Continued from Part Five...
Turnin' up the Heat
He may have left it late, but last night Daniel Negreanu won the sixth and final heat to secure his place in the heads-up playoffs. Meanwhile, it was too little too late for Phil Hellmuth whose second place finish wasn’t quite enough to avoid relegation, much to the joy of reigning champion JC Tran who sneaks into the playoffs by just one point. The final whistle has sounded on the heats, meaning we're just one day away from crowning the 2010 PartyPoker Premier League IV Champion.
Results:
Heat 6...
1st Daniel Negreanu -- $32,000 (16 points)
2nd Phil Hellmuth -- $22,000 (11 points)
3rd Roland De Wolfe -- $16,000 (8 points)
4th Luke Schwartz -- $12,000 (6 points)
5th Vanessa Rousso -- $8,000 (4 points)
6th David Benyamine -- $6,000 (3 points)
7th Tony G -- $4,000 (2 points)
8th Phil Laak
Daniel Negreanu: “Man that was such a rocky road! I thought third was going to be enough bar a few scenarios but those scenarios turned up, Roland did really well and I had to make sure I got heads-up. It was so weird because Luke was never there and then he was and picks up aces when I have an ace – just a crazy, crazy day.”
Phil Hellmuth: “I can’t be too disappointed really. I feel good with the way I’ve played. I love playing under the heat of pressure and I feel I’m on the path to achieving great things this year but it just didn’t happen to me here.”
Final League Standings:
1st Phil Laak – 48 points ($96,000)
2nd David Benyamine – 38 points ($66,000)
3rd Luke Schwartz – 29 points ($58,000)
4th Giovanni Safina – 29 points ($58,000)
5th Daniel Negreanu – 26 points ($52,000)
6th Ian Frazer -- 26 points ($52,000)
7th Roland De Wolfe – 22 points ($44,000)
8th JC Tran – 20 points ($40,000)
9th Phil Hellmuth –19 points ($38,000)
10th Yevgeniy Timoshenko 16 points ($32,000)
11th Vanessa Rousso – 16 points ($32,000)
12th Tony G – 11 points ($22,000)
All players played four heats. Daniel Negreanu finishes ahead of Ian Frazer due to finishing positions.
This means:
- Phil Laak, David Benyamine, Luke Schwartz and Giovanni Safina have secured a seat in the final
- Daniel Negreanu, Ian Frazer, Roland De Wolfe and JC Tran will battle it out heads-up for the two remaining final table seats
- Phil Hellmuth, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Vanessa Rousso and Tony G are 'relegated' and eliminated from the event
Heads-Up Match One: Daniel Negreanu v JC Tran
Heads-Up Match Two: Ian Frazer v Roland De Wolfe
Heads-up matches commence at 11am on Thursday, Feb 18. The final takes place later that day.
Final Table Chips:
One point equals 10,000 chips
Phil Laak – 480,000
David Benyamine – 380,000
Luke Schwartz – 290,000
Giovanni Safina – 290,000
Heads-Up Match One winner
Heads-Up Match Two winner
Before the event started, we filmed Nik Persaud and Neil Channing as they discussed this year’s PartyPoker Premier League. In the final clip, the Black Belt Poker Pros ponder the chances of the “old school dinasours”: Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu, as well as predicting the eventual winner. To find out who Nik and Neil thought would win Premier League IV, click play on the link below (although let’s pretend that Nik was talking about next year’s event!)
Key Hand of the Week:
In this format, there are always going to pivotal moments, big all-in showdowns and crucial coin flips, but the moment that will stick out in most people’s mind will be the final hand, not just because it marked the conclusion of the heats, but because it confirmed Phil Hellmuth’s elimination from the tournament.
Heading into Heat Six, Hellmuth was in all sorts of problems and, in all likelihood, in need of an outright victory in order to stay alive. Although a few players will have been more focused on laddering up and tying up points, Daniel Negreanu was in a similar boat to Hellmuth, and looking for a high finish to avoid relegation. In fact, if everything went to plan, it was still possible for Negreanu to evade the heads-up playoffs and dip straight into the final.
Although, ultimately, Negreanu would be unable to hit the final four, it was with great excitement that both Kid Poker and the Poker Brat ended up heads-up, with Hellmuth’s only chance of survival being first place. Heading into the heads-up encounter, Negreanu held a near 3:1 lead and was looking good for the win. However, within moments, Hellmuth was able to mount a comeback when he doubled through with Ah-Ts versus Ks-Jc, all in preflop. Now Hellmuth had a real shot!
But alas, with Hellmuth just a few chips behind, Negreanu picked up aces at just the right moment: Hellmuth limped with Kd-9d, Negreanu raised to 180,000 with Ah-Ac, Hellmuth shipped, and Negreanu snapped. By the turn of an 8s-4d-3s-3h-7h board, Hellmuth was done and dusted and the journey was over.
Negreanu may have grabbed the win, but the biggest smile of the day will have belonged to JC Tran, the former Champion lying wait on the sidelines eagerly anticipating the outcome. With Negreanu’s victory, Tran was able to sneak into the playoffs with 20 points, whilst Hellmuth’s 19 points finish meant he missed out by just one point/place. Elated, Tran hugged Negreanu and thanked him for winning the heat.
Battle of the Week:
There were a number of fierce confrontations, but perhaps the most heated was that of Luke Schwartz and Giovanni Safina. Constantly locking horns, these two endured a real seesaw battle that made for exciting viewing. Double-ups, bluffs, outdraws - whenever they were at the table together, they seemed to clash more than anyone else.
As a result, the online qualifier was often on the receiving end of the FullFlush motor mouth, with Schwartz trash-talking his way through many a hand: “Even you folded after playing 98 percent of the time I raise preflop,” prodded Schwartz following a brief encounter. On one occasion, Schwartz complained, “This is too retarded,” to which Giovanni’s translator on the rail responded by telling Schwartz to “shut up”, incorrectly thinking the comment had been directed to his fellow countryman.
In the end, it was Schwartz who seemed to enjoy the last laugh when he pulled off a crucial bluff during Heat 4. Having reached the turn of a T-8-6-A board, Schwartz bet 30,000 and both Safina (T-9) and Rousso (Q-J) called. On the blank river, Safina bet out, only for Luke to raise to 120,000. After tanking for several minutes, Safina made the fold, allowing Schwartz to proudly table his missed draw. “That's what I'm talking about!” he yelled out. "That's what I'm talking about!”
Moments later, and Safina was gone. His assassin? Luke ‘FullFlush’ Schwartz.
Quote of the Week:
You’d be forgiven for assuming a bias towards Luke Schwartz, but this really was the FullFlush show, and when it came to dishing out the trash talk and increasing the entertainment factor, Schwartz was the man.
In Heat 6 and with all eight players remaining, Schwartz limped under the gun with Jh-Js, David Benyamine limped from middle position with 6h-5c and Vanessa Rousso checked her option in the big blind with 4h-3h. On the 9d-5d-2c board, Schwartz led for 30,000, and Benyamine and Rousso both called. A Kh turn led to Schwartz sharing his disdain before checking and inviting Benyamine to bet. Benyamine did indeed bet his pair of fives, to the tune of 123,000; Rousso stepped out of the way.
After deliberating for a moment, Schwartz announced, “Fuck it! Fuck it!” before splashing his chips into the pot. “With my heads up game, I'll beat anyone in this PartyPoker!” Benyamine quickly folded his hand, leading to Schwartz going into a verbal rampage, exclaiming, “In your eye David Benyamine! You think you can angle me?! You just got so pwned! Thinks he's 10 years older than me so he knows!”
I would love to have seen FullFlush face Doyle.
images courtesy of Mickey May and Matchroom Poker (second image courtesy of Anne Laymond)
Also check out thread on Two Plus Two.
Read Part Seven...
Premier League Review – Part One: Breaking the Mold
Premier League Review – Part Two: Party Politics
Premier League Review – Part Three: Telly Addicts
Premier League Review – Part Four: Philling His Boots
Premier League Review – Part Five: Channing’s Top Tips