Compared to its earlier incarnations, Heat 4 of the partypoker Premier League VII was a sprint instead of a marathon. In the end, Dan Colman was able to capture the Heat 4 victory and, with the 14 points for the win, took the top slot in the overall standings.
It’s not like Colman had a cakewalk, either. Looking around the felt, Colman saw the likes of Antonio Esfandiari, Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates, Sorel Mizzi, Jonathan Duhamel, Phil Laak, Vanessa Selbst and Scott Seiver. With pretty much everyone having played two heats to this point in the schedule (only Esfandiari had played one), the battle to garner those all important points and get into the Top Eight in the standings was fierce from the outset.
The previous three heats had all exceeded 200 hands in length and it appeared that Saturday’s action would follow that same course. The players were comfortable shuffling the chips around the table and, over the first 60 hands, there were no eliminations. Esfandiari, in dire need of a heat victory to add to his meager 5 points (from one event), held the lead at that point with Selbst lurking behind him.
The first elimination would come on Hand 67 when Seiver and Esfandiari would battle it out. Seiver pushed all in pre-flop with his short stack and Esfandiari woke up to make the call. Seiver’s pocket Kings were crushing Esfandiari’s pocket sevens and nothing on the 4-10-6 flop gave any reason for Esfandiari to get his hopes up. The twosome saw a nine come on the turn and, with that, Esfandiari added some straight outs (any eight) along with the two sevens left in the deck. The eight on the river magically produced the runner-runner straight for Esfandiari, sending Seiver to the rail in stunning fashion.
With that hand, Esfandiari took over a 450,000 chip lead over Colman and the bust outs continued to come. Laak would river a King with his K-10 to trump Cates’ pocket sevens to send him out of the Playground Poker Club in seventh, then Colman crushed Selbst with pocket Aces versus Selbst’s suited A-J to end her night in sixth. After Esfandiari eliminated Mizzi on Hand 91, turning a set of Jacks after Mizzi caught a King on the flop to take the lead, four players were remaining with Esfandiari still holding the lead.
“The Magician” continued to mesmerize the table as, on Hand 107, he knocked off a short stacked Duhamel with a boat to bring the action to three players. That was his last stand, however, as a clash with his best friend sent him tumbling down the leaderboard when it appeared he was cruising to the win.
On Hand 115, Laak pushed all in from the button with only a Q-J and, after some deliberation, Esfandiari looked him up with his A-9. The 8-8-3-9 flop and turn kept Esfandiari in the lead and actually saw Laak begin to pack his things for his departure from the felt. The river Queen, though, forced Laak to drop his bags to scoop up a massive pot that would push him into the lead. The defeat would drop Esfandiari to the short stack and, moments later, Colman would end his tournament to bring about heads up play.
At the start of heads up, Laak held a roughly 400K chip lead over Colman. Over the first 20 hands of heads up, Colman was able to reverse that situation and take a 200K chip lead. On Hand 156, Laak opened the betting and Colman called to see an 8-6-K flop. Colman would check-raise a continuation bet out of Laak and, after Laak called, the gentlemen would see a deuce on the turn. Colman continued to fire, betting 240K, and Laak made the call. The duo then saw a seven on the river and Colman moved all-in.
Laak, agonizing over the decision, finally made the call and tabled a strong K-10 for a pair of Kings. Colman had trapped him well the entire length of the board after flopping two pair with his 8-6 and, once he unveiled his hand, Heat 4 of the partypoker Premier League VII was over.
1. Dan Colman – 14 points
2. Phil Laak – 11 points
3. Antonio Esfandiari – 9 points
4. Jonathan Duhamel – 7 points
5. Sorel Mizzi – 5 points
6. Dan Cates – 3 points
7. Vanessa Selbst – 1 point
8. Scott Seiver – 0 points
With the win in Heat 4, Colman has now also taken over the top slot on the overall leaderboard by a nice margin over Mizzi and Jeff Gross.
1. Dan Colman (3 of 4 heats played) – 34 points
2. Sorel Mizzi (3/4) – 26 points
3. Jeff Gross (2/4) – 25 points
4. Jason Koon (3/4) – 20 points
5. Dan Cates (3/4) – 19 points
6. Jonathan Duhamel (3/4) – 17 points
7. Antonio Esfandiari (2/4) – 14 points
(tie) Phil Laak (3/4) – 14 points
9. Scott Seiver (3/4) – 11 points
10. Vanessa Selbst (3/4) – 7 points
(tie) Dan Shak (2/4) – 7 points
12. Brian Rast (2/4) – 6 points
Sunday’s Heat 5 action will complete the first stage of the tournament for a handful of players. Koon, Cates, Laak and Colman will be playing in their fourth heat, while Gross, Esfandiari, Shak and Rast will be playing their third. Following Monday’s Heat 6 completion, the Top Four players on the Premier League standings will move onto the Championship Table while the next four slots (5th through 8th place) will square off in a series of heads up matches to determine the final two players at the Championship Table.
