PartyPoker Women's World Open to Begin Taping

GIBRALTAR -- PartyPoker has announced the inaugural PartyPoker Women's World Open in London in August. The 36 runner field features the strongest line-up ever assembled for a women's poker tournament
  in Europe.

Leading the field is American trio Jennifer Tilly, Liz Lieu and Shannon Elizabeth. Tilly is an Academy Award nominated actress and WSOP bracelet holder, Lieu is one of the world's most feared cash game players and a star of the successful PartyPoker Premier League Poker series, while Elizabeth, best known for her role as a beauty in the film American Pie, recently made the final four of the NBC Heads-Up Championship in the US.

This the first women's tournament we have held and we are delighted by the excellent line-up and hugely encouraged by the positive interest we have already received from broadcasters all over the world before a card has been dealt. Elizabeth said: "I'm so excited to be coming to London to commentate and play in the inaugural PartyPoker Women's World Open. So many great women will be playing from the United States including Liz Lieu and Jennifer Tilly, so hopefully one of us can bring home the championship!"

The tournament is PartyPoker's first ever all-female event and takes place between the 7th and 10th of August in London and will be produced by Matchroom Sport. A similar format to the annual PartyPoker World Open will be followed, as 36 players from across the globe battle it out for a share of a $108,000 prize-fund. The buy-in for the tournament is set at $3,000, with the eventual winner taking home a cool $50,000. Amongst the European challengers will be Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham, former PartyPoker World Open winner Pippa Flanders, European Ladies champion Jackie Meecham, Katharine Hartree, Jackie Vaswani and Deborah Rogers.

The show will be televised in the UK later in the year on Five. Commentary will be provided by Jesse May and Shannon Elizabeth.

A PartyPoker spokesman said, "This the first women's tournament we have held and we are delighted by the excellent line-up and hugely encouraged by the positive interest we have already received from broadcasters all over the world before a card has been dealt."