Continued from Part Six…
French Revolution
Last week, 12 of the world’s greatest poker players were brought together to battle it out for the Premier League title, the winner taking home $400,000 and any other monies accrued along the way. After six heats, two heads-up playoffs, and one hard fought final, it was Frenchman David Benyamine who snatched gold ahead of Black Belt Poker blogger Luke ‘FullFlush’ Schwartz.
A Frenchman was considered a prerequisite for event organisers Matchroom, and with ElkY hindered by Party Poker’s restrictions on sponsored pros, David Benyamine became the natural choice. With a near four million in tournament winnings and a permanent slot at the nosebleed stakes, the French high stakes pro was more than worth his salt and quickly proved his selection by finishing third in Heat 2 and first in Heat 3. By Heat 4, he had secured his seat in the final.
Heading into the final with 380,000 in chips, Benyamine lay in second behind pace setter Phil Laak, but at the 7,000/15,000 level, Benyamine took out the start-of-day leader with A-K versus jacks. After removing Negreanu in fourth, and Schwartz eliminating qualifier Giovanni Safina in third, the Frenhcman found himself heads-up with a near 2:1 chip deficit.
Nevertheless, Benyamine battled ferociously and doubled up with K-T versus K-7. Soon after, Schwartz raised to 80,000 with Q-2, Benyamine called with Q-8 and both players saw a 5-3-Q flop where all the chips flew in, Benyamine looking to evade one of three deuces to snatch victory. A seven turn and six river and the high stakes pro from Paris was crowned Champion with Schwartz picking up $200,000 for second.
“It feels really good winning a title, I’m still not used to doing it,” said Benyamine, who adds $76,000 to his winning prize money from his league performances. “The whole time I never thought about winning, I just wanted to do what I thought was right. I know people always say that when they win but it’s true. “Position in these final tables can help and I didn’t do anything special today, I just got hands at the right time and played them properly. Luke is a very impulsive player but I just stuck to my own game heads-up and it was enough.”
“I’m really, really disappointed – I keep getting second and third in these TV tournaments,” said Schwartz, who pocketed $200,000 for his second place finish plus $58,000 for his 29 league points. “I think I played the best this week and deserved to come first but that’s the way it goes – it just makes me want to take it down more next time.”
Looking Back
Throughout this year’s Premier League, we published a series of articles that offered readers a plethora of information in the form of videos, interviews, pictures, results, and much more. This is your chance to recap on that content.
Also, be sure to check out our favourite ever Premier League clip.
Articles:
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
Premier League Review – Part Six: Turnin’ Up the Heat
Videos:
All-Time Best Premier League Clip:
Tony G makes a boo boo
Interviews:
PPL Interview: Phil Laak
PPL Interview: Ian Frazer
Blogs:
Luke Schwartz Premier League (Mar 09)
Luke Schwartz – Premier League 2 (Mar 10)
Results:
Online Final & Party Pro Qualifiers
Heats 1-3
Heats 4-5
Heat 6
Heads-Up Playoffs…
Roland De Wolfe beat Ian Frazer 2:1
Daniel Negreanu beat JC Tran 2:1
Final…
1st David Benyamine -- $400,000
2nd Luke Schwartz $200,000
3rd Giovanni Safina $100,000
4th Daniel Negreanu $80,000
5th Roland De Wolfe $70,000
6th Phil Laak $50,000
Final League Standings:
1st David Benyamine -- $476,000 (38 points)
2nd Luke Schwartz -- $258,000 (29 points)
3rd Giovanni Safina -- $158,000 (29 points)
4th Daniel Negreanu -- $132,000 (26 points)
5th Roland De Wolfe -- $114,000 (22 points)
6th Phil Laak -- $146,000 (48 points)
7th Ian Frazer -- $52,000 (fifth spot with 26 points)
8th JC Tran -- $40,000 (eight spot with 20 points)
9th Phil Hellmuth -- $38,000 (19 points)
10th Yevgeniy Timoshenko -- $32,000 (16 points)
11th Vanessa Rousso -- $32,000 (16 points)
12th Tony G -- $22,000 (11 points)
images courtesy of Matchroom Poker
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
Premier League Review - Part Six: Turnin' Up the Heat