The Party Poker Premier League season 3 will kick off next week and there won’t be any shortage of big names on the roster. Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil Hellmuth and World Series of Poker Main Event champion Peter Eastgate are the latest to sign on for the event, which will take place in London between the 24th and 30th of November.
Eastgate is coming off his $9 million WSOP victory earlier this month and goes into the Party Poker Premier League III as the odds-on favorite. Rather than taking a break and enjoying his newfound wealth, the youngster is diving right back into the spotlight.
“This is my first event since the WSOP Main Event final table, so I am delighted to be part of a world-class lineup,” he said. “I am the man in form and I want to show people why I am the World Champion.”
Hellmuth was the 12th and final member added to the Party Poker Premier League roster. He commented on playing with the new world champ, saying
“only a few weeks back, Peter Eastgate broke my record as youngest world champion of poker in history at the tender age of 22-years-old. I’m looking forward to watching the way this young gun plays his hands in the Premier League.”
Eastgate (7-1), JC Tran (15-1), Nenad Medic (8-1) and Annette Obrestad (17-2) are the favorites going into the event according to partybets.com. Some of the other pros participating will be Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott (10-1), Roland De Wolfe (10-1), Tony G (11-1), Juha Helppi (16-1), Victoria Coren (21-1), and defending champion Andy Black (16-1).
Dwan, a respected high-stakes online cash player, will step out of his regular ring games to play in his first Premier League. He is listed at 9-1. “I’m really excited about coming to play the Premier League and am honored to be invited,” he said. “The line-up is simply world class and I am coming to London determined to win.”
A spokesman for Party Poker said:
“The odds say everything about the added strength of the players in PartyPoker.com Premier League III. The five young gun newcomers all head the betting. We didn’t just fill in spots — we brought in players who are more than capable of giving those who thought they were the best a whipping.”
The League features 12 of the top players in the world playing in a unique format. All players will play six times in the preliminary rounds, with the top four advancing to the final table. The next four will play heads-up for the remaining two final table seats.
The buy-in for the Premier League III was raised to from $60,000 to $75,000. Party Poker will add $350,000 for a total prize pool of $1.25 million. The draw for the heats takes place at 10 a.m. GMT on Thursday, November 20th, at the studios that are hosting the event. The draw will be blogged live at www.matchroompoker.com.
