PartyPoker.com Blog

We started with 48 players on Sunday and after seven extremely tough and entertaining heats we are down to the final seven.  battling it out for the $250,000 top prize and the title of World Open V champion are six world renowned pros and our one sole online qualifier Jan Veit.

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.

Thomas Baker World Open V Jennifer Tilly, Luke 'FullFlush1' Schwartz, Mike Sexton, Phil Laak

In recent minutes, Bodo has come through the runner-up heat, beating online qualifier Patrick Funke. The heads-up was dubbed the ‘Funke Bodo’, in tribute to nightclub ‘The Funky Buddha’ that is opposite the casino.

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

Thomas Baker World Open V Andy Black, Bodo Sbrzesny, Jennifer Tilly, Luke 'FullFlush1' Schwartz, Mike Sexton, Phil Laak

Mike Sexton has won Heat 6 of the World Open v becoming the fifth pro to make it to today’s showpiece final at the Palm Beach Casino in Mayfair.

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?

Thomas Baker World Open V Mike Sexton, Partypoker Team

Five heats down and and former WSOP Main Event finalist Andy Black becomes the fourth pro to make it to the final.  The Irishman dominated the the field showing why he was clear favourite to win the heat.

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.

Thomas Baker World Open V Andy Black, Bodo Sbrzesny