PartyPoker Premier League IV Day 1 | PartyPoker Premier League IV

The first heat of the PartyPoker Premier League IV from the The M Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada is set to begin shortly. The first heat consists of eight players and includes some of the biggest names in poker. Here's the list, which includes the defending champ JC Tran.

Seat 1: Phil Laak
Seat 2: JC Tran
Seat 3: Vanessa Rousso
Seat 4: Yevgeniy Timoshenko
Seat 5: Ian Frazer
Seat 6: Luke Schwartz
Seat 7: Roland De Wolfe
Seat 8: Daniel Negreanu

Each player begins with 300,000 chips and blind levels will last 21 hands per round. For each eight-player heat, the players will earn points based on their finish as follows.

1st - 16 pts
2nd - 11 pts
3rd - 8 pts
4th - 6 pts
5th - 4 pts
6h - 3 pts
7th - 2 pts
8th - 0 pts

The points system is to help determine the final table. The top four points earners will automatically reach the final six-handed final table and then the next four spots (5th-8th) will play heads-up matches to try and win their way to the final. Fifth place will place eighth place and sixth place will play seventh place.

The total prizepool is $1.5 million. $900,000 of that is reserved for the final table while there will be $600,000 up for grabs during the preliminary heats. Here's how that prizepool will break down for each heat.

1st - $32,000
2nd - $22,000
3rd - $16,000
4th - $12,000
5th - $8,000
6h - $6,000
7th - $4,000
8th - $0

Right now, the players are lounging around the Ravello Lounge waiting for the production crew to get everything finalized to get going. Be sure to stayed tuned for love coverage from right here at PokerNews. We'll see you shortly!