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.

Mike Sexton Previews the PartyPoker.com World Open V

Heat One

Andy Ward
James Akenhead
Luke Schwartz
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
Jason Adams
Ian Frazer
Christian Schafer

As a member of the November 9, James is the Pride of England. After reaching the final table of the WSOPE Main Event he has completed an amazing double! That says it all and he is certainly one to watch! I expect high stakes online player Luke Schwartz to talk it up. He is going to be entertaining and fun to watch.

Timoshenko has to be a favourite on this table. He has achieved so much and he i still only 21-years-old with wins at the Asian Poker Tour, the $25k buy-in WPT Championship as well as being an online superstar! I am so impressed with him, before the final table of the WPT Championship he went out and bought a suit and got a haircut! He is one of the good guys in poker. What impresses me mainly, however, is that he has made over $2 million in tournaments without the WSOP! That is quite something. He is a superstar now as well as being a superstar of the future.

Timmy won the Asian Poker Tour Macau in 2008 (pictured)

I love the way Ian Frazer plays– he lets his game do the talking. He’s got loads of tremendous tournament results and is highly regarded.

Mike’s picks

James Akenhead
Luke Schwarz
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
Ian Frazer

Heat Two

Phil Laak
Simon Zach
Andy Greekfish
Nathan Lee
JP Kelly
Remy Biechel
Wayne O’Brien
Gustav Ekerot

Phil Laak is undoubtedly one of the most liked pros on the circuit – a WPT champion who is always entertaining. I have never been at a table where people don’t have a great time when he’s around.

JP Kelly has to be watched. Here’s a guy that has won a bracelet at the WSOP and WSOPE this year. That pretty much says it all and he’ll be a local favourite.

Remy Biechel is a great up and coming player who cashed in the Main Event this year. This PartyPoker.com ambassador is excellent with a short stack – if he gets low certainly don’t count him out!

Remy Biechel (pictured)

Mike’s picks:

Phil Laak
JP Kelly
Remy Biechel

Heat Three

Sammy George
Jennifer Tilly
Paul Zimbler
Neil Channing
Roland De Wolfe
Mike Sexton
Patrick Funke
Robert Sherwood

Neil Channing and Jennifer Tilly (pictured)

I have a very tough heat here – I would much prefer to have been in heat two. Jennifer Tilly has a WSOP bracelet, while Neil Channing has a phenomenal record and has to be one of the favourites here.

Roland De Wolfe is a brilliant player and as a triple crown winner he is highly respected. He’ll be the hardest to put on a hand and the player with the most imagination at the table.

I do fancy my chances – I wont be a walkover for anybody. Whoever wins will certainly have their hands full!

Mike’s picks

Jennifer Tilly
Neil Channing
Roland De Wolfe
Mike Sexton

Heat Four

Scott Fischman
Ryan Fronda
Layne Flack
Simon Craig
Antoine Saout
Teddy Sheringham
Johannes Nord Jorgensen
Fabian Quoss

A couple of years Scott Fischman was a real superstar – this star has faded slightly but he’s a very tough pro and is going to be hard to beat here.

Layne Flack is my pick to take down this down. ‘Back-to-Back’ Flack is the only player to win back to back bracelets at the WSOP. Also a WPT champion, he is my favourite.

Like James Akenhead, Antoine Saout has reached the November Nine and made the final table at the WSOPE Main Event. It’s remarkable that two guys have done this great double. This no fluke – Antione is no one time wonder.

Mike’s picks

Scott Fischmann
Layne Flack (nap)
Antione Saout

Heat Five

Liam Flood
Andy Black
TBC
John Magill
Andrew Feldman
Bodo Sbrzesny
Paulo Melo
Richard Makkinnon

This is all about the Irishmen for me. Andy Black is one of the most imaginative players in the poker world. His stack will never stay level. Liam is an archaic old school player and I can tell you one thing – he will be the only player at the table wearing a tie!

Andy Black (pictured)

I’m looking forward to seeing Bodo Sbrzesny, I heard great things about his first appearance at a PartyPoker event. He’s very creative and to see him lock horns with Andy Black is going to be very entertaining. They are two gunslingers – it is going to be a matter of who hits the target!

Mike’s picks

Liam Flood
Andy Black
Bodo Sbrzesny

Heat Six

Marty Smyth
Roberto Romanello
Ellis Reuben
Dixie
Tom Dwan
Bruno Fitoussi
Felipe Ramos

Marty is a highly respected and a top class pro. Tom Dwan – this guy is taking the poker world by storm and you have got to make him favourite here.

Bruno Fitoussi is definitely one to watch. He runs the Aviation Club but people don’t realise how good a player he is. He doesn’t play a lot of events but when he does he always does well. People think about him as a businessman but he definitely plays a better game than people think.

Felipe Ramos is one of the sensations of South America. Brazil is an up and coming hotbed of the poker world and he is certainly one not to write off.

From left: Ian Frazer, Bodo Sbrzesny, Remy Biechel, Mike Sexton and Felipe Ramos

Mike’s picks

Marty Smyth
Tom Dwan
Bruno Fitoussi
Felipe Ramos

Overall

This is a phenomenal field featuring very successful pros that have proven themselves in the biggest events. It is certainly going to be great entertainment as there are a lot of guys here who can talk and a lot of very creative players. Every single heat is not one to miss and whatever happens it looks like an extraordinary final table will be created which you wont want to miss.

My tip – watch out for the online qualifiers. They may not have profile at the moment but these guys have some game!

World Series of Poker”® and “WSOP”®, WSOPE”® are registered trade marks of Harrah’s License Company LLC. No license, affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement is claimed, or should be inferred from the use of these trademarks here. PartyGaming is not licensed by or otherwise affiliated with Harrah’s License Company LLC or the World Series of Poker®, in any way.

“To win an event as prestigious as Late Night Poker against Europe’s top professionals in my first live event is quite something,” said Jörbeck. “I’ve been playing online poker for around four years with relatively small stakes and never thought something like this would happen to me.”

Jörbeck beat Roland de Wolfe heads-up and was always the underdog throughout the final. De Wolfe looked the likely winner throughout only to run out of steam and go card dead towards the end. “Roland played really well throughout but I started to relax and adopt a more aggressive approach when we were three-handed,” said Jörbeck.

Roland de Wolfe, Thomas Kremser, and Andreas Jörbeck

Heads-up the balance of power swung a number of times before Jörbeck landed the killer blow on the top pro. Jörbeck had A-10 and de Wolfe K-3. The flop came down A-A-K and the Swede’s set gave him victory. Roland was gracious in defeat: “I really, really fancied this but in the end it just wasn’t my day.”

First out in the final was respected British pro Maria Demetriou when her pocket queens ran into Andy Black’s pocket kings. Next to go was Ian Frazer, who found that holding A-10 wasn’t enough to overcome Black’s A-K after the K came on the flop. Black had created a table image where players were not sure if he was on a complete bluff and after calling the clock on himself Frazer went all-in, was called and then eliminated.

Next to go was Eddy Scharf whose Q-J looked good against Jörbeck’s 10-9 only for a 9 to come on the river. It was at this point that de Wolfe started to become dominant and he took out David Tighe’s A-10 with his pocket queens. Surinder Sunar went out fourth but was ahead with his A-Q against Roland’s A-9 only to see the 9 come on the river. This left Jörbeck, de Wolfe and Black, with everybody expecting the two pros to prevail.

Next out, however, was Andy Black. Jörbeck’s set of jacks crippled the Mad Monk’s A-2. The 2008 Premier League champion was all-in next hand with his big blind and was sent to the rail leaving de Wolfe and Jörbeck to battle it out.

Jörbeck, a business development manager in telecoms who has been married to wife Victoria for two years, is realistic about his ambitions going forward and doesn’t see himself as Sweden’s next poker superstar, despite winning such a prestigious tournament. “I am not a big player so have no huge plans on the horizon. Poker is just a hobby.

“I will use some of my prize money on a bankroll but will invest the majority in stocks and shares. My strategy throughout the tournament was to sit back, keep out of trouble and loosen up and try and relax when we were short-handed. If possible, I would get others to do the dirty work for me and get involved in lots of hands. I was so surprised to even get through my heat considering I was up against the likes of the Devilfish and Joe Beevers,” he said. Next up for Andreas is a trip on the PartyPoker Million VI cruise in Europe in May, which he has qualified for online.

De Wolfe and Jörbeck play heads up

A PartyPoker spokesman said: “Andreas’ achievement is huge when you consider that every other player at that final table was an aggressive pro and that he was the only online qualifier who made the final. Credit must also go to Roland de Wolfe – finishing runner-up in Late Night Poker and the Premier League is very impressive.”

Prior to the final there was a semi-final that featured the runners-up from all seven heats vying for one place in the showpiece. The line-up featured the eventual winner of the heat Maria Demetriou, ‘Flying Dutchman’ Marcel Luske, WSOP bracelet holder Praz Bansi, Polish television presenter Agnieszka Rylik, Marc ‘Mr Cool’ Goodwin, France’s Pascal Perrault and former champion Simon Trumper.

Amongst those who failed to make the final or semi-final included Dave “The Devilfish” Ulliott, Julian Thew, WSOP Europe winner Annette Obrestad, Ram Vaswani, Padraig Parkinson, Barny Boatman, Joe Beevers, Donnacha O’Dea, Robert Williamson III, Jen Mason and Jon Kalmar.

Late Night Poker revolutionised people’s perception of poker when the tournament was first broadcast on Channel 4 in 1999 and was the first to use under-the-table cameras. The total prize pool for 2008 was $335,000 ($90,000 added by PartyPoker) with $125,000 going to the eventual winner. There were 49 players paying a $5,000 buy-in including ten online qualifiers who won their seats in exclusive online tournaments on PartyPoker.

PARTYPOKER LATE NIGHT POKER (Played October, results released to coincide with television airing)

Andreas Jörbeck (SWE) $125,000
Roland de Wolfe (ENG) $75,000
Andy Black (IRE) $50,000
Surinder Sunar (ENG) $30,000
David Tighe (ENG) $20,000
Eddy Scharf (GER) $12,500
Ian Frazer (ENG) $10,000
Maria Demetriou (ENG) $7,500
Simon Trumper (ENG) $5,000

Simon Trumper won $5,000 for finishing runner-up in the semi-final.

When asked about the Obrestad/Tabatabai rematch Annette said: “I’m looking forward to this for sure. It was great fun playing with John in London. He’s an amazing player and I have a lot of respect for him. I can’t wait to play against him again.”

The Matchroom Sport-organised event will be broadcast on Channel 5 in the UK later this year and distributed internationally. This year’s tournament sees the buy-in rise to $7,000 from $5,000 – creating a $504,000 prize fund that some of the biggest names in poker have their eye on.

Hellmuth will face tough competition from last year’s winner Liam Flood. Last year, Flood triumphed over a final table in convincing style that included former World Open champion Pippa Flanders and John Magill. Wolverhampton’s Darren Hickman finished second. Familiar faces to look out for this year include PartyPoker.com Premier League title holder Juha Helppi, UK Open Champion Andrew Feldman, recent PartyPoker.com Irish Poker Championship runner-up Michael McCool, Roland de Wolfe, Andy Black, Marty Smith, Roy Brindley, Ian Frazer, Ian Cox, Neil Channing and Surinder Sunar. Jimmy White, Austin Healey and star of UK soap Coronation Street , Michael Le Vell, will also be taking to the felt.

The winner of each of the 12 heats will progress to the semi-final stage, and, for the first time in the event’s history, the runners-up will battle it out for the remaining two semi-final spots in “last chance” turbo heats.

PartyBets.com are betting on the event and currently go 10/1 Phil Hellmuth, 15/1 Ian Frazer, 20/1, Roland de Wolfe, Annette Obrestad, Nick Slade, Phil Curtis, Liam Flood, Juha Helppi. 25/1 bar. Each-way terms are a third of the odds 1st and 2nd. www.partybets.com

A PartyBets.com spokesman said: “There is a lot of excitement about this year’s European Open and Hellmuth is sure to add value in the commentary box. It will be interesting to see the rematch between Obrestad and Tabatabai but there are so many players to look out for who have had success in this format. The money has been for Hellmuth but the likes of Helppi, Frazer and Flood have all been well backed in recent hours.”

The event takes place from February 10th to 16th and will be first broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK in late March.

With a system developed especially to showcase the legendary poker prowess of each player, they will play six times in the preliminary stages. The leading four players will then progress to the final table with the next four battling it out in heads-up matches for the final two seats.

Each player will buy-in for $60,000, with PartyPoker.com adding $280,000 to make the pool $1 million, up from $500,000 last year. Nine of the twelve players from 2007’s successful event return with the new faces being “Flying Dutchman” Marcel Luske, Annie Duke and Alexander Kravchenko.

As before, 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth will lead a top field that also includes Dave ‘The Devilfish’ Ulliott, Tony G, Andy Black, Ian Fraser, Roland De Wolfe, Vicky Coren, Juha Helppi and Eddy Scharf.

Bookmakers www.partybets.com has opened a market on the tournament and make Devilfish the 5-1 favourite. Last year, Finland’s Juha Helppi won the title on his birthday, with Scharf finishing second and Hellmuth third. The pros cannot wait to lock horns again:

“After winning four out of six matches in the Premier League last year, I was in massive pain when Juha Helppi beat my K-K with his 8-7 off suit and made me finish third in the finale. I told Helppi, ‘I’ll be back!’ Now it’s 2008, and here I come!” said Phil Hellmuth.

Helppi said: “It will be very hard to take this title from me. I will do anything it takes to defend it!”

Tony G added: “Premier League is something I look forward to for months. It’s the best event in poker in my book. Last year was a disaster for me and I want to prove it was a freaky event. Only winning this year will make things right for me and I want to bust Hellmuth so… so… hard to get him on a boat back to the US.”

Vicky Coren is also looking forward to the event: “I love this event – the league format irons out the injustices of the one-table heat because you get six chances, and that means there is plenty of time for needle and history to build up between the players. And I enjoy the fact that these particular players are all such performers: fearsome sportsmen, with a lot of money in play, but they all seem to have a lot of fun in this event, lots of rabble-rousing speeches and messing about on the side.”

A PartyPoker.com spokesman said: “Premier League Poker was an outstanding success last year with both players and viewers. Devilfish’s recent form makes him the favourite to win, a status that he is bound to embrace much to the annoyance of Hellmuth and Tony G.”

Eddie Hearn, Poker Director of Matchroom Sport said: “We are delighted to announce the line up for Premier League Poker II. It’s great to welcome back the likes of Phil Hellmuth, Devilfish, Tony G and last year’s champion Juha Helppi and we are also thrilled that Annie Duke, Marcel Luske and Alex Kravchenko will be joining the field. This is one of the strongest line up’s assembled in poker and with the buy in increased to $60,000, coupled with the vast international tv distribution, Premier League Poker is now established as the world’s leading televised poker event.”

(For Warren’s first report, with some Devilfish mischief, see here)

The brilliant Late Night Poker tournament filmed in Cardiff, Wales, featured a strong line-up of top players and PartyPoker qualifiers who were impressed with the format – seven heats of seven players, with an eight-seat final. One was Annette Obrestad, the youngest-ever winner of a WSOP bracelet who also came second at last week’s European Poker Tour event in Dublin. Annette was a great person to meet and thoroughly nice for such a shark. But the Norwegian found herself at a table next to old Late Night Poker “villain” Kourosh, a man who is quite simply evil but brilliant for TV! He hadn’t got his buy-in when he arrived in Cardiff – something about it being left in the Mercedes rather than Porsche – but he eventually sorted it out and was at his villainous best.

Big pair: Kourosh and Annette Obrestad

Then there was a Late Night Poker debut for Jon Kalmar from Lancashire in the UK, who finished a sensational fifth in the WSOP Main Event this year, winning a cool $1.25 million. Jon had nothing before the event, but the ultimate fairytale saw him walking away from Vegas a rich man. Unfortunately, for me anyway, one of the online qualifiers at the WSOP had backed Kalmar at 250/1 with $100 to make the final table at PartyBets.com before the event. Cue me revealing myself as an idiot as I was involved in the odds! Fair play for putting up the $100, though, especially as Kalmar wasn’t even going to play in the Main Event until a last-minute satellite win!

Big WSOP winner: JonKalmar in action

One person I know extremely well is Londoner Roland de Wolfe, who was around for the week as he has developed into an excellent commentator. Roland and I crossed paths way before he was a World Poker Tour (Paris) and European Poker Tour (Dublin) multi-million-dollar winner and one of Europe’s hottest pros. He was originally a writer on a poker magazine, which prompted Phil Hellmuth to say when they first met at Premier League Poker: “I know where I recognise that guy – the last time I met him he was interviewing me!” Roland is now well and truly amongst the big boys, though, and his instinct in laying down hands in particular was applauded by everybody all week.

Later in the week we hit the town again following our earlier excursions with the Devilfish, Padraig Parkinson and Maud Mulder. This time it included me, the majority of our PartyPoker online qualifiers, some colleagues, Robert Williamson III, Roland and the Devilfish (again!). That night, much to the delight of most, Robert Williamson really thought he was a monkey (don’t ask, but it all started when the bar manager came out in a gorilla suit).

Monkey nuts?: Robert Williamson III

These guys who are used to the glitz and glamour of Vegas just go a bit wild in Wales! In typical poker player fashion it was time to play rock, paper, scissors for the bill – and I got down to the final two before my rock blunted Swedish pro Bo Sehlstedt’s scissors and he had to pay up. Phew! One person who would have found it particularly funny if I lost was Erik Andren from Stockholm, Sweden. This man is the PartyPoker King of Qualifying – he seems to win a seat everywhere we go! I would actually be surprised and concerned if he wasn’t at the next one. He’s like part of the family now, but I wish he would stop trying to buy me drinks – it is supposed to be the other way around!

Suffice to say all our qualifiers had a great time in Cardiff. To play in Late Night Poker is a prestigious opportunity and, because it was a small group, it made for a fantastic atmosphere all the time. There were a number of German qualifiers there and they spent a lot of time picking the brains of Premier League player, countryman and bracelet winner Eddy Scharf. What I will always remember about Eddy, though, is that he is an airline pilot and is not full-time on the poker scene despite all his success. Just imagine: “Hello, this is your captain speaking. I am going all in, I repeat, I am going all in.” It sounds like something Tony G would say.

Towards the end of the week another wildcard entered the tournament to play with the pros. Agnieszka Rylik is a top Polish TV presenter and all-round action girl. She does reports for primetime television in Poland on flying F16 jets and is also famous for being a boxing champion. She’s glamorous, solid and not the type to put up with being called “baby” by the Devilfish. By coincidence they were drawn at the same table but you will have to wait until you see it on TV as I’m not going to tell you what happened!

TV star: Agnieszka Rylik and Joe Beevers

The last day saw the celebrity heat which featured a variety of UK comedians and entertainers. All of them were good value, but only one of them was the last person in the Hilton bar on the last night of the tournament. Step forward Mr Howard Marks. We didn’t finish the tournament until 1am that night and it was time for goodbyes and see you soon.

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So the PartyPoker Late Night Poker was another huge success. Keep an eye on our latest news and promotions at PartyPoker.com for the best chances to play in big events. Did you know, for example, that you could win a seat at the Latin American Poker Grand Final? No? Then click here for details of how to grab one of our $7,500 packages to the beach in Uruguay.

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Good luck at the tables!