Poker News

Poker News in Brief Jan. 18-24, 2010

The 2010 Aussie Millions main event kicked Sunday with hundreds of players looking to strike Australian gold.

You can read all about the tournament in our news section or live tournaments area, but as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature we’re going to take a look at a few lesser-known poker stories below.

This week we’ll look at Annette Obrestad crushing an Aussie Millions prelim, David Singer falling fourth on the Heartland Poker Tour, Phil Galfond doing some TV work and more.

Obrestad Wins Aussie Millions Pot-Limit Omaha Event

Annette Obrestad wasted no time getting busy at the 2010 Aussie Millions.

The former World Series of Poker Europe Main Event winner won the $1,000(AUD) buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha event for $40,000(AUD) this week.

Obrestad outlasted 159 players including a couple of veteran rounders in Emad Tahtouh and Tony Bloom.

Although Obrestad continues to find success online, the win in the Aussie Millions was actually her first live victory since winning the WSOPE.

Obrestad did, however, finish second at EPT Dublin in 2007 for €297,800.

This year, Obrestad will make her first appearance at the WSOP after finally turning 21 this past September.

Alec Torelli Moves to Victory Poker

Online star Alec “traheho” Torelli has parted ways with Doyles Room to sign a sponsorship deal with the up-and-coming Victory Poker.

Torelli was hand-picked by Doyle Brunson this summer to be a member of the Brunson 10.

The team has never come close to approaching 10 players, however, and currently Chris “Moorman1” Moorman, Zachary Clark, Amit Makhija and Dani “anksy” Stern are its only members.

Victory Poker has yet to be released, but it will be a part of the Everleaf Gaming network, which includes Red Cherry Poker and Poker Royale.

Torelli will join a Victory Poker team that is rumored to include Antonio Esfandiari, Brian Rast and Paul Wasicka.

Rousing Final to HPT Vegas

The blue-collar Heartland Poker Tour ventured into Vegas for the second time this week and the final table did not disappoint.

It included a bona fide pro in Full Tilt’s David Singer, an HPT veteran in Theodore Kearly and an inspirational story in unemployed Cambodian refugee Kimbo Ung.

Ung managed to outlast all five opponents at the final table and take down a first place prize of $125,901.

Singer finished fourth for $29,377, which brings his lifetime tournament winnings up to just over $4.3 million.

The event, which drew 433 players, was an overwhelming success according to organizers.

“We didn’t how the Vegas market would respond to our brand,” said HPT President Todd Anderson. “It turns out we blew the roof off.”

PKR TV Showcases Phil Galfond

Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond does not have a major poker room sponsor, but will be doing some work for PKR TV.

Galfond will be doing commentary on some of the best ring game action on PKR.com and footage from the special “Galfond TV Cash Game,” which saw some of the elite PKR players take him on.

“We are thrilled to have Phil in the studio to become a PKR TV commentator,” said PKR marketing manager Erika Schwartz. “It will be fantastic for our players to get someone of his reputation watching the action and giving some advice on their play.”

PKR TV and the Galfond TV Cash Game will be broadcast on The Poker Channel in 13 countries across Europe. Air dates have yet to be confirmed.

Police Raid South Carolina Poker Game

Police busted yet another poker game in South Carolina last week.

Officers confiscated more than $64,000 in cash, chips and tables from a Greenville County home.

Twenty-seven people were charged for unlawful betting after a citizen’s tip led deputies to the house.

The raid is nothing new for the region. In 2007, a game was busted in neighboring North Carolina that included noted poker pros Mike Gracz and Chris Bell.

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.

Schwartz Joins Premier League IV Lineup

 “I can’t wait to get to Vegas and crush the field in the PartyPoker.com Premier League,” said Schwartz.

Schwartz will join the already announced Phil Hellmuth, J.C. Tran, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Roland De Wolfe in the $100,000 buy-in tournament. This is the first time the shootout-style event has been held in Vegas.

Despite the number of skilled poker players, Schwartz likes his chances in the event.

“For sure there are some big names playing but I have to be a huge favorite,” he said. “They need to know that I’m coming with my sharky hat and it’s gonna be a whole week of soul owning from Full Flush.

Schwartz made a name for himself playing online as Full Flush on Full Tilt Poker and beating some of the best online players, including Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond for over a million.

He was perhaps most well-known for his tirades where he would refer to Dwan as “durrrr-balls” and the entire online high stakes community as “OMGweNerds” in the chatbox.

He made the final table of another well-known PartyPoker tournament last year – the World Open V – but was eventually ousted in fourth when his A-T failed against Austrian qualifier Jan Veit’s K-J.

According to PartyPoker officials they were reluctant to add the controversial young player.

“We did a lot of soul searching rather than soul owning before deciding to invite Luke into the Premier League,” said a PartyPoker spokesperson. “The fact is that he is a great player and he will certainly ignite the line-up and we haven’t even completed it yet.”

More players will be announced to the Premier League IV in the coming weeks.

Top Ten Poker Stories of the 2009: #3, The “durrrr” Challenge

2009 Online Poker Year in Review

In 2009, the online poker world continued to provide excitement, drama, and controversy for the denizens that participated in the game. 2009 saw a great deal of changes in the number of rooms offered as the competition for customers became fierce. In addition, cash games - a long neglected area of online poker - became the featured event for online poker, outdistancing the industry’s multi-table tournaments.

At the beginning of 2009, online wunderkind Tom “durrrr” Dwan issued the Million Dollar Challenge to the online world. Dwan stated that he would take on anyone in a heads-up battle that would last 50,000 hands. Playing a minimum of four tables at $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha or No Limit Texas Hold’em, the challenge was for Dwan’s opponent to come out on top after the required number of hands. If Dwan were ahead by $1 or more, his opponent must fork over $500,000. If Dwan's opponent were ahead by $1 or more, “durrrr” would cough up $1.5 million.

While the only player excluded from the Durrrr Challenge was Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, there were plenty of players willing to take on Dwan. Phil Ivey and David Benyamine threw their hats into the ring, but it was another poker superstar, Patrik Antonius, who drew the honor of being the first to step up. Taking place on the virtual tables at Full Tilt Poker, the Durrrr Challenge set off early in 2009.

The play in the online event has been hit-and-miss throughout the calendar year, but each session has been crowded with railbirds watching the battle and online sites like DurrrrChallenge.com have been offering commentary on the proceedings. Due to their hectic live play schedules and the mid-year World Series of Poker (WSOP), there have only been 29,764 hands played between Antonius and Dwan as 2009 comes to a close. After Antonius started out with a lead, Dwan mounted a huge comeback. As the year comes to a close, “durrrr” has been able to amass a nearly $1 million lead over Antonius.

The other online poker headline that has captured the community’s attention is the phenomenon that is “Isildur1.” The Scandinavian came from nowhere to take on the biggest guns in the game at nosebleed stakes on Full Tilt Poker. Demonstrating great skill at the tables, the most confounding thing for online poker aficionados was the identity of the mystery Swede. While there has been conjecture by many, “Isildur1” has been able to keep his identity secret.

At the tables, “Isildur1” has played some of the biggest names in the game. He was able to take a few million dollars out of Dwan’s pockets before running into Antonius at the table. Antonius was able to take back much of what was lost by Dwan and, as the year closed, poker professional Brian Hastings depleted the remainder of “Isildur1’s” bankroll.

The defeat at the hands of Hastings has caused a tidal wave of debate in the online world, however. Hastings admitted to using datamined hands from other players to study “Isildur1’s” tendencies, resulting in a 30-day Red Pro suspension for fellow CardRunners instructor Brian Townsend. “Isildur1” is considering filing a complaint to regain the money lost in the session against Hastings. Even if the complaint is turned down, “Isildur1” has said that he will be back and 2010 should be a very interesting year in high-stakes cash games if he does.

Many may have thought that the enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which had been slated to begin in December, would have caused people to leave the game. Online poker, however, refused to fall prey and continued on stronger than ever. With the delay of enforcement of the UIGEA until mid-2010 and the possibility of other legislation that would amend it, online poker continues to draw new blood into its ranks. According to PokerScout.com, the industry is growing at an annual rate of 30%.

Finally, the closure and consolidation of non-U.S. facing online poker rooms was a major story throughout 2009. Sites like Eurolinx and BetOnBet closed under mysterious circumstances that are still being investigated by police and Pitbull Poker closed its doors after an alleged superuser scandal. DoylesRoom, headed by the legendary Doyle Brunson, joined the Cake Poker Network, as did Third Bullet Poker.

This type of consolidation should continue through 2010 as the online poker world streamlines itself to maximize its earnings and create stronger competition against such online behemoths as PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

Top 5 of 2009: The durrrr Challenge

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 continue today with No. 3: The durrrr Challenge.

Details first leaked on the Two Plus Two Poker Forums just after the start of the New Year and Tom Dwan was forced to release the first set of rules for what was already being dubbed the durrrr Challenge.

Simply put, the bet was $500,000 and Dwan was offering 3:1 to any player, except Phil Galfond, who could beat him over 50,000 hands, four-tabling $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha or No-Limit Hold’em.

To no one’s surprise, the biggest names in high-stakes poker announced their intention to take on the challenge immediately. But guys like Phil Ivey and David Benyamine were going to have to wait for their shot at $1.5 million, as it was announced in January that Finn Patrik Antonius would be first.

Poker forums were flooded with discussions over how much money would be won and lost over 50,000 hands and speculation over who, if anyone, could beat the vaunted durrrr.  

Rumors of the expected start date kept the entire poker world on edge and on the Full Tilt rail nightly waiting for the cards to hit the air before they finally got going Feb. 18 with Dwan taking Antonius for $134k over approximately 1,500 hands.

Several battles  followed with Antonius and Dwan taking turns beating up on one another and the poker world was enthralled, pouring over the details of each session ad nauseum. One group even started an entire website solely dedicated to coverage of the durrrr Challenge.

But just as it seemed interest in the challenge peaked, something bigger and better came along.

Dwan says he started the challenge as a way to spur on action at the highest stakes online, but suddenly the action needed very little help to get going.

Names like theASHMAN103 and martonas had suddenly become the catalysts for almost nightly $300/$600 and $500/$1,000 games and Antonius and durrrr were forced to either put the challenge on the backburner, or miss out on the biggest action online poker had ever seen.

They chose the former.

“I was shocked that there was so much action this year,” Dwan told PokerListings. “The reason we haven’t played that much is because there have been so many sick games - Higher stakes than $200/$400 and running all the time and stuff. It took over. It did.”

As the gap between sessions grew larger, public interest seemed to fall off and the high stakes action outside of the challenge continued to dominate with the emergence of an unknown Swede calling himself Isildur1 in the fourth quarter of 2009.

“Obviously I think really highly of Patrik’s game and he thinks really highly of mine, so we are going to choose to play in the ring games with people we don’t know that well when they are running at two and three times the stakes,” Dwan explained. “There’s been $300/$600 running a bunch and $500/1k games and obviously with this Isildur guy that’s playing lately, there’s been tons of games with him and it just all took precedence over it.”

Following a session last week, Dwan is currently up close to $1 million with 60% of the challenge in the books. Amazingly, the two have wagered over $240 million over 95 hours this year and the finish appears no closer than when they started.

However, Dwan says they will get through it.

“We have a big bet on it so we’ve got to settle it somehow,” he said. “And I am going to play more players in the future under a very similar format, but it’s going to have to change. The side bet will be the same. Maybe we will just up the stakes, I’m not really sure.”

One thing is for sure, if the durrrr Challenge ever represents the highest stakes games online again, the public will be gripped again.

And despite interest waning these days, because of the initial peak and sheer scope of the challenge, it is certainly worthy of the No. 3 spot on PokerListings’ Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009. 

PokerListings' Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009:

• No. 5: The Emergence of Luke Schwartz
•  No. 4: Yevgeniy Timoshenko’s Year

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.

ESPN Ranks Top Poker Players; Phil Ivey Number One

Who is the top all-around poker player in the world? Online or live, cash games or tournaments, whose game reigns supreme over the rest of the industry? According to a panel of experts organized by ESPN.com, the answer is Phil Ivey.

The voting block consisted of ESPN’s Andrew Feldman, Gary Wise, and Bernard Lee, along with Bluff’s Lance Bradley and Michael Friedman, Poker News Daily’s Dan Cypra, and PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington. Each of us was asked to name our top ten players in the poker world irrespective of whether we were talking about online or live play, tournaments, cash games, or game type. In the end, the first ever list of “The Nuts” was compiled.

Topping the chart was Ivey, the seventh place finisher in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Ivey won two bracelets in preliminary tournaments leading up to the $10,000 buy-in Main Event, one in Deuce to Seven Lowball and one in Omaha/Seven Card Stud High-Low. He owns seven bracelets and over $5 million in career WSOP earnings. Coupled with nearly $3 million in high-stakes cash game winnings off Swedish poker pro Isildur1 alone, Ivey makes a strong case as the top name in the business. Out of the seven pollsters, six chose Ivey as their top dog. The lone exception was yours truly.

My pick for best poker player today was Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko. While players like Ivey have been successful, Timoshenko has dominated high-profile events. In April, Timoshenko took down the World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship for $2.1 million, one year after winning the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Macau Main Event. He finished 25th in the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event and proved his online prowess by winning the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event for $1.7 million in September. He followed that performance up with a victory in the Full Tilt $1K Monday. His stakes aren’t as high in cash games as Ivey’s, but he’s also not a member of Team Full Tilt.

Second overall on “The Nuts” was Patrik Antonius. Another participant in the high-stakes games against Isildur1, Antonius lays claim to winning the largest pot in online poker history, $1.3 million, set last month. Friedman noted, “I know this may be controversial, but I think Antonius may be the best online cash game player out there at the moment.” Going against Antonius is his lackluster performance in tournaments; he has not turned in a live score of over $20,000 since May of 2008, according to HendonMob.com.

Rounding out the top three was Daniel Negreanu, who was not ranked by Poker News Daily. Negreanu has final tabled the Main Event of WSOP Europe in back-to-back years and recorded eight in the money finishes in the Las Vegas series in 2009. Negreanu has been actively involved on televised poker programs like “High Stakes Poker” and the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge,” serving as one of the game’s top ambassadors. His cash game accolades seem less obvious than Ivey’s and Antonius’, who Poker News Daily ranked as #3 and #6, respectively.

So who did the seven pollsters rank in the first ever edition of ESPN’s “The Nuts”? Here is the illustrious list of today’s top poker players:

1. Phil Ivey
2. Patrik Antonius
3. Daniel Negreanu
4. Tom “durrrr” Dwan
5. Barry Greenstein
6. Jason Mercier
7. Jeffrey Lisandro
8. Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier
9. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond
10. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko

Others who received votes included Tommy Vedes, Isildur1, J.C. Tran, Allen Cunningham, Steve “gboro780” Gross, Scott “BigRiskky” Clements, Michael Binger, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, David “The Dragon” Pham, Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Dan “djk123” Kelly, Antoine Saout, Brian Townsend, Brock “t soprano” Parker, and Matt Hawrilenko. Check out the full ESPN list for more details on each player selected.

What do you think? Should Ivey have been number one? Leave a comment here and let us know!

Top 10 Poker Players Right Now

When it comes to listing top 10 of poker players, I’m sure that if 100 person would make the list, there would be 100 different lists of players. Still, there are some players that almost everybody would put in their list.

So this list is not the top 10 of all time, but the top 10 of players who have achieved great success recently. From bottom to top, espn top 10 list looks like this:

10. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko. Timoshenko has been on a tear recently, winning both live and online tournaments, WPT Championship tournament, WCOOP main event and $1K Monday win among them.

9. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond. One of the best online cash game players in the world, who consistently wins in nosebleed games at Full Tilt Poker. Has been having a rough year in 2009 though and there for he shouldn’t be listed here.

8. Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. Former Starcraft professional, who won Two World Championship of Online Poker titles in September 2009. Has won over 2 millions in tournaments this year live and online.

7. Jeffrey Lisandro. Won three WSOP bracelets this year and the POY rankings of WSOP 2009. Master of seven card games of poker.

6. Jason Mercier. A tournament poker powerhouse who had another great year in 2009. Nine final tables in 2009, which resulted in four wins and two runner-up finishes.

5. Barry Greenstein. “The Bear” is a familiar figure playing the biggest cash games in the world at Bobby’s Room, but he can also put together good results in tournaments. Greenstein managed to cash 13 in 2009 including seven at the 2009 WSOP.

4. Tom “durrrr” Dwan. One of the most creative poker players in the world. Dwan is an online poker legend, but after losing over six million dollars in November, he shouldn’t really be on this list.

3. Daniel Negreanu. The all-time tournament winnings leader and the master of small ball poker. Managed to make it to the final table of the WSOP Europe Main event second year in a row, finishing in second place after couple tough bad beats.

2. Patrik Antonius. Antonius is a no-brainer on this list. Antonius is a player who Andrew Feldman thinks is “maybe the best online cash game player out there at the moment”. I agree.

1. Phil Ivey. If Antonius was an obvious pick, Phil Ivey is even more. Ivey is the player who everybody who knew anything about poker would pick in their top 10 list. Didn’t win the WSOP Main Event, but managed take few millions out of Isildur1 in last weeks. The best poker player in the world overall.

Ivey is the number one.

As I said in the beginning, it is hard to list poker players, but I thinks this list has couple obvious flaws. It is not fair to have Galfond and Dwan listed in a “who’s hot” list when they obviously are not hot. Why Joe Cada is not listed, he just won the most coveted title in the poker world?

In my opinion, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies should be on this list instead of Galfond and Brian Townsend instead of Dwan, but not necessarily on same places on the list. Both made huge profit in November and arguably are the players who are hot right now in online poker world.

Source

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Top 10 Poker Players Right Now

Isildur1 is not Viktor Blom (blom30)

The mystery behind the identity of high-stakes Full Tilt Poker player Isildur1 received a little clarification on Tuesday, as Viktor “blom30” Blom told Bluff Europe that he is not the man of the hour.

Blom bluntly told the European news outlet, “I am not the one you are looking for. Keep searching.” One cryptic sentence later, the online poker industry is back at square one in its hunt to uncover the real Isildur1. A variety of poker players tossed out Blom as possibly being Isildur1, most notably Tony G, who commented in a recent blog entry, “I don’t want to talk too much about Isildur1 but I can reveal to all it is Viktor and he crushed them on the iPoker network for some time. I actually played a few hands with him today and quite many on iPoker where my site TonyG Poker runs. I honestly respect this guy 100%. He has proved that he is the best player in the game right now; this is based on many, many hands on iPoker and Full Tilt Poker.”

Tony G then praised the “self control and money management” skills of Isildur1 and high-stakes opponent Tom “durrrr” Dwan. According to Poker Table Ratings, Isildur1 is down $1.3 million overall, a drop of $800,000 on Tuesday alone. In mid-November, the Swede owned more than $5 million in profits at the tables before a drastic turn of events. Among those he has squared off against are Dwan, Power Poker pro Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Phil Ivey, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, and CardRunners instructors Cole South, Brian Townsend, and Brian Hastings.

Also fueling the fire that Blom was the man behind the Isildur1 moniker was the following chat that occurred on Full Tilt Poker and was posted on the online poker forum PocketFives.com on November 30th:

Ziigmund: u r nice guy
Ziigmund: and pretty viktor
Isildur1: lol Ziigmund: :- )
Isildur1: can u atlest reload finnish superstar
Ziigmund: :- )

Isildur1 gave no correction after Sahamies addressed him as “Viktor,” which sparked a major debate online as to whether Blom’s statements to Bluff Europe were accurate or merely meant to throw the online poker community off the trail. Last month, Frank “Frank1The1Tank” Calo asserted that Isildur1 was Robert “Gulkines” Flink: “Fwiw, I have received intelligence by some very credible sources (who shall be kept completely private) who said pretty confidently who isildur1 is. So I give you the knowledge I have (with like 99% certainy but not quite 100% yet) that it is Robert Flink aka Gulkines.”

However, Flink denied being Isildur1, according to Calo, who posted on PocketFives.com: “Update: I spoke to robert flink last night. He was pretty sketchy about it and without me even asking about isildur immediately said he wasnt him and then said he thought it was stefan mattsson which is a well known swedish mtter.” Mattsson, who plays as “stema2” on PokerStars, allegedly began playing $25/$50 several days after Isildur1 began his climb up the online poker ladder.

Other names that have cropped up as possible Isildur1 front men include Dan Harrington and Todd Brunson. However, both are American and not Swedish. Brunson is a sponsored pro of the Cake Poker Network site DoylesRoom, while Harrington won the 1995 WSOP Main Event. Also tossed out as a possibility is Martonas, Dwan’s nemesis on the high-stakes virtual felts. However, with tax laws in Sweden, Isildur1’s true identity may never be known.

In the meantime, the nosebleed action will likely continue on Full Tilt Poker. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the Isildur1 saga.

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

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Ivey has won 16 million dollars from Full Tilt cash games

Haseeb Qureshi Comments on Isildur1 and High-Stakes Poker

Swedish newcomer Isildur1 has dominated the action on Full Tilt Poker in recent weeks, helping grow the eight largest pots in online poker history. One of his opponents, CardRunners instructor Haseeb “INTERNET POKERS” Qureshi, sat down with Poker News Daily to discuss Isildur1’s recent dominance.

Isildur1 has largely competed in Pot Limit Omaha against high-stakes Full Tilt regulars like 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Phil Ivey, Durrrr Challenge namesake Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, and Power Poker front man Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies. Qureshi has dropped $452,000 to Isildur1; according to PokerTableRatings.com, Dwan has lost 10 times that amount.

On the newcomer’s No Limit Hold’em game, Qureshi told Poker News Daily, “He doesn’t trip up nearly as often in No Limit Hold’em [as in Pot Limit Omaha]. Of course, one of the biggest differences in No Limit Hold’em is that you can bet larger than pot and it’s in his over-betting strategy, which has become his trademark, that he really differentiates himself.”

Many have questioned when and if Isildur1 would go broke, including a poll that appeared on the popular online poker forum TwoPlusTwo.com revealing that 18% of those who responded stated that the Swede would go bust before 2010. Qureshi weighed in: “He’s a high-stakes poker playing degenerate who is very good and wants action. As long as nobody busts him, he’ll keep playing. I’d say it’s more likely than not that he goes bust relatively soon, but it’s still quite likely that he manages to rage on for a very long time.” PokerTableRatings.com began tracking Isildur1 in mid-September. This month, the eight largest pots in online poker history have played out.

On what types of strategies players could use to overcome opponents like Isildur1, Qureshi revealed, “Every basic strategy you could come up with is all too small and naive to be used. You should wait for hands and yet beat his aggression with more aggression. You should make fearless calls and yet be cautious in big pots. Choosing one pole or the other is basically handing him the match before it starts.”

Antonius laid claim to the largest pot in online poker history, $1.3 million, at the expense of Isildur1. The Full Tilt Poker pro also defeated Isildur1 in a massive $878,000 pot, which took place one week ago. Isildur1’s win over Ivey in a $1.1 million pot, the second largest of all-time, helped right the ship. The Swede has taken down three of the top six richest pots ever, while Antonius has scooped two of the top three.

Qureshi is an instructor for the poker training site CardRunners.com and recently tackled the Isildur1 phenomenon in an informative blog entry. On how he got started in the game of poker, Qureshi recalled, “In the PartyPoker days, there was a free $50 signup bonus deal running. I got on that and somehow donked up my money to $200 and then I started my ‘poker career,’ per se, at $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold’em ring games. I worked my way up the old fashioned way with 20 to 30 buy-in bankroll management. There were no tournament scores or trust funds for me, unfortunately.”

Finally, Qureshi explained that he never would have thought he’d be part of something as historic as Isildur1’s entry onto the poker scene: “My dream was to be playing $1/$2 and by the end of the first year, I had made over $100,000 and was just moving up to play $5/$10 six-max games.” Besides Qureshi, others who have tangled with Isildur1 include David Benyamine, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Brian Hastings, and Brian Townsend.

Phil Galfond dropped the stakes - Games going well

A bit earlier this week, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond announced that he is going to lower the limits because he has made some huge investments and his bankroll isn’t enough for the high stakes games. Now he tells about the new games in his latest blog entry.

The first thing he writes is how he wants to join the legendary Isildur1 vs the others fight on Full Tilt, but has managed to contain himself - for now.

Galfond has played 20-24 hours of $25/$50 PLO tables for the past three days, averaging 9 tables at once, so he has been grinding like the rest of us. His paycheck is a bit better than normal as he has managed to grind up 12 buy-ins, which is about 60.000 dollars.

He is loving the lower stakes as he has been able to grind the game he likes to play the most: Pot Limit Omaha. Galfond doesn’t think he is running especially well, so he might have quite an edge over the other players.

Now he is thinking of taking a week long break from poker and going to vacation to spend some time with his family.

Source: BlueFirePoker

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Phil Galfond dropped the stakes - Games going well

Isildur1 keeps on crushing

And it seems the whole online world wants a piece of the unknown Swedish player as Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, Brian Townsend and Phil Galfond all stepped up.

Isildur1's night began with 1,347 hands of $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha against Townsend and he proved to be the Swede's stiffest competition, beating him out of $339k before calling it quits.

Later on the two sat for another 151 hands where Isildur1 managed to make back $36k from the Full Tilt Pro, but next in line was Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond.

The two played 478 hands of $300/$600 PLO and when it was all said and done, Galfond booked a $162k loss.

Isildur1 then moved on to his main event of the evening: Antonius. These two sat for 613 hands of $500/$1,000 PLO and Isildur1 was up $435k before they moved on to play No-Limit Hold'em.

Here, Isildur1 won two massive pots worth $384k and $448k each, practically guaranteeing heads-up victory.

He ended the 614 hand $500/$1,000 NLHE session with over $618k of Antonius' money.

Ivey, who had been MIA from the high-stakes action since his seventh place finish in the WSOP Main Event, took his stab next, but couldn't turn a profit.

However, his losses were limited to $22k over a short 105-hand No-Limit session with Isildur1.

At this point, Antonius took another shot at Isildur1 on the PLO tables. Through 80 hands at $500/$1,000 Antonius won back $267k, then agreed to finish off the remainder of the night at $300/$600.

1,735 hands later, Antonius had managed to grind back another $100k, finishing his night having lost over $686k to Isildur1.

In the end, Isildur1 left the tables having booked another win, adding $567k to his roll.

While the unknown Swede was wreaking havoc across the site, Dwan could be found trying to grind his way back to the black playing heads-up Hold'em against DjAdi and heads-up PLO against Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies.

DjAdi stuck around for 517 hands, long enough to make $200k from the newly minted Team Full Tilt pro and Dwan's luck against Sahamies wasn't much better.

The Finn took him for $178k and when the action all dried up, Dwan left the night posting yet another losing session, this time dropping $380k.

Below are the three largest hands of the night. You can watch more hands by heading to MarketPulse.

Trishelle Cannatella Signs with Absolute Poker

The Absolute Poker family just became a little larger. The USA-facing site on the CEREUS Poker Network welcomed former 2002 “Real World” star Trishelle Cannatella as a sponsored pro. Poker News Daily sat down with Cannatella to discuss her new role.

Poker News Daily: Congratulations on signing with Absolute Poker. Besides “Real World,” some of our readers will recognize you from stints on “Punk’d,” “Fear Factor,” “Criminal Minds,” “Ninja Cheerleaders,” “The Dukes of Hazard: The Beginning,” “The Surreal Life,” and “Dr. Steveo.” How’d the signing come about?

Cannatella: One of my friends manages poker players. She was getting me gigs like going to charity tournaments and doing appearances. I started playing and she talked to someone at Absolute Poker. They asked me to be their ambassador.

PND: How did you get started in poker?

Cannatella: I started off in home games. They gave me a “Poker for Dummies” set and it’s how I learned. I taught myself how to play like that and began beating the guys at their own game. Then, I decided to play a live tournament at Caesars Palace, around an $80 buy-in event, and I won. I didn’t think I could actually do that and so I started playing a little bit more. I don’t have the bankroll to play very high stakes.

When I first started playing, it was on Paradise Poker. I used to play $1 tournaments online all night long. Now, I go from that to getting to play with people I used to see play on television. I am serious about it and am really looking forward to it.

PND: What can we expect from you on Absolute Poker?

Cannatella: I’m going to be playing on the site as “Trishelle_C” and am going to do blogs, both video and written. I’ll be going to events like charity tournaments and Aruba. I also spent the whole summer in Las Vegas for the WSOP. I really love poker, so it’s exciting to be part of the site.

PND: Who were you railing at the WSOP?

Cannatella: Phil Galfond was there. I became friends with Tom Dwan and Jeff Madsen. While I was there, I played a satellite and was the only girl at the table. The other players all have their iPhones and their sunglasses on and I got no respect at the table. All of a sudden, Chris Ferguson comes over, climbs over the rope, and told me that he was watching me play. Then, I started getting respect at the table.

PND: What’s next for your television career?

Cannatella: I took a little bit of a break after the Hulk Hogan wrestling show. Now, I’m getting back into things. I auditioned with a new show that’s like “Curb Your Enthusiasm” meets “Sex and the City.” I’ve also been in talks with more reality television show producers.

PND: Talk about fellow female Absolute Poker pro Lacey Jones. Have you met her before?

Cannatella: She’s gorgeous and I met her in Las Vegas. We have a lot of mutual friends and I’m excited to work with everyone. I’m also friends with some of the poker girls and I love Tiffany Michelle.

PND: Who in the poker community have you gone to for advice?

Cannatella: I ask Phil Laak a lot for help and he tells me to go to CardRunners and study. He told me that he’d give me a month of free training if I go to CardRunners every day. So far, I haven’t had time.

Isildur1 takes on Antonius, Galfond and Hastings

Much like Fullflush and Martonas, Isildur1 seems to have no care for whom he plays, or what limits they play at.

Yesterday's session started by Isildur1 sitting across from Brian Hastings where he managed to win over $137k at $300/$600 No-Limit Hold'em.

Moving on from Hastings, Isildur1's next competitor, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, played him at $300/$600 NLH and $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha.

Galfond got the best of Isildur1 on both limits winning a collective $215k.

Now stuck $68, Isildur1 chose to sit at $500/$1,000 NLHE across from the red-letter pro Patrik Antonius. Despite multiple $200k plus pots, Isildur1 ended the battle down only $60k against the Finnish pro.

Not wanting to log-off in the hole, Isildur1 continued his night by sitting down at $100/$200 NLHE across from UgotaBanana.

The two unknown players sat for 2,170 hands of Hold'em, UgotaBanana taking almost $100k of Isildur1's. At this point, the two players decided to change the game to $100/$200 PLO, where they sat for another 1,940 hands.

By the end of the PLO session, Isildur1 had taken over $415k from UgotaBanana, and left the tables with a healthy $200k profit.

The majority of the day's largest pots came from the $500/$1,000 sessions with Antonius. You can find three of the largest pots played below, or head to MarketPulse to see the rest.

Phil Ivey (+1,8 million), David Benyamine (-1,7 million) in October

October ended and it’s time to take a peak at last month’s high stakes games. There was decent amount of action so we got million dollar winners and losers.

October’s biggest winners - Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey

October’s biggest winner was Phil Ivey who is currently preparing for the November 9. Ivey played about 8200 hands and managed to win $1,8 million. Patrik Antonius won $350k less and pushed himself into second place. Antonius played more than normally and highstakesdb recorded over 24.000 hands for him. Antonius won most of his money from 7-Game and H.O.R.S.E. Ivey got ovet $800k from Omaha. Patrik Antonius is up over $6.1 million on Full Tilt Poker high stakes games this year.

Other big winners were:

Abe “EazyPeazy” Mosseri $905k
Gus Hansen $735k
Tom “durrrr” Dwan $643k
Brian Hastings $594k
Ashton “theASHMAN103? Griffin $578k

The losers

David Benyamine managed to take a huge beat with over $1,7 million losses. Almost all of his losses came from 7-Game and H.O.R.S.E. Benyamine played second most hands of the month, only Richard Ashby played more. Even though Benyamine played a lot, he manged to lose time after time. Ilari Sahamies, Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonius took most of his money.

Other players who lost over $500k:

“Isildur1? $-989k
Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond $-963k
“Slick Puppy” $-897k
David Oppenheim $-777k
David “POKERBLUFFS” Eldar $-649k
Rafi “rafiboy” Amit $-618k
Chau Giang $-598k

Source: highstakesdb

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Phil Ivey (+1,8 million), David Benyamine (-1,7 million) in October

Antonius headlines sick 7-Game action

This most recent session saw a flurry of action with Daniel Alaei (FakeSky), Gus Hansen and Brian Hastings all making more than $300k.

Online regular, identity still unknown, Nizot Skizared took down $270k, while the Finnish action junky Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies made just under $140k.

Also showing modest profits on the night were Tom Dwan, Matt Hawrilenko, EazyPeazy and Di "Urindanger" Dang.

The most noteable losers of the day include Richard Ashby (-$530k), David Benyamine (-$434k), NEKOTYAN (-$336k), Cole South (-$218k), DIN_FRU (-$204k), Chau Giang (-$127k) and David Oppenheim (-$106k).

Posting smaller losing sessions were online stars Phil "OMGClayAIken" Galfond and Brian Townsend, both losing under $100k.

With this $434k loss, Benyamine continues his struggle to get anything going on the year. His 2009 losses now total almost $1.3 million.

Long after the 7-Game action had run dry, the $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em game kicked off with two full ring tables collecting rake.

The nine-handed table Don Juan became the table of death, starting with all seats filled, including some of the biggest names in the game. Dwan, Ivey, Juanda, South and (Hac) Dang were all in on the high-stakes NL action.

On top of all of this, Tom Dwan took on Patrik Antonius heads up at $500/$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, winning the largest pot of the day worth $85k.

Over on PokerStars WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate managed to net only $193 after winning the second largest pot of the day, but losing the third worth almost exactly as much.

To see replays of all the largest NL and PLO pots of the day, head to MarketPulse, or you can find the three biggest pots of the day replayed below.

A great flop for Dwan.

This hand plays itself.

A setup.

The blen-durrrr: Dwan liquidates mixed game foes

Almost the entire online poker world made it out for the action with Gus Hansen and Richard Ashby both making over $100k, and Patrik Antonius, John Juanda, Justin Smith, and David Benyamine all making small profits.

But the list of losers was even more impressive with Chau Giang (-$268k), Cole South (-$249k), Nizot Skizared ($-157k), Phil Ivey (-$150k), Sirens (-$124k) and Brian Hastings (-$115k) all taking big hits.

Even David Oppenheim and Allen Cunningham sat for a few hands, donating tens of thousands to the durrrr fund.

Away from the mixed games, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond and Rob "Vega_Lion" Akery decided to gamble, taking multiple flips for $30k a piece.

When agreeing to flip, both players wager the agreed apon amount pre-flop, regardless of their hands, and check down all streets. The result is a 50% shot for each player to win the pot, similar to flipping a coin.

In total, Galfond and Akery took 26 $60k flips, with Galfond winning an impressive 17.

Galfond's 65% win-rate for the flips netted him $270k, which he turned into a total $386k profit before the end of the night, $334,000 of which came from Akery.

A fight to the Finnish: Antonius vs. Sahamies

In fact, on top of the $468k he won playing heads-up with Sahamies, Antonius took another $80k off Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond and more than $200k playing mixed games with the likes of Gus Hansen.

In total, poker's most famous Finn made over $741k on the night.

Even though Sahamies and Antonius were also playing $500/$1,000, the highest stakes PLO available online, the largest pot of the night, worth $276k, actually came from a $300/$600 PLO table.

The hand started with the typical raise/re-raise pre-flop and both players holding similar ace-high suited hands. Antonius flopped top two and flat called when Sahamies bet pot holding top pair and the nut-flush draw.

Sahamies bet pot on the brick-like turn and Antonius raised all in for $81k more. After calling the bet, Sahamies bricked the river as well, sending the pot and his stack to Antonius.

Meanwhile, on the 7-Game mixed tables, Gus Hansen played 2,649 hands, losing just over $488k.

Thanks to the generous donations from Hansen, Sahamies was able win almost $300k, greatly subsidizing his PLO losses. In fact, Sahamies ended his night down only $172k.

Brian Hastings and Phil Ivey both made over $200k on the night, almost exclusively on the mixed tables, while baddoggi and Richard Ashby lost over $100k a piece.

Below are the three largest Omaha pots of the night. You can see the rest of them by clicking to the MarketPulse section.

Fireworks on the turn.

Antonius is great at flopping two pair.

Antonius again.

Townsend beats Dwan out of $200k

By spending the whole year grinding his way through the lower limits, Townsend has only recently made his way back to the spotlight and Full Tilt's high-stakes tables.

For all the Sbrugby lovers out there, it appears as if Townsend's losing streak is over and his roll is once again large enough to put him back into the big games.

Last night Townsend sat for 200 hands of heads-up $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha against Dwan and the session was almost entirely one sided. Even though Dwan won the biggest pot, worth $144k, Townsend won the next eight pots on the list.

The largest pot of the session came as a gift to Dwan, getting it all in after flopping a full house. Townsend stood little chance of catching up with just two outs to a better hand.

The second and third largest pots show Townsend playing extremely well, and grabbing enough luck to hit once, and hold once, both times taking Dwan's full stack.

At the end of the night, Dwan had left having lost just under $200k, while Townsend went on to play 50 hands against high-stakes regular OnTheRize finishing with a $286k profit.

In H.O.R.S.E. action, Phil Ivey lost over $330k, nearly a third of his profit from yesterday's blow out. Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies claimed the top spot of the night collecting most of Ivey's losses for a final figure of $336k.

Patrik Antonius was also in the mix, netting himself $168k, while Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond lost over $100k in the game.

Here are the three largest pots of the night between Dwan and Townsend, to see more hands of Omaha and Hold'em, click over to the PokerListings MarketPulse page.

I say to myself, what a wonderful flop.

Townsend could not have played this better.

It's amazing this hand held.

High-stakes moves to HORSE: Ivey wins $1.1 million

After losing more than $2 million this year playing No-Limit and Pot-Limit games, Full Tilt pro Gus Hansen decided to change it up by moving to Limit H.O.R.S.E., where the game rotates through five poker variations rather than sticking to just one.

And just as Hansen had predicted, once the online sharks spotted him in the water, they abandoned the old games and swam right over.

In fact, almost the entire high-stakes world ignored the Omaha and Hold'em tables last night to sit with Hansen for some high-stakes H.O.R.S.E.

In the movie Rounders, Matt Damon's character suggested poker players are like piranhas on The Nature Channel, you never see them eat each other.

But the line couldn't have been more wrong last night as the the high-stakes predators turned against one another in their lust for action, practically leaving Hansen alone.

Despite sitting for over 2,500 hands, Hansen lost just $68k on the night.

Instead, it was Ivey taking control of the table, blowing away everyone who stood in his way to book a $1.1 million dollar profit, mostly through Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond (-$444k), Tom "durrrr" Dwan (-$343k), Chau Giang (-$289k) and David Oppenheim (-$245k).

After such an amazing night of action, it's almost a certainty the high-stakes regulars will return to the mixed game to chase their losses.

But it's doubtfull Ivey, who has proved over the last decade that mixed games are one of his biggest strengths, is going anywhere.

THENUTHUNTER takes on Ivey and Antonius

Nothing helps a player stay confident while playing against one of the world's most intimidating players than taking an early lead and it's doubtful THENUTHUNTER would have remained on the table once Ivey joined the game wiothout it.

For a player taking a shot at the biggest games online, it would be hard to a more difficult table than three-handed with Ivey and Antonius.

Despite the bright red names of his opponents, THENUTHUNTER remained on the table for another hundred hands, ending his session up over $130,000.

Having taken over $230k from Antonius, it was the Ivey factor that put the dent in THENUTHUNTER's profits.

The $300/$600 PLO tables were also full of action as another $300/$600 regular, 458854, made over $270k from Phil "OMGCLayAIken" Galfond, howisitfeellike, and Brian Townsend.

458854's profit came mostly from both the largest pots of the night worth $322k and $237k respectively.

Perhaps inspired by players like Tom "kingsofcards" Marchese, who has taken the high-stakes games by storm since becoming a regular this past September, these two realtively unknown grinders took their shots, and both came away victors.

Here are the three largest pots of the session, the rest wait for you on PokerListings' MarketPulse page.

All-in three way

Poker's easy for the palandronic 458854.

Antonius was hoping for a flip.

The life of Ivey: $950k in 756 hands

Ivey sat for most of the day yesterday playing a mix of six-max $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em and Fixed-Limit HORSE, crushing all opposition for over $950,000.

Surprisingly, Ivey's largest No-Limit pot came in at just over $200k, only the sixth largest pot of the day.

The largest pot, worth $448k, belonged to Antonius with kingsofcards, the most recent addition to the regular high-stakes degenerates, on the losing end.

Mostly thanks to Antonius, Marchese's session could not have gone much worse, booking a loss worth well over half a million dollars.

Despite the beating he gave Marchese, Antonius's losses to Dwan and Ivey still resulted in the Finnish pro losing nearly $50k, including $270 dropped in a 400 hand session of the durrrr Challenge.

Full details and updates on the latest Challenge session can be found here.

Gus Hansen stayed away from all No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha tables, choosing instead to play Limit HORSE. But thanks to Benyamine, Ivey, Richard Ashby and Sahamies, Hansen still booked a whopping loss of over $840k.

Finally, action instigator martonas had another losing session, this time minimizing his losses to just over $100k.

With this recent donation bringing his results to a new career low of over $2.5 million in losses, one has to wonder where the unknown Swede finds the funds to refill his roll.

With multiple players taking swings over $500k over the last few days, all signs point to this weekend being absolutely filled with high-stakes action.

Keep your browser pointed to MarketPulse to stay on top of it all.

Here are the three largest pots of the day (not including any durrrr Challenge action):

You have to love holding an overpair.

Antonius gets flushed.

The two outer turn.

Patrik Antonius The Biggest Winner Yesterday

After “martonas” made his comeback to Full Tilt Poker, the high stakes games have been really good. Patrik Antonius made a nice profit and “martonas” ended up to be the payer.

The games were quite usual for “martonas”. He swinged up and down, all around and everywhere. He was part of several large pots but eventually lost almost all of them.

Several hundreds of thousands of dollars went to the pockets of “POKERBLUFFS”, Tom “Durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius as “martonas” was swinging around. Railbirds could find Ilari Sahamies and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond playing as well.

Few hands from the session:

Sahamies has AA and flush draw against “Durrrr’s” wheel, $230k pot

Antonius has top pair, but “Durrrr” shows his over pair, $334k pot

Both “OMGClayAiken” and “martonas” has a hand, $296k pot

“Martonas” wants to flip against Antonius, £304k pot

“POKERBLUFFS” turns a set against Antonius, $136k pot

Biggest winners:
1.Patrik Antonius $512 169
2.POKERBLUFFS   $488 094
3.durrrr                $236 358

Biggest losers:
1.martonas            -$487 908
2.theASHMAN103   - $477 712
3.DIN_FRU              -$200 000

Source: highstakesdb

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Patrik Antonius The Biggest Winner Yesterday

FullFlush threatens to break durrrr at WSOPE

But that didn't stop the outspoken Londoner from dropping by the Casino at the Empire to rail the action and a few horses he's put in the event.

"It's bullshit," Schwartz said. "There was something at the Vic [London's Grosvenor Victoria Casino] ages ago when I wouldn't take off my hat and now I'm nationally barred from all the casinos. But I've just snuck in and won about five grand on the roulette."

The brash 25-year-old burst onto the high-stakes online poker scene earlier this year posting significant profits against the likes of Tom "durrrr" Dwan, David "Raptor" Benefield and Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond.

But he's perhaps best known for the often visceral brand of trash talk he brings to the chatbox online.

Schwartz has verbally attacked just about everyone who's crossed his path, but he seems to have a particular dislike for Dwan.

"I don't like seeing durrrr just own off the poker world and just win all the money from all the other fish," he said. "I don't mind if Patrik [Antonius] and [Phil] Ivey win. I just can't stand durrrr. I can't stand durrrr's face, durrrr's voice, and durrrr's eyes. I can't stand anything about durrrr.

"He's just an arrogant social retard. He's spastic. There's not much more to say than that."

Schwartz takes particular issue with how he believes Dwan built his bankroll, claiming his money was made chiefly from beating Cirque du Soleil founder and reported high-stakes fish Guy Laliberté out of millions.

"He thinks he's the best, but he's just so annoying," Schwartz said. "People just don't even realize if Guy had not existed in this poker world, durrrr would be nowhere."

Although he's particularly vocal regarding his distaste for Dwan, the online phenom doesn't appear to be his only target.

Some of the biggest names in the game turned up for Day 1b of the WSOPE main event, including four-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu, 2008 WSOPE main event champ John Juanda and 2000 WSOP Main Event champ Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.

But Schwartz' respect for poker's elite players seems limited as well.

"All these big players that you hear of, like Negreanu and all these old guys, they all won when there was better fish around - that's why they're famous," he said. "Obviously they did well and took advantage of poker when it was easy, but now it's tough. It's fucking hard to win now."

In recent months, the name __FullFlush1__ has been missing from the high-stakes games on Full Tilt Poker.

Schwartz says he withdrew most of his winnings from the site and because of a $5,000 per day and $15,000 per month limit on deposits, and a bit of a bad run trying to spin up the relatively small deposits into a sufficient bankroll for the bigger games, he's been forced to take his action elsewhere and avoid any confrontations with his nemesis Dwan.

Dwan is currently in London taking part in several events, including Matchroom Sports' durrrr Million Dollar Challenge, where he will take on Sammy "any two" George and a series of players yet to be named in 500-hand live heads-ups matches with a $500k buy in.

But Schwartz said he is unlikely to challenge his rival there.

"I'm not much of a live player and sitting down with $500,000 is obviously quite deep, so it's not the first thing that comes to my mind," he said. "But I would like to do a challenge with him of some sort at some stage quite soon."

It appears more likely that he will eventually meet Dwan online in Full Tilt's 50,000 hand durrrr Challenge, although Dwan is still in the midst of taking on Antonius and Schwartz isn't quite sure he's ready.

"I'd like to do that," he said. "I'd do that right now at $100/$200 with durrrr snap, but $200/$400 is a bit much. I suppose I could do that with my roll right now, but I'd feel like I was short if I started getting stuck right away."

Both players are set to take part in the PKR Heads Up Grand Slam in London beginning Oct. 8 and will meet there if they both reach the semifinals.

Anxiously awaiting the start of that, Schwartz sounded more than eager to get a shot at Dwan no matter where it is.

"I've smashed him," he said. "I'm up like 600 grand on him online. I would be up 800 grand, but we did these 200 grand flips when I was tilted one day and he won both of them. I kill this guy. This guy is like an autistic retard. If you just get a little bit into his head he can't deal with it.

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

For more from Day 1b of the WSOPE main event and beyond, including chip counts, photos and live updates, click through to PokerListings' Live Tournaments page.

Dump and jump: durrrr drops $99k

Being the action junkies they are, Galfond and Marchese remained at the table to play some high-stakes heads up.

The heads-up play lasted for close to an hour before Tom "durrrr" Dwan took POKERBLUFFS' old spot at the table between the two players.

Interestingly enough, Dwan's stay at the table was almost the exact antithesis of POKERBLUFFS'.

Dwan had literally just sat down at the table long enough to get the button for the second time when he played his first pot and lost his entire $99,000 stack to Marchese's rivered straight.

This one hand from Dwan appears to be the hand to have ended the session with all three players logging off for the night.

In the end, it was Galfond who took the most profit with Marchese leaving up less than $25,000, despite his $200k pot.

Here are the three most important hands of the night and you can see the rest by clicking through to PokerListings' MarketPulse.

Hit and run.

Heads-up.

Dwan thought he liked that river.

OMG: Benyamine beats Galfond for $200k

The first large pot of the night, coming in at $85k, went to Galfond after he flopped bottom two against Benyamine's over-pair of kings.

Galfond filled out on the turn, making it easy to call Benyamine's all-in bet. With only two outs to make a higher full house on the river, Benyamine was unable to catch up.

That seemed to open the action floodgates as a see-saw battle of large pots ensued for the remainder of the session.

After almost two and a half hours and nearly 300 hands of play, the two players remained in deadlock.

It wasn't until the final hands of the session that Benyamine finally flipped his boom-switch.

The largest pot of the night, worth almost $250k, came as a cooler to Galfond who flopped an under-set of jacks to Benyamine's set of aces.

Benyamine followed it up by winning a $100k pot just two minutes later, hitting one of his 14 outs on the river to beat Galfond's flopped straight.

After the back-to-back losses, Galfond called it quits, letting Benyamine log off with $200k of his money.

In Galfond's world, $200k is considered a small loss and you can count on him being back in the mix as the high-stakes action heats up over the weekend.

Here are some of the largest pots of the session and as usual you can find all of the largest pots by clicking through to our MarketPulse section.

A welcomed river.

The largest pot of the night.

The pot that broke Galfond's back.

Galfond Wins $150k from Benyamine at PLO

Patrik Antonius talks frankly in Interview