TRAN MARCHES ON, HUGE WIN FOR HELPPI!
London – 26th November 2008 – Day two at the Party Poker Premier League III was not one to remember for WSOP Main Event champion Peter Eastgate and 11 time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. The two youngest ever WSOP Main Event champions busted out of their heats with ‘bagels’ - zero points - and now have some work to do to get themselves back into the $1.25 million tournament for 12 specially invited elite players. In contrast, it was an excellent day for JC Tran who won his second successive heat as well as season one winner Juha Helppi, who also picked up the maximum ten 10 points.
Finland’s Juha Helppi won heat three after overcoming Norway’s Annette Obrestad heads-up. The decisive hand saw Helppi raise with KQ off-suit, only for Obrestad to push all-in with J4 off-suit. Helppi hit his 10 on the river to secure maximum points. The heat itself was very cagey early on and remained six-handed for a long period of time. Hellmuth got the bagel, with Tony G finishing with 2 points, Nenad Medic 3 points, Roland De Wolfe 4 points and Annette Obrestad 6 points.
Heat four saw the ‘JC Tran show’ continue as he picked up another maximum. Cheered on by a large contingent in the green room, including WSOP Main Event final pal David ‘Chino’ Rheem, he put on other great display. When it got heads-up he held 476,000 to Vicky Coren’s 124,000 and he looked the likely winner throughout. The decisive hand saw Tran raise with A6 off-suit and pushed all-in by Coren with KK. An ace on the flop was enough to take it down. Andy Black finished third for 4 points, Devilfish finished fourth for 3 points, Tom ‘Durrr’ Dwan finished fifth for 2 points and $9 million man Eastgate ended up with zero. Like his first heat, Dwan mixed it up hugely but was fighting with a short stack the majority of the time after getting caught out early on. There is little doubt, however, that he still remains one of the most feared players in PartyPoker.com Premier League III.
PARTYPOKER.COM PREMIER LEAGUE III – 24th – 30th November
LEAGUE TABLE AT THE END OF DAY TWO
20 pts JC TRAN
12 pts TONY G
12 pts JUHA HELPPI
10 pts ANNETTE OBRESTAD
10 pts VICKY COREN
8 pts TOM DWAN
7 pts ANDY BLACK
6 pts PETER EASTGATE
6 pts ROLAND DE WOLF
3 pts DEVILFISH
3 pts PHIL HELLMUTH
3pts NENAD MEDIC
Day three and heat’s five and six could turn out to be decisive for the chances of Devilfish and Phil Hellmuth – both are in desperate need of big scores. Heat six looks particularly tasty with the Poker Brat up against Devilfish, Tony G, Tom Dwan, Roland de Wolfe and Andy Black.
PARTYPOKER.COM PREMIER LEAGUE III DAY THREE – 26th November 2008
HEAT FIVE
Annette Obrestad
Nenad Medic
Vicky Coren
JC Tran
Peter Eastgate
Juha Helppi
HEAT SIX
Phil Hellmuth
Devilfish
Tony G
Tom Dwan
Roland de Wolfe
Andy Black
November 26, 2008