Phil Laak Leads after Premier League Opening Heats

The PartyPoker Premier League is underway in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it’s Phil Laak who has been dominating the opening exchanges out in the ‘city of sin’.

Eleven of the world’s best players are at the M Casino in Vegas to fight it out for the Premier League IV title and the $1.5 million in prize money on offer.

Laak has had a great opening two heats. After winning both Heat 1 and Heat 2 he is sitting pretty at the top of the league with a maximum 32 points. David Benyamine leads the chasing pack on 24 points, whilst Tony G is struggling at this early stage with just 2 points.

David Benyamine Joins the Las Vegas Premier League Party

The big names just keep on coming in regards to the next Party Poker Premier League. Perhaps the lure of Las Vegas is attracting some but surely the $1.5 million prize pool is pricking up the ears of all the “big hitters”.

Today, David Benyamine and been revealed as the next player to join the Premier League IV. Benyamine Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso, Phil Hellmuth, JC Tran, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Roland de Wolfe, Luke Schwartz and, as we announced last week, Tony G.

Each player (12 in total) is putting up $100,000 to buy in and Party Poker are adding $300,000 to the prize pool.

FullFlush heads to Vegas for PartyPoker’s Premier League

It’s been a little while since we heard from London’s poker motormouth Luke ‘FullFlush1′ Schwartz. Fear not though, fans of the biggest villain from the 2009 poker scene, because FullFlush is back on the big stage this February. This time he’s heading to Las Vegas for the latest edition of PartyPoker’s Premier League.

Premier League IV will run from February 11th to 18th and alongside Schwartz the line-up of confirmed players is looking pretty impressive so far. J.C. Tran, Phil Hellmuth and Roland de Wolfe will all make their way to ‘Sin City’ to do battle, but it’s FullFlush that has captured the imagination of poker fans thanks to his bad boy antics from late ‘09.

Amir Vahedi Dies from Diabetes Complications

The world of poker was in shock last weekend as news filtered through of the death of Amir Vahedi. Vahedi passed away on January 8th from complications with his diabetes.

Amir was a much loved member of the poker community and a larger than life character. It’s rare that any single player attracts anything but good comments from his or her fellow pro’s but the cigar chomping Vahedi fell into that category.

Vahedi was perhaps most famous for his sixth place finish in the 2003 WSOP. His aggressive game and likeable nature made him one of the first TV poker stars at a time when poker was about to experience a huge boom in popularity.

The Tiger Woods of Poker – Phil Ivey in Profile

Tiger Woods may be suffering from various scandals of late but when it comes to sporting comparisons there are still few other options when trying to match Phil Ivey.

Ivey is widely recognised as one of the finest poker players of his generation. Whether it be in cash games, tournaments, strange variations of poker, online or in a card room it’s tough to find a player that has excelled in so many fields like Ivey has.

This is our mini-tribute to Phil Ivey including some facts and figures about the great man but no stories of infidelity or Tiger Woods style car crashes.

__FullFlush1__ vs pr1nnyraid – Luke Schwartz’s Offensive Rant

Luke Schwartz has been at it AGAIN. After being banned from the EPT and all the Grosvenor casinos in the UK it seems “__FullFlush1__” is determined to stir up more trouble. This time the target of his abuse was Jason Rosenkrantz, aka “pr1nnyraid”, on Full Tilt Poker.

We’ve obtained a copy of the chat log between Schwartz and Rosenkrantz and it makes for sometimes amusing but mostly offensive reading. If you’re easily offended then stop reading now.

Nude Poker Players Appear in ESPN Magazine

Jennifer Harman, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, and Scotty Nguyen have shocked the poker world by appearing in the latest issue of ESPN’s “The Magazine – Body Issue” in the nude! The four pro’s have made their living by concealing as much as they can at the poker tables over the years but all have revealed rather a lot of themselves in the latest publication.

Although there is certainly a lot of flesh on display, the Disney owned magazine was careful to avoid shocking their readers too much! The sight of Phil Hellmuth’s breasts (pictured) are certain to attract a barrage of comments and ridicule on Internet forums though.

Doyle Brunson in Contention at WSOPE Main Event

Doyle Brunson is up amongst the chip leaders in the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) main event. “Texas Dolly” showed all the class and experience he has gained through decades of WSOP experience by cruising through Day 2 to end in 6th place before Day 3 begins at mid-day, UK time, today.

Doyle still has some way to go to catch the current chip leader Ian Munns, though. Munns amassed a huge stack of over 500,000 chips as play ended for the day late last night. His nearest rival, Praz Bansi, is over 200,000 chips behind him at this stage.

Phil Hellmuth to Coach WSOP November Niner

Phil Hellmuth failed to reach the WSOP main event final this year but his influence will certainly be evident as the November Nine take their seats. It was announced today that “the Poker Brat” will be coaching finalist Jeff Shulman in the run up to the start of the event.

Readers may think that Shulman has enough experience to head into the final without any assistance. Indeed, the CardPlayer editor certainly knows his game and is in good shape in fourth place before the final begins. Shulman thinks the help of 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Hellmuth is a logical one to seek.