Premier Poker League 5

For the past week, the Montesino Casino in Vienna, Austria, has played host to the PartyPoker Premier League V. The event began with 16 of poker's most notable players looking to make the final table to compete for a $1.4 million prize pool. On Tuesday, Scott Seiver emerged victorious to captured the $500,000 first-place prize.

Premier League Poker 5 E26
Premier Poker League Season 4
Premier League Poker 5 E19
Premier League Poker 5 E17
Premier League Poker 5 E12
Premier Poker League 5 0

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After a number of rounds over the last week, six of the eight final-table participants were determined, leaving just two spots up for grabs. Even though six players had earned their spots outright and another six were eliminated from contention, four players were left to compete in a series of playoff heads-up matches on Monday for the last two seats in Tuesday's finale. It was there that Phil Laak defeated Andy Frankenberger in the Group A best-of-three heads-up match, and Tom Dwan bested Yevgeniy Timoshenko in the Group B playoff. With that, the final table was set.

The starting chip counts for the final table were determined by the number of points each player earned during the four preliminary heats.

Here’s how things looked at the start of the final table:

Premier League V Final Table

Player	Chip Count
Mathew Frankland	400,000
Daniel Cates	380,000
Sam Trickett	330,000
Patrik Antonius	320,000
Tony G	300,000
Scott Seiver	300,000
Phil Laak	290,000
Tom Dwan	280,000

According to the PartyPoker Blog, it took about an hour for the first notable hand to develop. It happened when Patrik Antonius picked up , the third player to do so within a ten-hand span, and he raised to 10,000. Sam Trickett then three-bet to 26,000 holding , Antonius four-bet 58,000, Trickett moved all in, and Antonius snap-called. The board ran out clean, allowing Antonius to double into the chip lead, leaving Trickett with the short stack.

Not long after, Trickett got his last 60,000 all in preflop with only to run into the of Daniel Cates. Trickett couldn’t come from behind and was eliminated in eighth place for $55,000.

About two hours later, qualifier Mathew Frankland, who began the final table as the chip leader, was sent packing after his couldn’t out flip Cates' after the spiked on the turn. That card sent Frankland to the rail in seventh place for $6,500. Following him out the door was Dwan, who shoved under the gun for 214,000 with and was called by Seiver, who held . Dwan couldn’t catch a king as the board ran out , eliminating him in sixth place for $80,000.

It took another couple of hours before the next elimination, but it happened at the 20,000/40,000 level when Tony G committed his last 192,000 from the button with and was called by Cates holding . Tony G was way out in front but not after the flop fell . Neither the turn nor river changed a thing, and a stunned Tony G made his way to the payout desk in fifth place to collect $100,000.

About 15 minutes later, Antonius ran into Laak's , and Antonius was sent home in fourth place for $125,000. By this point, Seiver held the chip lead with 1.175 million to Laak’s 845,000 and Cates’ 520,000. Over the next half hour, the players traded chips back and forth until Cates raised to 270,000 with and Laak called with . When the flop came down , Cates moved all in. Laak eventually folded, leaving him with just three big blinds behind. Minutes later, he was eliminated in third place for $175,000.

When heads-up play began, both players were fairly deep in chips, and Cates held just a 50,000-chip lead over his opponent. Even so, it took just 27 minutes to determine a winner. Seiver managed to pull out to a 2-1 chip lead, which is when both players got all the chips in the middle.

Showdown

Cates was in the lead through the flop and even the turn; however, the spiked on the river to give Seiver a pair of kings and the win.

PartyPoker Premier League V Results

Place	Player	Prize
1st	Scott Seiver	$500,000
2nd	Daniel Cates	$300,000
3rd	Phil Laak	$175,000
4th	Patrik Antonius	$125,000
5th	Tony G	$100,000
6th	Tom Dwan	$80,000
7th	Mathew Frankland	$65,000
8th	Sam Trickett	$55,000

For a complete recap of the action, be sure to visit the PartyPoker Blog.

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_{*Picture courtesy of PartyPoker Blog.}

Tags
Andy FrankenbergerPatrik AntoniusPhil LaakSam TrickettScott SeiverTom DwanTony G
Related Players
Phil LaakTony GScott SeiverTom DwanPatrik AntoniusSam Trickett

Paul Seaton

Premier League Poker 5 E26

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.

Premier Poker League Season 4

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.

Premier League Poker 5 E19

“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.”

Premier League Poker 5 E17

Seiver wasn’t alone in showing aptitude to the game theory side of accumulating points rather than chips throughout the series.

Premier League Poker 5 E12

“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.”

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.”

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.”