David Benyamine rocketed himself into second place in the table after taking down heat three but Italian PartyPoker online qualifier Giovanni Safina did himself a huge amount of justice in finishing in second place. The Italian lawyer, who qualified for the elite event for just 100 euros has now cashed $30,000 and looks to be in a good position to qualify for the final table.
See all the pictures from the heat 3 at PartyPoker’s Facebook page.
“This is a dream, it is completely unbelievable. Just to be sat at the table with the likes of Daniel Negreanu and David Benyamine is enough and without a couple of bad beats I would have won!” These notable beats include losing with KJ to K10 to French wizard Benyamine and a AQ versus AK match-up with Kid Poker Negreanu which failed to fall in favour of the Italian.
“I have only played two heats but I have seen my style of play changing,” added Safina. “I am typically a tight aggressive player but the more exposure i get to these world class pros the more aggressive my game is becoming. I am definitely becoming more relaxed in their company – the language barrier is difficult but I am becoming more focused by the day.”
Talking of the language barrier, our friends at PokerNews have created the Premier League guide to trash talking. Unsurprisingly, Safina isnt top of this table.
Heat three was the first heat in the Premier League to make it to the dinner break eight handed and you can see how it all unfolded with detailed hand analysis at Pokernews. Negreanu went from chip leader to busting with just four points.
Here’s how the standings look after the third heat.
- Phil Laak – 32 points
- David Benyamine – 24 points
- JC Tran – 17 points
- Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 16 points
- Giovanni Safina – 15 points
- Roland De Wolfe – 14 points
- Vanessa Rousso – 8 points
- Ian Frazer – 8 points
- Phil Hellmuth – 6 points
- Luke Schwartz – 4 points
- Daniel Negreanu – 4 points
- Tony G – 2 points
There’s little doubt on who Safina sees as the major threats to him in the event. “Both Phil Laak and JC Tran have made quite an impression on me. I am not scared as i believe in myself and my game but these two will be there or thereabouts when it comes to the business end of the tournament I’m sure.”
Heat four gets underway at 12pm Vegas time tomorrow. It has to be bike time for the Premier League stars if Tony G is to progress further!
