Premier Poker League 4
Whichever way you paint it, the Premier League is a rich man’s game.
- The games include Texas Hold 'em (No Limit and Fixed), Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo. The stakes can range from.01/.02 to 100/200. In 2012 partypoker removed its high-stakes cash games with the highest stakes at $10/$20. Party Poker formerly offered a bad beat jackpot.
- Here’s how to watch 2020-21 Premier League matches live online. NBC Sports and Peacock will be streaming Premier League matches this season. Take a look at the schedule to find the fixtures times and stream links and check back for results, highlights and standings.
- English Premier League - Top 4 Finish 2020/21 options: betting statistics. The total amount matched on English Premier League - Top 4 Finish 2020/21 options so far is £379,596. The total number of runners in English Premier League - Top 4 Finish 2020/21 is 20, and you can back or lay 20 of them.
The coronavirus pandemic has affected clubs far and wide, but that didn’t stop top-fight teams splashing out a total of £1BILLION in the most recent transfer window.
The interest the beautiful game generates is quite something else, and in terms of the Premier League there are many billionaire owners – including some of the richest people in the world.
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But where do the owners of top flight clubs in England rank up against other sports owners? Check out for yourselves below…
20. Burnley – Mike Garlick (£62m)
Garlick became sole chairman of the club in 2015 when co-chairman John Banaszkiewicz stepped down.
He is the found and CEO of Michael Bailey Associates, a project management and consultancy company.
19. Sheffield United – Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ed (£198m)
Prince Abdullah is another Saudi Arabian but with nowhere near the wealth of the new Newcastle owners.
He won a High Court battle with Kevin McCabe over the ownership of the Blades. McCabe had to sell his stake to Price Abdullah for £5m following a ruling last year.
He is the son of Prince Musa’id bin Abdulaziz Al Said and set up a paper manufacturing company in 1989.
18. Leeds – Andrea Radrizzani (£450m)
Italian businessman Radrizzani purchased an initial 50 percent stake of Leeds United in January 2017, before taking full control from previous owner Massimo Cellino four months later.
Radrizzani made a great amount of his wealth with his investment firm Aser Ventures, which he launched in 2015.
Premier League Poker
The 46-year-old also has a big interest in the existing sports, media and entertainment industry, most notably through international sports broadcaster Eleven Sports
17. Brighton – Tony Bloom (£1.3bn)
Bloom became chairman of the Seagulls in 2009 and in that time he has overseen their rise from League One to the Premier League.
He is thought to have acquired most of his wealth from online gambling and gaming websites.
Bloom also finished fourth at the World Series of Poker in 2005.
16. West Ham – David Sullivan and David Gold (£1.56bn)
Sullivan made his fortune in the pornography industry and he previously owned the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport.
Gold owns Gold Group International, the parent company of Ann Summers and he previously co-owned adult magazine company Gold Star Publications with his brother.
Gold and Sullivan acquired a 50 per cent share in West Ham in January 2010 and then purchased a further 10 per cent a few months later.
15. Everton – Farhad Moshiri (£1.9bn)
Moshiri was previously involved at Arsenal but sold his stake in the club to complete a takeover of Everton, which was officially confirmed in February 2016.
He owns and has shares in multiple steel and energy companies in the UK and Russia.
14. West Bromwich Albion – Lai Guochuan (£2.2bn)
Lai Guochuan has been West Bromwich Albion’s owner since 2016, when he completed a takeover worth a reported £200m.
The Chinese billionaire businessman and investor has previously worked in the landscape development and construction industries.
He gained the majority of his wealth through Palm Eco-Town Development Company, nurturing them into China’s largest landscape development and construction firm during his two-decade long stewardship.
13. Liverpool – John Henry (£2.35bn)
Henry’s company Fenway Sports Group bought Liverpool in 2010 and he also owns the Boston Red Sox.
The American founded John W. Henry & Company, an investment management company.
12. Newcastle – Mike Ashley (£2.66bn)
Ashley remains in charge at Newcastle United, after takeover talk regarding a change of ownership dramatically collapsed over the summer.
The British businessman is one of the longer-serving owners in the Premier League, having purchased the Magpies back in 2007.
Ashley made the majority of his small fortune through his company Sports Direct.
11. Leicester – Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (£3bn)
The 34-year-old, known as Top, became CEO and chairman of King Power and the chairman of Leicester when his father died in a helicopter crash outside the club’s stadium in 2018.
Premier Poker League Season 7
10. Southampton – Gao Jisheng (£3.1bn)
Jisheng became the Saints’ majority owner in 2017 when he completed a £210m deal.
He was the founder of Lander Sports Development until last year when he sold enough shares to lose control of the real-estate company.
9. Crystal Palace – Joshua Harris (£3.6bn)
Harris owns an 18 per cent stake in Palace as well as being the principal shareholder of the NHL team the New Jersey Devils and NBA team the Philadelphia 76ers.
He co-founded Apollo Global Management, one of the world’s largest investment firms.
9. Manchester United – The Glazers (£3.6bn)
Malcolm Glazer gradually bought shares of the club between 2003 and 2005 to complete his takeover.
He made his fortune in property, banking and healthcare before his death in 2014. His sons, Avram and Joel, have since stepped up as co-chairmen.
9. Tottenham – Joe Lewis (£3.6bn)
English National Investment Company, which Lewis owns 70.6 per cent, bought a controlling stake in Tottenham in 2001 from Alan Sugar.
He is the main investor in Tavistock Group, which owns more than 200 companies ranging from sports teams, energy companies, restaurants and luxury properties.
6. Wolves – Guo Guangchang (£5bn)
Guangchang completed his takeover of the club in 2016 and has made a serious investment in the team.
He is chairman of the Fosun Group and has invested in insurance, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, property, steel, mining, retail, services and finance.
5. Aston Villa – Nassef Sawiris (£5.5bn)
Sawiris replaced Tony Xia as Villa owner in July 2018 when he bought a 55 per cent controlling stake in the club.
He is from one of Egypt’s wealthiest families and owns numerous construction, engineering and building companies.
4. Fulham – Shahid Khan (£5.8bn)
Khan has a strong background in American sports, and has been the owner of NFL franchise Jacksonville Jaguars since 2012, completing his Fulham takeover the following year.
He and his son, Fulham director Tony Khan, are also heavily involved in All Elite Wrestling.
3. Arsenal – Stan Kroenke (£6.8bn)
Kroenke married Walmart heiress Ann Walton in 1974 and later founded Kroenke Group in 1983, which is a property development firm.
He first became involved in Arsenal in 2007 before assuming majority control in 2011.
Kroenke also owns the LA Rams NFL team, which he relocated from St Louis in 2016.
2. Chelsea – Roman Abramovich (£8.5bn)
Abramovich purchased Chelsea for £140m in 2003 and oversaw a huge investment in the squad that has brought great success to the club.
He sold his stake in the Russian gas company Gazprom in 2005 and owns stakes in steel and nickel companies among his other business ventures.
1. Man City – Sheikh Mansour (£23.3bn)
Mansour is the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and half brother of current UAE president Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nayhan.
He is chairman of International Petroleum Investment Company and also has a stake in Virgin Galactic.
He also owns the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation.
Mansour completed a takeover of the club in 2008 and has poured huge investment into the club.
Since he became the Man City owner they have won four Premier League titles.
The Premier League is very well represented, according to the business magazine
- Sheikh Mansour (Estimated net worth: $30.5billion) – PL owner
- Roman Abramovich (Estimated net worth: $12.8billion) – PL owner
- Jerry Jones (Estimated net worth: $8.4billion)
- Stan Kroenke (Estimated net worth: $8.3billion) – PL owner
- Shahid Khan (Estimated net worth $7.8billion) – PL owner
- Nassef Sawiris (Estimated net worth $7.4billion) – PL owner
- Guo Guangchang (Estimated net worth $6.7billion) – PL owner
- Robert Kraft (Estimated net worth: $6.6billion)
- Arthur Blank (Estimated net worth: $6.3billion)
- Joe Lewis (Estimated net worth: $4.9billion) – PL owner
- Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (Estimated net worth: $4billion) – PL owner
- Joshua Harris (Estimated net worth: $4.8billion) – PL owner
- Stephen Bisciotti (Estimated net worth: $4.3billion)
- Janice McNair (Estimated net worth: $3.9billion)
- Mike Ashley (Estimated net worth: $3.8billion) – PL owner
- Arturo Moreno (Estimated net worth: $3.4billion)
- Bernie Ecclestone (Estimated net worth: $3.3billion)
- Gayle Benson (Estimated net worth: $3.3billion)
- Denise York (Estimated net worth: $3.2billion)
- James Isray (Estimated net worth: $3billion)
The birth of deep game theory in a league format poker tournament, fancy dress headwear and a confrontation that still gets talked about today — the partypoker Premier League Poker opened up all sorts of avenues in the game when Season Four was unleashed to the public back in 2010.
In Part One of our look back at the iconic series, the series' main commentator, Jesse May, talked about what made Season IV unique and exciting, including the drama that built up throughout the preliminary heats. As play moved towards the final, it got even juicier. A clash had been brewing between loud-mouthed British player Luke Schwartz and the more reserved French poker pro David Benyamine, and it eventually came to a head.
Schwartz and Benyamine Clash
“When I first met Benyamine, he had come to Las Vegas from France as a guy with a great sense of humor,' May recalled. 'He was good for the game. By the time that Season Four took place, he was on a bit of a bad run, and he was a total Vegas denizen.”
Benyamine was a cold member of the group, 'showing up and then going home almost like he wasn’t part of the whole thing,' according to May. By comparison, Schwartz was much-loved by players and crew.
Benyamine was rumored to be a last-minute replacement and it proved to be an addition that would lead to some sparks at the table. During that season, the two had this famous confrontation that showed Schwartz' characteristic way of making things personal at the table.
“Schwartz was probably our best winner. Negreanu, and Laak, who was the chip leader going into the final table, were both awesome. But it was probably the last Premier League Hellmuth ever played.”
The Poker Brat would not come close to winning and continued his terrible run in the show. By 2010, Hellmuth had found four seasons of the format tough to beat, due at least in part to some rivalries on the felt that didn't help his cause.
“Between Tony G, Negreanu, Luke Schwartz, and Roland De Wolfe, they did not let him have a second. They were relentless.”
Season Four Changes, Putting the Party in partypoker
The way the points worked was unique. With a league format having failed years before in Vegas with a tournament that contained luminaries like Gus Hansen and Chip Reese, Premier League Poker needed to get it right. They’d tried three years of leaving all the payouts to the final, but in Season Four they awarded prize money during the heats. Filming took a fortnight, end to end.
“We were all locked up in the M Hotel. It’s not really on the Strip, it was a mile south from Mandalay Bay. It’s a nice place, total luxury, but everyone - apart from Benyamine - was holed up in the same place, people like Mad Marty Wilson and Eddie Hearn for a fortnight straight. It was a total scene.”
Filming was only the half of it. The event was sponsored by partypoker, and they lived up to their name, bringing all of the party.
“The games would go for two a day. I’d start at 11 a.m. and finish at midnight. Everybody would be at the bar, in the restaurant or at the craps tables. It was absolute mayhem.”
When they weren’t raising hell at the craps table, they were raising each other at the felt. Outside of that time, everyone wanted to be in the commentary truck, which for May was a new phenomenon.
“Players who normally you couldn’t have got them to do commentary if you’d put a gun to the heads, they knew that they could get in there and see how everyone was playing because you could see all the cards. Nobody turned it down.”
A packed house in the casino, it would be just the same in the truck.
“It would be me, Roland and Luke, with Phil hanging his head through the door. It was the greatest ever having all those guys in there doing commentary.”
Of all the characters May shared live air with, de Wolfe was the most unique. The British player has disappeared from the world of tournament poker these days, but back then, he was an enigma off the table - and in the broadcast truck.
“One time, we were in the box and he came in with a bowl of cashew nuts. These production trucks look like spaceships, there are levers and buttons and monitors and plugs all over the place. Without realising it, Roland had taken these cashew nuts and plugged up every single input hole in the truck. He’d ruined a million-dollar truck, not intentionally, just because he needed something to do with his hands while watching poker.”
Evolving Game
The series came on the back of a WSOP Main Event final table which featured Joseph Cheong raising all-in with ace-high, a move which wasn’t as readily made as it is today. Schwartz did even more of that in Season Four of Premier League Poker.
'For whatever reason, Schwartz never really won the big tournaments that everyone had predicted him for, but he was such a natural at no limit hold’em. Vanessa Rousso had opened under the gun and it was clear to everyone at the table that she wasn’t that strong. Schwartz raised and Yevgeniy Timoshenko, who was a really sharp player, re-raised Luke with king-jack off-suit or something.”
Back to Schwartz, typical options would be fold or fold quicker, but Schwartz went in a different direction. The man was made for TV poker.
“Schwartz just shoved all-in with 6-4 off-suit. Now that sort of thing seems more standard, but in terms of TV poker, it was quite a unique move to four-bet shove with nothing. That was how the game was changing. The old school certainly didn’t play like that.”
The uniquely complex format was paying off, with audience numbers up and players loving the action in each heat. When it came to the final, Phil Laak had the lead, while Schwartz had stacks of chips too. But it was Benyamine who had the last laugh, beating Schwartz heads-up. You can watch that match in the clip below:
Televised Poker Leaves Premier League Format Behind
The strategic element to the season had made waves in poker, and as May says, 'It would change every hand and that’s what made it really exciting.' May can definitely see the format being popular if it came back today.
“They had the Poker Masters the last couple of years in Vegas which has a point element to it, but it wasn’t integral to it. I’d love to see Dominik Nitsche, Fedor Holz and those guys get involved in this kind of league format.”
The league format is something May believes is needed in no limit hold’em, not least because 'the best heads-up player in the world can’t beat the best computer right now.' But May himself, once heralded as ‘The Voice of Poker,’ won’t be expecting to return to the commentary booth.
“You’ve got guys like Nick Schulman and Ali Najed, who are a great team; they’re so clever and great personalities. The whole thing about televised poker is that it needs to evolve to keep people interested.”
Maybe TV poker has evolved in the last nine years, and commentary with it. May feels like he was always watching - and commentating - as a fan.
“My style of commentary would be more what you’d call railing - sitting there and appreciating it. That was what I liked best about the Premier League - it felt like it was an evolving part of the game.”
There can be no doubt that Premier League Poker pushed the format into prominence in a way that league format poker hadn’t achieved before. It would continue in that direction for its remaining seasons.
“Every Premier League after that, we started getting the game theory onto the screen in a deeper way. In the later years, we really started to get the cream of the crop, with Dwan, Selbst and Seiver - real top of the tree players. But I’ll always love the line up in Season Four.”
Whether league format poker will return is a tough question to answer. But Premier League Poker Season Four, for many participants and viewers, will go down as one of the most epic forays into the televised league poker format.
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