Party Poker Premier League is Underway

The first day of Party Poker Premier League III concluded yesterday with JC Tran leading Heat 1 and Tony G leading Heat 2. Tran’s road to the top of Heat #1 was completed after he defeated Peter Eastgate in heads-up play while Tony G beat Tom “Durrrr” Dwan heads-up to win the first day of preliminaries in Heat #2. 

The match-up between Eastgate and Tran was particularly interesting since Eastgate is coming off an incredible heads-up performance against Ivan Demidov in the WSOP Main Event; Eastgate soundly defeated Demidov over the course of their poker hands to win the $9 million first place prize. However, things were much different for Eastgate on Monday since Tran overcame a big deficit at the start of heads-up play to defeat him.  

Annette Obrestad finished third in Heat #1 while the defending champion Andy Black and Roland de Wolfe finished fourth and fifth respectively. Dave “Devilfish” Ulliot – who has had a poor history in the Party Poker Premier League – finished in last and was the only Heat 2 player not to score any points. 

Here are the standings for Heat 1 after the first day:

JC Tran – 10 Points
Peter Eastgate – 6 Points
Annette Obrestad – 4 Points
Andy Black – 3 Points
Roland de Wolfe – 2 Points
Dave “Devilfish” Ulliot – 0 Points

Many people who watched the second heat of Party Poker Premier League III were hoping to see a heads-up match between Phil Hellmuth and Tom Dwan since the two have had some heated battles.  But Hellmuth ended up taking fourth place and only the top two advanced to the heads-up portion; this turned out to be Tony G and Dwan. Tony G was able to win a huge hand after going all-in with J-10 offsuit and he ran away with the match after that. 

Vicky Coren took third place in Heat 2 and Hellmuth finished fourth as mentioned before. Party Poker Premier League I champion Juha Helppi got off to a rough start after finishing in fifth, but he did do better than Nenad Medic who finished in last and earned no points. 

Here are the standings for Heat 2 after the first day

Tony G – 10 Points
Tom “Durrrr” Dwan – 6 Points
Vicky Coren – 4 Points
Phil Hellmuth – 3 Points
Juha Helppi – 2 Points
Nenad Medic – 0 Points

The Party Poker Premier League III action picks up again today with each player trying to increase their point total. There are 5 more preliminary rounds left and the top 4 players at the end of preliminaries will move onto the finals.