Tony G, Tran dominate Premier League

Newcomer J.C. Tran made some big waves on the first day of PartyPoker.com's Premier League III, while Tony G added to his considerable success on the popular TV show.

Heat 1 included Tran, Peter Eastgate, Annette Obrestad, Andy Black, Roland De Wolfe and David "Devilfish" Ulliott.

It was actually recent 2008 Main Event Champion Eastgate who appeared destined to take down the 10 points for first place. Eastgate was aggressive in the early going and quickly built up a formidable stack of chips.

The English players fared particularly poorly with Ulliott going out first, De Wolfe second and defending champion Black third.

Surprisingly, it was in heads-up where Eastgate faltered. Even though Eastgate entered heads-up play with $395,000 chips to Tran's $205,000, the experienced Californian pro whittled him down to size. The final hand of the match saw Eastgate make an ill-timed shove with Q-3 and Tran wake up with A-K. The board brought nothing for either player and Tran was credited with the victory in Heat 1.

Meanwhile, Heat 2 brought together Phil Hellmuth, Tony G, Vicky Coren, Nenad Medic and Tom "durrrr" Dwan.

Many poker fans considered Dwan to be the most compelling new addition to the Premier League, and the online whiz kid did not disappoint. Dwan got all the way to heads-up against Tony G but would eventually lose a pivotal coin flip with 8-8 versus The G's J-T.

Canadian Nenad Medic had a poor introduction to the Premier League, as he was the first player eliminated in Heat 2. Finnish player Juha Helppi was right behind him and picked up a meager two points.

Phil Hellmuth was eliminated third, but you have to give the Poker Brat some credit as he managed to get away from a sick beat on the first hand, which saw Dwan flop a full house and Hellmuth turn a flush. Dwan shoved on the river but Hellmuth laid his hand down.

Vicky Coren just missed out on heads-up play as she ran Q-9 into Dwan's A-K. At least she performed better than any of the British men at the Premier League.

The Premier League III has seen the buy-in elevated to $75,000 and the added money increased to $350,000, making a total prize pool of $1.25 million. As usual the series features 12 of the world's best poker players playing in a unique league format.

All 12 players play six times in the preliminary stages and the leading four players then progress to the final table, with the next four fighting it out in heads-up matches for the final two seats.

Here are the complete results of Heat 1 and Heat 2 on Day 1 of PartyPoker.com's Premier League III:

Premier League III Heat 1:

Premier League III Heat 2:

Related Articles:

• J.C. Tran to rep PKR in Premier League III
• Phil Hellmuth to play in Premier League III
• durrrr, Eastgate added to Premier League
• Tony G, Devilfish join Premier lineup