Poker News

WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Qualifiers on Full Tilt Poker

Qualifiers are under way for the biggest bounty event of the year at Full Tilt Poker.

The Midweek Briefing: Allen Cunningham Among Weekly Major Winners

A look at the results from the week's biggest online poker tournaments. So far, the biggest scores have gone to Allen Cunningham and "paigowpro," who chopped the Full Tilt Poker $1k Monday.

Jordan Young (Jymaster0011) Wins PocketFives.com 2010 Yearly PLB Crown

Michigan online poker pro Jordan “Jymaster0011″ Young was named the winner of the 2010 PocketFives.com Yearly Leaderboard PLB title this week, accumulating 19,057 PLB Points to take the honor from 2009 champ Chris “moorman1″ Moorman. Young barely bested the 18,979 points of 2010 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year Taylor “taypaur” Paur, who finished as the runner-up in the PocketFives.com Yearly PLB race.

Young, who is currently ranked #1 in the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, made huge waves on August 1st when he won two Sunday Majors on the same day, an accomplishment considered to be one of the greatest in online poker history. Young won the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed for $132,787 and, just hours later, took down the Sunday Brawl for another $104,951. The scores were the biggest of his young career.

“I think it’s completely ridiculous,” Young told PocketFives.com about his unforgettable Sunday. “I know I’ll never have another day online like that again. I might have a bigger payday online, but it’s going to be because of one tournament; it’ll never be because of winning two really big tournaments. At the time, I didn’t realize how amazing I ran that day. It was a big stress reliever to set myself up comfortably financially.”

Young’s August heater continued with a victory in a $100 tournament on PokerStars on August 25th for $14,418 and then a win in the Full Tilt Poker $150 Rebuy for $79,784. He added another massive score in December, taking down the Full Tilt Poker $150 Rebuy again for $76,623. That victory helped him win not only the Yearly PLB title, but also the Monthly PLB race for December. He earned the same honor in August after his two Sunday Major wins.

Paur, who plays as “tramp$d0pray” on PokerStars and “ambiguosity” on Full Tilt Poker, had a pair of six-figure scores of his own in 2010. The 22-year-old California native won the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl in April for $101,852 and then collected the biggest payday of his poker career in May by winning FTOPS Event #29, a $150 Rebuy, for $192,228. Paur claimed the #1 ranking on PocketFives.com in June before relinquishing it weeks later. He currently stands at #2 in the Worldwide Rankings behind Young.

Rounding out the top five on the Yearly leaderboard were Mickey “mementmori” Petersen, Paul “paulgees81″ Volpe, and Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek. Peterson’s biggest payout came in May, when he took second in SCOOP Event #19, a $2,100 buy-in event in which he earned $161,660. Volpe, from Philadelphia, didn’t find a six-figure score in 2010, but was consistent throughout. He collected 15 scores of at least $20,000, including a victory in the Wednesday Quarter Million on PokerStars for $51,367.

Jarzabek, who also finished in the Top 10 in the CardPlayer Online Player of the Year Rankings, picked up his biggest cash of the year on the third day in January, when he won the PokerStars Sunday $100 Rebuy for $77,976. Here’s a look at the final results of the 2010 PocketFives.com Yearly PLB Leaderboard:

1. Jordan “Jymaster0011″ Young – 19,507.77 PLB Points
2. Taylor “taypaur” Paur – 18,979.23 PLB Points
3. Mickey “mementmori” Petersen – 18,922.16 PLB Points
4. Paul “paulgees81″ Volpe – 18,378.20 PLB Points
5. Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek – 18,350.73 PLB Points
6. Adam “Squee451″ Sherman – 17,970.93 PLB Points
7. Zachary “HustlerGrune” Gruneberg – 17,689.70 PLB Points
8. Chad “evechad” Eveslage – 17,651.23 PLB Points
9. Jeremy “daisyxoxo” Fitzpatrick – 17,636.64 PLB Points
10. Steve “gboro780″ Gross – 17,613.39 PLB Points

Full Tilt Poker Super Sit n Go Madness begins on Friday

Mathematically-minded Sit ‘n’ Go players should flock to Full Tilt Poker this weekend for Super Sit n Go Madness, which begins tomorrow and runs through until Sunday, giving players the chance to win their share of $150,000 including a $75,000 freeroll and a $10,000 2011 WSOP Main Event seat.

Taylor Paur (ambiguosity) Wins 2010 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year

Earlier this week, Taylor “ambiguosity” Paur was named the 2010 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year after edging out defending titleholder Steve “gboro780″ Gross in the final days of December. Paur stockpiled an all-time record of 11,030 points for the year, besting previous winners Gross (2009), Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis (2008), and Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron (2007) in that department.

Paur, 22, won the Full Tilt Poker $75,000 Guaranteed on December 27th for nearly $25,000 to help put a stranglehold on the crown. In total, he amassed more than $1 million in online poker earnings for the year, making up more than two-thirds of his lifetime winnings. He won 13 tournaments in 2010, six of them for scores of $80,000 or more. His biggest payday came in May when he took down the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) $150 Rebuy for $192,228.90.

Paur’s biggest feat, though, may have been fending off Gross, whose accomplishments in online tournaments are simply unparalleled. Gross, who has more than $5 million in earnings since 2005, finished as the runner-up to Kamberis in the 2008 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year race before earning the honor in 2009 and finishing runner-up again in 2010. His consistency and dedication to the game have landed him among the elite players in the industry.

Rounding out the top five in the 2010 Online Player of the Year standings were Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek, Chris “Gettin Daize” Oliver, and Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet. Jarzabek, who helped open the online training site Tournament Poker Edge this year, totaled $782,355 in winnings to claim a spot in the Top 10 for the second straight year. Oliver, meanwhile, burst onto the scene in 2010 and spent several weeks as the #1 ranked player on PocketFives.com.

There’s a certain set of criteria for tournaments that count toward Card Player’s Online Player of the Year standings. Sites included in the rankings include PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UB.com, Cake Poker, Absolute Poker, and Bodog and only tournaments with a buy-in of $100 or more qualify. The prize pool of a tournament must be at least $100,000 and prize packages such as trips or live tournament buy-ins do not count.

Here’s a look at the Top 20 in the 2010 Card Player Online Player of the Year Standings:

1. Taylor “ambiguosity” Paur – 11,030 points ($1,099,435 in earnings)
2. Steve “gboro780″ Gross – 10,320 points ($1,023,658 in earnings)
3. Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek – 9,932 points ($782,355 in earnings)
4. Chris “Gettin Daize” Oliver – 9,268 points ($854,769 in earnings)
5. Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet – 9,164 ($859,489 in earnings)
6. Zach “HustlerGrune” Gruneberg – 8,984 points ($776,347 in earnings)
7. “kirbynator” – 8,878 points ($1,143,749 in earnings)
8. Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy – 8,874 points ($837,089 in earnings)
9. Raj “BadcardsAA” Vohra – 8,688 points ($1,319,012 in earnings)
10. Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal – 8,432 points ($739,105 in earnings)
11. Mark “dipthrong” Herm – 8,250 points ($811,208 in earnings)
12. Jamie “TheCronic420″ Rosen – 8,126 points ($664,588 in earnings)
13. Jordan “Jymaster11″ Young – 8,088 points ($751,593 in earnings)
14. Nick “Grippolio” Grippo – 8,044 points ($688,878 in earnings)
15. Ross “zestfullyclean” Myers – 7,960 points ($618,388 in earnings)
16. James “croll103″ Carroll – 7,898 points ($712,167 in earnings)
17. Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen – 7,792 points ($737,838 in earnings)
18. Ryan “ryanbluf” Karp – 7,712 points ($648,334 in earnings)
19. “mralan2950 – 7,710 points ($777,994 in earnings)
20. Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski – 7,704 ($817,196 in earnings)

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies win $144,000

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies lost about two million dollars last year on Full Tilt Poker. Looks like Ilari is having a better start for the new year.

Sahamies played some $50/$100, $100/$200 and Cap $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha last night and ended up winning 144,000 dollars.

There’s only twoother players who have won more in the last two hours: Jared “harrington25″ Bleznick ($320K) and Scott “URnotINdanger2″ Palmer ($343K).

Bleznick is now leading the highstakes top list in 2011 with over $700K winnings, although Palmer is not far behind with his $500K profit.

Richard “Kpederson” Lyndaker (-$500K) and Tom “durrrr” Dwan (-$430K) have lost the most so far.

Source: Pokerista.net, HSDB

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Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies win $144,000

Daniel Cates (jungleman12) Profits $5.5 Million Online in 2010

Before 2010, Daniel “jungleman12” Cates was a nonentity in the online poker world. He began his career at the $0.50/$1 heads-up tables in 2008, made the move to sit and gos, and then went back to cash games. He busted his bankroll, was forced to get a minimum wage job at McDonald’s, and started the cycle all over again. Sound familiar? In 2010, Cates profited a healthy $5.5 million online.

Fast forward to March of last year. Grinding away in his parents’ basement, the Maryland native had built a bankroll big enough to play alongside the likes of like Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, “Isildur1,” and Tom “durrrr” Dwan at Full Tilt Poker’s nosebleed games. He was suddenly having daily swings of $500,000, sometimes more. Cates was a fixture in the biggest poker games on the internet and crushing them on a regular basis.

Cates saw his fame explode in July 2010. He joined the CardRunners team as an instructor and his real name was revealed to the poker community. In August, Cates agreed to take on Dwan in the second edition of the Durrrr Challenge, putting up $500,000 against Dwan’s $1.5 million in a 50,000-hand heads-up match. The community quickly awoke from the coma induced by the lull in Dwan’s first challenge with Antonius and saw some added intrigue generated by Cates’ limited media exposure.

Cates got off to a blazing start and is currently on top by $819,213 through 17,108 hands out of the 50,000 required for completion. He took $319,103 from Dwan in a 2,918-hand session late Monday night to increase his lead further and appears to be in the driver’s seat in the competition, having taken more than $1.3 million from Dwan lifetime.

It wasn’t just Dwan who had troubles with the young whiz kid in 2010. Cates was a big winner against Ivey, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Aaron “aejones” Jones, and Ashton “theASHMAN103″ Griffin, along with many others. By the end of the year, Cates was the biggest winner in online poker, amassing around $5.5 million in profits according to HighStakesDB.com. He’s now considered by his peers to be one of the best poker players in the world.

Cates discussed his climb in limits in his blog in late 2010: “When making the jump to $25/$50, I ran into some players of a whole other caliber – players that understood the game at a significantly greater level than myself for the first time since I began. Still, I took them on and lost/swung for a decent time. This kind of downswing/recovery combo dragged on for a couple months, but eventually, I fixed all my flaws and even began conquering some of the same players. LOL, I never imagined my $25/$50 win rate would ever be near what is now.”

Cates finished the year as the overwhelming leader in profits on Full Tilt Poker. Norwegian pro Andreas “skjervoy” Torbergsen finished a distant second with $3.7 million, Dwan was third with $3.6 million, Ivey finished fourth with $3.0 million, and Jared “harrington25″ Bleznick landed in fifth with $2.2 million in profits.

Cates reflected on his rise to prominence in his blog: “I can’t say that I’ve handled all my failures appropriately, but I am fortunate that I utilized these failures well and [have] not experienced the extent of setbacks that some of you have felt. Long ago, I dreamed I would succeed if I acted wisely given my circumstances, but to be honest, I did not really imagine it would be to this degree, and especially not this fast.”

Follow Cates’ heads-up challenge with Dwan at DurrrrChallenge.com.

WPT Qualifiers at Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt are inviting their players, new and old, to the World Poker Tour (WPT for short) being hosted at the Bay 101 Casino, San Jose, California, USA this coming March 14th - 18th.

The top player will win the 1st prize which is estimated to be $1,000,000+, but that’s not all, the winner will take away a $25,000 seat at the WPT Championship Bellagio as part of the prize! Shoot down (eliminate) one of the stars in the field and claim your $5,000 bounty bonus. This is a top prize package to a top WPT Event, surely not to be missed.

With Full Tilt Poker you can win a $12,000 WPT Prize package which will include

• $10,000 seat to the main Event
• $2,000 for your expenses

Interested in playing in this mega live event? Here’s how with Full Tilt Poker’s WPT Qualifiers!

There are satellites running from now until Sunday February 27th, from just $10.65, all feeding to the Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays WPT Qualifiers where the $12,000 WPT Prize Packages are won. You can also buy in direct to the WPT Qualifiers:-

• Wednesdays at 2.00am UK (Tuesdays at 9.00pm New York) $322 buy-in direct
• Fridays at 2.00am UK (Thursdays at 9.00pm New York) $1,060 buy-in direct
• Sundays at 8.30pm UK (3.30pm New York) $640 buy-in direct

If you are new to Full Tilt Poker, established in 2004, you can rest assured when you sign up you will be in illustrious company as Full Tilt Poker has a very impressive rollcall of poker pros playing exclusively on their site. Take a look at our Full Tilt Poker Review for an unbiased, overall look at what this top site has to offer you. Use the Full Tilt Referral Code FTPGOLD for a sign up bonus of 100% up to $600 when you set up your account and you will be amongst the many loyal band of Full Tilt poker players.

Full Tilt Store Holiday Giveaway Ends January 9th

If you’re looking to take advantage of the Full Tilt Store Holiday Giveaway, then you’re running out of time. The promotion over at Full Tilt Poker comes to an end on January 9th at 23:59 ET, which means that there are only a few more days left to be rewarded for trading in your hard-earned Full Tilt Points (FTPs) on the world’s second largest online poker site.

Starting on January 10th, one day after the Holiday Giveaway ends, big changes will take place at the Full Tilt Store. Text found on Full Tilt’s website explains, “We will be updating the prices of certain items in the Full Tilt Store beginning on January 10th to correspond with the changes in the Full Tilt Points system implemented earlier this year. Merchandise such as electronics and clothing will be re-priced to more accurately reflect their value.” Meanwhile, items like tournament tickets will retain the current prices.

The Full Tilt Store Holiday Giveaway rewards those players who spend 7,500 FTPs or more in the Full Tilt Store or Black Card Store. Players who spend between 7,500 and 14,999 FTPs will earn a free Step 1 ticket in addition to their chosen product in the store. Players who spend between 15,000 and 39,999 FTPs will receive a Step 2 ticket on the house. Anyone who trades in between 40,000 and 74,999 FTPs will see a free Step 3 ticket come their way.

But wait, there’s more! Spend between 75,000 and 139,999 FTPs and you’ll take home a free $50 cash bonus. Finally, players who spend 140,000 or more FTPs will get a $100 cash bonus on top of their store purchase. Full Tilt Poker will credit any cash bonuses and tournament tickets earned by January 11th.

Anyone who purchases an item during the Full Tilt Store Holiday Giveaway, regardless of its price, will take home a seat into the $50,000 Holiday Giveaway Freeroll. The $50,000 freebie comes your way on January 16th at 14:15 ET. Remember, the Full Tilt Store Holiday Giveaway is your last chance to take advantage of the existing Full Tilt pricing structure. Also, you’ll need to play at real money ring games on Full Tilt Poker in order to clear any cash bonuses you receive.

The Full Tilt Store Holiday Giveaway has been running since December 16th and now enters its final week. Among the cutting-edge electronic items you’ll find in the Full Tilt Store are a Sony Bravia 46-inch HDTV (334,300 FTPs), a 64 GB iPod Touch (85,000 FTPs), and an 8 GB Flip video recorder (51,500 FTPs). For you golf enthusiasts out there, purchase Phoenix golf bags for 35,000 FTPs or a sleeve of white Titleist balls for 4,000 FTPs.

Players can also purchase branded and unbranded Full Tilt Poker security keys, which are handheld devices that display an eight-digit code that must be entered when logging into the USA-friendly site. A would-be hacker without that code won’t be able to sign in. providing an extra layer of security for your online bankroll.

If Santa neglected your canine companion this year, look no further than a Full Tilt Poker dog tank top for 3,000 FTPs. For the same price, you can also get a Full Tilt hoodie for your puppy to protect him or her from the cold winter. Multiple stress tools and branded outwear are also available, so visit Full Tilt Poker today to check out the store’s inventory.

2010 Poker Memories by Linda Johnson

Time is passing too quickly. We just said goodbye to 2010, but memories of my favorite (and not so favorite) poker moments from the year are still vivid in my mind. I’d like to share a few of my personal 2010 poker memories with you.

Proudest 2010 Poker Memory

Without a doubt, being nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame is the answer to this category. What a thrill it was to learn that I had been nominated along with such a prestigious group as Erik Seidel, Dan Harrington, Tom McEvoy, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, and Barry Greenstein. Congratulations to the 2010 inductees Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington.

Favorite Poker News Story

I loved the coverage given to the Mizrachi family during the WSOP. It seemed like every poker magazine had Michael Mizrachi on the cover. Even mainstream Las Vegas entertainment magazines featured Michael and his family.

Favorite Poker Vacation

The 12-night Card Player Cruises poker trip to the Mediterranean wins in this category. The poker room was a lot of fun as usual, but the highlight was seeing all of the magnificent European ports. We stopped at Cannes/Monte Carlo, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Corfu, Dubrovnik, and Barcelona and had great weather in each.

Favorite Charity Event

Of all of the charity events I was fortunate to participate in during 2010, the fundraiser for MickeysCamp.org was my favorite. Mickey’s Camp was started by Mickey Maurer and is held in Indianapolis, Indiana every August. There is a three-day camp for men and a three-day camp for women. The participants sleep in the same cabins the kids stay at during summer and participate in a variety of activities including fishing, camping, wine tasting, cooking, self-defense, magic, and swimming.

I had the honor of teaching the poker sessions and running the poker tournaments for both camps. Mickey’s Camp has raised more than $1 million dollars for charity since its inception 10 years ago. Honorable mention in this category goes to fundraising events for Poker Gives and Child Rescue.

Most Disappointing Poker News

I am still angry and annoyed that we haven’t been able to overturn the UIGEA, although I think we are getting close. The news that the Washington State courts upheld the ruling making online poker illegal is just plain gross! After the ruling, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars shut down service to Washington residents, a move that should have been met with much more fury and protest from the state’s players.

Favorite Whirlwind Trip

My quick trip to Golden, Colorado for a Poker Players Alliance event qualifies in this category. In less than 24 hours, I flew in and out of Denver and participated in a poker tournament to help Senator Michael Bennett’s campaign. Bennett was elected by a very small margin and I believe he was the victor due to the support of Colorado poker players.

Most Prestigious Poker Event

The winner in this category was easily the Women in Poker Hall of Fame banquet held at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. The Grand Ballroom, decorated by a group of volunteers headed by Lupe Soto and her Board of Directors, took on the look of an elegant bistro/nightclub. Jan Fisher did a great job as the emcee and Jeffrey Pollack and Nolan Dalla delivered passionate speeches. After a delicious dinner, awards were presented, followed by a dance. Congratulations to the 2010 inductees Jennifer Harman, Kathy Liebert, and Billie Brown.

Favorite New Poker Procedure

I love the new rule established at the Commerce Casino that penalizes players who are gone too long from the table. Players who miss several rounds in $20-$40 and higher Hold’em games have $5 taken from their stacks and put into the pot.  Note that this rule was just about to go into effect the last time I played there and so may have been refined since.

Favorite New Poker Social Media Source

I admit it… I am a Twitter addict! I read it as often as I can and follow many of the top poker celebrities’ Tweets. I hate that it takes up so much of my time and makes me feel like a voyeur, but I can’t seem to give it up. Perhaps they will start a Twitters Anonymous in 2011 and I will be a charter member.

Favorite Tournament Series

Few would argue that the World Series of Poker wins in this category. The series expanded into even more square footage at the Rio and saw an increase in total participants. I had three deep runs (16th, 29th, and 31st) out of the five tournaments I entered, yet am not sporting a new bracelet. Congratulations to all of the bracelet winners, but especially to Gavin Smith, who won his first bracelet after many close efforts.

The runner-up award in this category goes to Wild Horse Casino in Pendleton, Oregon. Roland Waters directs a great tournament series with huge player fields. Entrants get rewarded with $75,000 in added money and free dinner buffets every night.

Other favorite poker memories from 2010 include delivering the “Shuffle Up and Deal” opening speech for the WSOP Ladies Event, teaching WPT Boot Camp at many locations around the country, playing in the WPT Celebrity Invitational at the Commerce, and hosting tournaments at the Eureka Open in Mesquite, Nevada, the Rainbow Spectrum of Poker at the Rainbow Hotel in Wendover, Nevada, and the Wild Horse Resort Casino Poker Roundup in Pendleton, Oregon.

I am extremely blessed to be part of this wonderful poker world and am grateful for the opportunities it has provided me. In 2010, I met many wonderful people who share my passion for poker and was thrilled to have so many chances to give back to our community.

Our country is facing tough economic times ahead. I hope 2011 is a prosperous and happy year for Poker News Daily readers.  In closing, I am happy to offer our readers a discount on any 2011 Card Player Cruises trip. Mention Poker News Daily when you book your cabin by January 15th and you will get a $50 per person discount. For more information, go to CardPlayerCruises.com.

Editor’s Note: Linda Johnson is available for poker functions, seminars, corporate events, and charity fundraisers. You can contact her through her website at CardPlayerCruises.com.

Sorel Mizzi Wins 2010 Bluff Player of the Year Title

Titan Poker pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi is the 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year, officials announced on Friday. Mizzi entered the top spot in the Player of the Year rankings in March and never relinquished his lead.

The 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year, Tom Marchese, finished in second place in the Bluff standings. Mizzi ended the 2010 calendar year with a whopping 1,777 points, the highest score ever turned in, while Marchese racked up just 1,257 during the stanza. Others in the top 10 included PokerStars pro Vanessa Selbst, recent World Poker Tour (WPT) event winner Dwyte Pilgrim, and UB.com pro and former CardPlayer Player of the Year winner Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin.

Mizzi got the 2010 calendar year started off on the right foot by taking third place in the Aussie Millions Main Event for $659,000. Tyron Krost took down the marquee poker tournament and Mizzi quickly ratcheted his first six-figure score of 2010. Mizzi then won two preliminary events during the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Snowfest stop in March for nearly $150,000 total.

In April, Mizzi’s victory parade stopped off in Atlantic City, where he won the East Coast Championship Event during the Borgata Spring Poker Open for $170,000. That tournament drew 62 players and featured a top nine that included Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki, David “Davidp18” Peters, and former Full Tilt Poker pro Lee Markholt.

At the end of April, Mizzi final tabled the High Roller Event during the EPT’s Monte Carlo Grand Final for $190,000. Two weeks later, he ran deep in another High Roller Event, this time at WPT Paris. Just footsteps from the Eiffel Tower, Mizzi played second fiddle to Absolute Poker pro Freddy Deeb and walked away with $159,000.

In August, Mizzi placed second in the EPT Tallinn High Roller Event for $98,000. He concluded 2010 by bubbling a pair of WPT final tables, taking seventh in the Foxwoods World Poker Finals for $88,000 and grabbing ninth in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio for $59,000. Remember, televised WPT final tables are played six-handed.

All told, Mizzi racked up nearly $1.9 million in earnings from live tournaments tracked by the Hendon Mob database last year. Along the way, he provided poker coaching to November Niner Matt Jarvis, a fellow Canadian. Jarvis ultimately bowed out in eighth place in the $10,000 buy-in tournament in Las Vegas for over $1 million.

Mizzi, who has been linked to several incidents on online poker sites in the past, has nevertheless remained a central figurehead in the industry. He told Poker News Daily in an interview in November that surrounding himself with talented poker friends has been critical: “I think it’s one of the most important things… That is how I got my start. I found players and tried to pick their brains. You know, it’s like anything in life, that’s the best way of learning, you find mentors. At least, for me, [it’s been] finding people where you want to be and trying to pick their brains as much as possible.”

Here were the top 10 players in the 2010 Bluff Player of the Year standings:

1. Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi – 1,777.77 points
2. Tom “Kingsofcards” Marchese – 1,257.30 points
3. Fernando Brito – 1,060.53 points
4. David Peters – 1,009.26 points
5. Vanessa Selbst – 986.77 points
6. Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin – 943.92 points
7. Dwyte Pilgrim – 896.23 points
8. Chris Bjorin – 889.25 points
9. Jason Mercier – 882.40 points
10. Chris Bell – 879.63 points

Jason Mercier took down the 2009 Bluff Player of the Year title. Other past winners have included John “The Razor” Phan (2008), Bill Edler (2007), Chad Brown (2006), and Phil Ivey (2005).

Biggest Poker Surprises of 2010

Last week, Poker News Daily ran an article recapping the top poker news stories of 2010.  This, we were charged with the task of coming up with the top ten surprises of the past year.  As fate would have it, the biggest shocker of 2010 came on December 30th, making the top surprise a no-brainer.  Read on to find out.

10) Hip-Hop Hellmuth – Normally, I wouldn’t put an attention grab by Phil Hellmuth on a list of the year’s biggest surprises, but this one was phenomenal.  The “Poker Brat” made a cameo appearance in a hip-hop music video by Ludacris donned in UB.net garb and raking in UB.net chips.  Filmed at the Palms in Las Vegas, the video’s plot was supposed to be similar to that of the hit movie “The Hangover.”  The song is called “Sex Room.”  I’ll just leave it at that.

9) No Rest for the Weary – A crazy record not many people knew about before this year was broken not once, but twice.  In June, Phil Laak set the poker endurance record by playing $10/$20 Hold’em at the Bellagio for a staggering 115 consecutive hours, breaking Paul Zimbler’s 72-hour mark from late 2009.  Nobody would ever be silly enough to try to top Laak, would they?  Of course they would.  In November, Christie Teki-Reu and man who goes by the nickname “Chopper” played for 117 hours in the casino at the Grand Hotel in New Zealand as part of an organized effort to set the record in a special charity tournament.  Afterwards, Teki-Reu slept for five hours, was up for two hours, then slept for another ten hours.  Well deserved.

Kessler Max-Cashes – Well, almost.  Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler is a very good poker player, but he is known to play to make the money in tournaments.  He has definitely gone deep in tournaments and made a couple of WPT televised final tables, but for the most part, the poker community jokes about Kessler taking the conservative route and always looking to “min-cash.”

At the 2010 WSOP, poker players and fans lived vicariously through “Chainsaw” as he not only made the money in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo event, but also continued to move up in the standings, making the final table and then finally reaching heads-up.  He eventually lost, but the $276,485 payday was far from a min-cash.  He finished with eight cashes, tied for most at this year’s WSOP.  Sure, some were min-cashes, but his second place run was one of the most memorable and surprising moments of the 2010 WSOP.

7) Security Fail – In May, it was discovered that the CEREUS Network had a major security hole.  The network did not have SSL encryption implemented, resulting in a vulnerability that made it possible to intercept network traffic and see an opponent’s hole cards.  In July, the same flaw was found on the Cake Poker Network.  It is unbelievable enough that one poker network could fail so miserably at something that should be so basic, but two networks dropping the ball?  Sad.

6) WSOP is Healthy – With the down economy and the struggles of online poker in the United States, it would have been reasonable to expect WSOP attendance figures to decline.  Not so.  2010 saw 72,966 players participate, the most in WSOP history by a wide margin and besting last year’s record by 20%.  The total prize money was the highest of all-time as well, reaching $187,109,850 and beating 2008′s high mark by 3.5%.  The Main Event was the second largest of all-time with 7,319 players, second only to 2006, which was the last WSOP Main Event before the UIGEA was passed.

5) Isildur1 is a Star – Isildur1, the nameless online nosebleed-stakes phenom, signed with PokerStars in December.  His signing with an online poker room isn’t all that surprising, considering that whenever he plays, he attracts scores of railbirds who love watching his million-dollar swings.  The shocker is that all of his high-stakes play has been at Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars’ closest rival.  Stars must have given him a sweet deal.

4) Resurgence of “The Grinder“ – While Michael Mizrachi had a few strong performances on the live tournament circuit in 2008 and 2009, his cachet had appeared to have worn off since he made his mark on the WPT in 2005 and 2006.  He also ran into major financial troubles this year.  But then the 2010 WSOP came along and he exploded back onto the poker map.

“The Grinder” won the $50,000 Player’s Championship for over $1.5 million, placed fifth in the Main Event for more than $2.3 million, and along the way became one of the biggest rooting interests of the summer.  To top it off, his three brothers – Daniel, Robert, and Eric – all cashed in the Main Event.  Robert also placed fifth in the Player’s Championship and made two other final tables.

3) Partying Has its Limits – In February, PartyPoker suddenly placed a cap on the number of play money chips members could have in their accounts.  Overnight, players with millions of chips had their accounts reset to the 250,000-chip maximum.  Party cited the sale of play chips as the main reason for the decision as well as instances of players with overwhelming numbers of chips making enormous bets and disrupting games.  The reaction was one of almost unanimous outrage by play money customers, many of whom had taken great pride in building up their accounts over several years.

2) Peter Eastgate Takes a Break – Nowadays, we have come to expect WSOP champions to serve as faces of the game and continue playing live tournaments around the world.  Not so with the 2008 champ Peter Eastgate.  Eastgate, who just turned 25, announced this year that he was taking an indefinite break from live tournament poker.  So far, it appears that it has been a break from poker in general.  His WSOP win set him up financially, which was enough for him.  To top it off, he auctioned off his WSOP bracelet in November and donated the proceeds to charity.

1) Duke and Hellmuth Leave UB – Annie Duke leaving UB, to me, was easily the most surprising moment in poker this year… until Phil Hellmuth did the same a few hours later.  Two of the biggest names in poker, the faces of UB since it was founded in 2001, left their online home on the same day.  Through all of UB’s controversy over the last few years, Duke and Hellmuth stood by the poker room and took tons of heat within the online poker community.  For better or for worse, they seemed like they were going to be with UB for life.

Is Daniel “jungleman12? Cates unstoppable? Now wins $500K

Looks like Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates is going to end the year just as he started it - winning a lot. According to HighstakesDB, Daniel has won over $500K in the last 24 hours.

This time most of his winnings came from none other than Patrik Antonius (about $400K). The two of them played on two $300/$600 Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha Hi (HA) and their sessions ended up to be a long one.

Cates won the biggest pot ($300K) of the session as well, river was dealed twice:

After this session, Cates’ made sure that he is the biggest winner on Full Tilt Poker in 2010. He has won over 5,4 million dollars!

Antonius is still up for the year, about $500K, but there’s no results from $1000/$2000 and $1500/$3000 2-7 Triple Draw games, where the Finn has been very busy.

Source: Pokerista.net

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Is Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates unstoppable? Now wins $500K

Phil Hellmuth Leaves UB.com in Major Shakeup

It’s been a busy day for all of us in the online poker community. Just hours after Annie Duke announced her exit from UB.com to pursue non-poker business interests, site icon Phil Hellmuth departed as well. A statement posted on UB.com reveals that the two sides “mutually parted ways.”

Hellmuth was recently seen on ESPN’s coverage of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour’s (NAPT) Los Angeles Bounty Shootout wearing patches for the Aria Casino in Las Vegas and the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Academy. Curiously absent were any logos for his home poker site, UB.com. Hellmuth also appeared on NBC’s “Poker After Dark” devoid of UB.com logos, leading many to believe that he was on the outs with the USA-friendly CEREUS Network room.

Duke left UB.com earlier today in order to extend her foothold in the business world. She commented in a statement posted on UB.com, “I have nothing but positive things to say about UB and my experiences with the brand, management, and the incredible people who work hard daily to deliver a terrific online poker experience.” Duke and Hellmuth had been with UB.com since 2001, the year the online poker site was launched as Ultimate Bet and two years before the modern poker boom.

Duke told Poker News Daily that she does not plan to sign with a competing online poker site; whether Hellmuth feels the same way is not yet known. Duke’s brother, Howard Lederer, is one of the main faces of Full Tilt Poker, which also accepts action from the United States. Hellmuth, who is widely regarded as one of the top tournament players on the planet, could also head to a site like PokerStars or Victory Poker.

Hellmuth owns the record for the number of WSOP bracelets won at 11 and number of WSOP cashes at 79. Along the way, he’s racked up $6.2 million in WSOP earnings alone and is a rumored contestant on the 2011 installment of the ABC reality series “Dancing with the Stars.” He’s one of the top marketable faces in the poker industry and has coined several memorable phrases including “I can dodge bullets, baby” and “Idiot from Northern Europe.”

Hellmuth won the 1989 WSOP Main Event at age 24 and, for the next 20 years, held the record as the youngest champ ever of the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament. Before anyone knew who Chris Moneymaker was, Hellmuth had already amassed seven bracelets; in fact, he racked up three pieces of hardware in 1993 alone.

In 2009, November Niner Jeff Shulman asked Hellmuth to help him with his short-handed game in preparation for the Main Event final table. As a result, Shulman took fifth place for $1.9 million.

Today’s two high-profile departures leave UB.com stocked with a pro roster that includes PokerRoad’s Joe Sebok, bracelet winner Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, and Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho, the Last Women Standing in the 2008 and 2007 WSOP Main Events, respectively. Also remaining on the Team UB roster are Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire, Brandon Cantu, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, and Anthrax’s Scott Ian, among others. The group appears to have become noticeably younger sans Hellmuth and Duke.

Prior to announcing his exit from UB.com, Hellmuth Tweeted the prices of several sports tickets he was monitoring: “New Years Eve L.A. Lakers/Sixers tix, Row 5, center court trading for $460 apiece. Tix for once a year Rose Bowl on 40 yard line, 44 rows up: $350 apiece!”

Earlier this week, Lee Jones announced his resignation from Cake Poker as its Card Room Manager, citing “strategic decisions with which I’m not comfortable” made by Cake management. Cake Poker Tournament Director Serge “andanthar” Ravitch followed suit in what is traditionally a slow week for poker news.

Poker News Daily has heard rumblings that UB.com may add another pro to its roster early next week. Who that could be remains to be seen, but rumors seem to indicate that it’s Prahlad Friedman. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest on this developing story.

Annie Duke Leaves UB.com

In breaking news, former “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke has parted ways with UB.com. A blog revealing that she had left the online poker site appeared around 1:30pm ET on Thursday. Duke had been with UB.com for nine years, including both the pre- and post-Chris Moneymaker era.

Duke told Poker News Daily, “After some thought, I made a decision to leave UB.com because I would like to explore other avenues of business and personal growth. I realized I needed to spend my time on other things.” Duke, the sister of Full Tilt Poker front man Howard Lederer, has over $1.1 million in career World Series of Poker (WSOP) earnings and scooped a bracelet in 2004 in a $2,000 Omaha High-Low Eight or Better tournament that featured Erik Seidel and Todd Brunson at the final table.

Also in 2004, Duke was the last person standing in the inaugural WSOP Tournament of Champions, an invite-only, winner-take-all tournament that featured 10 players. Duke banked $2 million for the win and received nearly instant poker fame. Her company at the Tournament of Champions table included Chip Reese, Main Event champ Greg Raymer, Doyle Brunson, Lederer, and former UB.com colleague Phil Hellmuth, who was the runner-up. This year, Duke bested Seidel in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which aired on NBC.

Duke wished the crew at UB.com nothing but the best going forward, telling Poker News Daily, “I wish them all the best and wish nothing but good things for the brand. I think that UB.com started some of my development as a businessperson. That was very much the most enjoyable part of it. I wanted to do more of that. I wanted to do much more of that than I had an opportunity to.” Among Duke’s other endeavors are MyMixedNuts.com – a custom trail mix outfit – and Ante Up for Africa, a charity that brings money and attention to the victims of the crisis in Darfur.

Duke explained to Poker News Daily that she does not plan to sign with another online poker site in the future.

Duke made a name for herself last year by competing in the hit NBC reality series “Celebrity Apprentice.” The Donald Trump-led show, which raises funds for various charities, saw Duke finish as the runner-up to comedian Joan Rivers, who at one point compared the former UB.com pro to a Nazi and called the poker playing community “trash.” Rivers and her daughter, Melissa, were both contestants on the series.

Duke was one of the main faces of UB.com, a site that now features players like former “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok and former “Amazing Race” contestants Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho as its primary pros. Duke and Hellmuth had served as the central figures of UB.com since the site’s inception nine years ago, long before anyone knew the name Moneymaker.

According to PokerScout.com, which logs online poker room traffic, the CEREUS Network, which includes UB.com and Absolute Poker, is the seventh largest worldwide, with a seven-day running average of 2,100 real money ring game players. At its peak, around 3,000 cash game players call the Network home. CEREUS is the third largest family of sites to accept action from the United States, trailing only PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker in that department. The Network was created in 2008 after the player bases of UB.com and Absolute Poker were merged.

We’ll have more for you on this story as it develops right here on Poker News Daily.

NAPT LA Montage

The PokerStars North American Poker Tour’s Los Angeles stop saw some of the biggest names in poker come to The Bicycle Casino. Our cameras caught some of the action in progress as it happened on the felt and we put together a montage of some of the players we saw.

The Bicycle Casino hosted the NAPT LA tour stop to rave reviews. The Bike has also hosted numerous televised World Poker Tour events in recent years.

In the montage we first see the action kick-off as the cards hit the air for the first day of the Main Event. The first pro we saw was Annette Obrestad, known online as “annette15″ who has drawn the eye of the entire poker industry as potentially the next big player in the industry. Next we see Antonio Esfandiari who had a very solid 2010, including a final table at a World Series of Poker event and a win at the World Poker Tour.

Our next pro was Isaac Haxton, who played in this event prior to taking on Isildur1 and beating him to the tune of over $40,000 during the first SuperStar Showdown on PokerStars. After him we see two time WSOP bracelet winner Scott Fischman who has been somewhat under the radar for the last couple of years. Last time we saw Scott, he was … well … a bit on the lighter side.

Matt Affleck was seen sporting a retro Seattle Sonics NBA jersey, representing the Emerald City, his native hometown. His bad beat to eventual WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel ranks as the most heartbreaking moment of the 2010 poker calendar.

Also on hand was Lauren Kling, one of the many rising female poker stars we’ve seen in 2010. She had several deep runs and had a budding friendship with November Niner Joseph Cheong. Speaking of Cheong, he too was on hand and the next pro our cameras caught, playing it cool behind his 1980s-style sunglasses as always and sporting his Full Tilt Poker sponsorship patch.

We found Andrew Lichtenberger, known as “LuckyChewy” online, doing exactly what his online name suggests – chew away. For a good 12 consecutive seconds we see LuckyChewy chew and gnaw on something in his mouth, finally solving the mystery of where his online name might have originated from.

Other pros we found include Matt Jarvis, Men “The Master” Nguyen and Scott Clements.

“IHateJuice” and Patrik Antonius played almost 1700 hands of $3000/$6000 Limit Hold’Em

We were able to witness the first real games on Full Tilt Poker’s $3K/$6K Limit Hold’Em yesterday when Patrik Antonius and the German player “IHateJuice” played almost 1700 heads-up hands.

The action was pretty wild since the start and Antonius started the heads-up pretty weak while “IHateJuice” grinded up about $500K. The Finn managed to make a nice comeback in the end.

“IHateJuice” made only a marginal win ($74K) when the heads-up was over:

The biggest pot of the session was seen when Antonius and “IHateJuice” raised and reraised on the turn and “IHateJuice” eventually takes down the $84K pot with his full house:

Otherwise the past day has been quite quiet on Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. There’s some results here.

Source: Pokerista.net

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“IHateJuice” and Patrik Antonius played almost 1700 hands of $3000/$6000 Limit Hold’Em

Time Magazine Tackles Poker in Florida

Ever since the Florida legislature adjusted the state’s poker laws earlier this year, people have been flooding the Sunshine State like never before. The influx of action has left a leading magazine to pose the question, “Is Florida the Next Las Vegas?”

A recent article in Time Magazine posed the question due to the increase in not only players in the state’s casinos, but also attention from major gaming outlets. The rise in interest in poker is due to the change in Florida’s gaming laws that allowed for higher stakes cash game play, richer tournaments, and more poker rooms. While players are flooding to cash games, poker’s biggest organizations are taking the opportunity to move into fertile ground.

In August, as a result of the change in Florida’s laws, the World Poker Tour (WPT) announced a $10,000 buy-in Season 9 tournament scheduled for April at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood. In November, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit found its opportunity to move into the state, announcing a stop at the Palm Beach Kennel Club in February.

According to the author of the Time article, Thomas Collins, the growth of poker throughout Florida isn’t limited to just the big name casinos like the Seminole Indian operation. Florida has many thoroughbred horse racing tracks, greyhound tracks, and jai alai arenas that are also taking advantage of the new laws to open or expand their poker room offerings. The new outlets for poker are expected to bring in over $1 billion to the coffers of the state.

Collins reports in his article that, although there have been overtures from Las Vegas casino operations to create a “Vegas in the Everglades,” it may be a bit early to expect such an expansion. Collins points out the many family-friendly attractions in Florida such as Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, where gaming isn’t a major part of the draw.

Collins quoted two Florida politicians whose views on the subject concur with his observations. State Representative Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who was at the head of negotiations with the Seminoles regarding the change in gaming laws, is quoted by Collins as stating, “The state’s just so diverse, so a Vegas-style scenario is not a natural progression.” Democrat Jim Waldman from Coconut Creek agreed with his fellow Florida representative: “I don’t think you’re going to have another Vegas. What you’re going to have are more options for people who want to gamble in Florida.”

Players have been quite pleased with the state of poker in Florida. 2010 WSOP $50,000 Player’s Championship winner and Main Event final tablist Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is quoted in Collins’ article as saying, “ (The new laws are) a dream come true. There’s nothing better than playing poker with beaches.” Mizrachi is a sponsored pro of Full Tilt Poker.

Message boards have also been buzzing with the changes in Florida’s poker scene. On the TwoPlusTwo forum, players have touted the higher stakes and new games that have been offered. Poster “DELUXER1” wrote, “Omaha continues to expand at Naples. When I left on Sat at about 4pm, they had two full tables of 2-5 PLO going. Also, the Sat 4-8 HK and the Fri 3-6 Omaha8 games continue to go strong.” “bocablkr” reported in the same thread, “On Wed nights, there is a 15-30 LHE game at the Isle Casino in Pompano. I played Thanksgiving Eve and it was a Mixed game of 15-30 LHE and 15-30 Omaha H/L. It was a lot of fun.”

With the one-year anniversary of the Florida poker law changes coming up in April, the full story has yet to be told. However, with the arrival of high-stakes card players and the WPT and the WSOPC in the coming year, Florida appears to be the new hotspot for poker in the Southeastern United States.

Marcello Marigliano had a great day - Wins on FTP and Entraction

Marcello “luckexpress10″ Marigliano had a wonderful day yesterday. First he crushed the games on Entraction, then he moved to Full Tilt Poker’s nosebleed games where he won even more.

He won about 210,000 euros on Entraction when he switched the site to FTP. He played against the Swedish player “DIN_FRU” on FTP and made some nice winnings at $500/$1000 CAP PLO.

They played about 180 hands and Marigliano managed to win almost $180K. So he won about 350,000 euros yesterday, not a bad Monday at all.

Also “Isildur1″ had a nice start for the week. He booked down a 60,000 dollars win playing some $25/$50 PLO.

Source: Pokerista.net, HSDB

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Marcello Marigliano had a great day - Wins on FTP and Entraction

Full Tilt Poker Super Sit and Go Madness Returns January 7th

Start 2011 off on the right foot by heading to Full Tilt Poker, the site of Super Sit and Go Madness. This popular promotion returns once again to Full Tilt and is offering over $150,000 in cash and prizes. Full Tilt Poker happily accepts players from the United States and is the second largest online poker room in the business.

Super Sit and Go Madness begins on Friday, January 7th at 16:00 ET and will run for 48 hours until Sunday, January 9th at 16:00 ET. The sit and gos you can take advantage of are highlighted in green in the Full Tilt Poker lobby and divided into four groups. The first, dubbed Group A, consists of sit and gos with buy-ins ranging from $1 to $2. Group B consists of sit and gos with buy-ins ranging from $5 to $11 and Group C contains single-table tournaments with $20 to $35 price tags. The final Super Sit and Go Madness group is Group D, which contains high roller $50 to $110 buy-in sit and gos.

The Full Tilt promotion is divided into 24 two-hour time blocks. Points will be awarded to players based on their performances during those periods and at the end of every 120 minutes, cash prizes will be awarded to the top seven players on each Group’s leaderboard, ranging from $1 to $500. A total of 28 players will walk away with money every two hours, giving Full Tilt faithful plenty of opportunities to boost their bankrolls.

In addition to the two-hour leaderboards, an Overall Leaderboard will be kept for every Group; each will contain the best performances of every two-hour time block. Text found on Full Tilt’s website details how the Overall Leaderboards work: “So, if a player in Group A earns 100 points for the 22:00 ET to 00:00 ET period on Friday and then 150 points for the 00:00 ET to 02:00 ET period on Saturday, it’s only the 150 points that will be reflected on the Overall Leaderboard.” The top two players on each Overall Leaderboard will stamp their tickets into a $5,000 freeroll to be held on January 15th at 15:05 ET.

Action junkies can check out Super Turbo Sit and Gos that dole out starting stacks equal to just 10 times the big blind. A typical Super Turbo Sit and Go lasts about 15 minutes and any points you earn in them for Super Sit and Go Madness leaderboards count for two-fifths as many points.

Full Tilt Poker players who are fortunate enough to capture victories in three separate Super Sit and Go Madness tournaments will earn entry into a $75,000 Freeroll. The freebie takes place on January 15th at 16:50 ET and any players who receive a tournament ticket are eligible to vie for a $75,000 prize pool.

Finally, the Madness Raffle returns and offers up more than 1,000 prizes. When you cash in a Super Sit and Go Madness tournament, you’ll receive a ticket for the Madness Raffle, a drawing for a grand prize of a Full Tilt Poker Deluxe Home Game package that includes a tricked-out standalone poker table, a 500-piece poker chipset, and two poker deck cases.

In addition, a total of 210 Steps tickets and 900 pieces of Full Tilt gear will be given out through the Madness Raffle. Remember, only tournaments that appear in green in the Full Tilt Poker lobby are tracked for Super Sit and Go Madness, so choose wisely.

Visit Full Tilt Poker for more details.

Devilfish Poker Sold to The Weather Lottery

After several years of solo operation, Devilfish Poker has been sold to an English gaming group in an effort to expand that company’s profile further into the online gaming world.

The sale was announced prior to the Christmas holidays. The Weather Lottery offers lotto operations as a method of fundraising and, in July, entered into the online sports betting world under the FC BETZ flag. When it opened FC BETZ, it announced a deal with one of the founding clubs of the English Premier League, Coventry City and other soccer outlets.

What the company lacked, however, was an online poker operation that would allow it to expand fully into the online poker world. With the purchase of Devilfish Poker, The Weather Lottery will have such an outlet. The deal is worth a reported £330,000, with £40,000 of the purchase in cash and the remainder to be offered in stock.

In an article in the Yorkshire Post, The Weather Lottery chairman Tim Razzall put forth the reasoning behind the purchase of Devilfish Poker. “The board considers its acquisition at a time when there is still considerable untapped potential for development fits in with our gaming strategy. Devil Fish Poker has an established brand name in a sector that is complimentary to the existing gaming operations of TWL.”

Because the company didn’t previously host an online poker room, Razzall feels that Devilfish Poker is the “missing link” in its chain of products: “We have a growing database of users in both FCBetz.com and FC Lotto, some of whom will wish to take advantage of the Devilfish Poker products.”

The legendary English player David “Devilfish” Ulliott, who has been the face of the company since its inception, founded Devilfish Poker. At one point, it was a part of the UB.com brand, but after Ulliott’s sponsorship with the online poker room wasn’t renewed, it became its own entity under the Devilfish Gaming PLC banner. It also received a great deal of attention from Ulliott’s shrewd promotional character.

During the 2005 Full Tilt Poker Invitational, which was broadcast live from Monaco, Ulliott raised the ire of Fox Sports Net, the broadcast outlet for the show. Although Fox Sports Net had a policy against any dot-com advertising on its airwaves, Ulliott managed to get a plug in for Devilfish Poker through a strategically placed advertisement on the inside of his jacket. The resulting plug earned Ulliott a ban on playing in any Fox Sports Net poker production.

According to the story in the Yorkshire Post, Devilfish Poker did not show a profit on its books. At the end of June, operating losses of £106,331 on gross profits of £783,353 were reported, with Devilfish Poker showing liabilities at the sale date of £10,802.

The Weather Lottery is actively traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol TWL. After the announcement of the purchase of Devilfish Poker, the company’s stock showed a sizeable increase in trading, reaching a high of 89 pence on Christmas Eve. By the end of the trading day, it had settled to 66 pence, a 10% increase over its starting price.

Potential “Big” Hiatus in Durrrr Challenge

According to a conversation initiated by DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Dani “ansky” Stern that found its way to TwoPlusTwo, we may see a hiatus in the second incarnation of the Durrrr Challenge featuring Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Dan “JungleMan12” Cates. There has been no action in the ongoing challenge since December 16th.

The chat was posted on December 24th on TwoPlusTwo and featured Stern asking Cates, “Are you and Tom playing any time soon?” In response, Cates took three messages to write, “idk… Seems like there will be a big hiatus… Tom is hard to work with.” With Christmas on Saturday and New Years Day next weekend, it’s possible that we might not see more play in the Durrrr Challenge until the calendar turns to 2011.

Posters on TwoPlusTwo did not take well to the possibility of the Durrrr Challenge taking a break. One poster wrote about the potential wrath of Full Tilt Poker front man Howard Lederer: “[Dwan] should approach it in a more professional way. Or else Howard’s gonna call and say, ‘Dude that’s twice now that you made us announce that challenge big time and then you let us down by not playing it. PokerStars snatched Isildur1 and he’s playing. You’re making Full Tilt look like the site that that doesn’t deliver; that disappoints the players. We’re cutting your allowance by 50% until you finish them both.’”

Not everyone on TwoPlusTwo was critical of “durrrr,” however. One poster came to Dwan’s aid: “He obviously has a ton of commitments, combined with a social life and girlfriend. When you have as much money as he does, playing a challenge like this isn’t a number one priority.”

Other members of the online poker community offered up suggestions for future cycles of the Durrrr Challenge: “If this format wants to have any future, there has to be a clause that it has to be finished in 3-6 months or something like that. And if it isn’t finished by then, they have to play the rest of the hands in one session. If someone gives up during that session, he automatically loses.”

The first installment of the Durrrr Challenge featured Dwan squaring off against fellow Full Tilt Poker pro Patrik Antonius. The last play in that match-up occurred in August. Through nearly 40,000 hands out of the 50,000 required for completion, Dwan has profited $2.1 million off Antonius. The lack of action and a steep deficit have led many in the industry to believe that Antonius has accepted a buyout, although Full Tilt has not given any official word that a deal has occurred.

In his match against Cates, Dwan is down by $500,000 after 14,190 hands. Cates and Dwan are battling in No Limit Hold’em, whereas Antonius and Dwan are dueling in Pot Limit Omaha. The latter match is nearing the two-year mark.

Dwan spent Christmas Day in New Jersey watching a family member utilize Full Tilt’s Rush Poker Mobile application. He Tweeted, “At Christmas w/ my family and just saw Rush Poker on my cousin’s phone, pretty crazy.” Meanwhile, Cates revealed that he was by himself this Christmas: “Roommates went home, going to be by myself for couple days. It’s better and worse in a couple ways.”

If Dwan is up by $1 or more at the end of the 50,000 hands, then Cates will owe $500,000. If Cates is up by at least $1 at the end of the Challenge, then Dwan will owe $1.5 million after giving any taker 3:1 on his money. In either case, the winner keeps the spoils of the 50,000-hand marathon. Visit our sister site, DurrrrChallenge.com, for more details.

Top Poker News Story of 2010

We’re nearing the end of the 2010 calendar year and, as such, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on the past 365 days. There were plenty of headlines in 2010, but which one stole the show for our esteemed panel of writers? Poker News Daily asked our staff which poker headline of 2010 stood out.

Dan Cypra: Splintering of Online Poker

2010 saw the continued splintering of the online poker market worldwide. France and Italy now have their very own online poker fiefdoms, while legislation in New Jersey to create the very first intrastate internet gambling framework in the United States is gaining steam. In fact, the measure will be one of the first topics that the New Jersey Assembly tackles in the New Year.

Whether the division of the online poker market is detrimental to the player experience remains to be seen. Many of the FR and IT sites tracked by PokerScout.com hold strong in the top 20 worldwide in terms of cash game volume, but players cannot compete as part of the worldwide pool. Expect this trend to continue in 2011 and beyond, especially in the United States, where a state-by-state legalization of internet gambling appears to be in the cards.

Annie Duke: Year of the Woman

I think the biggest news story of 2010 is the breakout of women in poker, and that is not just because I am one of them. Vanessa Selbst winning two majors was a huge step forward for women in poker and, of course, an incredible accomplishment for her. Leading into that, Liv Boeree’s stellar performance in San Remo was a breakout for her and for women in poker. I guess my win has to get a mention here, too. Women have had a hard time getting true traction in this game and 2010 put an exclamation point on the quality of the women who play.

Linda Johnson: Washington Online Poker Law Upheld

I think the biggest poker news story involved the Washington State courts upholding the 2006 state law saying that playing online poker is a Class C felony, a crime on the same level as child molestation. This prompted Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars to pull out of that market. What a travesty it is for people in that state, many of whom will have to relocate. I think it is also very hypocritical of the government; after all, Washington State residents still can buy lottery tickets online.

Lee Jones: Year of the Near Miss

2010 will be remembered as the “Year of the Near Miss”. We will probably never know how close we got to overt legalization of online poker in the United States towards the end of 2010. Harry Reid tried every possible maneuver to get his bill passed that would have legalized and regulated online poker in the USA. Had it not been for Jon Kyl, the bill almost certainly would have passed and been signed by President Obama.

Despite poker pros’ concerns about the 15-month blackout prior to actual regulated play, I believe that legalization would have (and will eventually) produce a second renaissance of poker that will completely overshadow 2003, the year of Chris Moneymaker and the WPT. It will only be in the light of that second renaissance that we realize how unfortunate the “Near Miss” of 2010 was.

John “JimmyLegs” Wray: Harry Reid Online Poker Bill

Certainly the biggest almost-story was the Harry Reid online poker bill. But it looks like regulated online poker in the States will have to wait. Maybe it’ll be the biggest news story of 2011? Fingers crossed!

Chris “Fox” Wallace: Full Tilt Rush Poker Mobile

I think we will eventually realize that Rush Poker Mobile is the biggest poker news story of 2010. It might not be the biggest story right now, but it will probably bring about some significant legal changes. Seeing people playing poker on the bus, in the halls at work, at the bar, or anywhere that people congregate – and seeing all of those people playing online poker for real money on their phones – will change public perception.

What direction the public perception goes and how the legal aspects work out will have a huge effect on the future of our freedom to play our favorite game. I think Michael Mizrachi‘s trip to the WSOP final table was talked about a lot more at the tables, but Rush Poker Mobile will have a bigger splash in the long-run.

Brett Collson: WSOP Ladies Event

When I first saw Shaun Deeb seated wearing lipstick, makeup, and a cowboy hat at the WSOP Ladies Event, I knew the poker world was about to erupt. Deeb and more than a dozen male players crashed what was supposed to be an enjoyable tournament for female poker players. Instead, it turned into a media circus.

Some of the men claimed they were taking a “gender equality” stance by playing in the $1,000 event; others had lost prop bets. Regardless, all of the women were upset by it, as evident by the standing ovation that occurred each time a male player was eliminated. The unfortunate episode also fueled one of the biggest feuds of the year between Annie Duke and Daniel Negreanu, which is another of the most memorable stories of 2010.

Bernard Lee: Michael Mizrachi

For me, it would be Michael Mizrachi. At the beginning of 2010, not many people put Michael Mizrachi in the forefront of poker, but as he arrived at the WSOP, he definitely wanted to make his mark. Mizrachi came out of the gates winning the $50,000 Player’s Championship. In addition to that, he made two other final tables and, of course, who could forget him almost winning the improbable double-double of the $10,000 Main Event as well? Michael Mizrachi had a phenomenal year and has put himself back in the forefront of the world of poker.

Sean Gibson: Michael Mizrachi

For me, the biggest news story of 2010 was the resurrection of Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi’s poker career. Count me in as one of the guys who wrote him off for good, especially when all of the financial trouble started cropping up. He proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s one of the world’s best players; his run to the November Nine was every bit as magical as Phil Ivey‘s in 2009. Mizrachi is a player we can respect for his past accomplishments and track as one of the big names in the poker industry.

Earl Burton: Harry Reid Online Poker Bill and Jonathan Duhamel

As far as the biggest stories of the year in poker, I am torn between two. The four-year-long battle to overturn the UIGEA, which heated up even more over the past 12 months, seemed to get the hopes up of many of us in the poker community. I was always pessimistic about the passage of any legislation that would allow Americans to play poker online and, in the end, my pessimism proved to be correct.

The second story is Jonathan Duhamel’s victory in the WSOP Main Event. He became the first ever Canadian World Champion, capturing the attention of his country and the world. He was even nominated for Canadian Athlete of the Year alongside such big names as Sidney Crosby and Joey Votto. When you think of players from Canada who came before Duhamel, such as Daniel Negreanu and Gavin Smith, for him to become the first Canadian champion of the Main Event was a truly significant feat.

Leo Margets wins Full Tilt Poker Masters Series

Leo Margets has won the Full Tilt Poker Masters Series. The Spaniard triumphed over an invitation only 32-runner field in Barcelona to pocket a first prize of €100,000.

Margets Makes Good at Full Tilt Poker Masters Series

An 888 Poker ambassador and the last woman standing in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, Margets collected the €100,000 first prize outlasting 31 of Spain's best players, all of whom had all pre-qualified for the invitation-only event.

The three-day tournament series featured a varitey of poker challenges, including deepstack, shootout and turbo tournaments.

The title completed what was a remarkable year for Margets, beginning with a third-place finish in the Aussie Millions Six-Max side event and ending now with victories in two invitation-only events on the Spanish Poker Tour and Full Tilt Poker Series.

Margets now has well over half a million dollars in career tournament earnings.

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2011 World Series of Poker Begins May 31st

According to a press release sent on Wednesday afternoon, the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) will begin on May 31st, one day after the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, and run for 50 days. The final table of the Main Event will be determined on July 19th, at which point the $10,000 buy-in tournament will once again be paused until November.

Despite constant rumors to the contrary, the 2011 WSOP will be held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. If you don’t believe me, I’ll go ahead and quote the press release for you: “The event, as has been its norm since 2005, will continue to be held in the Convention Center of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.” Caesars Entertainment has been rumored to be shopping the Rio, located on Flamingo Boulevard off the famed Las Vegas Strip, but so far no deals have come to fruition.

The only tournament whose dates were laid out this week was the Main Event, which will begin on July 7th and include four starting days. In 2010, Jonathan Duhamel became its first Canadian Main Event champ ever after defeating John Racener heads-up. Three-handed, Duhamel was gifted 80% of the chips in play after Joseph Cheong 6bet all-in before the flop with A-7 when Duhamel held pocket queens. The pocket pair held, Duhamel doubled up, and Cheong was ousted several hands later.

The dates for the preliminary events have not yet been announced, but a full schedule will likely come to life in January. The 2010 version played out at the Rio between May 28th and July 17th, with heads-up play in the Main Event beginning on November 8th. The slate contained 57 tournaments including an all-new $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship won by Full Tilt Poker pro Michael Mizrachi.

Other 2010 bracelet winners included British pro Praz Bansi, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Tex Barch, Dutch Boyd, Gavin Smith, WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela, and Phil Ivey, who collected bracelet number eight. Ivey took down a $3,000 buy-in HORSE event for $329,000, outlasting a final table that included math whiz Bill Chen, John Juanda, Jeffrey Lisandro, David Baker, and PokerStars pro Chad Brown.

One of the highlights from last year for Poker News Daily was following the high-stakes bracelet bets of Tom Dwan, who nearly won a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, but fell heads-up to Australian Simon Watt. Dwan reportedly had millions of dollars in bracelet bets on the line, but ultimately came up short. Consequently, Mike Matusow told Watt following his win, “Thank you for saving us all millions of dollars! How does it feel to be every high-stakes gambler’s hero? They’re gonna, like, put you on the wall in Bobby’s Room.” Dwan took home $381,000.

In an important change from 2010, the 2011 WSOP will feature “hard stop times.” After 10 levels of play on any given day, the action will automatically come to a halt. The same WSOP press release explained that the number of players remaining in the tournament when 10 levels were completed was irrelevant: “Once 10 levels have been completed, remaining players will have their chips bagged and tagged and return the next day to continue on in the tournament. Regardless of how many players remain in a tournament, hard stop times will be enforced after 10 levels of play.”

We’ll have the latest WSOP headlines for you right here on Poker News Daily.

Ladbrokes, 888 Revisit Merger Talks

Four years ago, Ladbrokes and 888 Holdings had a merger deal in place.  Four months later, the deal was off.  Now, as the calendar is about to read 2011, the Financial Times reports that discussions have been rekindled, as Ladbrokes is considering a bid for its smaller rival.

The offer would reportedly be for 70 pence per share, giving the deal a total value of £240 million.  While no formal offers have been extended yet, 888 shareholders are probably wishing things had worked out a few years ago.  The previous offer was rumored to be for 140 pence per share, twice what the new one will supposedly be.

Back in 2007, talks fell apart largely because Ladbrokes was nervous about possible legal problems for 888 in the United States, as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) had recently been passed.  Those same issues may still arise, as 888 has not reached any settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over the business it did in the past with U.S. customers.

Nick Batram, an analyst at Peel Hunt, told the Financial Times, “Clearly, the mere fact that they’re sitting down shows the risk appetite is higher now, under Richard Glynn, than it was. It’s not as if Ladbrokes doesn’t know about the U.S. situation.”

Shares of 888 Holdings climbed sharply on the news, up 8.75 pence to 57.75 pence, a gain of 17.9%.  As is the case with most merger news, Ladbrokes, the possible buyer, saw its stock price fall.  The damage was minimal, however, as its shares declined 1.5 pence to 126 pence, just a 1.2% drop.

In August, 888 CEO Gigi Levy told eGaming Review that it was “highly likely” his company would discuss a merger with another player in the online gaming industry within six months.  Party Gaming and bwin had announced their merger shortly before Levy made his statement, so many thought that 888 was just trying to keep up with its competitors.

Levy refuted that sentiment, saying, “I think that the first thing to remember is that the consolidated Party-bwin, when the transaction is completed, will represent less than 10% of the market.  We are not talking about someone controlling 50% of the market, giving us no chance to compete. We are talking about an entity that is significantly larger than us, but still is less than 10% of a very fragmented market. In that regard, I don’t see us changing anything in our strategy because of that.”

On the poker front, a Ladbrokes/888 combination would be nary a blip on the radar.  According to PokerScout.com, 888poker, also known by its historical name, Pacific Poker, is the 16th largest poker room on the internet, with a seven-day average of 1,260 cash game players.  Ladbrokes is a member of the Microgaming Network, but has averaged just 34 cash game players of its own over the last seven days.

Poker is not likely to be the focus of a merger, though.  888 is a major player in the online casino realm, while Ladbrokes is one of the top sports books in the industry.  In addition to its online presence, Ladbrokes has many brick-and-mortar betting shops around the United Kingdom and across Europe.  Said Batram, “It offers both sides solutions.  888 hasn’t got economies of scale to compete in regulated markets and Ladbrokes needs internationalization and better marketing.”

As mentioned earlier, Party Gaming and bwin announced a merger of their own earlier this year and just last week, Party Gaming noted that everything was on track to be completed in the first quarter of 2011.  The new company will be an internet gambling giant, as both have significant global footprints; bwin, in particular, is a formidable force in sports betting.

As far as poker is concerned, PokerScout’s numbers show that the combined poker room would sit comfortably in the number three spot behind PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.  PartyPoker is currently the third largest poker site on the internet, but it is constantly jockeying for position with the iPoker Network.  The merger with bwin’s Ongame Network, which currently ranks fifth, would create a network with a seven-day average of 6,300 cash game players.

Order of Abeyance Issued in Kentucky Internet Gambling Case

Last Friday, Judge Thomas Wingate issued an Order of Abeyance in the Kentucky internet gambling case, effectively freezing the status quo for 30 days. Motions filed by the State and the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) “shall be held in abeyance until such time as this Court rules on the legal standing question of whether associational representation is proper in an in rem proceeding.”

For those who aren’t legal experts, iMEGA Chairman Joe Brennan laid the groundwork for where the case currently stands: “Everything is in time out until everyone has an opportunity to be heard on the matter of associational standing. It seems by the court’s brief that they’ve accepted that iMEGA has met the requirements for associational standing as laid out by the State Supreme Court. The court must determine whether it’s warranted to have an association intercede in this matter when the court is still looking at it as an in rem jurisdiction.”

Now, iMEGA will submit a brief arguing why it’s appropriate for an association to intervene on behalf of the 141 internet gambling domain names seized by the Commonwealth of Kentucky two years ago. The southern state is seeking the forfeiture of the URLs, which belong to sites like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. If successful, these domains may be unavailable not just in Kentucky, but also around the world. Kentucky’s lawyers are allegedly working on a contingency-fee basis, according to Brennan.

On his reaction to hearing that the court had issued an Order of Abeyance in the case, Brennan told Poker News Daily on Monday, “When the court comes back and doesn’t rule against you, it’s always a victory for us. This draws things out more, which provides more exposure to a critically flawed argument by the State.” The State argued in part that domain names constitute “gambling devices” under Kentucky law, a two-word term traditionally reserved for tangible objects like slot machines that you’d find in an underground casino.

Also newsworthy in Judge Wingate’s court filing last week was his acknowledgment that Yatahay Limited is the owner of TruePoker.com. Wingate asserted, “Though another company may operate the TruePoker.com website, iMEGA has proven that Yatahay Limited owns TruePoker.com… Even so, it is unclear whether associational standing applies in an in rem proceeding.” The State had ardently questioned the legitimacy of affidavits filed to prove that Yatahay Limited was a member of iMEGA.

In the end, Judge Wingate explained, “iMEGA may be entitled to associational standing. However, iMEGA has not yet established that associational standing is proper in an in rem proceeding… Accordingly, iMEGA’s Motion to Intervene is, at the very least, premature.”

Organizations that wish to file amicus briefs in the case now have 30 days to do so. Judge Wingate asked that the briefs focus on whether associational standing is appropriate in the case. Last Monday, a hearing in Frankfort, Kentucky was held, but no ruling was made on iMEGA’s Motion to Intervene on behalf of the 141 internet gambling domain names at risk.

The domains were originally seized in September 2008, allegedly without due process and Judge Wingate upheld the State’s actions. iMEGA then sought the intervention of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, which ruled by a 2:1 margin in January 2009 that the State did not have jurisdiction to seize the domain names in question. Commonwealth attorneys appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court, which promptly sent the case back to the trial court to determine standing.

The Commonwealth has also filed a separate case to recoup funds lost by state residents against Party Gaming, Pocket Kings, and Microgaming. The former two are the parent companies of PartyPoker and Full Tilt Poker, respectively. Party Gaming vacated the U.S. market in 2006 following the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), while Microgaming followed suit in 2008. Full Tilt Poker continues to accept U.S. action and is the second largest online poker site in the world in terms of cash game volume.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest.

Ziigmund is back! Won almost $120,000

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies has returned from his break and like normally his games have been quite swingy. It took a while, but finally Ziigmund managed to book some wins.

Just a few moments ago Sahamies left the tables on Full Tilt Poker and he managed to record a $120,000 win after 240 hands.

The Finn played some $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha against Patrik Antonius, Di “Urindanger” Dang and “DrugsOrMe”.

A really wild hand which Sahamies takes down. $137K pot

Can Sahamies keep up the momentum? Only time will tell.

Read more results from here.

Source: Pokerista.net

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Ziigmund is back! Won almost $120,000

Aussie Millions seats on offer from Full Tilt

If you could do with a bit of winter sun (and given the appalling weather of late we all probably could) then Full Tilt Poker has just the thing with a host of Aussie Millions packages to be won.