Phil Laak, Jeff Gross Added to partypoker Premier League VII Lineup
Two more players were added to the partypoker Premier League VII on Thursday. Good friends Phil Laak and Jeff Gross will each put up the $125,000 buy-in for the televised event at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal from Nov. 20 through 26. They join Tony G and Antonio Esfandiari on the 12-player lineup, with eight spots left to be filled.
Laak, coming off a recent final table appearance at the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker, is one of the more colorful characters in the game and a fan favorite to watch on television, making him an obvious selection again for the Premier League. Laak has had some success in the event in the past; he entered the Premier League IV final table as the overwhelming chip leader but was unable to seal the deal, eventually succumbing in sixth place for $146,000. He then finished third in Premier League V after falling to eventual champ Scott Seiver in the final round. The "Unabomber" will return again with motivation to claim his first title.
“The Premier League is awesome. And Montreal is awesome! Massively stoked for this event," Laak told the partypoker Blog.
Gross will take his first shot at the Premier League in November. Perhaps best known as the close friend of Olympian Michael Phelps, Gross has also made a name for himself at the felt by totaling more than $1.4 million in cashes on the live tournament circuit. He posted the biggest score of his career in August when he took third in the inaugural $100,000 buy-in WPT Alpha 8 event for $364,770. Gross is certainly no stranger to high-profile poker tournaments.
“So excited to be playing in the partypoker Premier League," said Gross. "It is a great honor to be invited and compete with many of the top players in the game. This is a very prestigious title and thrilled it is at Playground Poker which is my favorite venue to play poker at. Montreal is world class city and I will be counting down the days until November 20th!”
The winner of the partypoker Premier League VII will take home $350,000 and join the likes of Juha Helppi, Andy Black, JC Tran, David Benyamine, Seiver and Dan Shak as champions of the prestigious event. Shak won the Premier League VI earlier this year for $450,000 after defeating Sam Trickett heads-up for the title.
Anchoring the Premier League VII television coverage will be the lovely Kara Scott, and Jesse May will lead the commentary with several guest analysts joining him in the booth.
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