One of the Premier League Main Event seats worth $100,000 was awarded tonight. Sixteen PartyPoker qualifiers were in with a chance but only the following six made it to the final table. These were the starting stacks:
- Talal Shakerchi 320k
- Miguel Proulx 200k
- Giovanni Rizzo 200k
- Giovanni Safina 190k
- Scott Wellenbach 179-0k
- Paul Riggott 140k
Scott Wellenbach, the Canadian play money qualifier, went out in the 6th place getting knocked out by Giovanni Safina’s pair of tens.
“Best $52 spent in my life”
Paul Riggott was the next to go. Paul got into the playoffs by spending $52 on a satellite at PartyPoker. “Best $52 spent in my life” says Paul. Paul started as a short stack at the final table but with help of few good hands including AK and KK he got himself into a better position.
But after the initial run of good starting hands, Paul went card dead and had to go all-in preflop with Q-7. Fellow Brit Talal Shakerchi called with 9-10 and hit the straight to knock Paul out.
Talal Shakerchi himself was the next one to go. Talal picked up 9-10 of diamonds and went all in preflop. Miguel Proulx called with K-Q. The flop came A-J-9 giving Talal a pair but Miguel a straight draw. Eight on turn didn’t change the situation but 10 on river made Talal the second pair but Miguel the straight leaving the former chip leader in 4th position.
Giovanni knocks out Giovanni
Two Italian Giovannis and one Canadian Miguel were now left to fight for the $100,000 Premier League Main Event seat. Miguel qualified via the Palladium Lounge VIP Leaderboard while both Giovannis qualified via Italian-only satellites.
Giovanni knocks out Giovanni. Giovanni Rizzo, from Parma, goes out third after going all-in with K-3 but was called by Safina’s pocket aces. There was no help on the board for Rizzo who said “It is the winner takes it all, only first one can win. But I am really hoping for a sponsorship at this point”.
Heads-up: Italy versus Canada
We were then heads-up for the $100,000 seat in the Premier League Main Event.
- Giovanni Safina – Palermo, Italy
- Miguel Proulx – Quebec, Canada
The heads-up didn’t last too long. Miguel in small blind called with A-2, was raised by Giovanni with A-9, and Miguel then pushed all-in. Giovanni called the all-in. 3 hearts came on flop giving Giovanni a 9 high flush draw, Miguel hit one of his two-outers on turn for a pair of deuces, but the 7 of hearts on river decided it all in favour of the Sicilian.
Miguel said: “It was a nice experience. It is not every day that you get to play on TV and meet the offline pros. If I had to do it again, I would do it in a heartbeat”.
Giovanni Safina said: “I feel very very good. I am very happy”.
Giovanni will now play in the main event of the Premier League alongside world-famous players like David Benyamine, Daniel Negreanu and PartyPoker’s Tony G.
