The second annual PartyPoker Women’s World Open is set to start this Friday, October 3rd in London and run until the following Monday (October 6th). Thirty-six poker competitors from across the world have traveled to England for the chance to take first place and a prestigious bracelet by taking down each game scheduled for this weekend.

PartyPoker has assembled a decent enough $108,000 prize pool which the players will be competing for a share of. Buy-ins are set at $3,000 and the first place winner of the entire tournament series will be rewarded with an impressive $50,000 sum. Among the contestants gearing up for play this weekend is last year’s champion, Bev Pace. She is the wife of another professional poker player (and comedian), Norman Pace and hopes to repeat her success yet again by sweeping the event. Pace managed to take down Jen Mason at the final game to retrieve the $50K prize while simultaneously establishing herself as a formidable presence in the poker world.

Although it may still only be a small event in light of the larger mixed-sex tournaments which take place during the rest of the year, PartyPoker should be commended for their work toward bringing greater visibility to those female poker professionals who are still greatly ignored in comparison to their male counterparts. The company announced that last year’s Women’s World Open received fantastic international television ratings and that the 2008 installment should prove no different.

Tags: poker

Andreas Jorbeck took down Europe’s top poker professionals in his first ever live game, the PartyPoker.com hosted Late Night Poker 2008 tournament. Jorbeck, 36 hails from Stockholm and has been playing smaller-scale online poker for around four years, never imagining that it would take him to this level of prestige.

The final round featured players from the World Poker Tour including top champions, Roland de Wolfe, Andy Black, Ian Frazer, Eddy Scharf and Surinder Sunar among others. The event was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK and saw Jorbeck beat out de Wolfe after playing as an underdog for most of the rounds and winning an impressive $125, 000 by virtue of his win.

The Stockholm resident pressed his advantage in the finals by taking on a more aggressive approach to the play which enabled him to emerge at the top of the round, leaving the former champion de Wolfe as runner-up and 2008 Premier League Winner Black in third place.

Jorbeck is being touted as an example of the quality of online poker players as he managed to win against seasoned live-game professionals. PartyPoker.com is understandably enthusiastic about Jorbeck’s display and his show of skill in a tournament that had him barely pegged as a contender.

Tags: poker