durrrr, WSOP champ join Premier League

New WSOP Champion plans to play in Premier League.

After winning $9 million last week in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, one might think Peter Eastgate would be looking to take a break from poker. Instead, the Dane plans to make a stop in London for the upcoming PartyPoker Premier League III.

Eastgate and Tom "durrrr" Dwan are the latest pro poker players to announce they'll be playing in the Premier League III. durrrr is considered one of the hottest young guns on the poker circuit, and Eastgate may be joining him on that list after winning the Main Event.

Not only did Eastgate earn the second-largest tournament payout in WSOP history last week, he also broke Phil Hellmuth's record as the youngest player to win the Main Event.

"This is my first event since the WSOP Main Event final table, so I am delighted to be part of a world-class lineup," Eastgate said. "I am the man in form and want to show people why I am the World Champion."

Some of the other pros who've signed on for the PartyPoker Premier League III are Tony G, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Annette Obrestad, Roland De Wolfe, Andy Black, Juha Helppi, J.C. Tran, Nenad Medic and Victoria Coren.

The event will have a definite international flair with all sorts of countries represented, and the field is a good mix of old-guard versus new players.

Eastgate brings some new blood to the mix, as does his fellow 22-year-old player Dwan. durrrr is well-known for his online play, where he's believed to have won more than $6 million in 2008.

durrrr is no stranger to high-stakes action.

If you want proof of durrrr's high-stakes action, all you have to do is take a look at some of the biggest pots ever played online in the PokerListings MarketPulse section. In October he played a big part in some record-setting hands, though not always on the winning end of those hands.

Along with his online reputation, Dwan has been building a reputation on the live poker circuit as well. He had two eighth-place finishes in 2008 WSOP events, plus he's been logging in cashes all over the world from the Aussie Millions to World Poker Tour events to PokerStars.com European Poker Tour events.

"I'm really excited about coming to play the Premier League and am honored to be invited," Dwan said. "The line-up is simply world class and I am coming to London determined to win."

A win will mean a pretty good payday for one of the pros. The buy-in for the Premier League III was raised to $75,000, and PartyPoker is also adding in another $350,000 to create a total prize pool of $1.25 million.

Twelve players will be taking their shot at that money. All 12 will play six times in the preliminary stages to earn points. The top four players from the preliminaries will then move on to the final table.

That still leaves two seats open at the final table. The next four players in the leaderboard will battle in heads-up matches to earn a spot at the final table.

Related Articles:

• Tony G, Devilfish join Premier lineup
• Premier League begins in November