Negreanu wins heat six in Vegas to deny Hellmuth - 18/02/2010

Daniel Negreanu beat Phil Hellmuth heads-up in a thrilling final heat of the PartyPoker.com Premier League IV at the M Resort Spa Casino in Las Vegas – securing a heads-up play-off for himself and relegating Hellmuth in the process.

With the bottom five players in the league all in action and debating the permutations to get into the top four to secure a final table spot or from fifth to eighth spots to get into the four heads-up knock out spaces, strategy was the name of the game and Negreanu showed he was the master, taking the 16 points on offer for top spot to finish in fifth place overall and set up a heads-up meeting with defending champion JC Tran, who finished in eighth place, one point ahead of Hellmuth.

The other heads-up match is an all-English affair as Ian Frazer taking on Roland De Wolfe – with De Wolfe’s third place finish in this heat proving vital. Roland had been in a similar situation last year, but if he had nerves he didn’t show them, hiring Darth Vader, Austin Powers and Kermit the Frog costumes from a nearby fancy dress outlet to add some humour to an a high-charged table.

Negreanu's aces earned him a play-off spot - Photo by Mickey May

“Man that was such a rocky road!” said Negreanu. “I thought third was going to be enough bar a few scenarios but those scenarios turned up, Roland did really well and I had to make sure I got heads-up.”

Luke Schwartz was fully aware of the situation he found himself in, needing to do little other than let others fall by the wayside in order to progress – perhaps in order not to be tempted to jeopardize his chances by playing a pot, he opted to be blinded away and wandered around the casino, with De Wolfe placing a stuffed cuddly toy monkey in his place. Schwartz made a rare return to the table early on and woke up with aces and raised to 11k, Negreanu said Luke would have to fold if he shoved and he did just that with A2 and Schwartz snapped him off and doubled up.

“It was so weird because Luke was never there and then he was and picks up aces when I have an ace – just a crazy, crazy day,” said Negreanu.

Negreanu held a substantial chip lead heads-up with Hellmuth – 1,755k to Phil’s 645k – but that quickly changed as they were all-in straight away. Hellmuth limped with A10, Negreanu raised to 160k with KJ and Phil moved all-in and Daniel called – Phil took the pot and the chip lead. In a breathless heads-up, Negreanu soon pulled even and then won with aces. Hellmuth limped again with K9 of diamonds and Negreanu raised with the bullets to 180k, Phil moved all-in and Daniel snapped him off. Before the flop was dealt, the floor was filled with Tran, De Wolfe and Frazer holding a vested interest in the outcome, and the aces held, meaning Hellmuth missed out on the Premier League final table for the third season running.

“I can’t be too disappointed really,” said Hellmuth. “I feel good with the way I’ve played. I love playing under the heat of pressure and I feel I’m on the path to achieving great things this year but it just didn’t happen to me here.”

League leader Phil Laak came back to earth with a bump, getting knocked out in eighth spot after winning his first three heats. A couple of hands later, Hellmuth fired 12k with pocket sevens and Laak reraised the button with AK – Negreanu picked up pocket tens and moved all-in for 124k, Hellmuth folded and Laak called – the tens holding strong and leaving Laak with just three big blinds. Moments later he was all-in with AJ against Tony G’s pocket sixes and couldn’t hit, meaning Tony got to send Laak on his bike with no points.

Tony G was second in chips as the blinds hit 10/20k but promptly doubled Negreanu up as he attempted to eliminate Kid Poker – Daniel’s tens stood firm as Tony hunted “an ace from space” and he was down to 100k. That stack didn’t last long as Hellmuth open shoved in the small blind with 108 and Tony called in the big blind with the black sevens – the pocket pair staying in front until the eight came on the river to knock Tony out of the heat and end his hopes of reaching a third Premier League Poker final table.

With Laak failing to score in the final heat, David Benyamine had the opportunity to be the chip leader in the final but he fell in sixth spot. He was the short stack when Tony had the chips and remained so when the Aussie left the tournament, moving all-in for 83k just after Tony left with J9 and Hellmuth made the call with KJ. The passive De Wolfe then announced he was all-in for 287k with red kings and after asking Roland what he was up to, Hellmuth found the fold and De Wolfe’s kings did the job on David and moved Roland into a strong position.

Vanessa Rousso needed a big result in the final and battled hard to get there but eventually fell in fifth spot. She moved all-in on the button with A4 and got called by both Schwartz (pocket sevens) and Negreanu (74 of spades) – they checked down the J33K3 board to give Luke the pot and send Rousso out with four points.

Schwartz learned that he had done enough to get into the top four and began to play nice and loose and have a bit of fun on the table. He shoved on a fair few occasions and when he did so with A9, Roland picked up kings and doubled up through Full Flush. He dropped to just 50k and was in all on the big blind the next hand, where Negreanu dealt the killer blow with pocket queens to leave Schwartz taking six points.

De Wolfe was guaranteed a place in the heads-up knockouts and was gunning for top spot to make the final – but an coin-flip with Schwartz had given Negreanu over one million in chips and the Canadian ensured he would hold a decisive chip lead heads-up with Hellmuth when Roland moved all-in for 640k with A8 and Negreanu called with AK – De Wolfe didn’t hit but he’d done what he needed to do to make it to the final day.

The final will begin on Thursday afternoon with Laak the chip leader, followed by Benyamine, online qualifier Giovanni Safina and Schwartz. The two best-of-three heads-up matches will determine the remaining two seats at the final table and the first heads up match is due to start at 11am.

HEAT SIX RESULT
1 Daniel Negreanu – 16 points
2 Phil Hellmuth – 11 points
3 Roland De Wolfe – 8 points
4 Luke Schwartz – 6 points
5 Vanessa Rousso – 4 points
6 David Benyamine – 3 points
7 Tony G – 2 points
8 Phil Laak – 0 points

Final Standings – top four automatically into the final table, next four play heads-up
Phil Laak Pld 4 Pts 48
David Benyamine Pld 4 Pts 38
Luke Schwartz Pld 4 Pts 29
Giovanni Safina Pld 4 Pts 29
*Daniel Negreanu Pld 4 Pts 26
Ian Frazer Pld 4 Pts 26
Roland De Wolfe Pld 4 Pts 22
JC Tran Pld 4 Pts 20
Phil Hellmuth Pld 4 Pts 19
Yevgeniy Timoshenko Pld 4 Pts 16
Vanessa Rousso Pld 4 Pts 16
Tony G Pld 4 Pts 11

* Negreanu finishes ahead of Frazer on account of their finishing positions in the heats.

Heads-Up Match One: Daniel Negreanu v JC Tran
Heads-Up Match Two: Ian Frazer v Roland De Wolfe

Final (starting stacks one point equals 10,000 in chips)
Phil Laak – 480,000
David Benyamine – 380,000
Luke Schwartz – 290,000
Giovanni Safina – 290,000
Heads-Up Match One winner
Heads-Up Match Two winner