Poker News

Poker News in Brief: Jan. 11-17, 2010

But there was plenty of poker news that didn’t make the front page of PokerListings.com, and as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature, we’ve compiled a list below.

This week we’ll take a look at Gavin Smith crushing Canadian tournaments, the HPT going to Vegas, a dominant online player quitting poker and more:

Two Final Tables for Smith at Fallsview

Canadian Gavin Smith was dominant at the 2010 Fallsview Poker Classic in Niagara Falls this week.

Fresh off a plane from the Bahamas, Smith outlasted 275 players to win $188,743 in the $2,500 event and then three days later finished fourth in the $5,000 main event.

Smith has historically done very well at tournaments in Canada. In 2008, he finished second at the Fallsview-hosted WPT North American Poker Championship for $542,129. He also made the final table of the 2008 Canadian Open Poker Championship in Calgary the same year.

Heartland Poker Tour Heads to Vegas

The Heartland Poker Tour kicked off its sixth season at Red Rock Resort and Casino in Las Vegas this week.

It was just the second time the lower buy-in poker tour has made a stop in Las Vegas, as it usually sticks to venues in Midwest. In the past, the tour has hosted tournaments in Indiana, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Michigan and Iowa.

The $1,100 buy-in event drew poker pros Dennis Phillips, Layne Flack, John Vorhaus and Tiffany Michelle.

The final table of the tournament is scheduled to play out later today.

Jonas "Nebuchad" Danielsson Quits Poker

Online grinder Jonas “Nebuchad” Danielsson, perhaps most well-known for making a verbal slip at the 2008 Scandinavian Poker Awards, has apparently decided to leave poker for the time being.

Danielsson made the announcement on his blog where he wrote that his passion for poker was gone and he was looking forward to experiencing new things. He did not mention how long his self-imposed retirement would last.

The young Swedish pro started playing poker full time in 2005 and in roughly five years of playing made over $3 million in profit.

Danielsson won Online Player of the Year at the Scandinavian Poker Awards in 2008, but was better remembered for accidentally referring to King Nebuchadnezzar as the first king to “deal with the Jewish problem” when explaining the origin of his screen name to host Daniel Negreanu.

English is not Danielson’s first language and he explained afterwards he was deeply sorry about the miscommunication.

Tennis Star John Isner Plays Poker

Apparently Boris Becker isn’t the only tennis celebrity that enjoys playing a little poker.

The New Zealand Herald reported this week that American John Isner can often be found at the poker table when he’s not playing tennis.

The 6’9 giant was making headlines all week in Auckland at the Heineken Open and even pulled off an upset against top seeded Spanish player Tommy Robredo.

Isner joins the aforementioned Becker as well as former tennis world #1 Yvegeny Kafelnikov as tennis players who are also poker enthusiasts.

Borgata Announces 2010 Winter Poker Open

The Borgata in Atlantic City released a schedule for its fifth annual Borgata Winter Poker Open this week.

The tournament series will take place Jan. 20-Feb. 5 with 16 events in a wide range of poker variants including No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, Seven-Card Stud and more.

The $3,500 buy-in main event is scheduled for Jan. 31-Feb. 5 and it will offer a guaranteed prize pool of $2 million.

The Borgata Winter Open used to be a part of the World Poker Tour and in the past crowned champions like Michael Mizrachi, Gavin Griffin and John Hennigan.

Visit the Borgata website for the complete schedule.

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Poker Tournament Scene in 1980 by Linda Johnson

I hope you all are enjoying the new year! 2009 ended incredibly well for me at a party at the Spinetti house in Las Vegas. In addition to some top-notch entertainment, hanging out with great friends, and enjoying some delicious food, there was a poker tournament. I managed to hang in long enough to be part of a final table chop and still make it to the rooftop in time to watch the fireworks launched from many of the Strip hotels at the stroke of Midnight.

A post-Midnight conversation among some of the party attendees who are poker dinosaurs like I am had us reminiscing about the differences in poker tournaments from 1980 to 2010. I’m sure some of today’s young players would scoff at the conditions 30 years ago. First of all, we didn’t have all of the conveniences of modern technology such as a tournament clock. Instead of being able to look on a screen and see how much time was left in the round, time was kept on a small timer worn on the tournament director’s lapel. If you wanted to know when the limit was going to go up, you had to hunt down the tournament director and glance at his kitchen timer.

Another big difference in tournaments over the past 30 years is the specific poker game of choice. Many of the tournaments in 1980 were Seven Card Stud or Draw Poker events. Hold’em became popular in the early 1980s and quickly became the favorite tournament game, but of course I’m talking about Limit Hold’em. Other than at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), one could not find a No Limit Hold’em tournament. Around the mid-1980s, Omaha/8 was introduced to Las Vegas and became a popular form of tournament poker, but when I first started playing, Omaha was only known as a city in Nebraska.

In 1980, there weren’t nearly as many tournaments to choose from as there are today. Card rooms in Las Vegas usually spread one or two tournaments a week and the buy-ins were low - $22, $33, $44, or occasionally $55. There was only one $10,000 buy-in a year and it was the Main Event of the WSOP. There was no World Poker Tour (WPT). There were no such things as what I call “tournament mills” – card rooms that offer four or more tournaments in a day.

Today’s youngsters would laugh to learn how few chips we used to get in tournaments. There was no such thing as “deep-stack” events; if you paid $400 to enter a WSOP event, for example, you would start with $400 in tournament chips.

Tournament conditions have changed quite a bit in the past 30 years. If you couldn’t tolerate smoke, you couldn’t play, since every card room allowed smoking. I can remember how brutal it was to be stuck between two smokers for hours at a time. The atmosphere wasn’t nearly as pleasant 30 years ago as it is today. There was no penalty system for abuse, so you had to have thick skin to play. Some players didn’t respect dealers and they had to get used to bobbing and weaving as cards were thrown at them.

All of this contributed to having very few women play in the old days. Today, of course, almost every card room in the world is non-smoking, abuse has been greatly curtailed, and there are lots of women who enjoy a very non-threatening poker environment.

There was no such thing as the Tournament Director’s Association (TDA) in 1980. Tournament rules were far from standard, so every time you went to a different locale, you had to ask how many raises were permitted, whether they used a forward-moving or a dead button, etc. Players were allowed to expose cards to get a read on their opponents. They could even discuss the contents of their hands. You didn’t have to table your cards when you were all-in with no more action possible. Today’s players take for granted that TDA rules apply in almost every tournament venue in the country.

One of the rules that I was instrumental in changing through the power of the pen as publisher of CardPlayer was in regards to the chip race. In the 1980s, when it was time to color up, players received one card for each odd chip, just like they do today. However, instead of coloring up the odd chips into higher denomination chips and then giving a maximum of one chip per player, the player who ended up with the highest card at the table received all of the new higher value chips.

Getting the high card could affect the outcome of the event since it was such a huge win. For example, if they were coloring up 23 $100 chips, one player would get $2,500, which often was more than the starting chip stack. In today’s events, five players would each get one $500 chip instead of one player getting all five $500 chips.

In 1980, we played poker. There was no tweeting at the table, no iPods, and no cell phones. Sometimes I miss the good old days. Happy 2010!

Antonius crushed Andrew “Browndog19? Brown in $200/$400 PLO

Patrik Antonius lost around 845,000 dollars on Full Tilt Poker’s $2k/$4k 7-game last night.

After a few hours break, Antonius returned to the PLO tables and won some of his losses back from Andrew “Browndog19″ Brown.

They played $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha heads up and Antonius won 210,000 dollars from Brown.

Brown tries to slowplay on flop and Antoniuws hits his set on turn, $180k pot:

Source: Highstakesdb

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Antonius crushed Andrew “Browndog19″ Brown in $200/$400 PLO

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies playing in the Helsinki Freezeout 2010

Helsinki Freezeout 2010 started on 8th of January and concludes on the 16th. Five different tournaments ranging from lower buy-in tournaments to the 2850€ + 150€ Texas No Limit Main Event. HSN crew has spotted some famous Finnish players in the tournament.

Ziigmund “facebooking” during the dinner break

Ziigmund’s games haven’t gone that good. He had a good chip stack in the Limit Hold’em/PL Omaha Half/Half event, but Ilari seemed to have somekind of flu and eventually managed to spew most of his stack with bluffs.

Also Juha Helppi has played most of the events so far, but just like Ziigmund, his games haven’t gone too good. They have both managed to get nice chip stacks, but in the end they’ve lost all the chips with bad beats or in some thin bluffs.

Juha Helppi at the Grand Casino Helsinki

There’s some international color present as at least the Swedish duo Johan Storåkers and Peter “Nalle” Hedlund are here and also the Russian Konstantin Tolokno has been spotted on sight.

We’ll bring you more updates about the tournaments during the week.

Helsinki Freezeout 2010 Official Site

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Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies playing in the Helsinki Freezeout 2010

$17 Million On the Line in Upcoming FTOPS XV

Set to run Feb. 10-Feb. 21, the series will offer $17 million in guaranteed prize pools with events in a number of poker variants including No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, H.O.R.S.E., 7-Game and Seven-Card Stud.

Notable events include the two-day $2 million guaranteed No-Limit Hold’em tournament on Feb. 20 and the $2.5 million FTOPS XV main event on Feb. 21.

Full Tilt will also offer Knockout, Turbo, Rebuy, Heads-Up and Cashout events in No-Limit Hold’em.

Hosts for the events have yet to be announced.

Players who can’t afford the FTOPS buy-ins will have the opportunity to take part in MiniFTOPS XV, which takes place just one month later from March 10-March 21.

Every FTOPS event will have a MiniFTOPS equivalent at 1/10^th the buy-in. MiniFTOPS XV will offer a prize pool of $6 million.

Full Tilt started the FTOPS in 2006 with a combined prize pool of $1 million. Since then the online series has blossomed into one of the busiest in the world with hundreds of winners crowned and main events with multi-million dollar prize pools.

The last FTOPS proved to be a memorable one as David Pham, Greg “FBT” Mueller and Chris “Genius28” Lee all won titles while online player zhivago2 outlasted 5,470 players in the main event to win $418,839.

For more information or to sign up check out Full Tilt here.

Visit PokerListings.com

FTOPS XV Schedule Announced

Kicking off on February 10th on Full Tilt Poker is the 15th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). The quarterly tournament series is the first of 2010 and features 27 events with more than $17 million in guaranteed prize money.

Continuing the tradition, the Main Event of FTOPS XV will be a $535 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament featuring at least $2.5 million up for grabs. The event takes place on Sunday, February 21st at 18:00 ET. During the Main Event of FTOPS XIV, 5,471 poker hopefuls took to the felts of the world’s second largest online poker site, with “zhivago2” emerging victorious for $418,000 after a three-way chop. Also involved were “ItsTime2Win” (second place for $316,000) and poker pro Adam Junglen, who cashed for $290,000 and officially took third.

A Full Tilt pro hosts each of the 27 FTOPS XV events and the kickoff tournament takes place on February 10th. The $216 buy-in contest boasts at least $1 million up for grabs and is sure to draw a crowd. Knockouts, shootouts, cashouts, six-max, and heads-up events will be held across a variety of poker disciplines including Texas Hold’em, Omaha, HORSE, Seven-Game, Stud, and Razz. As if that weren’t enough, the MiniFTOPS XV schedule will pan out from March 10th to 21st after a one-month break.

Here is the schedule for the 15th FTOPS. All times are Eastern:

Event #1: Wednesday, February 10th at 21:00 ET
$200 + $16 No Limit Hold'em
$1,000,000 Guaranteed

Event #2: Thursday, February 11th at 14:00 ET
$240 + $16 Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better Knockout
$250,000 Guaranteed

Event #3: Thursday, February 11th at 21:00 ET
$500 + $35 No Limit Hold'em 3x Shootout
$350,000 Guaranteed

Event #4: Friday, February 12th at 14:00 ET
$200 + $16 No Limit Hold'em Cubed
$600,000 Guaranteed

Event #5: Friday, February 12th at 21:00 ET
$200 + $16 Limit Hold'em Six-Max
$150,000 Guaranteed

Event #6: Saturday, February 13th at 14:00 ET
$500 + $35 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max
$350,000 Guaranteed

Event #7: Saturday, February 13th at 16:00 ET
$100 + $9 No Limit Hold'em with Rebuys
$600,000 Guaranteed

Event #8: Sunday, February 14th at 14:00 ET
$120 + $9 No Limit Hold'em Knockout
$800,000 Guaranteed

Event #9: Sunday, February 14th at 16:00 ET
$500 + $35 No Limit Hold'em Heads-Up
$400,000 Guaranteed

Event #10: Sunday, February 14th at 18:00 ET
$300 + $22 No Limit Hold'em
$1,500,000 Guaranteed

Event #11: Monday, February 15th at 14:00 ET
$200 + $16 Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better
$200,000 Guaranteed

Event #12: Monday, February 15th at 21:00 ET
$1,000 + $60 No Limit Hold’em
$1,500,000 Guaranteed

Event #13: Tuesday, February 16th at 14:00 ET
$300 + $22 No Limit Hold'em 4x Shootout Six-Max
$300,000 Guaranteed

Event #14: Tuesday, February 16th at 21:00 ET
$500 + $35 HORSE
$300,000 Guaranteed

Event #15: Tuesday, February 16th at 21:00 ET
$200 + $16 No Limit Hold'em Turbo
$600,000 Guaranteed

Event #16: Wednesday, February 17th at 14:00 ET
$200 + $16 Seven-Game
$150,000 Guaranteed

Event #17: Wednesday, February 17th at 21:00 ET
$300 + $22 No Limit Hold'em Six-Max with Rebuys
$1,000,000 Guaranteed

Event #18: Thursday, February 18th at 14:00 ET
$200 + $16 No Limit Hold'em Cashout
$150,000 Guaranteed

Event #19: Thursday, February 18th at 21:00 ET
$200 + $16 Stud
$100,000 Guaranteed

Event #20: Friday, February 19th at 14:00 ET
$200 + $16 No Limit Hold'em Six-Max
$500,000 Guaranteed

Event #21: Friday, February 19th at 21:00 ET
$300 + $22 Razz
$150,000 Guaranteed

Event #22: Saturday, February 20th at 14:00 ET
$2,500 + $120 No Limit Hold'em Ante From Start Two-Day Six-Max
$2,000,000 Guaranteed

Event #23: Saturday, February 20th at 16:00 ET
$100 + $9 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys
$400,000 Guaranteed

Event #24: Saturday, February 20th at 21:00 ET
$500 + $20 No Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Six-Max
$250,000 Guaranteed

Event #25: Sunday, February 21st at 14:00 ET
$240 + $16 No Limit Hold'em Knockout Six-Max
$800,000 Guaranteed

Event #26: Sunday, February 21st at 16:00 ET
$200 + $16 Pot Limit Omaha Heads-Up
$150,000 Guaranteed

FTOPS XV Main Event: Sunday, February 21st at 18:00 ET
$500 + $35 No Limit Hold'em
$2,500,000 Guaranteed

Full Tilt Poker happily accepts customers from the United States and trails only PokerStars in terms of traffic.

Euro Finals of Poker schedule confirmed

The schedule for this year’s Euro Finals of Poker in Paris has been announced with a total of 14 titles to be won. A variety of events are scheduled for the Aviation Club de France including Limit Hold’em, No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha and H.O.R.S.E tournaments. Buy-ins range from €150 to €5,000 so there’s something to suit all bankrolls.

The Online Railbird Report: 2009’s High-Stakes Winners and Losers

When the history of online poker is written, 2009 will be remembered as the year the action on Full Tilt Poker’s high-stakes cash tables exploded, as $500/$1,000 pot-limit Omaha became the game of choice and pot sizes soared into the millions for...

Tony G May Stake Isildur1

Poker pro Tony G may soon be funding the bankroll of Swedish online poker player Isildur1. The revelation, which appeared in a blog posted on TonyGPoker.com, comes at the same time as Isildur1 revealed that he may file a complaint concerning data mining on Full Tilt Poker.

Tony G explained in his blog that he had conversations with Isildur1 over the phone. In addition, he noted that the mystery Swedish player had only learned how to play Pot Limit Omaha eight months ago. The brash poker pro noted, “Anyway, it is likely I will stake him in some big cash games in the future, this is what I do after all. I like to give people a chance in life to do well.” Isildur1 stormed onto the high-stakes online poker scene on Full Tilt back in November, racking up as much as $5 million in earnings. However, he later crashed back down to Earth and currently stands with career losses of $2.6 million, according to PokerTableRatings.com.

Tony G had originally fingered Viktor “blom30” Blom as the man behind the Isildur1 moniker. However, to open December, Blom told Bluff Europe Magazine that he was not the man of the hour: “I am not the one you are looking for. Keep searching.” In a chat that appeared on Full Tilt at a high-stakes table, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies addressed Isildur1 by name as “Viktor” and the statement went uncorrected. Perhaps due to stringent tax laws in Sweden, the real identity of Isildur1 may never be known. It remains a plot reminiscent of an episode of “Murder, She Wrote.”

The potential new backer of the Isildur1 empire gave his take on the poker world finding out the real identity of Isildur1: “I also have to say that earlier I was guessing and I will never reveal who he is from here on out. I think it’s more exciting for everyone, leaving the mystery as a mystery.” Guesses as to who Isildur1 is have ranged from Blom to Robert “Gulkines” Flink to Todd Brunson, even though the latter is American and a sponsored pro of the Cake Poker Network site DoylesRoom.

Isildur1’s career peek, according to PokerTableRatings.com, came on November 15th, when he racked up $5.03 million in earnings. Within a week, that number had been cut by 90% before a nearly $3 million losing day on December 8th sent his bankroll plummeting into the red. He told PokerNews.com that, despite the adversity on the virtual felts of Full Tilt Poker, he would make his triumphant return in 2010.

In mid-December, a $4.2 million win by Brian Hastings, a CardRunners instructor, at the expense of Isildur1 made waves after it was revealed that Hastings used hands compiled on the Swedish pro to his advantage. Fellow CardRunners pro Brian Townsend took the fall in the end and had his Red Pro status suspended for one month.

Hastings gave credit to Townsend for his performance, telling ESPN columnist Gary Wise in a December 14th interview, "Honestly, I give most of the credit to Brian Townsend here. I mean, Brian is honestly the hardest worker I know in poker. He analyzed a database of heads-up hands that Isildur1 had played and constructed ranges of what Isildur1 was doing in certain spots. In a way, I feel bad that it wasn't Brian who got this win instead of me.”

Tony G was the final table bubble boy in the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 2009, earning $172,000 for his 10th place finish. His demeanor in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Grand Prix de Paris earned him a spot among the bad boys of poker.

The Top Winners and Losers of 2009

Below are summaries of the top five money earners, and top five losers of the year, including a month-by-month graph of their results.

To see more stats and hand replays from throughout the year, head to MarketPulse.

Patrik Antonius

It only makes sense to have the year’s top earner at the top of the list, so without further ado, we bring you the 2009 story of Patrik Antonius.

Patrik Antonius just might have hit the life jackpot. He was at one-time a model and tennis pro, before becoming one of the most respected, and feared, poker players in the world. He made the list of the top 10 top profit earners in 2007 under the username FinddaGrind with over $1.3 million earned.

In 2008, he made another $1.3 million, this time as part of Team Full Tilt.

This January Antonius made over $2 million and never dropped below that point. His year was filled with million dollar swings, but in the end, the Finnish pro always found a way to come out good.

On top of being the most profitable player on the year, Antonius was also busy breaking the records for the largest pots ever played online. Despite all of his profits, Antonius has fallen behind in the durrrr Challenge and needs to make close to $1 million in the second half to have a chance.

However, he finished 2009 as the top earner with a massive profit of over $8.9 million.

Phil Ivey

This year Phil Ivey has done exactly what Phil Ivey does every year: Win. In 2008, Ivey was the top online earner with over $7.3 million in profit. In 2007 he was the third largest earner with $1.9 million and this year he ends in second place with $6.3 million.

His story is the same every year: Any players, any game, any stakes. He’ll sit, and most of the time he’ll win. But even Ivey isn’t immune to the swings, starting off the year in the red he had to spend a couple of months getting back to even.

After an $800k loss in May, it was pretty much profit from that point on. Add these winnings to his two WSOP bracelets, Main Event final table appearance and prop bets won, and you have one hell of a good looking year.

Brian Hastings

CardRunners pro Brian Hastings has had one of the most interesting years out of anyone online. He started the year with a backing deal for playing the nose-bleed stakes against Gus Hansen.

Even with Hansen bleeding chips for months, Hastings struggled to get even for the majority of the year, finally showing a profit come August.

Come the end of November, it started to look as though Hastings would be having a positive year, but nothing too spectacular, or worth talking about. That was until he sat down with Isildur1 for possibly the biggest session in online poker history.

By the end of the single session with the game’s most explosive player, Hastings had made $4.2 million in profit; effectively ending Isildur1’s run at Full Tilt’s high-stakes tables.

The win was steeped in controversy when information came to light that Hastings, along with two fellow CardRunners pros Brian Townsend and Cole South, merged their hand history databases together to allow for an in-depth study of Isildur1’s heads up game.

For the full scoop on this controversy, head to: Full Tilt Suspends Brian Townsend.

theASHMAN103

Ashton “theASHMAN103” Griffin is only 20 years old, and began playing poker seriously in high-school. His downfall has always been bankroll management and tilt issues.

After a series of massive swings he went broke right at the beginning of the year, but Griffin finally got his head in the right spot coming in to April of 2009 when he was forced to get a stake to get back in the game.

Thanks to winning a prop bet for making $500k playing nothing higher than $25/$50 No-Limit immediately before the event was set to start, Griffin was able to enter into the $25k heads-up shootout, which he went on to win for another $500k.

Griffin’s heater continued over the next two months going from broke to the fifth most profitable player on the year. To read a full interview with Griffin about his heater, and life in poker, head to: Ashman103: The Interview Transcript.

Ilari Sahamies

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies is one of the most well-known and entertaining online players in the world. Above all else he seems to have a love for gambling with sick amounts of money.

For a few days, Sahamies had convinced a few of the nosebleed players to convert the $500/$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha tables into $3,000/$9,000. Along with all the massive flips Sahamies played over the year, it’s safe to say he is the biggest gambler at the tables.

But despite his love for gambling, Ziigmund is still one of the most profitable players in the world. The occasional swing aside, Ziigmund’s graph is mostly un-eventful, hovering around the $2-$3 million mark for the majority of the year.

It wasn’t until Ziigmund set his sights on Isildur1 that his graph took a violent swing upwards. After taking a few million from the unknown player, Ziigmund finished his year up an impressive $3.2 million.

Isildur1

True identity still unknown, Isildur1 showed up on the poker scene Sept. 16. He splashed around in medium to high-stakes for about a month before starting to take shots in the nosebleed games.

The true story of Isildur1 started on Nov. 7 when he began his first serious upswing by crushing well known players like Haseeb Qureshi and UgotaBanana. After these wins, Isildur1 seemed fearless, willing to play anyone at any stakes.

Soon Isildur1 set his sights on Tom “durrrr” Dwan and over the next three days he absolutely destroyed him for over $4 million. At his highest point on Nov. 15^, Isildur1 sat with over $5 million in profit, only to lose it all, mostly to Ivey and Antonius, by the 21^st.

After making another quick run back up to almost $3 million in just one week, Isildur1 began his largest downswing.

It was during the downswing where Isildur1 shattered all the records for the largest pots of all time. He first broke the record with an $878k pot versus Patrik Antonius, only to break that record a few days later losing the first pot worth over a million at $1,356,947. 

Mostly a result of losing over $4.2 million in a single session to Brian Hastings, Isildur1 saw his roll get almost entirely crushed, sitting down over $2 million for the remainder of the month.

With his only hands being played at the medium stakes tables, it appears at this point as if Isildur1’s run at the highest stakes games online is through.

David Benyamine

In 2008, David Benyamine was the sixth most profitable online player in the world. He finished the year having made almost $3 million profit and had snagged himself one of the most beautiful girls in poker, Erica Schoenberg.

At the very end of 2008, Full Tilt Poker dropped Benyamine as a red-name pro. As a result, he began 2009 playing under the username “MR B 2 U SON”. He played under that username until July of 2009 when his Team Full Tilt status was re-instated.

At the time of the username switch, Benyamine was down $731,128 on the year. Things continued to get worse for the French pro as he struggled throughout 2009, finishing down $2.9 million. To top it all off, many sources have reported an end to his relationship with Schoenberg.

All in all, 2009 might just have been the worst year in Benyamine’s career.

LarsLuzak

Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro is a 22-year-old Finnish poker pro who showed up on the high-stakes scene in 2007. He made over a million dollars in both 2007 and 2008, plus a rumored large profit from $250/$500 No-Limit sessions played on Betfair poker.

Despite hopes of cementing his name as one of the top players in the world, 2009 turned out to be a complete disaster for Kelopuro.

Starting the year with an $810k loss, Kelopuro was almost able to grind his way back to even in February before beginning a landslide of losses.

At no point in 2009 did Kelopuro show a profit, despite his continued efforts at the games highest stakes. After reaching nearly $4 million in losses on the year, Kelopuro disappeared from the high-stakes games, sparking rumors of a busted bankroll.

With a laundry list of impressive results from both cash games and tournaments, it’s safe to assume the poker world will hear more from Kelopuro in 2010.

Tom “durrrr” Dwan

Tom Dwan has to be considerd one of the most entertaining poker players in the world. As a result, there has been more time spent talking about Dwan in 2009 than any other online player.

His year began by losing over $4 million in the first two months, only to grind back up to over $1.4 million in profit just four months later. However, the massive swings were only one of Dwan’s many stories on the year.

The first came with the introduction of the durrrr Challenge. After almost two months of speculation and rumors, Patrik Antonius stepped up as the first competitor, and the challenge was underway.

After a short period of consistent play between the two competitors, the Challenge took a hiatus as both players chose to focus on busting a new fish splashing around at the highest stake tables available.

It didn’t take Dwan, and the rest of the online regulars, long to bust a new fish calling himself Martonas, and the challenge seemed as if it would resume.

But it wasn’t long before another new face showed up on the scene and began stirring the pot. Luke “fullflush1” Schwartz proved to be as strong at the table as he was mouthy, focusing the majority of his insults at Dwan, including the now infamous “cork it durrrrballs”.

Schwartz successfully made over $700k at the tables before cashing out, and buying a house with his profits.

The next big story for Dwan came with the third unknown player to splash around in the big game. Unfortunately for Dwan, this player, Isildur1, would end up taking him for over $5 million, before giving it all away to everyone else.

Shortly after losing the majority of his online roll, Dwan became the newest member of Team Full Tilt, and began grinding his way back towards even. By the end of 2009 Dwan had brought himself back to -$4.3 million from his November low point of -$6.8 million.

On the bright side, he is ahead in the durrrr Challenge by over $937k.

Gus Hansen

This year’s story for Gus Hansen is simple: He made $3 million in the first month, mostly off Tom Dwan, then proceeded to lose almost exclusively for the remainder of the year. Although there were months in which he showed a profit, Hansen’s graph on the year is anything but encouraging.

Due to his consistent negative results, Hansen has become one of the most popular online players amongst the other regular high-stakes grinders. As he explained in an interview with PokerListings, the high-stakes games on Full Tilt simply follow him from table to table.

As a result, Hansen chose to play almost exclusively 7-Game for the remainder of the year, at times killing absolutely all high-stakes action for all other variants.

For a look into high-stakes, and how some of the other players in the game view Hansen, head to: State of the High Stakes Poker Nation.

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Five Star World Poker Classic Goes All Rebuy

All 24 preliminary events of the eighth annual Five Star World Poker Classic will carry a $1,000 buy-in with rebuys available.

The schedule includes 16 No-Limit Hold’em events, six No-Limit Hold’em Super Satellites and two Pot-Limit Omaha events.

It’s a marked change from last year’s side event schedule, which included four $5,000 buy-in events, three $3,000 events and three $2,000 events.

The $5,000 tournaments were some of the least attended events and the first one drew only 27 players.

Meanwhile the rebuy tournaments at the recently completed Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio were a huge hit with the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event generating a prize pool of $747,870.

The Five Star World Poker Classic runs March 30 to April 24 with the $25,000 Word Poker Tour World Championship scheduled to start April 18.

Jonathan Little, Praz Bansi and Lee Markholt were just a few of the notable players to win side events at the Five Star World Poker Classic last year while up and coming star Yevgeniy Timoshenko outlasted 337 players to win the WPT World Championship for $2.1 million.

For the complete 2010 Five Star World Poker Classic schedule check the Bellagio website.

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Phil Ivey Files for Divorce

In breaking news from TMZ, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Phil Ivey has filed for divorce from his wife of seven years, Luciaetta. Ivey finished seventh in the $10,000 buy-in tournament this year and earned $1.4 million.

On Tuesday, a report that appeared on TMZ read in part, “Ivey and Luciaetta filed the joint petition in a Nevada court on December 22 ... three days before Christmas. The divorce was granted today - both parties were present for the ruling.” The couple wed in 2002 and has no children. TMZ added that Ivey has made $12 million over the course of his poker career. The “Tiger Woods of Poker” appeared on the cover of “ESPN: The Magazine” in November.

Ivey earned two WSOP bracelets during the 2009 tournament series to ratchet his total up to seven. Interestingly, none of the seven has come in Hold’em, as he has instead taken down Pot Limit Omaha, Limit Seven Card Stud, Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low, Limit SHOE, Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball, and Omaha/Seven Card Stud High-Low events. In the latter, his most recent bracelet win, Ivey trumped Ming Lee heads-up in a final table that also included Carlos Mortensen, November Nine member Eric Buchman, Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, and Dutch Boyd.

TMZ was quick to point out the irony of Ivey being compared to Woods. Its news story detailed, “Ivey is known in the card community as the ‘Tiger Woods of Poker’ - [insert your own joke here].” Woods was involved in a now-famous auto collision with a tree in front of his home. His wife purportedly smashed the SUV’s window with a golf club to help Woods exit safely. What led to the incident is anyone’s guess, but a handful of women are alleged to have had extra-marital affairs with the professional golfer.

Earlier this month, Woods announced that he was taking a leave of absence from golf. In addition, companies like Accenture and Gillette ended their advertising and sponsorship agreements with Woods. In fact, a Reuters article released on Tuesday noted that Woods’ infidelity could costs the shareholders of companies he endorses up to a colossal $12 billion. Researchers explained the enormous loss of value: "Our analysis makes clear that while having a celebrity of Tiger Woods' stature as an endorser has undeniable upside, the downside risk is substantial, too."

Ivey’s first eight in the money finishes on the World Poker Tour (WPT) were all for final tables and he picked up a win in the Season VI L.A. Poker Classic for $1.6 million. All told, Ivey has just under $3 million in career earnings from the WPT circuit.

Meanwhile, posters on the popular online poker forum PocketFives.com reacted to the TMZ story. “33mikemcg” noted, “I had no idea he was married. Nice life for that ex-wife I am sure she will get plenty to last a lifetime.”

Poker players, who travel around the United States and the world to live tournaments, seemed to be able to sympathize with Ivey. “ImaLuckSac” explained that the pro’s lifestyle may not have been conducive to a stable marriage: “All jokes aside, who can really be that surprised? These guys are constantly traveling, stressed, and still making the big bucks. Personally I think they deserve a lil' strange.” Others jokingly speculated as to whether Ivey had any prop bets on how long his marriage would last.

Ivey is a member of Team Full Tilt, a group that also includes poker pros like Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, and Jennifer Harman. He was the inaugural opponent on the NBC poker game show “Face the Ace” and seemed to strike up an accord with Maryland logger Darvin Moon at the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

Ilari Sahamies down over 3 million in December

The games haven’t been too kind for the Finnish Omaha King Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies. Yesterday Sahamies took a $452k beating on Full Tilt Poker high stakes games and his total losses in December are now almost 3,4 million dollars.

It’s strange to see that most of his losses have come from his main game, Pot Limit Omaha. Even though Ziigmund is in a downward bender right now, he has earned a bit over three million dollars in 2009.

Let’s see if he tries to get some of the losses back on New Years Eve like he did in last year, of course totally drunk, or shall we see him back on tables in 2010.

And in the end some random chatter from the session he had with Cole South yesterday:

Cole South: na sorry 100200 is as big as i can play vs u, ur too good
Ziigmund: huh
Ziigmund: f u
Ziigmund: h8 u
Cole South: respect ur game a lot i dont wanna play that big
Ziigmund: huh
Cole South: just saying i respect ur game a lot, i dont want to play u so high stakes
Cole South: i am happy to keep playing 100200
Ziigmund: u dont even know how f lucky u have been
Cole South: i have been extremely lucky against you
Cole South: completely agree
Ziigmund: hope someone shoot the rocket to your eyes in new year

Ziigmund can be so polite some times.

Source: Highstakesdb

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Ilari Sahamies down over 3 million in December

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Townsend ended the night down nearly $725k.

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

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PokerTracker Releases Omaha, Mac Support

Just days before the beginning of 2010, the popular poker tracking and analysis software PokerTracker turned a new leaf of its own, releasing Omaha and Mac supported versions. The so-called Beta 30 was announced in the PokerTracker forums.

Mac poker software is quickly growing in popularity as more and more online poker players switch to the alternative computing system. Poker aficionados who received new Mac laptops for the holidays can now use PokerTracker with ease, as the programming team released support just in time for the new decade. Auto-import of hand histories for the new PokerTracker release is available for PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Ongame Network clients.

In addition to the Mac-supported version, another growing area of the marketplace received support from PokerTracker, Omaha. The up-and-coming game’s support on PokerTracker is still somewhat patchwork, as Auto-Rate is not yet functional and only hands from PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, PartyPoker, and the iPoker Network will import to the poker tracking tool. In addition, Table Tracker does not yet support Omaha. Text found in the PokerTracker forums notes, “The Omaha beta is freely available to all owners of the Holdem version and to all trial users. For those of you who do not own PT3, but have an expired trial, Omaha will be getting its own trial separate from the Holdem one soon, so please be patient.”

Beta 30 also received an extreme makeover in the form of a Setup Wizard. In an effort to make configuring PokerTracker as easy as possible, the program’s developers had the foresight to include a setup tool to add sites. A process that sometimes required a player posting on poker forums like PocketFives.com and TwoPlusTwo.com may soon be a breeze thanks to the Setup Wizard. Novice PokerTracker users and customers setting up additional online poker sites to the mix will be able to take advantage of the new feature.

Players transitioning from the Windows-based version of PokerTracker to the Mac utility can employ the software’s new backup and restore feature. Now, layouts, reports, stats, notes, and buddies can all be placed into one central zip file. This essentially creates one point of reference when switching versions or computers.

Because the new version remains in beta, a variety of bugs are expected. In fact, one day after Beta 30 was announced, PokerTracker programmers rolled out Beta 30.1, which addressed issues with the software’s Heads-Up Display (HUD), PartyPoker hand imports, and database names containing characters that sent the program into a tizzy. The site frankly states, “There's a very good probability that there will be bugs. If you aren't willing to deal with bugs and help us locate and fix them, please wait until the stable release is out.”

Bugs fixed in the Beta 30 release included importing hands from the Microgaming Network, tournament import issues on Full Tilt, and rebuy and add-on support for PokerStars. Support for heads-up tables was added for Bodog and tournament bounty support was also added across several sites. Improvements to sanity checks and keyboard shortcuts were also added.

Along with Holdem Manager, PokerTracker represents the industry-leading tracking and analysis software. At the time of writing, PokerTracker and Holdem Manager were the third and fourth highest rated programs by users of PokerSoftware.com, respectively, and both are used by thousands of online poker players. Holdem Manager launched an Omaha client, Omaha Manager, earlier this year. Poker Copilot serves as the staple tracking program for Mac players.

Posters on PocketFives.com have reported a bevy of bugs in PokerTracker’s Mac version. Member “diesel83” remarked, “It seems to be picking up my hands and results fairly well, but the HUD is worthless right now. At least it is here. Going back to fusion to run Windows until next update though.”

The Full Version of PokerTracker runs $89.99, while the Micro-Stakes Edition will set players back $44.99.

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

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PokerTableRatings Announces Player of the Year Race

Many in poker work hard to attain various Player of the Year awards from several publications and associations, ranging from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) to PocketFives.com.  Although there are a myriad awards set aside for the year’s best tournament poker players, none have existed for those who play in cash games. This year, PokerTableRatings is giving the opportunity to all poker enthusiasts to vote for the 2009 Player of the Year for both Hold’em and Omaha cash games.

The intention of the Player of the Year race at PokerTableRatings was to finally reward grinders making money at the cash tables with some much-deserved recognition.  Instead of simply awarding titles to those who just made the most money or put the vote to an elitist group of individuals, the site has decided that the public will determine the vote.

There are ten awards that will be given out for both Hold’em and Omaha games.  The stake levels are:

Nosebleeds: $100-$200 and up
High Stakes: $10-$20 through $50-$100
Mid Stakes: $2-$4 through $5-$10
Low Stakes: $0.5-$1 through $1-$2
Micro Stakes: $0.25-$0.50 and below

Players who have played a minimum of 10,000 hands at each level qualify to receive votes.  If a player has played more than the minimum required across several stakes, they are eligible to receive votes at all qualified levels.

Each registered user of PokerTableRatings will receive ten Player of the Year votes.  Registration to the site is completely free and without obligation.  To vote for someone, users visit the profile page of a given player and select the radio boxes for the award they want to vote for and hit the “Submit” button.  Each checked box counts for one vote and players can vote multiple times for any given player.  Once a vote is cast, however, it cannot be changed and the site has gone on record saying it will not grant additional votes.  The voting is currently underway and will conclude on December 31st.

Once the votes are counted, the players with the most in each category will be declared the PokerTableRatings Player of the Year for that level.  Each player winning an award will receive a special badge for his or her profile page.

The current results page is updated every 20 minutes and displays the current vote totals for all categories.  Since voting is open to all registered voters, some have voted for their favorites, friends, themselves, and those who they feel best exemplify the title of Player of the Year.

Currently, “Isildur1” leads the vote totals for both the Hold’em and Omaha categories despite losing $2.65 million this year in Nosebleed stakes games.  He holds a slight edge over Tom “durrrr” Dwan in both categories, with the winner still yet to be determined.

In the High Stakes and Mid Stakes Hold’em categories, one player holds the leading votes for both categories in “nanonoko.”  In both stakes, the margin is extremely wide and, with over $1 million in profits this year, he looks like a lock to take the award down.  The same phenomenon is happening for the High Stakes and Mid Stakes Omaha awards, as “Skjervøy” leads both categories in voting.  Although his margin is not as great as the one that “nanonoko” enjoys, “Skjervøy” remains the odds-on favorite to win both categories.

In the Low Stakes Hold’em category, “water boat” holds a huge margin over the rest of the competition thanks to some apparent self-promotion.  One of the odds-on favorites to win the award before voting began was “jrockhaf” from PokerStars, who currently sits in seventh place with 160 votes after taking own more than $90,000 in just low-stakes action.  On the Omaha side, “TheOrangeman” leads by a nice margin over players such as “kazor” and “GaussPoker” from Full Tilt Poker.

The Micro Stakes has losing players currently in the lead for both Hold’em and Omaha categories.  Current leader “MartinK1979” from PokerStars leads despite his -$875 showing for the year over second place “GalloFX” from Full Tilt Poker, who has lost $3,560 in 2009.  Obviously, these votes might be more sentimental in nature more than anything, but it will be interesting to see who wins out in this category.  Finally, in the Micro Stakes Omaha category, “MRobot” from PokerStars leads despite his -$534 result in 2009.

All online poker players are highly encouraged to visit PokerTableRatings and cast their ten free votes to have a voice in the Player of the Year race.  Winners will be announced shortly after voting concludes on New Year’s Eve.

Isildur1 May File Online Poker Data Mining Complaint

Online poker player "Isildur1" has been careful about keeping his identity a secret since bursting onto the high-stakes scene in October. However, poker publication PokerNews.com was able to track down the unknown Swede for an interview earlier this week to discuss his poker career, nosebleed matches with the game's best, and the recent scandal involving Brian Townsend and fellow Full Tilt Pros sharing hand histories.

Isildur1 has been on a wild ride since taking a shot at the highest games on Full Tilt. After recording massive wins over Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies early on, the Swede took severe hits to his bankroll during sessions with Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, and Brian Townsend. The million dollar swings caught the attention of the poker world and seemingly restored the Full Tilt nosebleed games that had appeared to be drying up in 2009.

When asked by PokerNews.com who his toughest and weakest opponents were at the $500/$1,000 Pot Limit Omaha tables, the Swede didn't shy away: "Out of all the players I faced, I felt as if I had the biggest edge over durrrr. He tends to make some stupid plays, and I was able to take advantage of them. Phil Ivey was tough for me, as he only likes to play two tables at a time. But for me two tables is not enough action, and I had to play others at the same time."

While his losses to Ivey and others were gargantuan, it was a session against CardRunners instructor Brian Hastings that created a buzz never seen before in online poker. After five hours of ruthless heads-up Pot Limit Omaha action, Hastings walked away with $4.2 million of the Isildur1's money, leaving the Swede scratching his head over what took place during the richest match ever played online.

Shorty after the historic bout in an interview with ESPN, Hastings openly admitted to sharing hand histories with Townsend and Cole South in order to break down Isildur1's strategies. "Honestly, I give most of the credit to Brian Townsend here," Hastings told ESPN. "He analyzed a database of heads-up hands that Isildur1 had played and constructed ranges of what Isildur1 was doing in certain spots."

According to Full Tilt's Terms and Conditions, such a practice is not allowed: "The use of shared hand histories provides detailed information on opponents a player has little or no personal experience playing against, and is deemed to be an unfair advantage. Violating this policy is subject to the maximum penalties for prohibited software use." PokerNews.com made sure to ask Isildur1 if he knew of the restrictions that the site had in place involving data-mining and hand histories.

"I was not aware of the exact rule that you just mentioned," he replied, "but since seeing that it is in fact a rule at Full Tilt Poker, I think I am going to put through a formal complaint, as I think this is a case where the sharing of hand histories directly affected the match I played with Brian [Hastings].”

“I played with Brian Townsend and Cole South a lot," Isildur1 continued. "They were always waiting for me. The last session where Hastings won all the money, it just felt like something was wrong. Everything that could go wrong for me did. Every time I tried to pull off a bluff of some kind, it felt as if it was being picked off. At the time, I just thought it was crazy luck, but now, knowing they shared a lot of their analysis of hand histories with each other, it makes a lot more sense.”

This eye-opening information resulted in a month-long suspension for Townsend from Full Tilt as a Red Pro, meaning he won't collect any benefits (such as 100% rakeback), but should be able to continue playing on the site. He confessed to the violation in his blog, saying, "Of the three I was the sole one to break the T&C of Full Tilt. The three of us never shared hands where mucked hands were shown besides a few hands I posted on weaktight.org, and in fact all the information I received could be taken from watching the game."

Meanwhile, Isildur1 has virtually disappeared from Full Tilt Poker since his loss to Hastings, but he explained his reasoning behind his absence. "I still have a bankroll and will be back," he told PokerNews.com. " I am planning on putting in the request to Full Tilt to look into [the Townsend/Hastings situation] further, and until I hear back, I don't plan on playing much poker on the site.” Full Tilt Poker is the second largest online poker site in the industry, trailing only PokerStars.

We'll continue to bring you the latest high-stakes news involving Isildur1 and the Full Tilt Pros here at Poker News Daily.

Tom Dwan Leads by Nearly $1 Million in Durrrr Challenge

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Poker News Daily. Just a few days prior to the worldwide holiday, Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius hit the felts of the Durrrr Challenge tables on Full Tilt Poker, pushing the total number of hands played to nearly 30,000.

Dwan now holds a commanding $937,000 lead over his opponent, a newly-minted member of Team Full Tilt. A total of 29,764 hands have been played of the 50,000 required for completion. The Challenge has stretched the majority of the 2009 calendar year and will likely last well into 2010. If Antonius is up at least $1 after 50,000 hands, Dwan will fork over $1.5 million. If Dwan leads by at least $1 after the requisite number of hands, Antonius will owe $500,000. In either case, the victor keeps the spoils of the competition.

In a $238,000 hand that took place during a recent session, Antonius called all-in on a flop of Ks-7h-Jc. He held Qc-9s-Js-Kd for top two pair, while Dwan turned over Jd-8s-9h-10s for a series of straight draws. The seven of clubs on the turn paired the board, while a nine of clubs on the river gave Dwan a straight. The hand occurred at a $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha table, four of which make up the Durrrr Challenge virtual felts.

On a board of 3c-10c-9d-3h, Dwan check-raised all-in over the top of a pot-sized bet by Antonius for $86,000 and Antonius made the call with As-5c-Jh-Ad for aces-up. Dwan, meanwhile, put his stack at risk with 8c-9s-6d-10s for top two pair and watched as the river came an ace, improving Antonius to a boat and allowing him to scoop a $227,000 pot. The hand all but negated the $238,000 pot won by Dwan earlier on.

In a $114,000 pot, Dwan flopped a boat to give him a sizable payday just moments before challenge play came to a halt for the night. Dwan held 6s-Qh-Qc-10s and Antonius put in the standard raise pre-flop to $1,200. Dwan called to see the first three cards come 3s-Qs-3d. Dwan led out for $2,000 with a boat and Antonius called to see the seven of spades on the turn. Very uncharacteristically, the action went check-check to the nine of diamonds on the river. Then, fireworks went off. With Dwan holding a flopped boat, the youngster bet $5,200 and Antonius raised to $19,200. Dwan re-raised enough to put Antonius all-in and the poker pro called, promptly mucking his hand.

On December 22nd, Dwan and Antonius battled in a nearly 2,000-hand day that saw Dwan pull away by another $225,000. The challenge, which began back in February, now features Dwan leading by a commanding margin, although Antonius overcame a $1 million-plus deficit at nearly the 20,000-hand mark to gain the lead about 2,500 hands later. The December 22nd play featured the 10th largest pot in Durrrr Challenge history, a $259,000 sum won by Dwan. In fact, out of the top ten pots in the competition, Durrrr has taken down eight of them.

Dwan has claimed 16,015 hands total, while Antonius has scooped 13,640, according to statistics found on Full Tilt Poker. Both combatants are sponsored pros of the site, which accepts U.S. players. Visit our sister site, DurrrrChallenge.com, for a complete recap of the 46 sessions played so far as well as complete analysis.

Wheeling Island Casino to Host Darvin Moon Poker Challenge

World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon may not be up for representing an online poker site, but he seems content to lend his name to a brick-and-mortar room.  After wearing the Wheeling Island Hotel and Casino logo during his appearance at this year’s Main Event final table, Moon is playing host at an upcoming tournament series at the West Virginia poker room.

Moon will serve as host and loan his name to the Darvin Moon Poker Challenge.  The tournament series will run from January 14th to 18th and include five No Limit Hold’em tournaments.  The events will feature buy-ins ranging from $125 to $550, culminating in a WSOP satellite with a $130 buy-in.

There is also an added incentive for players to take part in all of the events.  The casino will be awarding points to the top 20 finishers in each tournament.  The person who accumulates the most player points across the first four events gets to face off against Moon in the Ultimate Challenge, a heads-up match in which the winner will walk away with $2,000 offered up by the casino.

The tournaments will feature starting stacks of at least 10,000 chips and none of the Moon events will include rebuys.  However, there will be satellites for the $500 tournament, more than one of which features an optional rebuy.  All of the satellites will take place in the casino’s poker room, while the Challenge events will be held in the casino’s feature showroom.

It has been widely documented that Moon won his seat into the WSOP at a qualifier held at Wheeling Casino and it seems to be the lone exception to Moon’s otherwise stringent no endorsement policy.  Although Moon hails from Maryland, the West Virginia casino is just a couple of hours from his hometown of Oakland.  The property is best known for its greyhound racing track, which is the most profitable dog track in America based on purses paid, but it also offers table games, slots and, of course, poker.

The Jim Beam Poker Room at the Wheeling Island Casino offers a range of cash games year-round, including Seven Card Stud, Hold’em, and Omaha.  The stakes range from $1/$5 to $40/$80 for Stud, $2/$4 to $40/$80 for Limit Hold’em, and $1/$2 to $5/$10 for Pot Limit Omaha, No Limit Omaha, and No Limit Hold’em games.  The room is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and features 20 tables.

Pre-registration for the Darvin Moon Poker Challenge will open up on January 1st at 12:00pm.  The complete schedule of events is included below. All times are local:

Thursday, January 14th
1:00pm - Satellite for the $500 event - $65 buy-in (one optional rebuy)
7:00pm - Event #1 NHL - 10,000 in Tournament Chips - $125 buy-in (no rebuy)

Friday, January 15th
1:00pm - Satellite for the $500 event - $65 buy-in (one optional rebuy)
7:00pm - Event #2 NHL - 10,000 in Tournament Chips - $125 buy-in (no rebuy)

Saturday, January 16th
10:00am - Turbo satellite - $40 buy-in (no rebuy)
1:00pm - Event #3 NHL - 12,000 in Tournament Chips - $230 buy-in (no rebuy)

Sunday, January 17th
10:00am - Turbo satellite - $65 Buy-in (no re-buy)
1:00pm - Event #4 NHL - 15,000 in Tournament Chips - $550 buy-in (no rebuy)

Monday, January 18th
10:00am - The Ultimate Challenge - $2,000 added
1:00pm - WSOP Super Satellite NHL - 10,000 in Tournament Chips - $130 buy-in (no rebuy)

Full Tilt Suspends Brian Townsend

The allegations, which claimed Cole South, Brian Hastings and Townsend colluded to cheat Isildur1 out of millions, began almost immediately after Brian Hastings’ one-day $4.2 million dollar win against the unknown Swede.

The first public comments made by any of the accused came from an ESPN.com interview with Hastings and Townsend after Hastings’ big win.

According to Hastings, the three players worked together to understand and find weaknesses in Isildur1’s game.

"Honestly, I give most of the credit to Brian Townsend here. I mean, Brian is honestly the hardest worker I know in poker,” Hastings told ESPN.

“He analyzed a database of heads-up hands that Isildur1 had played and constructed ranges of what Isildur1 was doing in certain spots. The three of us discussed a ton of hands and the reports that Brian made, so I'm very thankful to him and to Cole as well."

When it comes to sharing hands and information on opposing players, Full Tilt’s terms and conditions are very clear:

“Full Tilt Poker defines an unfair advantage as a user accessing or compiling information on other players beyond that which the user has personally observed through his or her own game play” (from item #8 of the Full Tilt T&C).

Townsend has taken full responsibility for the infraction, and through his blog clearly explained exactly what his infraction consisted of.

“I had about 20k hands of play on Isildur and I acquired another 30k hands” wrote Townsend.

“Of the three I was the sole one to break the T&C of Full Tilt. The three of us never shared hands where mucked hands were shown besides a few hands I posted on weaktight.org, and in fact all the information I received could be taken from watching the game.”

In layman’s terms, Townsend combined his own showdown hand histories with another 30,000 hands from South and Hastings to run definitive reports and queries on Isildur1’s game, allowing detailed strategic discussions between Hastings, South and himself, which directly led to Hastings having the successful session he did.

"At that level, to be successful, you really have to take advantage of the little things," Hastings told ESPN. "They can help make the difference. That's why [analysis and discussion] is so important."

The actual breach of Full Tilt’s T&C’s is considered a relatively small one, which the majority of serious online players are assumed to commit daily using software or websites to acquire or view hand histories from hands they were not specifically a part of. These histories do not share any private information and can be found through multiple sources, including PokerListings' own MarketPulse section.

As a result, Full Tilt decided to suspend Townsend’s Red Pro status on the site for a period of 30 days. It is assumed that during this suspension Townsend will no longer receive any of the benefits or rewards from being a Red Pro, potentially costing the online pro thousands of dollars.

As for the allegations of collusion, ghosting and multi-accounting, Townsend denies all claims.

“Cole, Hastings and I live about 3000 miles from each other," he wrote. "I have never played on Brian H's or Cole S's account.

When it comes to the issue of conglomerating hand histories, Townsend said that is simply not what happened.

"I analyzed the database I put together, and the three of us chatted about my analysis, and optimal strategy against Isildur," he wrote. "Any discussion we had occurred away from the table when we were not playing a session.”

Townsend was first suspended by Full Tilt for six months in 2008 after he admitted to moving down in stakes and playing under a secondary username "Stellarnebula".

He at no time played under mulitple usernames at the same table, but it is against the site's terms and conditions to have more than one active account at any time.

As of the time of publication Townsend ($1.5 mil), South ($210k) and Hastings ($3.8 mil) have taken a combined total of over $5.6 million from Isildur1.

As a result, Isildur1 currently sits with over $2.6 million in losses on the year, and appears to have either lost his roll or spirit. The Swede's last session came Sunday, resulting in a $25k loss from games as low as $10/$20 Pot-Limit Omaha.

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Aria Casino Las Vegas Opens New Poker Room

The much-anticipated City Center project is finally open in Las Vegas and the poker world has been turning out in droves to check out the 24-table poker room in the new Aria Casino.  Aria is one of the six major buildings within the City Center complex and the only one to house a casino.  The multi-billion dollar complex also includes Vdara, a 57-story hotel and condominium complex, Mandarin Oriental, a smaller hotel and condo complex, and Crystals, a 50,000 square foot shopping and entertainment center.

City Center officially opened its doors to the public on December 16th and, within minutes of setting up shop, players were lining up for the poker games inside.  The main poker area consists of 18 tables that spread games like $1/$3 and $2/$5 No Limit Hold’em and $3/$6 Limit Hold’em.  The early nights in the poker room also saw $4/$8 Omaha High-Low and other mixed games being played.

The remaining six tables are divided between a high-limit gaming area in the back of the poker room and a one-table VIP lounge that is housed in its own room.  The high-limit area is located in a raised area with curtains used to drown out the sound of the casino machines and passers-by.  In the early goings, the high-limit area has been used for $5/$10 No Limit Hold’em and other bigger limit games.

Fans of Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio will be happy to hear there is an equivalent in the Aria poker room and it has already been put to use.  Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, David Benyamine, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and Patrik Antonius were all spotted playing in the secluded VIP lounge on Thursday evening, the day after the casino opened.  While the room is semi-private, ogling railbirds can get a peek at their favorite high-stakes players through the glass front door.  According to one of the employees at Aria, Phil Ivey is currently in talks to loan his name to the room in the same fashion that Bobby Baldwin did at the Bellagio, so news of big games being played in “Phil’s Room” could be on the horizon.

A number of poker pros have taken time to check out the new poker room, including Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke and UB.com sponsored pro Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire.  Both had generally positive remarks about the new room and they took the time to relay their sentiments to Poker News Daily.

“I was impressed,” Devonshire admitted.  “I felt like I was in a cozy, futuristic lodge.”  Devonshire is referring to the somewhat space-age design of the Aria Casino.  The casino was built with the intention of being as green as possible and, unlike other properties on the Strip, Aria utilizes available natural light during daytime hours to cut down on energy consumption.

Fricke also had positive things to say, noting, “The poker room is pretty good.”  He did have one small complaint: “The one big problem I have is that the cell service is terrible.”  Others voiced similar frustrations with reception in the room, but the problem appears to be specific to certain carriers.

Another frustration voiced by players is the noise level at the tables in the main area of the poker room.  While the poker area is set off from the rest of the casino with a low fence-like wall and large columns decorated with gold playing cards, the foot traffic and noise from the slot machines made it slightly difficult to hear the action.  The poker room staff is aware of the situation and is already taking steps to mitigate the volume.

When Poker News Daily paid a visit to the new room, the emphasis on service was apparent.  There was a short wait for $1/ $3 No Limit Hold’em, but everyone was being seated in a relatively short amount of time and the use of chip runners helped to speed up the process even further.  Beverage service is currently available and food service is said to be coming in the near future.

Poker News in Brief: Dec. 14-20, 2009

There were a few other big poker stories with Harrah’s releasing the official 2010 WSOP schedule and Mangas Gaming acquiring Everest Poker but for the most part the poker world has started to get quiet as the lead up to Christmas begins.

Fortunately there are always a few stories that don’t make the front page here at PokerListings and we compile them for you every week in our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature.

This week we’ll look at a PokerListings player winning a trip to Australia, another World Series of Poker Circuit winner, the Aria Poker Room opening its doors and more.

PokerListings Player Wins PartyPoker Aussie Millions Package

PokerListings player gimeyoursbr capitalized on an exclusive PartyPoker freeroll in a big way last week.

The 35-year-old Brazilian won a $15,000 package to the biggest tournament in the Southern Hemisphere – the 2010 Aussie Millions.

“I will try my best and see where it takes me,” he said after winning. “I am very excited about getting to know Melbourne and the nearby cities but once I am playing at the Aussie Millions I will be 100% concentrated on it.”

gimeyoursbr has been playing poker professionally for three years now and once hit the jackpot on PartyPoker for a large score. Suffice to say he’s a fan of the site.

“They are pretty good and getting big again,” he said. “That is terrific.”

PartyPoker is making a huge push to send players to the Aussie Millions this year with more than 27 packages already awarded.

Chris Klodnicki wins WSOPC Harrah’s AC

Poker pro Chris Klodnicki finally found the tournament victory he’d been looking for at the 2009 World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Atlantic City main event this week.

Klodnicki outlasted 194 players to win $215,915 and a WSOPC ring.

“I feel great,” said Klodnicki. “I was having a pretty off year and this ended the year on a great note. I was starting to lose my confidence and this picked it up a lot.”

Noted online player Kyle Bowker finished in second place for $128,357.

Outside of a Borgata side event win, Kodnicki’s list of career cashes is full of second place and third place finishes. Klodnicki is perhaps most well known for coming in 12^th place in the 2008 WSOP Main Event for nearly $600,000.

Aria Poker Room Opens

Poker players have yet another place to frequent in Las Vegas as the multi-billion CityCenter development opened its doors for business this week.

The 61-story ARIA holds the development’s casino and poker room. The poker room offers 24 tables complete with a closed off high limits room. Players will find limits of $1-3, $2-5, $5-10 on a daily basis although the room will spread higher ones based on demand.

Other hotels at CityCenter include the 400-room Mandarin Oriental resort and the upscale non-gaming hotel Vdara with Harman boutique hotel opening late next year.

Bonus Blizzard coming to Pacific Poker

Pacific Poker is giving its players a reason to be jolly over the Christmas season.

The online room will be running its “Bonus Blizzard” promotion during certain hours from Dec. 16-22.

If players are at the Pacific Poker tables during the right hours they could potentially receive a bonus of $8 all the way up to $888 just for being there.

Players can keep an eye out for Bonus Blizzards in a countdown timer in the main lobby. There’s no limit to the amount of bonuses that players can win and players who are multi-tabling will have an even better chance at taking home a hefty bonus.

PartyPoker Introduces $25/$50 PLO Table

PartyPoker launched a $25/$50 Pot-Limit Omaha table this week in an effort to kick-start the high stakes games on the site.

The gamble seems to have paid off as the room has since added several other high limit tables to keep up with player's requests.

“Demand meant we recently introduced a new $25/$50 Pot Limit Omaha table but since then we have had to open up more tables for high stakes action,” said a PartyPoker spokesperson.

“We used to have big limit games but this is the biggest game we have had at PartyPoker.com for a long time. The high stakes action has picked up.”

UB.com Set to Run Bubble Buster Promo

Players who make the money in UB.com’s upcoming Ultimate Bet Online Championship 4 will have the opportunity to win up to $1 million in extra cash.

As part of the Bubble Buster promotion any player that cashes at least twice in UBOC 4 will have shot at winning anything from a seat in a $10,000 freeroll all the way up to a $1 million cash giveaway to a player who makes 11 cashes in UBOC 4.

With over $4 million guaranteed, UBOC 4 is the biggest online tournament series available on UB.com. The series will run Jan. 20-31 with the $1 million guaranteed $1,050 buy-in main event is scheduled for Jan. 31.

PKR Teams Up with Nuts and Loaded

PKR poker announced a partnership with IPC Media, publisher of mainstream UK men’s magazines Nuts and Loaded, this week.

Players on PKR poker will now have the option of playing their favorite games while being surrounded by images of women in the popular magazines.

Players will also have the opportunity to customize their avatars with Nuts or Loaded t-shirts.

Meanwhile magazine readers will benefit from poker trips from Team PKR Pro as well as trip reports from high stakes tournaments around the globe.

"We think that the collaboration with IPC Media is a perfect matchup of brands,” said PKR marketing director Simon Prodger. “Nuts and Loaded readers are spot on for us, and by having branded environments within our game, we offer them a unique poker experience."

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2010 World Series of Poker Schedule: Player Reaction

The 41st annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) is still months away, but the schedule of events was released this week. Poker players have been quick to give their opinions on the changes made by Harrah's and the Player’s Advisory Council for 2010.

The biggest modification to the WSOP schedule was the removal of the prestigious $50,000 HORSE tournament, which will be replaced by a $50,000 Mixed Event. The game will rotate among Limit Hold’em, Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better, Seven Card Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud High-Low Split Eight or Better, No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. Then, much like the first year of the $50,000 HORSE event, the final table will be strictly No Limit Hold’em and broadcast by ESPN.

Harrah's also decided to do away with a mid-level buy-in for the Stud High, Stud 8, and Omaha 8 events in 2010, leaving only $1,500 and $10,000 versions of each game. The decision has generated negative feedback from many players, including poker pro and commentator Bart Hanson, who was upset with the lack of non-Hold'em events on the 2010 schedule. "Kind of sucks, I always like other game events at the WSOP," Hanson said. "Still had great value up to a $3,000 buy in. Now, the vast majority of players will only be able to play the small event where starting chips are a joke."

With the elimination of several of the less popular tournaments, a handful of No Limit Hold'em events were added. Last year's $1,000 Stimulus Special attracted 6,102 players, a record for a non-Main Event tournament. In 2010, there are six $1,000 No Limit Hold'em events on the schedule, including five on consecutive weekends from May 29th to June 27th and another on Thursday, July 1st.

Frank Calo, a poker pro who spends the entire summer in Las Vegas for the WSOP, seemed displeased with the changes. "I'm kind of unhappy that there's so many $1Ks and $1.5Ks," uttered Calo. "It causes the WSOP as a whole to be less profitable in terms of the hourly rate. I wish they stuck with one or two $1Ks, some other $1.5Ks, and then added more $2K to $5Ks.”

Two Plus Two member "fanliorel" had a differing view: "Last year, the $1K was new and novel and on the first weekend - everybody and their dog was there. I don't see them getting 6,000 entrants for all six $1Ks this year, just like they don't quite sell out all of the $1,500s either. Still, it's too cheap to not get at least 5,000 players per tourney. I'd guess they sell out the $1Ks on the first and last weekend; the rest range around 5,000 to 5,500. They'll be some great tourneys; last year's $1K was a blast."

Another issue that has the community concerned is the rake increase in the $1,000 and $1,500 buy-in events. Harrah's will take 10% from each of the $1,000 and $1,500 entry fees, compared to 9% from last year. "I guess Harrah's is operating in a different economic environment," said Zac "traction" Gilbert, who finished sixth at the 2009 WSOP Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Event. "I guess the only way players can voice their disgust is not play. Unfortunately, that won't happen."

The 2010 WSOP gets underway on May 27 with the $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em Event and will culminate in November with the final table of the $10,000 Main Event.

Tom Dwan Makes Another $100k

Dwan’s session began at $40/$80 No-Limit Hold’em where he lost $22k over 104 hands. From there he bounced around from games and limits before settling at $25/$50 Pot-Limit Omaha.

The $25/$50 session lasted just 141 hands, over which Dwan lost another $28k. Stepping up to $200/$400 PLO, Dwan tried to grind back his losses over 649 hands, but only managed to lose another $12k.

Down around $73,000 on the day, Dwan returned to No-Limit Hold’em to play a $300/$600 heads-up session against his current rival DjAdi.

The three largest online pots of the day came from this 150 hand session, Dwan claiming all three.

The largest of the three pots, worth over $170k, got shipped to Dwan after he flopped a set of deuces. The money went all in after the board paired on the river turning Dwan’s set into a full house.

By the end of the heads up session, Dwan left with over $181k of DjAdi’s money, putting his final figure for the day at just over $108k profit. With this profit added to his yearly total, Dwan has brought his losses for the year down to $5.9 million.

Below are the three largest hands of the day, the rest can be found in MarketPulse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tom “durrrr” Dwan’s 11th Hour Push

Unfortunately for Dwan, sitting at over $6 million in losses, it would take one of the most spectacular runs in online poker history to bring his head back above the water line.

But don’t count the newly signed Team Full Tilt Pro out for the count quite yet. In an interview with PokerListings earlier this week Dwan was brimming with positivity and confidence.

“It hasn’t been the best year. But if anyone doesn’t think that it’s a downswing then they are welcome to cross book me in any game I play in. That’s all I have to say.”

Dwan began his session this morning playing $50/$100 Pot-Limit Omaha, where he remained for 787 hands, long enough to make just under $5k.

Dwan doubled the size of the stakes to play 1,585 hands of $100/$200 PLO over the next five hours of short-handed play and managed to beat his competition out of over $108k.

Halfway through the $100/$200 session Dwan also accepted a challenge to play DjAdi heads up at $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold’em. The two high-stakes regulars only battled for 64 hands with the largest pot of the session reaching exactly $200k, When the session ended Dwan left up over $92k.

As of the time of publication Dwan has logged off of Full Tilt, up over $205k on the day.

Below are three of the largest hands from Dwan’s session. To see more hands, head to MarketPulse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Gus Hansen taking a break from poker

In his latest blog entry, Gus Hansen writes about the past year and some changes he is going to make in 2010 to get his play back on tracks.

Hansen’s start for 2009 was extremely great and he was up millions on Full Tilt Poker’s high stakes games, but since April “The Great Dane” has had a huge downswing and he is down almost 9 million dollars. The biggest leak in his game seems to be PL Omaha where he has lost over 5 million dollars.

Now Hansen is taking a break to study his game. He tells that he hasn’t been the luckiest player in 2009, but sometimes his reads haven’t been that good either. He thinks that it’s very important to take some distance from poker to learn why he is losing.

You can read the whole entry in Danish here.

Source: Highstakesdb

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Gus Hansen taking a break from poker

2010 World Series of Poker Schedule Announced

The schedule for the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was officially announced on Thursday and features a brand new $50,000 buy-in Player’s Championship that will play out in an Eight Game format. Fifty-seven bracelets will be on the line.

The Player’s Championship is the most expensive event ever to kick off the WSOP, which is now in its 41st year. The $50,000 buy-in Player’s Championship will award the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy to its victor and feature Limit Hold’em, Omaha High-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud High-Low Split-8 or Better, No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. The final table will be played solely in No Limit Hold’em and ESPN will provide television coverage of the event, which will likely bring out the very elite names in the poker community.

On the other end of the buy-in spectrum, six open $1,000 events will be held in addition to the traditional Ladies’ and Seniors’ Championships. The first five weekends of the 2010 WSOP, which begins on May 28th, will feature $1,000 buy-in tournaments. Last year, the Stimulus Special, which featured a $1,000 price tag, drew a record-setting crowd of 6,012 players to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The 2010 WSOP Main Event will kick off on July 5th, bucking a trend of beginning before the Fourth of July. The final table will be determined on July 17th and the third installment of the November Nine will take to the felts at the Rio from November 6th to 9th in what will likely be a similar schedule to this year. Players will purportedly be assigned a starting day for the Main Event to avoid a fiasco like the one that unfolded on Day 1D in 2009, when more than 500 poker hopefuls were shut out after the tournament reached capacity.

Without further adieu, here is the schedule of events for the 2010 WSOP. All times are local:

Fri, May 28th at 12:00pm
Event #1: Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em
$500 buy-in

Fri, May 28th at 5:00pm
Event #2: The Player's Championship
$50,000 buy-in

Sat, May 29th at 12:00pm
Event #3: No Limit Hold'em
$1,000 buy-in

Sun, May 30th at 5:00pm
Event #4: Omaha High-Low Split-8 or Better
$1,500 buy-in

Mon, May 31st at 12:00pm
Event #5: No Limit Hold'em
$1,500 buy-in

Tue, Jun 1st at 12:00pm
Event #6: No Limit Hold'em Shootout (2,000 players max)
$5,000 buy-in

Tue, Jun 1st at 5:00pm
Event #7: 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit)
$2,500 buy-in

Wed, Jun 2nd at 12:00pm
Event #8: No Limit Hold’em
$1,500 buy-in

Thu, Jun 3rd at 12:00pm
Event #9: Pot Limit Hold'em
$1,500 buy-in

Thu, Jun 3rd at 5:00pm
Event #10: Seven Card Stud Championship
$10,000 buy-in

Fri, Jun 4th at 11:00am
Event #11: No Limit Hold'em
$1,500 buy-in

Fri, Jun 4th at 11:00am
Event #12: Limit Hold’em
$1,500 buy-in

Sat, Jun 5th at 11:00am
Event #13: No Limit Hold’em
$1,000 buy-in

Sat, Jun 5th at 5:00pm
Event #14: 2-7 Draw Lowball (No Limit)
$1,500 buy-in

Sun, Jun 6th at 5:00pm
Event #15: Seven Card Stud High-Low Split-8 or Better Championship
$10,000 buy-in

Mon, Jun 7th at 12:00pm
Event #16: No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed
$1,500 buy-in

Tue, Jun 8th at 12:00pm
Event #17: No Limit Hold'em
$5,000 buy-in

Wed, Jun 9th at 12:00pm
Event #18: Limit Hold'em
$2,000 buy-in

Wed, Jun 9th at 5:00pm
Event #19: 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship (No Limit)
$10,000 buy-in

Thu, Jun 10th at 12:00pm
Event #20: Pot Limit Omaha
$1,500 buy-in

Thu, Jun 10th at 5:00pm
Event #21: Seven Card Stud
$1,500 buy-in

Fri, Jun 11th at 12:00pm
Event #22: Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship
$1,000 buy-in

Fri, Jun 11th at 5:00pm
Event #23: Limit Hold'em Six-Handed
$2,500 buy-in

Sat, Jun 12th at 12:00pm
Event #24: No Limit Hold’em
$1,000 buy-in

Sat, Jun 12th at 5:00pm
Event #25: Omaha High-Low Split-8 or Better Championship
$10,000 buy-in

Mon, Jun 14th at 12:00pm
Event #26: No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed
$2,500 buy-in

Mon, Jun 14th at 5:00pm
Event #27: Seven Card Stud High-Low-8 or Better
$1,500 buy-in

Tue, Jun 15th at 12:00pm
Event #28: Pot Limit Omaha
$2,500 buy-in

Tue, Jun 15th at 5:00pm
Event #29: Limit Hold'em Championship
$10,000 buy-in

Wed, Jun 16th at 12:00pm
Event #30: No Limit Hold’em
$1,500 buy-in

Wed, Jun 16th at 5:00pm
Event #31: HORSE
$1,500 buy-in

Thu, Jun 17th at 12:00pm
Event #32: No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed
$5,000 buy-in

Thu, Jun 17th at 5:00pm
Event #33: Pot Limit Hold'em/Omaha
$2,500 buy-in

Fri, Jun 18th at 12:00pm
Event #34: Seniors No Limit Hold’em Championship
$1,000 buy-in

Fri, Jun 18th at 5:00pm
Event #35: Heads-Up No Limit Hold'em Championship (256 player max)
$10,000 buy-in

Sat, Jun 19th at 12:00pm
Event #36: No Limit Hold’em
$1,000 buy-in

Sat, Jun 19th at 5:00pm
Event #37: HORSE
$3,000 buy-in

Sun, Jun 20th at 5:00pm
Event #38: Pot Limit Hold'em Championship
$10,000 buy-in

Mon, Jun 21st at 12:00pm
Event #39: No Limit Hold'em Shootout (2,000 player max)
$1,500 buy-in

Mon, Jun 21st at 5:00pm
Event #40: Seven Card Razz
$2,500 buy-in

Tue, Jun 22nd at 12:00pm
Event #41: Pot Limit Omaha High-Low Split-8 or Better
$1,500 buy-in

Wed, Jun 23rd at 12:00pm
Event #42: No Limit Hold’em
$1,500 buy-in

Wed, Jun 23rd at 5:00pm
Event #43: HORSE Championship
$10,000 buy-in

Thu, Jun 24th at 12:00pm
Event #44: Mixed Hold'em (Limit/No Limit)
$2,500 buy-in

Fri, Jun 25th at 12:00pm
Event #45: No Limit Hold’em
$1,500 buy-in

Fri, Jun 25th at 5:00pm
Event #46: Pot Limit Omaha High-Low Split-8 or Better
$5,000 buy-in

Sat, Jun 26th at 12:00pm
Event #47: No Limit Hold’em
$1,000 buy-in

Sat, Jun 26th at 5:00pm
Event #48: Mixed Event
$2,500 buy-in

Mon, Jun 28th at 12:00pm
Event #49: No Limit Hold'em
$1,500 buy-in

Mon, Jun 28th at 5:00pm
Event #50: Pot Limit Omaha
$5,000 buy-in

Tue, Jun 29th at 12:00pm
Event #51: Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em
$3,000 buy-in

Wed, Jun 30th at 12:00pm
Event #52: No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed
$25,000 buy-in

Wed, Jun 30th at 5:00pm
Event #53: Limit Hold’em Shootout
$1,500 buy-in

Thu, Jul 1st at 12:00pm
Event #54: No Limit Hold’em
$1,000 buy-in

Thu, Jul 1st at 5:00pm
Event #55: Pot Limit Omaha Championship
$10,000 buy-in

Fri, Jul 2nd at 5:00pm
Event #56: No Limit Hold’em
$2,500 buy-in

Sat, Jul 3rd at 2:00pm
Ante Up For Africa Poker Tournament
$5,000 buy-in

2010 WSOP Main Event:
July 5th: Day 1A
July 6th: Day 1B
July 7th: Day 1C
July 8th: Day 1D
July 9th: Day 2A
July 10th: Day 2B
July 11th: Media Event
July 12th: Day 3
July 13th: Day 4
July 14th: Day 5
July 15th: Day 6
July 16th: Day 7
July 17th: Day 8
November 6th to 9th: Final Table

2010 Paddy Power Irish Poker Open Schedule Announced

As the curtain falls on the 2009 with the World Poker Tour’s Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, the 2010 tournament season is preparing to take shape.

While January, with the Aussie Millions, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, and the L.A. Poker Classic, is drawing immediate attention for poker’s elite players, there are other tournaments in the first half of 2010 that also are making their preparations. On Wednesday, PaddyPowerPoker.com announced the full schedule of events that will make up the 2010 Irish Open.

The 2010 Irish Open will be held in Dublin from April 1st to the 5th, continuing its tradition as the oldest poker tournament in Europe. Contested every year since 1980 and created by the late poker legend Terry Rogers, the Irish Open has grown in importance over the years. In 2005, PaddyPowerPoker.com picked up the sponsorship rights to the tournament. Since that time, it has expanded to not only include the best the European poker world has to offer, but also the elite from the American side of the Atlantic, including former World Series of Poker Main Event champions Dan Harrington and Doyle Brunson.

The Burlington Hotel will once again play host to the PaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Open, as it has since 2007. On April 1st, a satellite tournament, which costs €200 + €20, will be held to usher in the final few players for the championship event that begins the next day. The Irish Open Main Event, which will be a €3,200 + €300 No Limit Hold’em affair, brought a record-setting field of 700 players last time out. Veteran poker player Christer Johannson will be back to defend his title after defeating “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott in heads-up play.

“The Irish Open festival is shaping up very nicely, with all the preparatory work really paying off,” Eric Booth, the head of poker operations at PaddyPowerPoker.com, stated. There are also other events on the schedule that, Booth said, “will make some players upset there are not enough hours in the weekend to play them all.”

After Day One is completed in the Irish Open, side tournaments like the Pot Limit Omaha Championship, a €1,500 + €150 No Limit Hold’em tournament, a Ladies’ Championship, and a “Scalps” (bounty) tournament will be held. These events should provide plenty of action for players in attendance.

The full schedule of the 2010 Irish Open, presented by PaddyPowerPoker.com, looks like this:

April 1st
Satellite Tournament: €200 + €20, 7:00pm

April 2nd
Championship Event: €3,200 + €300, 3:30pm

April 3rd
Championship Event Day 2, 2:00pm
Pot Limit Omaha: €750 + €75, 6:00pm

April 4th
Championship Event Day 3, 2:00pm
Pot Limit Omaha Championship Day 2, 2:30pm
Ladies’ Championship: €300 + €30, 3:00pm
No Limit Hold’em: €1,500 + €150, 5:00pm

April 5th
Championship Event Day 4, 2:00pm
Ladies’ Championship Day 2, 2:30pm
No Limit Hold’em Day 2, 2:30pm
No Limit Hold’em Scalps Event, €270 + €30 + €30, 3:00pm

In addition to being the sponsor of the tournament, PaddyPowerPoker.com has introduced an online registration method for the Main Event that will allow players to buy in with credit cards, bank transfers, and checks. “We are delighted to launch the online registration facility for the Irish Open so that players eager to secure their seat at Europe’s longest running poker tournament can do so months in advance,” Booth said.