We’ve sifted though the past four series of the high stakes poker tournament to bring you one of our favourite moments from World Open II.

The play is down to the last three and the blinds sit at $7,000/$15,000.  Jeff Schreibman limps in from the small blind, slow playing A8 off-suit. Lawrence Bonet in the big blind looks down at 54 off-suit, knowing he’s the underdog Bonet decides just to check hoping to hit something on the flop.

The community cards offer no help to Bonet but he’s not going to let a small matter like that stop him from giving Schreibman a poker lesson.

Played over seven heats plus the final table the World Open V brought together some of the biggest names in poker to the Palm Beach Casino in London’s Mayfair district.  Each player sat down with a mighty 300,000 chips after buying-in for $20,000 all with the aim of claiming the World Open title and $250,000.

Heat 1 featured three of the brightest young talents in the poker world WPT champion Yevgeniy Tomashenko, 2009 WSOP Main Event contender James Akenhead and high stakes online pro Luke ‘FullFlush1’ Schwartz.  Tune in this Wednesday on Channel Five to see how the action unfolded at the felt.

It had not been such a comfortable ride for the american earlier in the final after he suffered a string of heavy losses. At one point he was staring down at a chip stack of 47,000 with the blinds at 15,000/30,000, about as close to elimination as you can possibly get.

The poker Gods must have been looking down favourably on Laak as he held in there doubling up three times.  On each occasion he pushed all-in only to be called by a stronger hand but somehow Laak hit his cards and he was back in the game.

First out on the final table was early chip leader Andy Black, followed shortly by Mike Sexton, whose deserved Hall of Fame induction was confirmed to the public while he was playing the final table. Sexton’s pocket eights ran into Veit’s pocket kings. Champion Laak had special words for the Ambassador of Poker on collecting his trophy. “Mike Sexton, inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame today. The consummate player. Full stop.”

Next to go was Jennifer Tilly when her AJ failed to hit against Veit’s 99 – it looked to many like it was going to be the online qualifier’s day. Fourth place belonged to PartyPoker.com Grassroots team member Bodo Sbrzesny, who impressed again in front of the cameras in a gruelling heads-up battle with Andy Black in his heat and with his creative play at the final table.

Sbrzesny, a Palladium Lounge Elite member, exploded on the scene last year after he won a rake race on PartyPoker.com to take a seat at the Poker Den 36 hour cash game. He certainly made in impression on Roland De Wolfe and Barny Boatman there, by bluffing both with 72 and showing them.

What followed was a long period of three handed play but it was Luke ‘FullFlush’ Schwartz who busted next. After problems entering the casino on the first day, he had his responsible escort on hand in the crowd and certainly did himself justice. As you would expect, he contributed to a chatty and entertaining final table.

Schwartz busted when Veit hit runner, runner for a club flush. At the heads-up stage Veit held a 1,190,000/910,000 advantage but you couldn’t rule out comeback king Laak.

Incredibly, the heads up battle was practically over before it had got going as first hand both players found an Ace in the hole and pushed all-in.  Phil had Veit dominated with A8 against A4, to add insult to injury for the Austrian an 8 dropped on the flop leaving him with only 300,000 chips enough for only five big blinds.  The inevitable all-in from Veit soon followed and Phil called with a Q10, his hand was good enough to beat J7.

We’ve had a great time over the course five days, through seven heats plus the final the players have kept us royally entertained.  It just leaves me to say congratulations to Phil, he’s a very worthy winner of the world Open, showing why he’s one of the most accomplished and popular players on the circuit.

We have exclusive photos from the final table for your perusal over at our facebook fan page facebook.com/partypoker.

Play got underway at 15:30 GMT, quite early for a final table but the schedule has had to be adapted to accommodate the new triple stacked format that gives players a whopping 300,000 starting chip count.  As with the previous heats the action was few and far between at the low level blinds.  But as the blinds began to increase the players were forced to start pushing the chips around.

With the combustible Luke Schwartz at the table Phil Laak and Andy Black were keen to tease the young londoner but Luke took it all in his stride determined not to let the experienced pros knock his concentration.  Schwartz was by far the most aggrerssive player at the table, consistently picking his spot to make pre-flop raises and slowly amass chips.

Online qualifier Jan Veit also made a strong showing in the early stages with his solid, tight style of play.  The most entertaining player at the table was Andy Black not happy with throwing digs at Luke he frequently made big bluffs against the unusually timid Jennifer Tilly as his chip stack vaulted up and down.

After the first break the play all of a sudden began to excite the large crowd that has descended on the Palm Beach Casino.  We saw all in after all in but the end result was chips being shared between the players as no one could deliver that crucial first knockout blow.  Andy Black had continued his cavalier style of play but after a few successes against Tilly his risky strategy began to count against him.

Soon he became the short stack, just waiting for the right moment to push all in.  With KJ in the hole Black made the move but Phil Laak looked down at A7 and that was enough to make the call.  The Ace hit on the flop and that was the end of the tournament for the former Main Event finalist.

Next to go was Mike Sexton, facing up to the inevitable all in as the short stack Mike pushed with eights only to be called be Jan Veit’s pair of kings.  It’s goodnight the the PartyPoker representative but it hasn’t been a completely bad day for the poker legend (more on that later).

Soon after tournament director called for the next break.  We are now five handed with Tilly, Laak, Bodo, Veit and Luke Schwartz left.  Nobody has yet staked a claim to be the dominant force at the table so it’s still anybody’s game.

Keep up to date with the latter stages of the tournament at our live feed on twitter.

Talking of funky buddhas, ‘Mad Monk’ Andy Black is also at the final table – joining Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Austrian online qualifier Jan Veit and Luke ‘FullFlush’ Schwartz.

Organisers are hoping for no trouble when Schwartz turns up after he found himself barred from the casino when he arrived for his heat on Sunday.

It’s a great mix of personalities on the final table pitting very different styles against each other in the fight for the $250,000 top prize.  One thing to llok out for in particular isto see how Tilly and Laak approach the game.  Will they play as normal ignoring the fact that they are a couple or will they shy away from betting against each other in the early stages.

Obviously, we’re not suggesting there will be any collusion but it will create an interesting and highly unusual dynamic at the final table.  The other competitors will also be weighing up how to take advantage of the situation, can they distract the duo with their comments at the table or engender hands that force the two to play off against each other.

whatever happens we are in for a treat tonight, this is one of the most star studded final tables we have ever had at a PartyPoker tournament, and with the new triple stack format we’re guaranteed some great poker.

You can follow the final table action as it happens over at our live PartyPoker Twitter feed.

PartyPoker.com World Open V – The Final Table

Luke ‘FullFlush’ Schwartz

Jan Veit

Andy Black

Phil Laak

Jennifer Tilly

Mike Sexton

Bodo Sbrzesny

It hadn’t always looked like the PartyPoker Global Ambassador would progress through this heat as time and time again he ran up against bigger hands leaving him short stacked.  The WPT commentator had to dig deep into his vast reservoir of poker experience to claw his way back into contention.

In a field including such poker luminaries as reigning champion Marty Smyth, 2009 European Open V winner Roberto Romanello and Brazilian star Felipe ‘Mojave’ Ramos the game started of very cagily as the players sized up each other.  It was no surprise to see the players acting warily as the new triple stacked format afforded them the time to gradually build their chip counts.

It was Romanello and Smyth who made the first breakaway from the pack amassing over 700,000 chips before the first break.  As the blinds began to increase we saw our first players depart.  First out was Bruno Fitoussi then Felipe and Dixie followed in quick succession.

As we came into a three-handed game online qualifier Daniel Drescher lead the way with 1.1m chips with Romanello and Sexton trailing way behind.  But suddenly the wily Sexton stepped up a gear first doubling up against Romanello with A10 V A4 then delivering the final blow to knock the long time chip leader out of the tourney in third place.

That left Sexton up against the German Drescher.  To say we were left with a gulf in experience at the table would be an understatement of the mightiest proportions.  But as you will all know in a two-way fight it can be anybody’s game.  However it wasn’t to be as unbelievably the heads-up battle lasted just one hand.  Drescher had aggressively pushed all in with a flush draw but Sexton had hit two pair with two fours and two fives, Sexton made the call and hit the full house on the turn to leave Drescher drawing dead.

The rapidity of the finish had caught everyone by surprise but not the calm and composed Mike Sexton who has seen it all before.  He now progresses into today’s final and Drescher moves into the runners-up heat.

Great news for the PartyPoker pro but that leaves us with one problem who are we going to get to commentate on the final now Mike’s taken his seat?  Any takers out there?

PartyPoker pro Bodo Sbrzesny was the only man who really managed to move the famously phlegmatic Black out of his comfort zone drawing him into losing calls on a few occassions.  But those losses were soon recouped by Black against the weaker opponents on the table.

The triple stacked format seems to be favouring the professionals as it allows them to play a more creative style of poker rather than having their hand forced by speedily increasing blinds.

We are seeing the pros bluff a lot more this time around testing the more inexperienced players mettle.  Not surprisingly, it was Black who adapted the best to the new conditions, always asking searching questions with his raises and all to often he hit his hand or his opponents meekly folded.

In previous heats we have all the players survive through the first couple of blind levels but to everyone’s surprise Irish pro Liam Flood exited the stage early in the piece at the hands of young upstart Andrew Feldman.  Vladimir Geshkenbein soon followed Flood and then Feldman was the next to depart as he went all in with top pair only to be called by PartyPoker pro Bodo’s trip fives.

As the heat moved into the following day it became the Bodo and Black show sharing the spoils of glory as player after player exited.  By the time we were heads up Black had built a commanding lead leaving Bodo little option to go all-in once he found a decent hand.  And so it was, Bodo pushed with A6 and Black called with Q9, hitting the Queen on the flop to send Bodo packing.

A special mention must go out to online qualifier Paulo Melo, considering this was his first live tournament and he qualified through three satellite tourneys starting with a $3 stake to make it into the top four was a great achievement.

Heat 6 followed soon after featuring a pair of PartyPoker pros Mike Sexton and Felipe Ramos and reigning champion Marty Smyth.  We’ll have a report on heat 6 tomorrow in the meantime catch up with action as it happens over at our twitter feed @partypokernews.

Unlike the previous heats this was a very cagey affair.  Maybe the players were too comfortable with their triple stacks to want to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

It was left to Sheringham to make the first moves when the blinds hit 5/10k – first knocking out  Englishman Simon Craig, then seeing off PartyPoker.com in the Sky winner Johannes Nord Jorgensen, beating his pocket queens with AK as the killer ace hit on the flop.

Sam Trickett was the third player to fall, getting it in good with a pair of sevens again Veit’s AQ and staying in-front on the flop before Jan rivered two pair to end Trickett’s tournament.
Double WSOP bracelet winner Scott Fischman completed Teddy’s hat-trick, shoving with pocket sixes and running into Sheringham’s kings and Fischman was gone when both men missed the board.  After the slow start the pace suddenly quickened as next to fall was Alec Torelli, he took a shot at Veit with J9 when Jan moved all-in, only for Veit to turn over the pocket rockets.

That left Torelli with just over 100k and in the very next hand that was down to zilch, Alec pushed in with K2 and Sheringham picking up a pair of eights to go three-handed with over one million in chips.

But the 20/40k level was not kind to the striker and as the blinds edged towards 30/60k, he bled off a portion of his stack to Veit in two hands with nothing against two pair and top pair and the balance of power began to sway in Veit’s direction. He remained dominant going heads-up with Sheringham after WSOP November-Niner Antoine Saout, who ran into trip nines to finish just outside of the qualifying places.

So Veit had the chip lead and it wasn’t long until he had them all – Teddy taking a big gamble with 102 and running into AJ, with Jan hitting a jack for good measure, it seems only Doyle Brunson can win with 102.  Jan now moves into Thursday’s final and Teddy will go into extra-time (is that pushing the metaphor too far??) in the round robin playoff where he will face the other second place finishers.

The final table is shaping up nicely with four of the seven places already booked we have world renowned pros Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly and Luke ‘FullFlush1′ Schwartz and now online qualifier Jan Veit in the mix.

UPDATE:  The fifth place has been booked by yet another top class pro, more on that in the next post but if you can’t wait till then the answer is somewhere in our twitter feed over @partypokernews.

Well that’s exactly what amateur poker player Paulo Melo did and thanks to his superb play through our World Open V online qualifying structure the thirty-five year old from The Azures, Portugal now has the chance to get his hands on the prestigious title and the $250,000 top prize.

It all started for ‘Golfinho_33’ way back with a $3 World Open V sub-qualifier satellite.  Our amateur fought through a field of 300 players to claim first spot and a $75 ticket to the next level of the structure.  The step up in standard didn’t faze Paulo at all as he finished in second place, high enough to gain a $700 buy-in to the main World Open V satellite.

Now this is where the big boys start to come in sniffing a chance to win a cheap seat at a major TV tournament but once again Paolo battled his way through the field and from the lowly initial stake of $3 Paolo had won a package worth a cool $13,000 to the PartyPoker.com World Open V!

Unbelievably the Portuguese player has only been playing at PartyPoker.com for a year after his friends suggested he try his luck at our poker site.  He mainly plays at the low-limit sit ‘n’ go tables and the odd satellite to our offline events.

To make it through to the heats of the World Open V has been a big experience for Paolo as this will be his first live tournament.  “To play at the World Open V is a dream come true because I have watched the pros on TV and now it’s my chance to compete with the best.  It’s doesn’t matter if I win or lose, qualifying for the tournament was the real achievement.”

Paolo will play in heat 5 with such poker luminaries as WSOP Main Event finalist Andy Black, PartyPoker European Open winner Liam Flood and Team PartyPoker Pro Bodo Sbrzesny.  I’m sure you’ll all join me in wishing him the best of luck and you can keep up to date with Paolo’s progress over at twitter.com/partypokernews or our facebook fan page facebook.com/partypoker.

Up against one of the strongest fields so far, including online phenomenon Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan, high stakes cash games player Sammy George and WSOP bracelet winner Roland De Wolfe, Tilly controlled proceedings from the start.

The American pro took full advantage of the strong hole cards she was receiving, pushing aggressively into the pot at every opportunity and it paid off aplenty as her chip stack began to build substantially.

It was Tilly who knocked out pre-tournament favourite Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan mid way through the game.  As Dwan looked to accelerate he was unfortunate to hit Tilly’s pocket rockets after his all-in move with Jacks.  That left Tilly as chip leader in a three-handed shoot out with Sammy George and experienced pro Neil Channing.

The chips moved around between the three pros but nobody managed to take control of the table and with the game running into the wee hours, tournament director Marty Wilson called time and instructed the players that they would recommence the next afternoon.

With the players refreshed, play got underway again on Tuesday and true to form it was Tilly who began to edge ahead particularly at the expense Sammy George.  The Londoner was the first to crack, short stacked he moved all-in with AK and Tilly made to right call with pocker threes.  George’s hand didn’t improve and he exited the tournament.

With both pros playing super-aggressive holdem it was only a matter of time before we had a big all-in clash.  After an innocuous 23K flop another 2 followed and then a 6 on the river, then all hell broke loose as bet was followed by re-raise and then an all-in.  Channing turned over 24 to make his trips but it was Tilly who had the last laugh as her 45 made the straight and with that booked her place in the World Open V final joining partner Phil Laak and Luke ‘FullFlush1′ Schwartz.

We now have three top pros through to Thursday’s big showdown and with plenty more of the world’s finest pros due to play in the upcoming heats it’s looking like we will have a classic final in store for you.

Maybe it was the early start that affected the American pro but whatever the reason Laak was in serious danger of busting out at one point; with only 50,000 chips left after losing one huge hand to the second chip stack AK V 10s, the blinds threatened to eat away at his stack Laak began his come back doubling up time and time again.

As other players fell by the wayside Laak maintained his fightback all the way to the heads-up scrap with PartyPoker Palladium Loune Elite player Patrick Funke.  The heads up battle didn’t last too long, unlike yesterday’s heads up between Luke Schwartz and Christian Schafer the chips were being pushed around with abandon finishing with an all-in face with Laak holding A8 and Schafer strong favourite with AK. To say the poker gods were with Phil Laak would be an understatement as he hit a flush on the river.

Harsh on Funke but that’s poker, our VIP player goes into the round robin heat and Phil progresses to Thursday’s final with heat 1 winner Luke ‘FullFlush1′ Scwartz.

As the evening came attention turned to Heat 3 featuring The Unabomber’s partner actress turned poker pro Jennifer Tilly. On paper this looks like one of the best heats in the tournament along with Tilly we have Tom ‘Durrr’ Dwan, the fast talking Sammy George and recent WSOP bracelet winner Roland De Wolfe.  Play got underway at 6pm and after an hour or two sizing each other up the players have begun to make some big moves.

We’ll have a full summary of the third heat tomorrow but if you can’t wait that long you can join our facebook fan page www.facebook.com/partypoker and at www.twitter.com/partypokernews for all the latest live updates.