PartyPoker Premier League lineup

http://www.partypoker.com is pleased to announce two more invitations to PartyPoker.com Premier League III, which will take place in London from the 24th – 30th November 2008. US star JC Tran makes his first ever trip to Europe to take part, while Finland’s Juha Helppi, winner of PartyPoker.com Premier League I, looks to create history by becoming the first two time champion.

JC Tran needs little introduction. Born in Vietnam in 1977 and now living in Sacramento, California, Tran is currently the top-ranked player in the world on the Bluff Magazine/ESPN power rankings. After starting out by playing in local card rooms, he has won and cashed in big money tournaments and has total official winnings of over a staggering USD $6.7 million to date. His most notable recent victory was at Event #49 of the 39th World Series of Poker 2008, where he won a bracelet and USD $631,170. JC was also the WPT’s player of year for season five (he has made over $3 million on the WPT alone) and is amongst the most feared players in the world, both online and offline. He recently signed a deal, alongside friends Nam Le and Quinn Do, to become an ambassador for the Asian Poker Tour.

JC is excited about taking part in the PartyPoker.com Premier League. “I’m really looking forward to the PartyPoker.com Premier League and it is an honour to be chosen as one of the 12. I’ve seen coverage from previous events and I’m ready for all the verbal volleys that are likely to be thrown at me! I have been meaning to play in Europe for a while and this prestigious event is a great way to start.”

Joining JC and Andy Black in the line-up is Juha Helppi. He celebrated his 30th birthday in style and avenged his inner demons by winning the inaugural PartyPoker.com Premier League title in 2007. Helppi, from Helsinki, Finland showed skill and patience in abundance to overcome a world class field. As well as celebrating his landmark birthday, the flying Finn, who is also a national paintball champion, shot down Phil Hellmuth, who won a 10th WSOP bracelet at his expense with famous theatrics in 2006. Helppi is a World Poker Tour winner and hugely respected player on the international circuit.

Juha has no doubt about his intentions for PartyPoker.com Premier League III. “I loaned my trophy to Mr Black last season, but now it is time to take it back!”

PartyPoker.com Premier League Poker III sees the buy-in elevated to $75,000 and the added money raised to $350,000, making a total prize pool of $1.25 million. The next event wasn’t due to take place until 2009 but the demands of international broadcasters for coverage of the event has brought it forward! The series, developed by Matchroom Sport, features 12 of the world’s best players playing in a unique league format. All 12 players will play six times in the preliminary stages. The leading four players will then progress to the final table with the next four battling it out in heads-up matches for the final two seats. The first player to be announced was Premier League II winner, Ireland’s Andy Black, who is automatically invited back as the defending champion. With JC and Juha now added to the line-up, nine more names are yet to be revealed!