May and Haxton began to split the players who had figured it out, those who 'got it' and those who didn’t.
“Scott Seiver, who joined in Season Five, was just one of those guys who understood the whole game theory - as far as how your ranges change depending on how many points you needed - more than anyone.”
Seiver wasn’t alone in showing aptitude to the game theory side of accumulating points rather than chips throughout the series.
“Roland de Wolfe was the same way. Negreanu was always a studier, he would have spent eight hours the night before doing stuff. Then you had people like Hellmuth. He just did not get it.”
Premier League Poker
If De Wolfe and Negreanu adapted to the game theory, The Poker Brat was the polar opposite. He wasn’t the only one.
“Jungleman [Daniel Cates], who I love, and who became a huge guy for us in later seasons: I remember he was once in a spot three-handed where he had to fold 100% of hands to one player and he had to call 100% of hands to another player. He picked up ace-king and snap-called the player who he was supposed to fold 100% of hands to.”
Poker Premier League 5 Run
There was no standing on ceremony for those around the table who saw his mistake.
“He was young and it was his first time around, but that was the kind of stuff we wanted to get into the Premier League. Premier League Season Four was the first time we managed to do that.”
It wasn't only the players who were forced to try to work out the nuances of the new poker format.
“I was so out of my depth. We were sitting there looking at charts. It was clear who were really quick thinkers, and those who although they were great at poker, weren’t quite ready to adapt.”
Season Four had gotten off to a terrific start, with the heats providing huge drama and excitement for viewers. But who would come out on top in what became a very personal battle between two polar opposites at the felt? Find out in Part Two of Jesse May’s look back at Premier League Poker Season Four.
Tags
Jesse MayPremier League PokerpartypokerDaniel NegreanuDavid BenyamineLuke SchwartzPhil HellmuthPhil LaakTony GRoland de WolfeScott SeiverVanessa RoussoRelated Room
PartyPokerRelated Players
Daniel NegreanuPhil HellmuthVanessa RoussoPhil LaakRoland de WolfeTony G
Tony G took the points lead into Day 5 of the PartyPoker Premier League, and secured his place at the PPPL final table with another strong showing in his heat. Andy Black kept the pressure on Tony by taking down yet another heat and guaranteed a finals seat of his own, while Phil Hellmuth's woes continued at the event where he has struggled all week.
Heat #9 kicked off with many of the lowest point totals in the series playing each other as Marcel Luske, Phil Hellmuth, Vicky Coren, Eddy Scharf, Ian Frazer and Juha Helppi squared off. Helppi started the day with the lowest point total, at four, but was followed closely by Hellmuth and Luske, who had five points each. All three players desperately needed a win to stay relevant in the competition, but it was not to be for the Poker Brat. Hellmuth was the first to fall after he moved all in over the top of Marcel Luske's preflop raise with . Luske's cards were live with the , and the flop of left him in great shape. The turn and river came down , and Hellmuth was left with zero points and far away from the playoffs.
Eddy Scharf was next to bust the he moved the last of his short stack in preflop with , only to find Juha Helppi waiting with . The board came down , and Helppi's ace kicker played to send Scharf to the rail. Ian Frazer was next to fall when he moved all in on a flop of holding . Juha Helppi called with A-x and spiked an ace on the river to bust Frazer.
Vicky Coren exited in third when she moved all in from the small blind with , only to run into Juha Helppi in the big blind with . The board ran out , and Helppi's queen played to send Coren to the rail. Helppi and Marcel Luske then played a lengthy heads-up match before all the chips finally went in the middle preflop with for Helppi and for Luske. The flop came down an exciting , and Helppi made two pair, but Luske had the spade flush draw. The on the turn gave Luske his flush, and Helppi missed his outs to a full house when the came on the river. Marcel Luske picked up nine points for the win, catapulting him from the bottom of the points tally to relevance once again.
Heat #10 featured many of the current overall leaders, including first-place Tony G second-place Andy Black. Joining them in the match were Roland de Wolfe, Annie Duke, Alex Kravchenko, and Dave 'The Devilfish' Ulliott, who asked for an early start time to Heat #10 so he could make a hot Valentine's date. The players seemed determined to make Ulliott miss his date, as the heat started off very tentative, with over 70 hands passing before the first elimination.
It was Ulliott who sparked the action for the first bustout, moving all in preflop with . De Wolfe called with , pot-committed after posting his big blind. The flop came down , giving de Wolfe three outs to catch up to Ulliott, but the turn wasn't one of them. The on the river didn't help either, and de Wolfe was the first casualty of Heat #10.
Next, Ulliott open-shoved from the small blind with , and Alex Kravchenko helped him make his date on time when he called with . The board ran out , and Ulliott picked up one league point on his way to his rendezvous. Tony G then took out two players with an interesting call, busting both Annie Duke and Alex Kravchenko in one hand. Duke moved all in with , then Kravchenko pushed all in with . Tony G then called the double all-in with , leading Andy Black to remark, 'Oh man, that's sick!' when the board ran out , with Duke and Kravchenko both sent to the rail at the same time.
Black and Tony G squared off for a brief but exciting heads-up match, the second such match between the two in this series. In the end it was Black prevailing when he called Tony G's all-in move with . Tony G tabled a dominated , and the board missed both players when it ran out queen-high. Andy Black closed within one point of Tony G with his victory, with both assured of moving on to the finals.
At the end of Day #5, Tony G and Black sat atop the leader board, with Roland de Wolfe, Annie Duke, Eddy Scharf, Alex Kravchenko and Marcel Luske all vying for one of the top four spots and a guaranteed seat at the final table. The overall point standings after ten preliminary heats:
Tony G: 33 pts.
Andy Black: 32 pts.
Roland de Wolfe: 20 pts.
Annie Duke: 18 pts.
Eddy Scharf: 17 pts.
Alex Kravchenko: 17 pts.
Marcel Luske: 16 pts.
Vicky Coren: 14 pts.
Dave Ulliott: 10 pts.
Juha Helppi: 9 pts.
Ian Frazer: 9 pts.
Phil Hellmuth: 5 pts.
Tags
Andy BlackParty PokerPhil HellmuthPoker TournamentsPremier League PokerTony GRelated Players
Phil HellmuthTony GAndy Black