Poker News

Ivey Loses $320k to Ziigmund

Ivey has been somewhat of a ghost online in 2010 having played only 974 hands, while players such as Di "Urindanger" Dang have already booked over 34,000.

In his latest session Ivey played just 254 hands before throwing in the towel. He started at $300/$600 PLO against both Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies and Patrik Antonius.

Ivey only stuck around for 97 hands, earning $36k for his efforts.

About halfway into his session Ivey and Sahamies agreed to play heads-up on Ivey's personal $500/$1,000 table - the Ivey Thunderdome. This match lasted for 157 hands, ending with Sahamies winning $321k.

Ivey's $284k loss leaves him up just $32k on the year.

After losing $275k playing 7-Game, Sahamies finished the day with only $113k. This win continues his hot-streak, pushing his year's results to over $1.7 million.

Antonius continues to struggle at the tables, last night losing over $467k. Nearly half of those losses ($209k) went to Tom "durrrr" Dwan in the latest session of the durrrr Challenge.

Despite winning the largest pot of the night, worth almost $500k, Antonius lost $174k to Sahamies heads-up and an additional $83k in his PLO session with Sahamies and Ivey.

When added to his results for the year, Antonius is now the first player to be stuck over $1 million in 2010.

Below you can find the largest pots of the night, or you can head to MarketPulse to see the rest.

Phil Ivey Loses $320k to Ziigmund

Ivey has been somewhat of a ghost online in 2010 having played only 974 hands, while players such as Di "Urindanger" Dang have already booked over 34,000.

In his latest session Ivey played just 254 hands before throwing in the towel. His session started at $300/$600 PLO against both Sahamies and Patrik Antonius.

Ivey only stuck around for 97 hands, earning $36k for his efforts.

About halfway into his session Ivey and Sahamies agreed to play heads-up on Ivey's personal $500/$1,000 table, the Ivey Thunderdome. This match lasted for 157 hands, ending with Sahamies winning $321k.

Ivey's $284k loss leaves him up just $32k on the year.

After losing $275k playing 7-Game, Sahamies finished the day with only $113k. This win continues his hot-streak, pushing his year's results to over $1.7 million.

Antonius continues to struggle at the tables, last night losing over $467k. Nearly half of those losses ($209k) went to Tom "durrrr" Dwan in the latest session of the durrrr Challenge.

Despite winning the largest pot of the night, worth almost $500k, Antonius lost $174k to Sahamies heads-up and an additional $83k in his PLO session with Sahamies and Ivey.

When added to his results for the year, Antonius is now the first player to be stuck over $1 million in 2010.

Below you can find the largest pots of the night, or you can head to MarketPulse to see the rest.

Dwan Kick Starts a Comeback

Dwan’s night started at $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha where he sat with a cast of familiar names, such as Ashton “theASHMAN103” Griffin, Cole South, Brian Townsend, Matatuk and Di “Urindanger” Dang.

After 482 hands at the table and over 4 hours of play, Dwan closed down the game with $155k profit. Not quite ready to call it a night, Dwan moved on to $500/$1,000 Cap No-Limit Hold’em, where he lost over $10k in just 37 hands.

Dwan’s profit brings him up to only $420k in losses on the year.

The biggest winner on the night was Griffin who sat at the $100/$200 PLO for 627 hands, taking away $156k for his effort.

This brings Griffin’s results for the year up to $327k.

Dang only played about half as many hands on PLO as Griffin, but still managed to leave the game with a profit of over $40k. Added to profit earned earlier in the day (playing $100/$200 Cap PLO), Dang’s total profit comes to almost $100k.

This $100k profit pushes Dang to just over $1 million earnings on the year, only $252k behind Gus Hansen in first place.

The biggest loser of the day was a relatively unknown French player by the name of Matatuk. After trying to beat the star-studded $100/$200 PLO, Matatuk logged off for the night with over $207k in losses.

Despite winning the second largest pot of the day (worth $113k), South still came away from the tables down over $109k, bringing his profit on the year down to around $800k.

Townsend, who lost the largest pot of the day to Dwan, continues to struggle in 2010, losing over $55k on the day, bringing his total losses to $350k on the year.

Below are the three largest pots of the day. To see more pots, including Matatuk’s largest loss of the day, head to MarketPulse.

Bunch of big winners on Full Tilt Poker

Gus Hansen has been the most dominant player on Full Tilt Poker in January - he has won 1,24 million dollars already. But now there’s competition. Cole South, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies and Di “Urindanger” Dang have all managed to win almost million dollars.

The Great Dane - Gus Hansen

All the aforementioned players have won around million dollars in January - South has made 965,000 dollars, Sahamies and Dang a bit over 950.000 dollars.

Cole South leads all the way against Ilari Sahamies and Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro in a $601k pot:

And when there’s winners, there has to be losers

Richard Ashby has taken the lead on the loser side of the field, he has lost about 780k dollars.

There’s still one missing, Isildur1. Where is the Swede? Let’s hope he will make a fast comeback.

Source: Highstakesdb

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Bunch of big winners on Full Tilt Poker

Antanas “Tony G” Guoga Joins Team PartyPoker

Continuing to add to an already impressive lineup, it was announced early Thursday that top poker professional Antanas “Tony G” Guoga has signed a sponsorship deal with PartyPoker.

Guoga, who has been at the forefront of the international poker scene for the past decade, will make his first showing for Team PartyPoker at the Aussie Millions, which began today and is one of the top non-U.S. tournaments on the poker schedule. According to Guoga’s new blog at PartyPoker, he will be participating in the $100,000 Challenge tournament scheduled to start on January 23rd, which draws some of the toughest competition in the game today and features defending champion Howard Lederer. Tony G will also join fellow Team PartyPoker members Bodo Sbrzesny and defending Aussie Millions champion Stewart Scott along with 43 qualifiers from PartyPoker for the Aussie Millions Main Event. The AUD $10,000 tournament will feature three starting days that begin on January 24th and will be broadcasted on Fox Sports Net.

As a part of the new sponsorship deal, Guoga will also be part of one of PartyPoker’s upcoming special events, the PartyPoker.com Premier League IV. This invitation-only tournament is scheduled to take place in February in Las Vegas and includes a formidable lineup. Such players as former World Champion and 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, current World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship winner Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, poker Triple Crown winner Roland De Wolfe, noted poker “bad boy” Luke ‘FullFlush’ Schwartz, and dangerous tournament pro J. C. Tran are scheduled to take to the felt, presenting Tony G with tremendously difficult opposition.

Guoga’s own online poker site, TonyGPoker.com, has been merged into the PartyPoker family. Those players who are a part of TonyGPoker.com will be moved to Noble Poker. Guoga will continue to be an integral part of his online promotions, such as the Sunday Bike Ride (moving to Noble Poker), and will play on PartyPoker under the name “TonyG.”

“We’re delighted to welcome Tony to Team PartyPoker,” a PartyGaming spokesman commented about the newest arrival to the organization. “Tony is undoubtedly one of poker’s biggest characters in the game and a personal deal for him made huge sense. We are also happy to have acquired the assets of TonyGPoker.com and look forward to welcoming his players on board.”

Guoga isn’t called “The Mouth From Down Under” for nothing. Known to dismiss his beaten opponents from the table with a curt “On Yer Bike!” Guoga has already issued a challenge for those PartyPoker members playing in the Aussie Millions. “If one of the Party qualifiers knocks me out of the Main Event, I will buy them a bike,” Guoga stated. “First of all, however, I will ride it out myself… I know when it is bike time!”

In his first blog entry on PartyPoker, Guoga also throws down the gauntlet against one of his Premier League IV foes. After speaking glowingly of Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton and “High Stakes Poker” announcer Kara Scott, Tony G dropped the hammer on Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz: “He’s rude, obnoxious and I cannot wait to bust him up. This kid is not the kind of player you feel you can learn from – you just want to bust him.”

Guoga certainly has the ability to bust up many players at the table. His lifetime earnings at the tournament poker tables total nearly $4 million and include the WPT Bad Boys of Poker II championship in 2006. He was also the runner-up in the 2006 PartyPoker Intercontinental Poker Championship in Las Vegas and has cashed 15 times at the WSOP.

Famous for his mouth, it is Guoga’s philanthropic efforts that have earned him a great deal of respect from players and fans. After he won the first ever Asian Poker Tour (APT) event in Singapore in 2006, Tony G donated half the prize money to charity and, after taking down over $200,000 in a Moscow poker tournament in 2007, he turned over the entirety of his winnings to Russian orphanages.

With the addition of Guoga, Team PartyPoker is becoming a formidable challenge in the tournament poker world. After not sponsoring pros for much of its existence, PartyPoker has certainly drawn top talent to its roster. Along with Guoga, Sexton, Sbrzesny, and the two Scotts, other members of Team PartyPoker include France’s Remy Biechel, England’s Ian “The Raiser” Frazer, and Brazil’s Felipe "Mojave" Ramos.

South Wins First Monster Pot of 2010

Starting at around noon yesterday a handful of players including Sahamies, South, LarsLuzak and Richard Ashby, took seats at $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha, beginning one of the first true high-stakes sessions of the year.

South played around 1,100 hands on the day, netting a total profit of over $290k.

Despite losing the massive $601k pot to South, Sahamies still managed to grind a $186k profit on the day while playing only 431 hands.

Hac “trex313” Dang also had a big day, earning over $341k in his 392 hand session. Dang’s largest pot of the day was a $192k loss to South. Fortunately, Dang had won a $132k pot from South just eight minutes earlier.

Di “Urindanger” Dang (Hac Dang’s brother) bounced around playing almost a dozen small sessions throughout the day. Urindanger put together enough small wins to finish the day with a $140k profit.

On the losing end for the day came Full Tilt pro Richard Ashby who lost on almost every table he sat at, netting over $421k in losses across 660 hands of PLO.

Tom "durrrr" Dwan had a big day playing 2,622 hands across multiple games and limits. His day included sessions in PLO, No-Limit Hold'em (all mostly at $100/$200) and even 1,591 hands of $1,000/$2,000 Fixed-Limit Hold'em. In the end Dwan suffered a loss of over $348k.

LarsLuzak, who continues his struggles from last year, lost $96k on the digital felt in just 293 hands.

Below you can watch replays of the three largest PLO pots of the day, including the $601k pot from South. To see more replays, head to MarketPulse.

Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz Added to PartyPoker.com Premier League IV Roster

As the PartyPoker.com Premier League IV draws closer, the field of 12 continues to take shape.  On Tuesday, PartyPoker.com announced that poker's newest bad boy, Luke "FullFlush" Schwartz, has been confirmed as the fifth player for the February contest.  Schwartz joins Premier League III winner J.C. Tran, 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, World Poker Tour (WPT) Season 7 world champion Yevgeniy "Jovial Gent" Timoshenko, and "Triple Crown" winner Roland de Wolfe in the exclusive event, which will take place February 11th to 18th in Las Vegas.

Schwartz caught the attention of the poker world in 2009 by racking up seven-figure profits online, all the while beating an impressive list of players.  Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, Brad Booth, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, and David "Raptor" Benefield were among his victims.  Perhaps more than his poker skill, it was his "in your face" personality that really turned heads.  Known to trash talk to his heart's content, Schwartz cemented himself as one of online poker's most controversial figures when he called Dwan and Di "Urindanger" Dang "gay" in a public interview.

In October 2009, Schwartz took his behavior to another level, stealing a sandwich from a food stand after busting out of the European Poker Tour (EPT) London event.  Having been previously banned from Grosvenor Casino properties for not obeying the dress code only to have the ban lifted in time for EPT London, he was banned once again for his actions.

Schwartz may be young, but he is far from intimidated by the already strong field.  "For sure there are some big names playing but I have to be a huge favorite," he told PartyPoker.com.  "They need to know that I’m coming with my sharky hat on and it's gonna be a whole week of soul owning from Full Flush."

"He is poker's new villain, no question about that," Daniel Negreanu once wrote in his blog.

Seven players are yet to be determined and all but one will be hand picked by PartyPoker.com.  The final competitor will be a PartyPoker.com online qualifier.  A total of 16 qualifiers will square off in Las Vegas, battling it out in a series of sit and go tournaments to determine which skilled player will receive the final (and free) seat in the PartyPoker.com Premier League IV.  In addition, PartyPoker.com will evaluate each of the 16 qualifiers and select one to receive a $100,000 sponsorship deal from the site.  While one would assume that the winner will have a leg up on the competition, PartyPoker.com will also consider personality and marketability in addition to poker skill, so even those who do not win the 12th seat will have a chance at the sponsorship deal.

The PartyPoker.com Premier League has a unique format.  The 12 players will compete in a series of six-handed sit and gos, or "heats," with points awarded based on the order of finish.  Once all the heats are completed, the top four point winners will advance to the six-handed Grand Final.  The next four players will face off in heads-up matches to determine the fifth and sixth members of the final table.

With a $100,000 buy-in and $300,000 added by PartyPoker.com, the prize pool for the Premier League IV will be a whopping $1.5 million.  The action, including the battle for the 12th seat, will be televised in Europe, with Team Party's newest member, Kara Scott, serving as host.

Gus Hansen Reaches $1.3 Million

After realizing he couldn’t beat the best online players in the world at Pot-Limit Omaha or No-Limit Hold’em, Gus Hansen started 2010 by moving to 7-Game, hoping his years of mixed-game experience would be enough to give him back an edge.

It appears to be working after yet another winning session for the Danish pro. His latest $560k came yesterday with $169k of it from C-PLO and the remaining $391k from 7-Game.

Hansen wasn’t the only player to have a big day though. Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies took top honors on 7-Game, crushing the tables for over $513k, well ahead of Cole South who made $302k at the same time.

Di “Urindanger” Dang earned over $313k exclusively from C-PLO, but played a massive 6,202 hands to do it.

The biggest loser on the day is a relatively unknown player named PixKim. Although it hasn’t been 100% confirmed it appears PixKim is a Finnish pro by the name of Jari Komulainen. Through a combination of C-PLO and 7-Game PixKim managed to lose over $609k.

Two other players with notable losses on the day include Brian Hastings ($285k) and Tom “durrrr” Dwan ($245k).

Here are the three largest C-PLO pots of the day. You can see more of the action over on MarketPulse.

Reynolds Wraps Up PCA High Roller Win

A poker player since he was just 16-years-old, William Reynolds is no stranger to success, having come fourth at EPT San Remo last season for €377,000. 

He’s also had six figure wins online, but the $576,240 first-place prize he took down in the Bahamas Thursday marks his biggest score to date.

“It was the most roller coaster of a ride I’ve ever been on,” Reynolds said moments after the win. “I was all in so many times at the end of Day 3 it looked I was going to be the final table bubble. I ended up doubling up four times in a row and making it to the final table, chipping up, winning some key hands and taking it down.”

In just the first few hands of the final table, short-stacked Dmitry Stelmak pushed all in with K♠ T♠ and got looked up by Tobias Reinkemeier on A♠ T♣.

The domination held and Stelmak bowed out eighth collecting $66,885.

Reynolds then sent Canadian high-stakes pro Matt Marafioti to the rail, winning a race with ace-king over Marafioti’s sevens. Marafioti took $87,465 for seventh.

Will Molson then took a massive chip lead doubling through Reinkemeier as the blinds rose to dangerous levels for the five other finalists remaining.

Reinkemeier fell next, running eights into Reynolds’ kings to finish sixth, cashing for $108,045.

Before long, 2009 World Series of Poker Ladies Champion Lisa Hamilton’s said goodbye, bowing out fifth when she lost a race with jacks to Molson’s A♣ Q♥.

A queen on the turn did her in and the ladies champ was forced to settle for $133,770 in fifth place money.

A short-stacked Michiel Brummelhuis then shipped it with Q♠ 9♥ only to run into Reynolds’ aces and hit the rail fourth for $154,350.

EPT London High Roller fourth place finisher Adolfo Vaeza took third this time around when he got it in with a straight draw against Reynold’s top pair and failed to get there.

As he headed to the cage to grab $218,150, Molson and Reynolds went heads up.

Reynolds held the lead from the outset, and despite doubling up Molson once to give away the chip lead, kept up the pressure until the title was his.

Molson, who finished second in this very event last year to Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, was forced to take runner-up money again, this time cashing for $322,075 as Reynolds grabbed all title and the glory.

Typical of a $25k event, the PCA High Roller saw 84 of poker’s best square off for the title this week and Reynolds said it was no cake walk.

“It was a tough tournament and it feels awesome to take it down,” he said. “I can’t count the amount of times I was all in. I was short stacked and it looked like I was going to be back in my hotel room and down on the beach the next day and instead I chipped back up won some pots and went all the way to the top.”

For a comprehensive recap of the entire PCA High Roller event, click through to PokerListings’ Live Updates.

Reynolds Wraps Up PCA High Roller Win

A poker player since he was just 16-years-old, William Reynolds is no stranger to success, having come fourth at EPT San Remo last season for €377,000. 

He’s also had six figure wins online, but the $576,240 first-place prize he took down in the Bahamas Thursday marks his biggest score to date.

“It was the most roller coaster of a ride I’ve ever been on,” Reynolds said moments after the win. “I was all in so many times at the end of Day 3 it looked I was going to be the final table bubble. I ended up doubling up four times in a row and making it to the final table, chipping up, winning some key hands and taking it down.”

In just the first few hands of the final table, short-stacked Dmitry Stelmak pushed all in with K♠ T♠ and got looked up by Tobias Reinkemeier on A♠ T♣.

The domination held and Stelmak bowed out eighth collecting $66,885.

Reynolds then sent Canadian high-stakes pro Matt Marafioti to the rail, winning a race with ace-king over Marafioti’s sevens. Marafioti took $87,465 for seventh.

Will Molson then took a massive chip lead doubling through Reinkemeier as the blinds rose to dangerous levels for the five other finalists remaining.

Reinkemeier fell next, running eights into Reynolds’ kings to finish sixth, cashing for $108,045.

Before long, 2009 World Series of Poker Ladies Champion Lisa Hamilton’s said goodbye, bowing out fifth when she lost a race with jacks to Molson’s A♣ Q♥.

A queen on the turn did her in and the ladies champ was forced to settle for $133,770 in fifth place money.

A short-stacked Michiel Brummelhuis then shipped it with Q♠ 9♥ only to run into Reynolds’ aces and hit the rail fourth for $154,350.

EPT London High Roller fourth place finisher Adolfo Vaeza took third this time around when he got it in with a straight draw against Reynold’s top pair and failed to get there.

As he headed to the cage to grab $218,150, Molson and Reynolds went heads up.

Reynolds held the lead from the outset, and despite doubling up Molson once to give away the chip lead, kept up the pressure until the title was his.

Molson, who finished second in this very event last year to Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, was forced to take runner-up money again, this time cashing for $322,075 as Reynolds grabbed all title and the glory.

Typical of a $25k event, the PCA High Roller saw 84 of poker’s best square off for the title this week and Reynolds said it was no cake walk.

“It was a tough tournament and it feels awesome to take it down,” he said. “I can’t count the amount of times I was all in. I was short stacked and it looked like I was going to be back in my hotel room and down on the beach the next day and instead I chipped back up won some pots and went all the way to the top.”

For a comprehensive recap of the entire PCA High Roller event, click through to PokerListings’ Live Updates.

Antonius, Dwan, Ivey and Hastings Crush 7-Game

With players including Tom “durrrr” Dwan sticking around for over 2,500 hands, and several others winning and losing over half a million, last night’s 7-Game action began to resemble the regular nose-bleed action seen in late 2009.

Taking top honors after over 2,200 hands, Patrik Antonius won an impressive $844k, bringing himself back to $79k in the red after a shaky start on the year.

Dwan, who went on one of the largest downswings of his career at the end of 2009, posted a $503k win, bringing himself $131k into the black this year.

While the majority of the $500k came from his 2,500 hand 7-Game session, Dwan also sat for over 1,000 hands of heads-up $100/$200 No-Limit Hold’em against URnotINdanger2.

Although his identity is currently unknown, speculation is URnotINdanger2 is the same player who frequented the high-stakes games in 2009 under the alias UrNOTindanger.

At the end of the heads-up session, Dwan made a marginal $33k from the unknown player.

In his first online session of the new-year, Phil Ivey also took a seat at 7-Game. He played just 464 hands, but managed to make over $357k profit in that time.

Also making over $350k was Brian Hastings. After his windfall session at the end of 2009, earning $4.2 million from Isildur1, Hastings continues to grind his way to the top of the earners list, currently sitting in second place with over $428k profit on the year.

Brian Townsend, who has six days remaining in his red-name suspension from Full Tilt, was the night’s biggest loser, dropping over $608k in his 1,100 hands. This loss puts Townsend at the top of the year’s losers list with almost $470k in losses.

The night’s second largest donator was the 7-Game catalyst himself, Gus Hansen. His $550k loss drops him from first to fifth on year’s top winners list, now sitting at $343k profit on the year.

Also posting a $500k loss on the night was Andrew “Browndog19” Brown. Brown, who is working towards making himself a household name for online high-stakes in 2010, currently sits as the year’s fourth biggest loser, down $364k.

With action heating up, and almost all of the game’s biggest names back on the virtual felt, we could be gearing up for an action filled weekend. Stay tuned to MarketPulse to keep abreast of all the action.

Below are the largest three heads-up pots between Dwan and URnotINdanger2.

Gus Hansen Leans on Patrik Antonius

Since the start of 2010 the 7-Game tables have been running most nights, but the action has been modest.

After 12 days of January, Di “Urindanger” Dang held the top spot for the year’s most profitable player with $430k.

But it wasn’t until Gus Hansen turned his sights to Patrik Antonius last night that we saw any sort of impressive numbers being posted. By midnight Hansen had beaten Antonius out of over $500k, moving himself above Dang with almost $900k profit on the year.

This loss put Antonius well in the lead for the year’s biggest loser, with over $923k in losses already.

However, Antonius did get some back early this morning playing Andrew “Browndog19” Brown at heads-up $200/$400 PLO.

Brown’s session actually began sitting across from 2009’s fourth most profitable player, Ashton “theASHMAN103” Griffin. Griffin only stuck around for 98 hands, long enough to grind over $58k worth of profit.

After he departed, Antonius took the seat, and does what he does best. Thanks in part to winning the largest pot of the session, worth $180k, Antonius finished playing heads-up after 169 hands with over $179k of Brown’s money.

Below are the three largest pots from the heads-up session between Antonius and Brown. You can see the rest of the largest pots by clicking over to our MarketPulse section.

United Kingdom Poker Tax Laws Changing

Online gaming operators such as Ladbrokes and William Hill fled to Gibraltar last year in order to escape U.K. government gambling taxes and become more competitive with overseas operators. Now, it appears the relocation could be all for naught.

The U.K. government’s Department of Culture, Media, and Sport this week announced proposed reforms to the regulatory gambling structure that will likely force offshore operators currently licensed outside of the U.K. to apply for a license from the U.K. Gambling Commission if they want to provide services or advertise in the U.K. Until now, operators located in “white listed” offshore tax havens such as Gibraltar, the Isle of Man, and Malta were allowed to advertise in the U.K. while avoiding levies, but this situation will most definitely change with the enforcement of licenses from the Commission.

Other modifications include the enforcement of new regulations that would demand that all offshore operators have active systems through their applications that would share information about suspicious betting patterns with governing authorities in the U.K.

"Online gambling has changed significantly in recent years with many European countries taking new approaches to regulation," said Gerry Sutcliffe, U.K. Sports Minister. "It would be wrong of us to stand still where many things are changing around us – especially where the protection of British consumers is at stake."

Last year, Italy introduced gambling licenses for all online poker and bookmaking sites, setting business tax ranging from 2% to 5%. The Italian government has subsequently seen tax revenues rise across the industry.

Right2bet, a European consumer-led campaign behind the idea that it is a citizen’s right to choose, stated that it hopes the U.K. does not follow suit by blocking operators from the market or burden consumers with extra charges passed on from the high tax regime.

PokerStars Team Pro and The Guardian newspaper columnist Vicky Coren has also recently voiced her opposition to changing tax laws in U.K. card rooms, particularly the Victoria Casino in London. Coren hypothesized that the regular games at the casino will die due to “a stupid, greedy, ill-thought-out change to the tax rules.” The 2009 budget introduced a tax on poker games on top of the conventional hourly fee despite the fact that customers play against each other and not the house.

"This is the same government that wanted super-casinos and unlimited fruit-machine jackpots. So they want to encourage dangerous, mindless gambling but punish a game of skill? It's idiotic," Coren wrote. "All poker-lovers should resolve, next year, to write to their MPs and the chancellor about this punishing tax. It must be removed, for the survival of big casino poker rooms and the future of the live game in this country."

Ryan D’Angelo, Tyler Reiman Lead PCA Entering Final Table

Eight players remain in the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). Online poker pros Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo and Tyler “puffinmypurp” Reiman lead the eight-handed final table by a comfortable margin.

For Reiman, a massive pot against European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie gave him the ammunition to nip at D’Angelo’s heels entering Monday’s final table. Duthie was all-in pre-flop holding pocket aces, the best starting hand in Texas Hold’em, and held a 4:1 advantage over Reiman’s pocket queens. The flop, however, contained a queen and propelled Reiman into the lead in the hand for good. Duthie was out two hands later, finishing in 12th place for $130,000. Reiman owned a stack of 9.35 million entering the final table, trailing only D’Angelo’s 10.09 million.

D’Angelo comes to the 2010 PCA Main Event with top-tier credentials. He was one of only two dual winners during the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), taking down a $320 buy-in Eight-Game event and a $320 buy-in Mixed tournament. The only other player to accomplish the feat in the September tournament series was Team PokerStars Pro member and former PCA winner Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, who took down two No Limit Hold’em events.

In third place on the 2010 PCA Main Event leaderboard is Barry Shulman, who is fresh off a victory in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event for £801,000. He defeated PokerStars sponsored pro Daniel Negreanu in the finale of that tournament, which also saw Jason Mercier, Praz Bansi, and WSOP Main Event November Nine members Antoine Saout and James Akenhead reach the final table. Shulman owns a stack of 6.81 million entering Monday’s play.

Benjamin “xthesteinx” Zamani sent longtime PCA Main Event chip leader Wayne Bentley packing on Sunday. The 23 year-old called Zamani’s all-in on a flop of 3-8-2, showing pocket deuces for a flopped set. In a scene reminiscent of Joe Cada in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, Bentley turned over pocket jacks and watched in agony as the board ran out 6-7. Bentley, a Brit, took home an even $100,000 consolation prize for his 16th place showing.

Poker pro Jeff Madsen hit the rails in 19th place, pocketing $87,500 from the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament. Norwegian poker player Aage Ravn called Madsen’s all-in with pocket fours and Madsen flipped up A-J for an old fashioned race. The board ran out K-7-9-5-9 and that was all she wrote for the poker rapper.

Who will join D’Angelo, Reiman, Ravn, and Shulman at the eight-handed final table of the 2010 PCA, a stop on the EPT and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT)? Here’s a look at the leaderboard:

1. Ryan D'Angelo – 10,090,000
2. Tyler Reiman – 9,350,000
3. Barry Shulman – 6,805,000
4. Harrison Gimbel – 6,000,000
5. Thomas Koral – 5,370,000
6. Benjamin Zamani – 3,700,000
7. Zachary Goldberg – 2,340,000
8. Aage Floenes Ravn – 1,690,000

Ravn is the only non-American at the final table. A total of 57 countries were represented among the 1,529 players who entered the 2010 PCA Main Event. About half of those players were from the United States. Now, seven out of eight finalists, or a hefty 88%, hail from the North American nation. Similarly, Shulman, who is 63 years-old, is the only member of the final table older than 26. Gimbel is the baby of the group at 19, while Reiman and Goldberg weigh in at the tender age of 21.

Regardless of a player’s age, life-changing money is on the line when play kicks off this afternoon from the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Each player remaining is guaranteed to earn at least $201,000:

1st Place: $2,200,000
2nd Place: $1,750,000
3rd Place: $1,350,000
4th Place: $1,000,000
5th Place: $700,000
6th Place: $450,000
7th Place: $300,000
8th Place: $201,300

The final table kicks off at Noon ET from Atlantis and will continue until a champion is crowned. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest PCA coverage.

Ryan D’Angelo, John Duthie Lead PCA Main Event into Play Down Day

Today, the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event enters its play down day, as the 24 remaining players will become eight when all is said and done. At stake is a $2.2 million first place prize and the title of 2010 PCA Champion.

Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo leads the field entering Sunday’s action at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. His chips number 7.5 million, while the next closest competitor, European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie, owns just 5.3 million. D’Angelo scooped a blockbuster pot late in the day on Saturday after putting in a check-raise to 310,000 on a flop of 5-A-9. Dimitri Hefter called and the turn was a king. D’Angelo bet 500,000 and Hefter called to see a three hit on the river. The action slowed down, as both players checked, but the damage was done and D’Angelo’s A-Q was enough to rake in the chips.

Meanwhile, Duthie amassed a chunk of his chips after cracking Swedish poker player Kent Lundmark’s pocket aces. Duthie’s opponent led out for 100,000 on a flop of 7-2-8 with two spades. Duthie raised it up to 300,000 and Lundmark pushed all-in over the top for 2.2 million. Duthie called and showed 7-8 of diamonds for top two pair, while Lundmark turned over his wired pair of aces. The board ran out K-6 and Lundmark hit the rails in 29th place for $66,000.

Wayne Bentley, who held a commanding chip lead after the combined Day 1 field, continues to fly high in the 2010 PCA Main Event. Heading into Sunday’s play down day, Bentley owns a stack of 2.9 million, good for third overall. Three tables will accommodate the field this afternoon and Bentley heads to #1, where D’Angelo and Harrison Gimbel, who led the field entering Day 4, will join him. Bentley’s chip stack was chopped down to just 75,000 at one point on Saturday after his A-K could not withstand pocket queens. The board ran out five cards nine or lower and Bentley was crippled before mounting an epic comeback to land in third on the leaderboard entering today’s action.

Speaking of the leaderboard, here are the 24 players remaining in the 2010 PCA Main Event:

1. Ryan D'Angelo - 7,483,000
2. John Duthie - 5,304,000
3. Wayne Bentley - 2,878,000
4. Thomas Koral - 2,438,000
5. Barry Shulman - 2,433,000
6. Aage Floenes Ravn - 2,282,000
7. Zachary Goldberg - 2,195,000
8. James Tolbert - 2,016,000
9. Benjamin Zamani - 1,905,000
10. Robert Mizrachi - 1,823,000
11. Harrison Gimbel - 1,803,000
12. Tyler Reiman - 1,796,000
13. Darren Keyes - 1,614,000
14. Luc Greenwood - 1,528,000
15. Dimitri Hefter - 1,350,000
16. Matthew Haugen - 1,161,000
17. Jimmie Guinther - 932,000
18. Jeff Madsen - 896,000
19. Gijs Verheijen - 882,000
20. Bo Schultz - 720,000
21. Tamas Lendvai - 662,000
22. Praz Bansi - 542,000
23. Richard Toth - 488,000
24. Kenny Nguyen - 242,000

Eight nations are represented in the final 24. Duthie is the only member of Team PokerStars Pro remaining in the field after his comrades like 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Joe Cada, 2004 Main Event winner Greg Raymer, 2003 World Champion Chris Moneymaker, and former PCA victor Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier busted in prior days.

The elimination of Amanda Baker in 38th place set up a male-only field on Day 5. Poker pro Praz Bansi sent her packing after Baker pushed all-in with Q-J and Bansi made the call with pocket rockets. The board came K-2-4-4-3 and the last woman standing in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament saw her title hopes evaporate.

Every one of the 24 remaining players is assured a payday of at least $75,000. The top four finishers will earn $1 million from the record-setting PCA Main Event field of 1,529 entrants. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest 2010 PCA coverage.

High-Stakes in 2010: A Slow Start

After making over $8.9 million to earn the title as the year’s top earner, Patrik Antonius has been taking a break from the online high-stakes world. How long of a break he plans to take is unknown, but chances are you’ll see him back at the tables sooner rather than later.

As of this morning, Richard Ashby sits as the largest online earner of the year so far with just over $221k.

But in a virtual tie for first sits Brian Hastings with $220k. Hastings, who made an astounding $4.2 million in a single session against Isildur1 near the end of last year, could very well become one of the most prolific online players in 2010 considering the roll he's starting with.

Just like in 2009, Gus Hansen started off his year in the black, having earned almost $160k since New Year's Eve.

It won’t be surprising to see Hansen attempt to add to his profits while splashing around at the nose-bleed 7-Game tables over the next couple of months.

The two more players to have earned over $100k on the year are Di “Urindanger” Dang and geoff7878.

Topping the list as the year’s largest loser is Andrew “Browndog19” Brown with almost $300k in losses. In second place sits a relatively unknown player named bixiu, down $262k.

Other notable players to make the top 10 list for losses include Rafi “howisitfeellike” Amit (-$157k), Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies (-$107k), DIN_FRU; rumored to be Erik Sagstrom (-$94k), Eli Elezra (-$82k) and Cole South (-$78k).

With both Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan down in the Caribbean for the PCA, it might be a few more days before we see any real baller action online.

Below you can find three of the largest hands of the year, to see more hands from this year and last, head to MarketPulse.

Belgium to Enact Laws Nationalizing Online Poker

Defying an order from the European Union (EU), Belgium has enacted laws that could have it become the next nation to nationalize online poker operations. It follows a similar stance towards online poker in Italy.

A recent article in De Standaard, one of Belgium’s newspapers, stated that the coming year would bring laws regarding the country’s stance towards online poker. The new regulations would purportedly nationalize the operations of online poker rooms by preventing outside companies, such as PartyPoker, PokerStars, and Full Tilt Poker, from being able to court Belgians. Online poker rooms would have to set up a separate operation that would be licensed by the Belgian government and located inside of the country, much like what Italy has done with its online poker operations.

This defies an order from the EU that was issued in June 2009. After receiving details on Belgium’s plans for online poker regulation from its government in March of last year, the EU decided that the plan violated several areas of the free trade treaty that all 27 member nations had signed. Some of the violations included requiring the operators of online gaming and poker sites to be based in Belgium, limitation of available licenses, criminal prosecution of customers who play on non-sanctioned sites, and restriction of services from outside nations. At the time, Belgium was also looking to use ISP blocking software to prohibit its citizens from playing on other licensed EU sites.

The EU has shown an inconsistency when it comes to nationalization plans. It allowed Italy to nationalize its online gaming operations, presumably for taxation and gaming regulatory purposes, but has disallowed other countries like Belgium and France. It also has been unable to come to an accord on the online gaming question among its own Member Nations, leading many countries to attempt to nationalize online poker for tax revenues in lean fiscal times. The government of Belgium also states that many of the online poker sites in existence have “ties to organized crime” and, as such, the need for the nationalization is necessary.

The online community is responding to this issue in many of the popular online forums. On TwoPlusTwo, a ten-page thread has developed with players are debating the issue. Part of the reason for its popularity is that one of the top online players in the game today, “Chiren80,” hails from Belgium and the proposed legislation would, in effect, remove him from international action with the threat of possible arrest.

Some of the discussion on TwoPlusTwo inaccurately says that the nationalized sites would still be part of the global network, much like different skins of poker rooms operate. This is not true; the nationalization of sites requires the online poker room to dedicate servers and operations to that nation alone, as PokerStars has done with its PokerStars.it site. With that operation, only Italians can play on the site and there are stringent rules that govern play.

The nationalization trend is, in some players’ minds, becoming a worrisome trend. “Nationalization of gambling environments and…the separation of player pools are real dangers for professional poker players in small European countries,” comments “Droschopf.” Another poster, “Sjors,” states, “I'm fine with regulating but don't cut off the world. Playing against people on the other side of the globe and having traffic around the clock is what makes online poker great.”

With the Belgian laws signed into effect, there is a great deal of pressure on the EU to formalize an agreement on online gaming and poker for the continent. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest.

The durrrr Comeback: Turkey, Eggnog, Ziigmund and $730k

Dwan’s session started late last night at $50/$100 Pot-Limit Omaha, playing a mix of heads-up and short-handed with players including Browndog19, geoff7878 and OneUponAStar.

Dwan left the tables after 149 hands, up $42,902.

After starting off with modest success, Dwan doubled the limits to play 65 hands of $100/$200 PLO. The opponents were primarily the same, with a brief appearance from Richard Ashby.

The $100/$200 session ended with Dwan up another $80,813.

After a 30-minute break, he sat at a six-max $300/$600 PLO table with Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies that quickly filled up with familiar names like La Key U, rospodin, Hac "trex313" Dang, Ashby and Brian Townsend.

The three largest pots from the table involved Dang and were all over $200k. Dang took down the first and third largest, both against the currently pro-status suspended Townsend.

Townsend ended the night down nearly $725k.

Before leaving the $300/$600 session up $53,890, Dwan added a second table, taking on Sahamies at $500/$1,000 PLO.

They played 109 hands heads-up with Dwan taking both the largest pots of the night, leaving the session up $552,669.

Finishing the night up an impressive $730,274, Dwan’s losses for the year have now been shrunk to just over $4.5 million.

Below are the three largest pots of the night, or you can head to MarketPulse for the rest.

Top 5 of 2009: The Emergence of Luke Schwartz

With an eye on the great poker personalities that have made the scene and the interesting fodder they’ve provided for us over the past 12 months, we’ve come up with our very own Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009.

The plan is to present them to you every other day from now until New Year’s Eve and we will start today with No. 5: The Emergence of Luke Schwartz.

By March of this year, the name __FullFlush1__ was on the tip of the entire poker world’s tongues.

The ever brash and always outspoken UK based player had jumped up to the highest stakes games online and was posting massive profits against the likes of Tom "durrrr" Dwan, David "Raptor" Benefield and Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond.

But it was the way he was doing it that had him dominating poker headlines. Coming seemingly out of nowhere, the unknown Brit challenged poker’s best and brightest not just on the virtual felt, but in the chatbox as well.

Calling Dwan things like "durrrr-balls" and the rest "OMGweNerds," FullFlush’s visceral brand of chat provided endless entertainment for railbirds and an image for himself as poker’s next bad boy.

When PokerListings finally talked to the man behind it all for an exclusive interview at the end of March, his real life persona was far from disappointing.

A 25-year-old Londoner by the name of Luke Schwartz who had built a massive roll on Euro sites like Betfair before taking a shot at the nosebleed stakes on Full Tilt, he called durrrr a “nonce-cake,” trashed-talked high stakes mainstays like the Dang brothers and threatened to send the lot of them broke.

An interview with Schwartz read just like some of his best chatbox rants and the public, who either loved him or hated him, lapped it up.

"Poker needed a new kind of bad boy and Luke fit the bill," said noted author and the voice of poker in Europe Jesse May. "I can't even remember now how we could talk about poker without using terms like 'railtard', 'woteva', and 'got the jakey on.' His mouth and style got him his first five minutes of fame, but what will ensure that Luke stays around is the fact, surprising to some, that he is clearly one of the top poker players in the game."

By September, Schwartz had pulled seven figures numbers out of Full Tilt and bought himself some property in London, stepping away from the high stakes online games – But not the headlines.

Barred from playing at the World Series of Poker Europe for an incident at London’s Victoria Grosvenor Casino where he’d refused to remove his hat, PokerListings found Schwartz on the rail at the event.

It took all of one minute before he launched into a tirade against his online nemesis Dwan.

“I just can't stand durrrr,” he said. “I can't stand durrrr's face, durrrr's voice, and durrrr's eyes. I can't stand anything about durrrr.

“I'm sending him broke before the end of 2010. That's my goal.”

With a little help from some friends in the industry, Schwartz got the ban lifted just weeks later, in time to play at PokerStars EPT London, where he made headlines once again for something other than playing cards.

This time it was a sandwich he refused to pay for after busting out of the event, claiming he’d paid enough in tournament fees to cover it, was a VIP and should be treated as such.

The result was another ban from UK casinos and one of the most talked about events of the poker world’s annual fall pilgrimage to London.

But those who thought “Sandwichgate” would be the last they’d hear from Schwartz were sorely mistaken.

By the end of the year his poker playing skills were back on display as he managed to final table both the Full Tilt Poker Million and PartyPoker World Open, two of the biggest televised tournaments in Europe.

Plus, although he hasn’t stepped back into the high stakes games yet, a little advice from him helped an unknown Swede going by the name Isildur1 take a huge chunk out of Dwan’s online roll.

"Luke has shown that he has the walk to back up the talk," added May. "And in a feat of true deception, behind all the bluff and bluster, Luke Schwartz happens to be a very good guy. He is an Ali G of poker for the decade to come."

Poker fans love a winner, but they love a character even more.

Luke Schwartz appears to be both and as a result, his emergence as poker’s next bad boy is No. 5 on PokerListings’ Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009.

PokerListings has criss-crossed the planet this year bringing you the biggest and best poker news from every corner of the globe.

Now that 2009 is coming to a close, we’ve decided to sift through the literally thousands of headlines searching for the year’s top stories.

With an eye on the great poker personalities that have made the scene and the interesting fodder they’ve provided for us over the past 12 months, we’ve come up with our very own Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009.

The plan is to present them to you every other day from now until New Year’s Eve and we will start today with No. 5: The Emergence of Luke Schwartz.

By March of this year, the name __FullFlush1__ was on the tip of the entire poker world’s tongues.

The ever brash and always outspoken UK based player had jumped up to the highest stakes games online and was posting massive profits against the likes of Tom "durrrr" Dwan, David "Raptor" Benefield and Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond.

But it was the way he was doing it that had him dominating poker headlines.

Coming seemingly out of nowhere, the unknown Brit challenged poker’s best and brightest not just on the virtual felt, but in the chatbox as well.

Calling Dwan things like "durrrr-balls" and the rest of his crew as "OMGweNerds," FullFlush’s visceral brand of chat provided endless entertainment for railbirds and an image for himself as poker’s next bad boy.

When PokerListings finally talked to the man behind it all for an exclusive interview at the end of March, his real life persona was far from disappointing.

A 25-year-old Londoner by the name of Luke Schwartz who had built a massive roll on Euro sites like Betfair before taking a shot at the nosebleed stakes on Full Tilt, he called durrrr a “nonce-cake,” trashed-talked high stakes mainstays like the Dang brothers and threatened to send the lot of them broke.

An Interview with Schwartz read just like some of his best chatbox rants and the public, who either loved him or hated him, lapped it up.

By September, Schwartz had pulled seven figures numbers out of Full Tilt and bought himself some property in London, stepping away from the high stakes online games – But not the headlines.

Barred from playing at the World Series of Poker Europe for an incident at London’s Victoria Grosvenor Casino where he’d refused to remove his hat, PokerListings found Schwartz on the rail at the event.

It took all of one minute before he launched into a tirade against his online nemesis Dwan.

“I just can't stand durrrr,” he said. “I can't stand durrrr's face, durrrr's voice, and durrrr's eyes. I can't stand anything about durrrr.

“I'm sending him broke before the end of 2010. That's my goal.”

With a little help from some friends in the industry, Schwartz got the ban lifted just weeks later, in time to play at PokerStars EPT London, where he made headlines once again for something other than playing cards.

This time it was a sandwich he refused to pay for after busting out of the event, claiming he’d paid enough in tournament fees to cover it, was a VIP and should be treated as such.

The result was another ban from UK casinos and one of the most talked about events of the poker world’s annual fall pilgrimage to London.

But those who thought “Sandwichgate” would be the last they’d hear from Schwartz were sorely mistaken.

By the end of the year his poker playing skills were back on display as he managed to final table both the Full Tilt Poker Million and PartyPoker World Open, two of the biggest televised tournaments in Europe.

Plus, although he hasn’t stepped back into the high stakes games yet, a little advice from him helped an unknown Swede going by the name Isildur1 take a huge chunk out of Dwan’s online roll.    

Poker fans love a winner, but they love a character even more.

Luke Schwartz appears to be both and as a result, his emergence as poker’s next bad boy is No. 5 on PokerListings’ Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009.

“Durrrr” won $400k yesterday

Tom Dwan won the most in yesterday’s high stakes games on Full Tilt. Most of Dwan’s earnings came from “DjAdi”.

Dwan played variety of different games and played a bit over 3200 hands. After the smaller stakes grind he found his challenger “DjAdi” from $300/$600 and $500/$1000 NLHE tables.

Almost 75% of Dwan’s earnings came from “DjAdi” who had a really bad day with over $370k losses.

Yesterday wasn’t as busy as some other days and the games were small, so no big pots this time.

Winners Top 3:

Losers Top 3:

Source: Highstakesdb

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

“Durrrr” won $400k yesterday

The Top Five Online Pots of 2009

Di “urindanger” Dang got mad to “sunra18?

We haven’t seen Di “Urindanger” Dang and Hac “trex313″ Dang on Full Tilt Poker’s massive high stakes games lately. Might be that the brothers aren’t that interested in the huge swings these games have to offer.

They have been playing on the lower limit tables though. Yesterday you could find Di “Urindager” Dang on some $50/ 4100 tables.

There was some heated up chatter going on between Di Dang and “sunra18″:

sunra18: lol
Urindanger: hey sunra, how come you always laugh at ppl’s play and then sit out
sunra18: how come u a geeky doucebag?
Urindanger: hey sunra, you’re an e-thug man
Urindanger: you’re a big talker behind ur monitor
sunra18: lol horrid
Urindanger: oh wow, 4k!
Urindanger: such a huge mistake
Urindanger: you lost 15k to durrr and cried
Urindanger: now you’re laughing about 4k
Urindanger: haha loser

“sunra18″ with a cool million

Di “Urindanger” Dang hasn’t managed to win this year at all and his graph is showing about break-even figures. On the other hand, his brother, Hac “trex313″ Dang, has won 2,67 million dollars already, so the year hasn’t been that bad for the brothers.

Source: Highstakesdb

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

Di “urindanger” Dang got mad to “sunra18″

Inside Gaming: Gambling to Save Endangered Species; Bodog’s Latin American Plan of Attack

Dwan’s Downswing Comes to an End

Two things happened for Dwan on Nov. 9: His signing as a Full Tilt Pro was officially announced and he sat down to his first heads-up session against an unknown player calling himself Isildur1.

Over the next three days Dwan got out-played, and out-lucked, for over $3 million, starting a horrific year-end downswing.

Over the next three weeks Dwan continued to struggle at the tables, especially against Isildur1. At the time of publication, Dwan’s losses to the unknown Isildur1 total a staggering $5.2 million.

Thanks to some occasional wins against other players along the way, Dwan’s total losses from Nov. 9 to Dec. 3 come to just over $4.2 million.

After dropping down in limits, playing as low as $25/$50, it began to look as if Dwan was at the end of his roll - Until last night.

Dwan played two sessions last night, the first taking place at six-max $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha against a changing cast of opponents, including Di “Urindanger” Dang, Patrik Antonius and harrington25. Dwan finished in the black across the five tables, up $145k.

The second session came on Tilt’s 7-Game tables, where he dominated the field to take down over $483k.

Having finally booked a winning session, Dwan took the first step towards digging himself out the deep hole he’s been in for the majority of the year. He's now down around $6.2 million on the year.

Below are the three largest pots from the six-max PLO session. You can find more hand replays by clicking your way to MarketPulse.

Three players all hit the crap out of that flop.

Urindanger was drawing dead on the turn.

If he wasn't ahead on the flop, the turn sure helped.

Lodden’s Take on High Stakes

Having helped set the record back in the summer of 2006, Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden is one of them.

“It was pretty crazy,” said the 24-year-old Norwegian, who played under the screen name bad_ip at the time and found himself on the losing end of that $465,451 pot.

“I might have smashed my computer. I smashed a lot of computers back in the day.”

When Patrik Antonius and an unknown Swede calling himself Isildur1 tangled over $878,959 on Nov. 16, they set a new high-water mark online.

The Nordic nosebleeders beat Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Di “urindanger” Dang’s record of $723,000 set in October 2008 and less than a week later they were at it again, posting a new record for the largest pot ever played online at an amazing $1,356,947.

Dwan and Dang’s record-setting pot came at the peak of a flurry of action on the Full Tilt tables with John Juanda and Phil Ivey joining in to help break the record almost nightly.

But before the action-heavy Fall of 2008, Lodden’s record, which he shared with Swede Mohammad “Fast_Freddie” Kowssarie, stood for better than two years.

The record was set on the Prima Poker Network when Lodden got it all in with ace-nine against Kowssarie’s ace-jack with two aces on the board.

Lodden said they were well aware they were breaking new ground with every massive pot back in those days because the site’s $200/$400 games were clearly the biggest online.

Just 21 years old at the time, the only thing Lodden wasn’t aware of was the value of money.

“When you have the money online it’s different,” Lodden said. “If I had a briefcase in front of me with $3 million it would be a different thing. When you just have chips and numbers on a computer, you just treat it differently.”

While he has sat at the virtual felt with the likes of Antonius, Dwan and Ilari “ziigmund” Sahamies, Lodden has since stepped away from the high-stakes online scene.

However, like most of the poker world, he’s been paying close attention to the action of the last month as Isildur1 continues to set the agenda online and push his once record-setting pot even farther from the top of the all-time list.

In fact, Lodden said he sees a lot of similarities between the Swede and the man he was three years ago.

“I think he’s young and doesn’t understand the value of the cash,” he said. “But I love his No-Limit (Hold’em) game. I mean, he’s really good at (Pot-Limit Omaha) but he’s much better at No-Limit (Hold’em).”

Claiming the online high-stakes regulars are just too good these days, Lodden said he has no desire to take on Isildur1 and get back to breaking records. These days he’s squarely focused on the live tournament scene.

But can a man who’s played pots that would dwarf second-place money in most of the world’s biggest live events really stay motivated?

“Before it was hard,” he said. “Not anymore though. I really want to do well in live tournaments because this is the thing everybody cares about.

“I love to play tournaments, especially the EPTs and nowadays I’m not playing so high, so I have to grind it out in these.”

Lodden’s grind finds him in the Czech Republic this week for PokerStars EPT Prague. To follow his progress and comprehensive coverage of the entire event, click through to PokerListings’ Live Updates.

Ivey has won 16 million dollars from Full Tilt cash games

Highstakesdb has been monitoring Full Tilt Poker’s high stakes games since 2007. The results have become more and more accurate during the years.

If you take a look at games from 2007-01-01 to 2009-11-23 there’s one name over everyone. It is Phil Ivey.

Ivey has won about 16 million dollars on Full Tilt. When you add 12 million dollars from his tournament winnings, not to mention live cash games, Ivey really doesn’t lack small money.

Top 10 winners since 2007-01-01:

1. Phil Ivey    $15.757.590,77
2. Patrik Antonius    $9.896.964,55
3. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond    $7.650.514,19
4. Hac “trex313? Dang    $4.844.987,99
5. Di “Urindanger” Dang    $4.679.589,20
6. Rafi “howisitfeellike” Amit    $4.267.996,10
7. Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies    $3.646.965,78
8. Niki “KaiBuxxe” Jedlicka    $3.186.717,60
9. Ashton “theASHMAN103? Griffin    $2.959.994,84
10. Isildur1 (Viktor Blom?)   $2.918.201,83

Top 10 losers since 2007-01-01:

1. Gus Hansen    $-7.129.874,52
2. noataima (Guy Laliberté) $-7.126.621,20
3. lady marmelade (Guy Laliberté) $-6.632.177,45
4. patatino (Guy Laliberté) $-5.924.545,68
5. elmariachimacho    $-4.161.883,92
6. Niki Jedlicka    $-2.413.001,58
7. Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro    $-2.023.132,06
8. ahtata    $-1.615.234,55
9. David “MR B 2 U SON” Benyamine    $-1.570.698,56
10. Brandon Adams    $-1.477.492,55

Source: Highstakesdb

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

Ivey has won 16 million dollars from Full Tilt cash games

Patrik Antonius Takes Record-Setting $1.3 Million Pot from Isildur1

The ongoing clash between Isildur1 and the game’s most vaunted high-stakes cash game players reached new levels over the weekend, as the cagey Swede played record-setting sessions with Full Tilt Pros Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan. The online poker world watched in awe as Isildur1 got involved in multiple $1 million pots at the $500/$1,000 Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) tables.

The biggest pot ever played on the internet came on Saturday between Isildur1 and Antonius, who has taken any opportunity to play against the Swede at the $500/$1,000 PLO tables. With Antonius sitting on a stack of $1.26 million and Isildur1 with $678,000, Isildur1 raised the button to $3,000. Antonius re-raised to $9,000, Isildur1 put in another raise to $27,000, and Antonius came back over the top for a total of $81,000. Isildur1 decided to call and the two players saw a flop of 5c-4s-2h. Antonius led out for $91,000 and Isildur1 raised to $435,000, leaving $162,473 in his stack. Antonius moved all-in and the Swede quickly called with 9s-8h-7d-6d. Antonius revealed Ah-3s-Ks-Kh for the wheel and, with the 5h turn and 9c river, Antonius dodged a higher straight to collect a pot worth $1,356,947, the largest pot in the history of online poker. The previous record, an $878,958.50 pot, was set a few days earlier by the same two players.

The onslaught continued into the night, as Antonius was able to take more than $2 million from Isildur1 over a 24-hour span. In total, Isildur1 has lost more than $3.5 million over 12,604 hands to Antonius since the Swede burst on to the scene this month, according to PokerTableRatings.com.

Isildur1 was able to recoup some of those losses on Sunday evening when he and Phil Ivey played a lengthy match at the $500/$1,000 PLO tables. Another $1 million-plus pot went down, but the Swede came out on the winning end of this one. With Ivey holding $563,500 and Isildur1 holding $638,500, Ivey raised his button to $3,000 and Isildur1 re-raised to $9,000. Ivey put in a four-bet to $27,000 and Isildur1 called out of position. The flop brought Ks-Js-Jd and both players checked. On the 10d turn, Isildur1 checked again and Ivey bet $41,000. Isildur1 check-raised to $177,000 and Ivey called, boosting the pot to $408,000. The river brought the 5d and the Swede moved all-in, putting Ivey to a decision for his entire $360,000 stack. Ivey called and mucked his hand when Isildur1 flipped over Kd-Kc-5h-4d for a flopped full house.

The $1,127,955 pot, while massive, was just a hiccup in what has been an Ivey-dominated match thus far. PokerTableRatings.com has tracked 6,174 hands between the two players, with Ivey up by nearly $3 million. We expect much more heads-up action from the two players in the near future.

Tom Dwan made his way back to the nosebleed games on Full Tilt Sunday evening. Fresh off his victory at the live “Durrrr” Challenge against Marcello “luckexpress” Marigliano, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, and Sammy George, Dwan sat down with Isildur1 again to try to regain some of the $4 million he’d lost to the Swede in November. After nearly 1,500 hands, Dwan found himself down another $645,000 after a series of coolers and bad beats. Dwan’s total losses to Isildur1 reached $4,548,473 after Sunday’s session.

The fearless Swede, who lost around $3.3 million to Antonius and Ivey during the past 48 hours, is still up more than $500,000 since he first showed his face on Full Tilt Poker. He has logged major victories over Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies and Full Tilt Red Pros Cole South, David Benyamine, and Haseeb Qureshi. Most of his losses were to the aforementioned Antonius and Ivey, but Isildur1 has also given away more than $100,000 each to Hac “trex13″ Dang and Brian Hastings.

Rumors continue to circle about the identity of Isildur1, with likely candidates being Robert “gulkines” Flink, Stefan “el_matador” Matsson, and Viktor “blom90″ Blom. Regardless, Poker News Daily will continue to follow the progress of the Swedish sensation. Stay tuned.

Antonius, Isildur1 hit record $1.3 million pot

In fact, in an epic session on the Full Tilt tables Saturday night, squaring off against both Antonius and Phil Ivey, Isildur1 found himself involved in five of the six largest pots ever played online, all over $800,000.

Antonius and Isildur1 set the mark for the largest pot ever recorded online at $878,959 on Nov. 16, smashing the previous record of $723,000 set by Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Di "Urindanger" Dang in October 2008.

In another session Friday, the two played what was then the second- and third-largest pots in online poker history at $783,985 and $774,910 respectively.

But Saturday on the Pot-Limit Omaha tables, they put all that to shame.

Almost half an hour after playing an $815k pot to set a new mark for the second-largest pot ever played online, Isildur1 woke up with 9♠ 8♥ 7♦ 6♦ and Antonius held A♥ K♥ K♠ 3♠.

Isildur1 opened up with a raise, Antonius three-bet and Isildur1 made it four. Antonius five-bet to $81k and the Swede made the call.

The flop came out 5♣ 4♠ 2♥ and Antonius had flopped the wheel. Isildur1 had the open-ender and when Antonius led out for $91,000, he potted it to $435,000.

Antonius re-potted to $779,000, which covered Isildur1. Isildur made the call for his stack, creating a $1,356,947 pot and breaking the seven-figure mark for the first time ever online.

The 5♥ turn and 9♣ river were bricks for Isildur1 and, just like he did five days ago, Antonius raked the largest pot in online poker history.

Less than 10 minutes later, Isildur1 took an $827,960 pot from Ivey when he rivered a higher straight against the one he'd turned. He gave that back less than two hours later, losing an $832,940 pot when Ivey turned a flush against his set.

Those two pots set the marks for the third- and fourth-largest pots in online history.

Antonius also dragged an $810,984 pot from the clutches of Isildur1 within a half an hour of setting the record, rivering a straight against his kings - all told beating him out of $2.1 million in a 4,470-hand PLO session.

Meanwhile, Ivey raked $1.2 million from Isildur1 playing both PLO and No-Limit Hold'em to knock the Swede's profits down to just $750k on the year.

After bursting on the high-stakes scene this past September and taking over $3 million from durrrr, Isildur1's profits hit a $5 million dollar peak Nov. 15.

Now it would seem he's all but done.

Below are the three largest pots of the night - the biggest in online history and the third and fourth largest. To see them all head to MarketPulse.

Antonius takes biggest pot in online poker history

At a whopping $878,959, the pot totally crushed the old record of $723,000 set by Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Di "Urindanger" Dang in October 2008.

The game was $500/$1,000 heads-up Pot-Limit Omaha and both players sat with over $400,000 on the table.

Nothing extraordinary happened pre-flop or post, but when the A♦ came on the turn the action went nuts with both players raising until all the money - $878,959 - was in the pot.

When the money went in, Antonius and Isildur1 both had aces up, but both also held the chance to hit cards on the river to scoop the insanely large pot.

PokerListings' odds calculator shows it was a 62.5% chance for a split pot when the money went in.

Thanks to his flush draw and gutshot straight draw, Antonius had a 25% chance to win, while Isildur1 had just a 12.5% chance with his seperate gutshot draw and a shot at a non-heart king for a higher two-pair.

In the end, the 8♦ river came down giving Antonius his gutshot and the outrageous pot.

At press time, the heads-up session was still ongoing, but thanks to the record-breaking pot Antonius was up over $2.5 million on Isildur1 in a battle between online poker's two biggest winners so far this year.

You can see how it all played out in our hand replayer below:

Isildur1 crushes Cole South for $500k

Only this time it was Isildur1 holding the knife as he beat the CardRunners pro out of nearly $500k.

Last night's edition of the online rivalry started off with the two players playing $100/$200 and $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha.

As usual, South proved to be the stronger PLO player, making over $84k in just 112 hands before Isildur1 called it quits.

Isildur1 returned to the tables three hours later to play a lengthy session of $50/$100 No-Limit Hold'em against unknown online player URnotINdanger2. Isildur1 took the unknown for over $60k before getting back in touch with South for round two.

Isildur1, who understands his strength is NLH, argued that the two should play Hold'em since they already played PLO earlier that day. Up over $84k from earlier, South had no choice but to accept.

The two players sat at $200/$400 NLH, and after two hours and more than 2,000 hands, Isildur1 had utterly destroyed South for almost $600k.

At the end of the night, Isildur1 had made a $574k profit, all but $74k of which came from South.

Below are the biggest hands from the NLH battle or you can head to MarketPulse to get your fill.