The Poker Den returns

At 14.30 BST on Tuesday 30th September the famous Poker Den is back! ‘PartyPoker.com Poker Den: The Big Game III’ will take place in London on Tuesday 30th September/Wednesday 1st October. The format has changed this year; instead of a 24 hour continuous cash game the action will now run for a record breaking 36 HOURS so expect the action to be as entertaining and wilder than ever!

Amongst those due to take part include Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, Robert Williamson III, David Williams, Roland de Wolfe, Neil Channing, Andrew Feldman, Brian Townsend, Kirk Morrison, Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Jon Kalmar, Sammy “Any Two” George, lliodoros Kamatakis, John Tabatabai, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Juha Helppi, Jennifer Tilly, Anthony Hardy, Ian Frazer and Chris Parker. Joining them is PartyPoker.com VIP qualifier Bodo Sbrzesny from Germany who won the high-stakes rake race on the site to take his place in the shark pool.

Each player will buy-in for a minimum of $10,000, with blinds starting at $25/$50 and all players are free to leave the table at any time they want. Straddling was very popular among the players in the last two games, so no doubt the players will want to raise the stakes, subject to the discretion of tournament director ‘Mad’ Marty Wilson, of course! PartyPoker.com and event organizers Matchroom Sport will also introduce the “Party Pot,” that will see players winning a $1,000 bonus from a selected hand every hour.

A PartyPoker.com spokesman said: “ We’ve been told that Phil Laak has spent all weekend mentally preparing for the game and that he intends to try and make tv history and sit in the game for a record breaking 36 hour stint! PartyBets.com was going to introduce betting on whether one of the top professionals could play the whole duration but with others like Neil Channing also rumoured to want to give it a go too we are loathe to give them too much encouragement! The Poker Den has a history of wild and entertaining action and even though we state that a player can leave the table at any time we may make them take a break if they are sat there like rocks or crushing the game too much. We want entertainment and not a heads-up between two exhausted grinding machine professionals who nobody wants to play against! That said, it is crazy how players are rumoured to be considering this, we’ll see how it goes!”

Eddie Hearn, Head of Online Gaming at Matchroom Sport said “The Poker Den has come such a long way since we started it back in the summer of 2005. In our initial planning we thought that having $1 million worth of chips available for play would be sufficient but many players have already wired over $100k so we have had to think again! The Big Game has been a huge success and just keeps getting bigger. The two series so far have attracted the best players in the world and demand to take part in this one has been huge.”

One person who won’t need any rest is Jesse May, he will commentate on every single minute of coverage of the game alongside a selection of professionals. The 36 hour stint for him is not in doubt but there is no worries that he’ll turn into a rock in the commentary box.

Coverage of the game will be shown on Five in the UK early next year and will then be distributed worldwide.

The Den won’t take any prisoners and you will be able to follow the action as there will be live reporting on www.matchroompoker.com.