PartyPoker European Open IV begins Friday

Annette_15 will take on a tough field at the European Open IV.

The PartyPoker European Open IV will see its strongest field so far when the action begins on Friday.

The first heat will see a rematch between World Series of Poker Europe winner Annette Obrestad and the WSOPE Main Event runner-up John Tabatabai.

When asked about the rematch Obrestad 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."

Tabatabai won't be the only tough competition Obrestad could end up facing at the felt. Phil Hellmuth is confirmed to participate, and he'll also be joining Jesse May to provide commentary for the event.

Other familiar faces to look for in the event are Juha Helppi, Andrew Feldman, Michael McCool, Roland de Wolfe, Andy Black, Marty Smith, Roy Brindley, Ian Frazer and Surinder Sunar.

Liam Flood will return as well to defend his European Open IV title. Last year, he triumphed over a final table that included former World Open champion Pippa Flanders and John Magill.

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The European Open is set up to run in 12 heats, with the winner of each heat moving on to the semi-final stage. This year the runners-up will also get a second chance to move on as they battle for the remaining two seats in the semifinal during "last chance" turbo heats.

According to PartyPoker's sister site, PartyBets, the odds are on Hellmuth to walk away the winner this time around.

"There is a lot of excitement about this year's European Open, and Hellmuth is sure to add value in the commentary box," said a PartyBest spokesman.

"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."

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