We’re here at the M Resort in Las Vegas. It is the day one of the PartyPoker Premier League. Day one is the day of the playoffs to get into the $100,000 Main Event. We have 16 PartyPoker qualifiers fighting for one main event seat and we have 6 TeamParty members fighting for the other seat.
19.00:
Remy wins the heat 2! This is what he had to say: “I played good. When I started the sit and go I wanted to play relatively tight and just see how the other players played, because I didn’t know much about them. But I had to change my strategy because I lost chips and I had to become more aggressive.
After I got a good hand, Ian raised under the gun. I had A 9 – not a good hand but I thought I had the best hand and I had fold equity. I pushed all in and he called with K Q. I won this pot and doubled up, which was good for me because the blinds were rising. I stole a few blinds, and then Ian pushed on the button when I was in the big blind. I had Aces and he had Ace Queen. I think I played pretty good.”
Third and last heat is on tomorrow. Stay tuned to the PartyPoker blog.
18.45:
We are heads-up between Remy and Mike in the heat 2 as Felipe has just been knocked out. According to Felipe “I was playing much better even though I bust in 3rd. The moves I made were right, but unfortunately I lost a big pot early on. It was QQ vs AJ at the start. Then I became a short stack.
All the pushes were correct, and I did a good job getting to 3rd place. I guess I should have been the first one to be knocked out but I managed to hold on so that was a good result. I’m in very good shape for the third game.”
18.35:
Bodo got A J on the button, he went all in but Remy called with Q 9 offsuit from the big blind. Q 10 10 was the board and that’s it for Bodo in the heat 2.
Bodo had this story about how he got his shiny new bracelet: “My bracelet I won heads up from my mother. She bet the bracelet and I had to bet my car. It was +EV for me!”
18.15:
Ian Fraiser is the next to go. Ian tells us “I got few chips early just messing around. But if you don’t get cards there’s nothing you can do. You can if a situation arises like there’s a couple of checks on a flop, sometimes you know you can take it.
But when there’s a raise every hand and you haven’t got anything, it’s hard to get involved. I’ve ran into aces twice. I ran into Felipe’s aces, when I had A Q. Then I had A Q but I ran into aces again. It’s tough.”
18.00:
First to get knocked out of the heat 2 was Dragan Galic. Dragan tells “I’m in the big blind with A K, and Remy is in the small blind with Jacks. I had 58k – we started with 100k – so I still have a good stack. Remy pushed and I called. The flop came no help for me and I was out.”
“In the next game, I will continue to play my same game. I can’t fold AK in the big blind when the small blind pushes all in. I don’t fold this hand.”
17.45:
Second heat about to start and there is a cake for the birthday boy and the winner of heat 1, Felipe Ramos…
16.20:
Mike Sexton had a nice talk with the 16 PartyPoker qualifiers last night. It is a big opportunity for the guys so Mike wanted to give them a nice pep talk. See it here:
16.00:
Rumor is that there will be a birthday cake for Felipe today… shhh! Don’t tell him!
14.10:
Heads-up between Ian Frazer and Felipe Ramos. Ian goes all-in with A 5 but gets a quick call from Felipe with A 10. No help on the board and Felipe wins the first tournaments on his birthday! Felipe is confident and mentions that after playing for 3 hours he now has several tells on each of the TeamParty guys.
14.00:
Big hand between Felipe and Dragan. Felipe slow played his pocket rockets, but got into trouble when Dragan hit his second pair on the turn, but the lucky dice helped and the board paired on the river giving Felipe the winning hand. “Sick” was Dragan’s comment.
13.45:
Felipe Ramos is very aggressive with his short stack with several all-ins preflop but no calls from Dragan or Ian. Felipe has his lucky dice with him at the table, he cannot sit and play poker without having the dice on him. Once he forgot the dice and had to run back to his hotel room to get it, so he missed the start of the tournament.
Remy comments that Felipe can make big moves and that he likes his style of playing. In the EPT London Remy saw Felipe calling out of position with 4 6 suited. Then he check-raised all in with the flush draw on the turn.
13.30:
Remy Biechel had pocket kings in the small blind, raised all-in but was called by Ian Frazer in the big blind. Ian had A Q and got a great flop with A A 9 kicking Remy out. 3 players left…
13.15:
Dragan Galic raised with pocket 9’s, Bodo Sbrzesny went all-in with A 10, Dragan called and no help for Bodo with board 3 3 3 7 2. Dragan has now knocked out two of the TeamParty pros.
13.00:
If you are interested to know more about the place where we are hanging out for the Premier League, see more info on PokerNews who have an extensive profile of the M Resort.
12.20:
Mike Sexton has just been knocked out from the first tournament. He gets 5 points for finishing in the 6th place. Mike lost two big hands. First one he had top two pair on the flop versus Felipe Ramos who flopped the straight. Second hand was against Dragan Galic who outflopped Mike Sexton’s pair of 10’s. This is what Mike had to say:
12.10:
TeamParty guys had a nice day yesterday with a photo shoot done in one of the suits of the M Resort. PartyPoker blog was there and you can see some exclusive pictures over at our official Facebook page.
12.00:
TeamParty guys will play 3 tournaments to decide how many chips they take to the final table of the playoff. The starting stack of each tournament is 100,000 and the blinds go up every 30 minutes. There will be a league table done with points collected from the 3 tournaments:
- 17 points for the first place
- 13 points for the second place
- 10 points for the third place
- 8 points for the fourth place
- 7 points for the fifth place
- 5 points for sixth place
All 6 TeamParty players will play at the final table of the playoff and their starting stack will be amount of points earned combined in the initial 3 tournaments times by 10,000. The winner of the final table will get the $100,000 seat at the Premier League main event.