On his 30th birthday, Juha Helppi from Finland had the pleasure of beating Phil Hellmuth and winning PartyGaming's inaugural
PartyPoker.com Premier League Poker title.
"This was not about the money," said Helppi. "If I hadn't beaten Phil it would have hurt really bad. This is a big title with a top quality field and it happened as I hit a big landmark in my life. I will remember this forever. It is a perfect birthday present."
Juha continued: "Phil really wanted to win this one and didn't take it too well, I think I managed to tilt him on one occasion. This does help with losing out on the bracelet and is satisfying because the league structure means that skill was so important."
Though the final table lasted over seven hours, Phil was disappointed and immediately wanted to play the Finn heads-up for $100,000.
"Juha is a worthy champion and respected by all his fellow players. Everybody was thrilled by the format of tournament and nobody involved doubts that it has a big future," said a PartyPoker.com spokesman.
The tournament featured 12 of the world's best poker pros playing in a unique league format for a $500,000 pot. (Each player bought in for $20,000, with PartyPoker.com adding $260,000.)
PartyPoker.com Premier League Poker is due to be broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 and internationally later this year.
PARTYPOKER.COM PREMIER LEAGUE POKER FINAL PRIZE MONEY
1) Juha Helppi (FIN): $151,000
2) Eddy Scharf (GER): $91,000
3) Phil Hellmuth jr (USA): $65,000
4) Liz Lieu (USA): $43,000
5) Vicky Coren (ENG): $35,000
6) Ian Frazer (ENG): $35,000
7) Andy Black (IRE): $18,000
8) Kenna James (USA): $17,000
9) Kiril Gerasimov (RUS): $17,000
10) David "Devilfish" Ulliott (ENG): $14,000
11) Tony G (AUS): $7,000
12) Roland De Wolfe (ENG): $7,000
For more Happenings in Europe, visit
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