PartyPoker European Open V: Use PPs for a seat

Nick Slade, Winner of the PPEO IV

The dates have been set for the fifth European Open in London, England. The 72-player tournament will run from Feb. 6-13.

For those unfamiliar with the PartyPoker European Open, the event is a coveted small-field (72-player) tournament with an intimate structure that allows contestants to really get to know their opponents.

The event sold out in record time this year, with PartyPoker holding back a few seats, which are now available in the PartyPoker store.

For 75,000 PartyPoker points, you can secure your seat at the event (while supplies last).

The event's format is unique. It plays out this way:

• Twelve six-seat heats (six-seat sit-and-gos) and two six-seat turbo runner-up heats
• Two seven-seat semifinals
• The top three players in each of the semifinals take their chip stacks to a six-seat final table

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The total prize pool is $504,000, with first place scooping $200,000. Last year's winner was Nick Slade, a 45-year-old professional player from Preston, Lancashire.

Slade went into the final table fourth in chips, directly behind Annette Obrestad, but managed to overcome the chip gap and take down first place.

The European Open IV final-table chip distribution was as follows:

• Ian Frazer - $469,000
• Josh Tyler - $351,000
• Annette Obrestad - $235,000
• Nick Slade - $124,000
• Juha Helppi - $114,000
• Craig Burgess - $107,000

The European Open is one of the world's most popular televised events for viewers and players. A spokesman for PartyPoker said: "A seat at the PartyPoker.com European Open V is attractive - it comes with guaranteed television coverage in countries all over the world. The only way to get a seat now is to quickly secure one of those we have in the online store."

Among the players confirmed to be competing are Annette Obrestad, Roland De Wolfe, Juha Helppi, Ciaran O'Leary, Eoghan O'Dea, Liam Flood, Ian Frazer, Surinder Sunar, James Akenhead, Padraig Parkinson, Julian Thew, Donnacha O'Dea, Sam Trickett, Marc Goodwin, Thomas Bihl, Robin Keston, Barny Boatman, Neil Channing, Roberto Romanello and UK Open champion Michael Keiner.

The event promises to be exciting, with coverage first being broadcast on Five in the U.K. International broadcasts of the event will follow.

For a complete list of qualifiers and satellites to other PartyPoker tournaments and events check out PartyPoker's tournament page here.