Jonathan Duhamel has won the first heat of this seasonÂ's PartyPoker Premier League VI.
The former WSOP Main Event champion took the honours in Group A at the £125,000 buy-in event, seeing off Sam Trickett to claim a maximum haul of 16 points.
British high roller Trickett received 11 points for his second place finish, with PartyPoker pro Marvin Rettenmaier taking third spot for eight points.
Trickett actually went into heads-up play leading Duhamel by about 1.5m chips to 925k, but eventually saw his K-J shove defeated by DuhamelÂ's A-9.
The other players in Group A, in first heat finishing order, are Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Cates and Scott Seiver.
The Premier League is split into two groups of eight players, with each participant competing for points across four heats.
The top three point scorers in each group automatically qualify for the eight-handed final table, with those in fourth and fifth position competing heads-up for the two remaining spots.
The overall winner of Premier League VI receives a prize of $450,000.