Hellmuth and Duke

The Americans are coming, with huge stars and multi-million dollar earners Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke boarding the plane to get stuck into some European Poker.

UltimateBet.com pro Phil Hellmuth is slated to play and commentate in the Party Poker European Open IV from February 1-8 in London. The Texas Hold’em event features 72 poker celebrities participating in 12 heats for a shot at seats in the coveted semi-finals.

The runners-up in each heat will also play in one of two turbo-heats for a shot at an additional semi-final seat and an eventual piece of a $504,000 prize pool.

Two days later, on 10 February, Hellmuth – winner of 11 WSOP bracelets – will once again take centre stage, this time in the Party Poker Premier League Poker event along with 11 of poker’s best pros including UltimateBet’s own Annie Duke. Each poker champion will buy in to the poker tournament for $60,000 and an additional $280,000 will be added to the prize pool by event organizers, bringing the total prize pool up to an impressive $1 million.

The format will see all 12 pros play six times in the preliminary stages. The leading four runners will secure their seats at the final table. The pros ranking 5th to 8th will battle it out in heads-up matches for the remaining two seats.

As two of poker’s most celebrated professionals, Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke are expected to leave the European tournaments with handsome paydays.