Premier League Diary Extracts

Saturday, Feb. 16: Limousine - 1 p.m.
Today was the final of the $1 million PartyPoker.com Premier League, a Matchroom Sport-organized event that starts on Channel 4 in the UK in late March, and subsequently will be broadcast in at least 15 countries. Tony G went in as the chip leader, joined by Andy Black, Alexander Kravchenko, Marcel Luske, Roland De Wolfe, and Annie Duke. I had a restful morning, as it was going to be a long day and probably even longer night. I got a car, if you can call a stretch Hummer a car, with Phil Hellmuth, as he was joining Jesse May in the commentary box. We're sitting in the back chatting and he cannot get the Michael Jackson Number Ones CD to work, so the driver stops in the middle of Central London to fix it. "I don't like the ones from Thriller," says Phil. "Hey, driver, can we stop at Starbucks?" This we do, and then we head to the event.

Hellmuth is gutted that he isn't in the final; the other players think it is hysterical. He scored zero points twice in the league heats earlier in the week, a complete contrast to 2007, when he dominated the competition.

Hotel Bar - 10 p.m.
The majority of the 12 players are having a drink in the lounge at The Montague in the Gardens Hotel in Bloomsbury, London, to mark the end of the event.

Like a lot of people, I tend to laugh a lot at the Hellmuth bravado. I understand that it gives him great commercial value, especially in the United States, and despite the arguments, you really do need a character to take poker to the mainstream, even if he is someone many love to hate. However, it is starting to irritate German World Series of Poker bracelet winner and 2007 Premier League runner-up Eddy Scharf. Unlike the rest of the field, Eddy still has a day job as a passenger airline pilot and is not a full-time pro. In fact, the next day he is due to captain a Dusseldorf to Vienna flight.

"Did you know that, around 10 years ago, captains of Japanese airliners always had to wear white gloves?" asked Eddy. "Unlike German airlines, which are based on teamwork, there was a cultural divide, whereby the captain was undisputedly the leader in his white gloves while the first officer and other crew did the dirty work. If Phil was a pilot, he'd wear white gloves; it wouldn't work any other way for him, and everyone would be doomed if there were problems on the flight."

The players discuss whether it is all an act with Phil. "He's always been like that, even in the early days and even in everyday life. What do you think it is like for his wife?" asked Annie Duke, who is up there with Devil Fish, Tony G, and Eddy Scharf as a Hellmuth-baiter extraordinaire in the Premier League lineup.

Someone who arguably irritates Scharf even more then turned up in the bar. Enter a disappointed Juha Helppi, the 2007 champion. With Juha, however, Roland is the number-one foe, followed by the Madison Kid. Every time I see Juha, I irritatingly shout, "Everything," at him, while weakly trying to imitate his voice. Why? This is what he shouted at Hellmuth when he won all of the chips in a 24-hour cash game we had at the Poker Den last year. He must think I'm a bit weird.

Still in Hotel Bar - 11 p.m.
Andy Black is a very happy man. That big monkey is finally off his back, as he converted a dominant position into a major win. Tony G, however, is still on tilt after finishing third.

"Hellmuth is all show. Why does he have to ride around in a limo all the time? I got the train to the event every day," said Tony. Tony G is a true gentleman, but he had been raging all evening, and Hellmuth was on his radar.

"Phil, let's play for $1 million now," says Tony, as he orders another bottle of red wine. "Actually, let's make it $5 million. In fact, let's play for everything you have." Hellmuth rebuffs the offer to play, but starts coming around to the idea of playing for something. The subject eventually falls away. I then suggest that Ralph Perry should be in the Premier League; he's the one Tony told to go back to Russia in the much viewed Internet clip from the PartyPoker Intercontinental Poker Championship.

My phone rings. "All right, son, it's Devil. You going to get PartyPoker to get a table at a club tonight?"

"Not tonight, Mr. Ulliott," I say. "Why don't you join us at the hotel for a drink; pretty much all of us are here."

"Why would I want to hang around with a bunch of poker players all night?" asked Dave.

"Because you are one," I counter. "There's also a piano in the hotel that's got your name on it. If you don't get on it, Marcel Luske will."

The Fish goes straight to bed when he gets back to the hotel.

I go to bed in the early hours after talking to Andy, Phil, and Roland. Andy reminds me of a story at the Poker Million in 2005, when a group of us stayed up late. Five of us were left in the winner's suite with Barry Hearn's drink cabinet in the early hours of the morning, and Andy turned around and said, "That's it, I'm off to bed."

"You're out fifth again," was the response. Mr. Black didn't want reminding that he had held the chip lead in the WSOP main event that year, only to bust out in fifth place.

Sunday, Feb. 17: Bed - 4:30 a.m.
"Hey, Warren, it's Phil. I've just realised that I left my laptop at the event earlier. I'm leaving for the airport to fly out of Heathrow at 10 a.m. - first class, baby! Can you tell Eddie, and get a car to bring it over? There is light at the end of the tunnel; the Premier League was sick for me, but I'm up six figures now to Roland in Chinese."

Eddie Hearn and Beiju Patel of event organizer Matchroom Sport made sure that the "Poker Brat" got off OK, and with a lot of runner-up Roland De Wolfe's prize money. It wasn't that bad a week for him after all.