Posts Tagged ‘Patrik Antonius’
Identity of Isildur1 May Be Revealed Saturday
In what will either be the worst kept secret ever in the poker world or the most stunning reveal of all-time, the identity of the online phenomenon Isildur1 will purportedly be unveiled on Saturday evening in the Bahamas.
Several poker news sites have announced that the identity of Isildur1 will be revealed at 7:00pm ET on Saturday night during action at the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), currently ongoing at the Atlantis Hotel and Casino. OnlinePoker.net indicated that the Tournament Director of the PCA stated that the announcement of Isildur1’s identity would come while trumpeting the arrival of Viktor Blom, the Swedish pro who has long been rumored to be the man behind the curtain.
PokerNews has also reported tomorrow’s reveal: “There’s a lot of speculation regarding the other identity of Blom, many claiming that he is indeed Isildur1 of nosebleed online fame. We can’t say for sure, but PokerStars is set to reveal the true identity of their newest online pro on Saturday at 7:00pm. Are Blom and Isildur1 the same person? We’ll know for sure in just over 48 hours.”
Players, for their part, have not been keeping the secret very quiet during the Super High Roller event at the PCA… or have they? On their Twitter feeds, players have been calling Blom “Isildur1” when they note to their followers who is at their tables. For example, in his Tweet, 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year Sorel Mizzi gave his table’s roll call: “Got Ashman, Negreanu, Timex, Vivek, Isildur1, and Nick Schulman. Fun!”
This hasn’t stopped some players from promoting different theories as to the true identity of Isildur1. Justin Bonomo noted a thread on TwoPlusTwo and Tweeted, “Coincidence that Hellmuth leaves UB just before Stars reveals Isildur1? Get ready to feel your heads explode Blom fanboys!”
Another Tweeter, Chris Choy, took the time to look over the entry list for the PCA Super High Roller event and noted, “Going through PCA $100K High Roller lineup… Seat 6 – Koen Berendsen is the only name I don’t recognize… Isildur1, is that you buddy?” Berendsen is a player from the Netherlands who has had some success in the European poker community.
Blom did not fare well in the PCA Super High Roller event, busting before the end of Day 1. Germany’s Tobias Reinkemeier leads Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu and Bryn Kenney as Day 2 plays out. Other players still a part of the action include recent WPT champion Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel “jungleman12” Cates, Eugene Katchalov, and Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger.
The Isildur1 drama has played out over more than a year since the arrival of the Swedish high-stakes player in 2009. Taking on such players as Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Isildur1 grew his bankroll in high-stakes play to record levels. As 2010 came to a close, however, the mysterious Swede decided it was time to take an unprecedented step.
Isildur1 unexpectedly signed a sponsorship agreement with PokerStars in December, guaranteeing a steady income, but also potentially prompting an end to the mystery surrounding his identity. It had been previously announced by PokerStars that Isildur1 would make the PCA his first official live event as a part of the Team PokerStars stable, and Saturday’s announcement of his or her identity will certainly draw the attention of the poker community.
Daniel Cates (jungleman12) Profits $5.5 Million Online in 2010
Before 2010, Daniel “jungleman12” Cates was a nonentity in the online poker world. He began his career at the $0.50/$1 heads-up tables in 2008, made the move to sit and gos, and then went back to cash games. He busted his bankroll, was forced to get a minimum wage job at McDonald’s, and started the cycle all over again. Sound familiar? In 2010, Cates profited a healthy $5.5 million online.
Fast forward to March of last year. Grinding away in his parents’ basement, the Maryland native had built a bankroll big enough to play alongside the likes of like Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, “Isildur1,” and Tom “durrrr” Dwan at Full Tilt Poker’s nosebleed games. He was suddenly having daily swings of $500,000, sometimes more. Cates was a fixture in the biggest poker games on the internet and crushing them on a regular basis.
Cates saw his fame explode in July 2010. He joined the CardRunners team as an instructor and his real name was revealed to the poker community. In August, Cates agreed to take on Dwan in the second edition of the Durrrr Challenge, putting up $500,000 against Dwan’s $1.5 million in a 50,000-hand heads-up match. The community quickly awoke from the coma induced by the lull in Dwan’s first challenge with Antonius and saw some added intrigue generated by Cates’ limited media exposure.
Cates got off to a blazing start and is currently on top by $819,213 through 17,108 hands out of the 50,000 required for completion. He took $319,103 from Dwan in a 2,918-hand session late Monday night to increase his lead further and appears to be in the driver’s seat in the competition, having taken more than $1.3 million from Dwan lifetime.
It wasn’t just Dwan who had troubles with the young whiz kid in 2010. Cates was a big winner against Ivey, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Aaron “aejones” Jones, and Ashton “theASHMAN103″ Griffin, along with many others. By the end of the year, Cates was the biggest winner in online poker, amassing around $5.5 million in profits according to HighStakesDB.com. He’s now considered by his peers to be one of the best poker players in the world.
Cates discussed his climb in limits in his blog in late 2010: “When making the jump to $25/$50, I ran into some players of a whole other caliber – players that understood the game at a significantly greater level than myself for the first time since I began. Still, I took them on and lost/swung for a decent time. This kind of downswing/recovery combo dragged on for a couple months, but eventually, I fixed all my flaws and even began conquering some of the same players. LOL, I never imagined my $25/$50 win rate would ever be near what is now.”
Cates finished the year as the overwhelming leader in profits on Full Tilt Poker. Norwegian pro Andreas “skjervoy” Torbergsen finished a distant second with $3.7 million, Dwan was third with $3.6 million, Ivey finished fourth with $3.0 million, and Jared “harrington25″ Bleznick landed in fifth with $2.2 million in profits.
Cates reflected on his rise to prominence in his blog: “I can’t say that I’ve handled all my failures appropriately, but I am fortunate that I utilized these failures well and [have] not experienced the extent of setbacks that some of you have felt. Long ago, I dreamed I would succeed if I acted wisely given my circumstances, but to be honest, I did not really imagine it would be to this degree, and especially not this fast.”
Follow Cates’ heads-up challenge with Dwan at DurrrrChallenge.com.
Phil Ivey Finishes 2010 Atop ESPN The Nuts Rankings for December
We might all be putting our new 2011 calendars on the refrigerator, but let’s not put 2010 in our rearview mirror just yet. ESPN.com’s “The Nuts” poker player rankings for December 2010 were released on New Year’s Eve and showed that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Before we get to the rankings, let’s quickly explain ESPN’s methodology. Unlike rankings by some poker sites, there is no mathematical formula used in “The Nuts.” Rather, it is a simple poll by a panel of ten members of the poker media, including our very own Dan Cypra. The panel attempts to rank the top ten poker players of the moment based on both tournament and cash game results, live and online. It is an inexact science, of course, but that is part of what makes it fun.
The voting panel includes ESPN.com’s poker crew of Andrew Feldman, Gary Wise, and Bernard Lee (who is also a Guest Columnist for Poker News Daily), Bluff Magazine Editor-in-Chief Lance Bradley and Senior Writer Jessica Welman, ESPNDeportes.com Poker Editor Nahuel Ponce, PokerRoad’s Court Harrington, PokerNews Editor-in-Chief Matthew Parvis and Tournament Reporter Don Peters, and Cypra.
Nine of the top ten players remained the same in December, although some of the order has changed. Phil Ivey remained in the top spot, a position that should really be renamed “Ivey’s Room.” He received eight first place votes from the ten-member panel. Jason Mercier received the other two first place votes, one coming from Cypra, cementing himself in the second position once again.
The two biggest jumps were by Tom Marchese and Vanessa Selbst, both of whom rose three spots. Marchese climbed from #6 to #3, while Selbst was elevated to the fifth spot from eighth. Marchese had an incredible 2010, his first year on the live tournament circuit. In live tournaments alone, he won over $2 million.
Marchese exploded onto the scene with a final table at the Borgata in January and followed that up with a win on the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) in February. He had three other big-time cashes last year, including final tables in the High Roller Event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final, the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em Championship at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and the championship event of the World Poker Tour‘s (WPT) World Poker Finals, all of which contributed to winning CardPlayer’s 2010 Player of the Year award.
Selbst, who won her first and only WSOP bracelet in 2008, had two huge wins in 2010. The first was in the Main Event of the NAPT Mohegan Sun in April for $750,000, while the second came in September in the Main Event of the Partouche Poker Tour in Cannes, France, where she won over $1.8 million.
The one new member of “The Nuts” was last month’s “Bubble Boy,” Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi. The 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of Year placed ninth at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic en route to a $1.9 million year in live tournaments. With Mizzi’s rise into the top ten, Alexander Kostritsyn dropped out.
As an example of how fluid things can be in the poker world, half of the top ten at the end of 2010 was different than at the beginning of the year. Daniel Negreanu took the biggest tumble out of the rankings, as he occupied the second spot in January. The other four poker players – Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Daniel Alaei, Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, and Barry Greenstein – were ranked seven through ten. Patrik Antonius came close to falling out of the rankings, finishing the year at #10 after starting out at #3.
The entire list of the ESPN’s “The Nuts” is as follows:
1. Phil Ivey
2. Jason Mercier
3. Tom Marchese
4. Tom Dwan
5. Vanessa Selbst
6. John Juanda
7. Michael Mizrachi
8. Eric Baldwin
9. Sorel Mizzi
10. Patrik Antonius
“The Nuts” is published at the end of every month in the poker section of ESPN.com.
Tags: 2008, 2010, 2011, aced, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, european, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, poker player, Tom Dwan, tournament, WSOP
Top Online Poker Winners and Losers of 2010
Whether it was the durrrr Challenge II on Full Tilt or the new Isildur1 SuperStar Showdown on PokerStars there always seemed to be intriguing action of one kind or another on the go.
From the emergence of relative newcomer Dan “jungleman12” Cates to the continued success of established pros like Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius there were numerous plotlines to the high stakes games this year.
We’ll start by celebrating the five biggest online poker success stories of 2010 before taking a hard look at the five biggest disappointments of the year.
Top 5 Biggest Winners of 2010
5. Di “Urindanger” Dang: $2.2 million
Although Di “Urindanger” Dang tends to fly under the radar when compared to some of his more illustrious colleagues he’s remarkably consistent.
Since he started playing the high stakes games on Full Tilt in 2007, Dang has never recorded a losing year. 2010 was no exception.
Dang did suffer through a few losing months in late spring but he came around in August and by December was up to $2.2 million.
Yet another good Christmas for the Dang household.
4. Phil Ivey: $3 million
Phil Ivey usually plays far less hands than his online opponents but he always manages to rank as one of the top five winners.
This year Ivey wasn’t particularly active until mid-April, when he went on a $2 million heater. After logging notable victories against Ashton “ASHMAN103” Griffin and Patrik Antonius, Ivey vacated the online tables from May to late August.
In August Ivey got right back to business and quickly peaked at $3.8 million in profit.
Although Ivey coasted for the rest of the year and didn’t play any huge sessions, he still finished with a very respectable $3 million.
3. Tom “durrrr” Dwan: $3.6 million
It was yet another strong year for the poker prodigy originally from Edison, New Jersey.
Once again Tom Dwan was king when it came to volume, playing a total of 296,725 hands in 2010.
The year got off to a rocking start for Dwan and by mid-spring he peaked at an astounding $6.6 million. Unfortunately for Dwan he would come back down to earth over the rest of the year.
Dwan’s biggest obstacle was Dan “jungleman12” Cates. Dwan simply couldn’t solve Cates and lost more than $600k so far in the durrrr Challenge II.
At any rate, Dwan fared far better this year compared to 2009 when he ran into a hot Isildur1 and lost millions.
2. Andreas “Skjervoy” Torbergsen: $3.7 million
Perhaps the biggest surprise of this list is a Norwegian by the name of Andreas Torbergsen.
Torbergsen, who plays with his hometown of Skjervoy as his handle, signed with CardRunners this summer and went on to become one of the biggest winners in the high stakes online games this year.
Torbergsen was essentially at $0 in August but by the end of December was up $3.7 million. It helped he won $1 million in a 24-hour period in September and recorded several $500k sessions.
It remains to be seen whether Torbergsen will remain a fixture of the high stakes online poker scene.
1. Dan “jungleman12” Cates: $5.5 million
What more can be said about Dan “jungleman12” Cate’s dominance this year?
Three years ago Cates was flipping burgers but in 2010 he was playing the biggest online games in the world and hardly ever losing.
Cates dominated Tom Dwan in the durrrr Challenge II but also found time to take on anyone else who wanted a piece. His graph reads looks like an escalator (going up, of course). He won hundreds of thousands playing PLO (which he’s still learning).
Although some members of the online community cried variance, Cates was a consistent winner for the entire year.
At any rate, Cates now finds himself in an elite group of year-end winners that includes Patrik Antonius ($8.9 million in 2009), Phil Ivey ($7.3 million in 2008) and Niki Jedlicka ($3.1 million in 2007).
To put it simply: 2010 belonged to Cates.
Top 5 Biggest Losers of 2010
5. Brian “sbrugby” Townsend: – $1.5 million
Brian Townsend had a fantastic 2009 winning $2.4 million to become one of the biggest winners of the year.
2010 wasn’t quite as kind to the former CardRunners instructor.
Although Townsend didn’t use the sbrugby account until summer (more on that later), he didn’t waste any time donating stacks of cash online.
From June to October, Townsend lost $1.6 million and never really recovered, opting to sit out the last couple months of 2010.
Check below for even more on Townsend’s disastrous 2010.
4. Gus Hansen: -$1.6 million
You’d think losing $1.6 million would make for a pretty bad year but it could have been a lot worse for Gus Hansen.
The Great Dane actually got off to a hot start in 2010 and was up $2.3 million after the first couple of months.
Like many high stakes pros, Hansen took a break from the tables during the WSOP but was still up nearly $1 million.
It was during late summer that problems started to arise for the Team Full Tilt member. From July to October, Hansen lost $4 million, the biggest downswing of the year.
Hansen would hit rock bottom in mid-October going down to -$3.6 million.
Fortunately for Hansen he was able to put a steady string of wins together to finish the year at only -$1.6 million. Not the worst year for the recent WSOP bracelet winner.
3. cadillac1944: -$1.8 million
cadillac1944 is the only player on our list who has yet to be identified.
The online account first appeared in late August and that’s about when the losing began.
cadillac1944 quickly dropped down to -$677k by September with big losses against Urindanger and DrugsOrMe.
By November cadillac1944 was down -$1.53 million and finally hit -$1.8 million in early December.
The cadillac1944 account became inactive in mid-December and it’s anyone’s guess as to whether we’ll ever see it in use again.
2. Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies: -$2 milliion
Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, one of the original kings of swing, was up to his old tricks in 2010 with a “win a million, lose a million” mentality.
Sahamies started the year by winning $2 million in spring but then lost $2.6 million over the summer.
The fall looked promising for Ziigmund as he quickly swung his way up to $1.48 million in profit.
Unfortunately for Ziigmund October was a turning point and the Finnish pro went on what he has called the greatest downswing of his career.
Over the next few months Sahamies dropped down to -$2 million with victories few and far between.
2010 was easily Ziigmund’s worst year playing high stakes online poker.
1. Brian Townsend: -$2.5 million
Brian Townsend’s 2010 was so terrible that he made this list twice.
As bad as the game went for Townsend on his “sbrugby” account, it was far, far worse on his red pro “Brian Townsend” account.
Townsend was in bad shape from the very beginning as he quickly lost $300k in early January.
The losses just continued to escalate for Townsend and by May he was down $2.5 million.
It was then Townsend made the decision to leave CardRunners, ditch his red pro account and go back to being sbrugby on Full Tilt.
It didn’t seem to make a difference as Townsend lost another $1.5 million.
If you take both accounts into consideration, Townsend lost a grand total of $4 million this year.
No one suffered more than Townsend in 2010.Visit www.pokerlistings.com
Tags: 2008, 2009, 2010, Gus Hansen, high stakes, Online Poker, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, pokerstars, Tom Dwan, usa, WSOP
Poker After Dark Big Heat Week Debuts Tonight
For those in need of new poker television content, the NBC franchise “Poker After Dark” returns for its first new episodes of 2011 tonight, featuring the biggest tournament in the history of the program.
Dubbed “Big Heat Week,” “Poker After Dark’s” first tournament of 2011 features a six-man sit and go that brings together competitors who have more than proven their worth in the poker world. Combined, the six players – John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Phil Galfond, Huck Seed, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and Phil Ivey – have over $42 million in career tournament earnings, 18 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, a WSOP Main Event title, and a slew of other major championships.
The $100,000 buy-in event guarantees that the victor of this week’s “Poker After Dark” will walk away with a $600,000 payday.
Galfond is the newcomer to the “Poker After Dark” stage, as all of the other competitors have faced the NBC show’s cameras previously. Galfond, who terrorizes the online poker world under the name “OMGClayAiken,” has built a reputation as one of the top No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha players in the game today. His addition to this week’s lineup is indicative of how the show is embracing the “new blood” of the game.
Safe money on who will win this week’s battle should be on Ivey and Juanda, who are veterans of “Poker After Dark” and have racked up two wins each during the run of the show. While Lindgren and Seed have previously appeared on the program, neither has been able to crack the winner’s circle. For his part, Dwan has been a part of previous “Poker After Dark” cash game episodes, but this is only his second foray into the freezeout arena.
“Big Heat Week” will kick off this evening on NBC late night at 2:05am ET, with host Ali Nejad providing voiceover commentary of the action. The sit and go will continue over the next four nights in the same timeslot and a special “Director’s Cut” will air late night on Saturday at 1:00am ET after NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” This show will feature Leeann Tweeden with a behind-the-scenes look at the week with highlights and insightful player interviews.
Throughout the first half of 2011, “Poker After Dark” will continue to provide new shows mixed in with encore presentations of some of the series’ best episodes. After this week’s new episodes, Dwan will return to the two-week encore presentation of one of the show’s most memorable cash games. The cash game, which featured a $100,000 buy-in, also featured Phil Laak, Gus Hansen, Eli Elezra, and former World Champions Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth.
The week of February 7th, a new cash game will take to the “Poker After Dark” stage with the highest stakes yet. The $150,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em cash game will feature Howard Lederer, Greg Mueller, Elezra, David Peat, Olivier Busquet, and Laak battling it out for supremacy.
April will bring one of the most eagerly anticipated additions to the “Poker After Dark” lineup. During the week of April 4th, a $50,000 buy-in sit and go will take place featuring some of the “young guns” of the game. Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger and UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin will join Melanie Weisner, Annette Obrestad, Brunson, and Dwan, with the winner walking away with $250,000.
During the week of April 11th, Pot Limit Omaha will make its debut on “Poker After Dark” and be featured for two weeks. Joining Ivey, Dwan, and Galfond on the felt for the $100,000 buy-in cash game will be Brandon Adams, Patrik Antonius, Brian Hastings, and Jared Bleznick. The addition of Pot Limit Omaha to “Poker After Dark” should draw a huge audience with the ever-increasing popularity of the game.
Once again, be sure to check your local listings for when “Poker After Dark” runs on your local NBC affiliate.
Poker News in Brief: Dec. 27, 2010- Jan. 2, 2011
That meant a few of poker's smaller stories may have slipped through the cracks.
Fortunately, we caught them and compiled them in our weekly Poker News in Brief feature below.
This week, Poker After Dark returns, the World Cup captains are named, UB goes back to Montreal and more.
Poker After Dark Returns
The new season of POKER PROductions' Poker After Dark returns to NBC this week.
POKER PROductions inked an agreement with NBC Universal extending the late-night poker show through 2014 in 2010 and the seventh season, filmed at the new Aria Resort and Casino at the City Center complex in Las Vegas, begins airing Jan. 3.
This season will feature more cash games than ever before. Most will be no-limit hold'em, but two weeks will also be devoted to Pot-Limit Omaha with a lineup that should impress fans.
Names like Mike Matusow, Chris Ferguson, Michael Mizrachi, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Annette Obrestad, Eli Elezra, Phil Galfond, Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, and David Oppenheim will all appear this season.
There will only be three weeks following the traditional Freezout format this season, including this week's "Big Heat," a $100,000 buy-in event featuring John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Huckleberry Seed, Ivey, Dwan, and Galfond.
Leeann Tweeden will once again serve as the show's host with Ali Nejad providing commentary.
Fifty50 Sit & Go's
PokerStars has launched a new online poker Sit & Go format called Fifty50.
Although the tournaments end when half of the entrants have been eliminated, Fifty50's differ from the Double or Nothing format in that half of the prize pool gets split between the winning players equally and the other half is awarded based on chip counts.
Fifty50 events are currently running at the $10 level, but will soon be available at many different stakes.
World Cup of Poker Captains Named
The identities of the team captains for the seventh annual World Cup of Poker have been announced.
Last year, Chinese Taipei took the title. This year it will be Argentina, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Spain, Slovakia, Italy, France, Ukraine and the United States battling it out for a $100,000 first prize at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
Slovakia’s team will be led by Team PokerStars Pro’s newest member Dag Palovic. EPT San Remo winner Liv Boeree will lead the UK team while Argentina’s captain is back-to-back LAPT champ Nacho Barbero.
2009 APT champion Neil Arce will lead the team from the Philippines while the Spain squad will be headed up by Team PokerStars Pro Juan Manuel Pastor.
Luca Pagano leads Italy and Arnaud Mattern will captain the team from France.
And Finally, Vanessa Selbst will lead the USA while EPT Kiev runner-up Alexander Dovzhenko captains the Ukrainian side.
The action gets underway in the Bahamas Jan 14.
UB Returns to Poker Pro Canada Classic
For the second straight year, UB will be sending over twenty players to compete in the running of Montreal's biggest poker event, the Poker Pro Canada Classic.
The $1500+150 buy-in No Limit Hold 'em event runs Jan. 27-30, 2011 at the Four Aces Poker Club.
UB is running a series of super satellites and freerolls Jan. 2-16 giving players a chance to win a $2500 prize package that includes a seat plus $850 for travel expenses.
300-plus players and prize pool of $500,000 is expected in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
Tags: 2009, 2010, 2011, Canada, freeroll, no-limit, Online Poker, Patrik Antonius, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, poker show, pokerstars, spain, Tom Dwan, tournament, usa, vegas
Is Daniel “jungleman12? Cates unstoppable? Now wins $500K
Looks like Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates is going to end the year just as he started it - winning a lot. According to HighstakesDB, Daniel has won over $500K in the last 24 hours.
This time most of his winnings came from none other than Patrik Antonius (about $400K). The two of them played on two $300/$600 Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha Hi (HA) and their sessions ended up to be a long one.
Cates won the biggest pot ($300K) of the session as well, river was dealed twice:
After this session, Cates’ made sure that he is the biggest winner on Full Tilt Poker in 2010. He has won over 5,4 million dollars!
Antonius is still up for the year, about $500K, but there’s no results from $1000/$2000 and $1500/$3000 2-7 Triple Draw games, where the Finn has been very busy.
Source: Pokerista.net
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jungleman12 Caps Incredible 2010
Cates, who was already the overwhelming biggest winner of 2010 with $4.9 million in profit, played a marathon 1,172-hand session of heads-up $300/$600 Mixed HA.
Initially Cates lost $250k but he eventually erased the deficit and went on a world-class heater against Patrik Antonius and luckexpress10.
After last night Cates is up $5.4 million in 2010 and barring a catastrophic meltdown he will be this year’s biggest winner.
As of today Norwegian player Andreas “skjervoy” Torbergsen is a distant second with $3.7 million, Tom “durrrr” Dwan is third with $3.6 million, Phil Ivey is fourth with $3 million and finally harrington25 is up $2.2 million.
Unfortunately for Cates, he’s not even close to what the top players have made in previous years. Antonius won an astounding $8.9 million for top honors in 2009 while Phil Ivey raked in $7.3 million in 2008.
In other high stakes news from last night Gus Hansen had a strong outing, winning $149k. It looks as though the Great Dane will fall short of getting even for 2010 since he’s still down $1.6 million but he made up considerable ground over the last few months of the year.
Other winners from last night included hal0zination (+$68k), KobeYard85 (+$57k) and Urindanger ($38k).
On the losing side was Patrik Antonius, who poured $382k on to the tables last night. Most of Antonius’ loses were to Cates.
Antonius will likely finish 2010 with a respectful $550k in profit but down considerably from last year.
Some of the other players who had forgettable nights were DrugsOrMe (-$150k), luckexpress10 (-$120k) and harrington25 ($94k).
For information about the high stakes action from last night check our online poker stats section.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
“IHateJuice” and Patrik Antonius played almost 1700 hands of $3000/$6000 Limit Hold’Em
We were able to witness the first real games on Full Tilt Poker’s $3K/$6K Limit Hold’Em yesterday when Patrik Antonius and the German player “IHateJuice” played almost 1700 heads-up hands.
The action was pretty wild since the start and Antonius started the heads-up pretty weak while “IHateJuice” grinded up about $500K. The Finn managed to make a nice comeback in the end.
“IHateJuice” made only a marginal win ($74K) when the heads-up was over:
The biggest pot of the session was seen when Antonius and “IHateJuice” raised and reraised on the turn and “IHateJuice” eventually takes down the $84K pot with his full house:
Otherwise the past day has been quite quiet on Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. There’s some results here.
Source: Pokerista.net
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“IHateJuice” and Patrik Antonius played almost 1700 hands of $3000/$6000 Limit Hold’Em
Delay for Durrrr Challenge?
Antonius resumes battle with IHateJuice
Tags: Patrik Antonius
Antonius, IHateJuice Renew Rivalry
As usual Antonius and IHateJuice played exclusively heads-up Limit Hold’em, this time at $3,000/$6,000 stakes.
The session got off to a hot start when IHateJuice stomped Antonius for $241k on one table. Not to be outdone, Antonius would battle back and completely erase IHateJuice’s early win in less than 50 hands.
This seemed to kick-start one of the most spectacular sessions Antonius and IHateJuice have ever played.
The action came to a head when IHateJuice destroyed Antonius at one table for $493k but Antonius mitigated his losses by quickly winning $385k at another table.
In the end, after wagering millions of dollars against each other, IHateJuice escaped with a relatively minor $73k victory.
Meanwhile Isildur1 was once again wowing railbirds on PokerStars after playing several thousand hands on the site.
After getting stacked in the early stages of the night, Isildur1 laid a world-class beating on PepperoniF in $25/$50 Pot-Limit Omaha.
PepperoniF appeared to bust his Full Tilt account before Isildur1 finally left with a $60k profit.
In other high stakes news Urindanger ($76k), airic1400 ($40k), URnotINdanger2 ($33k) were all amongst the biggest winners while Gus Hansen (-$72k), O Fortuna PLS (-$59k) and Rui Cao (-$22k) had forgettable nights.
Check below for some of the biggest hands from the Patrik Antonius and IHateJuice or go to our online stats section for more information.
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Potential “Big” Hiatus in Durrrr Challenge
According to a conversation initiated by DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Dani “ansky” Stern that found its way to TwoPlusTwo, we may see a hiatus in the second incarnation of the Durrrr Challenge featuring Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Dan “JungleMan12” Cates. There has been no action in the ongoing challenge since December 16th.
The chat was posted on December 24th on TwoPlusTwo and featured Stern asking Cates, “Are you and Tom playing any time soon?” In response, Cates took three messages to write, “idk… Seems like there will be a big hiatus… Tom is hard to work with.” With Christmas on Saturday and New Years Day next weekend, it’s possible that we might not see more play in the Durrrr Challenge until the calendar turns to 2011.
Posters on TwoPlusTwo did not take well to the possibility of the Durrrr Challenge taking a break. One poster wrote about the potential wrath of Full Tilt Poker front man Howard Lederer: “[Dwan] should approach it in a more professional way. Or else Howard’s gonna call and say, ‘Dude that’s twice now that you made us announce that challenge big time and then you let us down by not playing it. PokerStars snatched Isildur1 and he’s playing. You’re making Full Tilt look like the site that that doesn’t deliver; that disappoints the players. We’re cutting your allowance by 50% until you finish them both.’”
Not everyone on TwoPlusTwo was critical of “durrrr,” however. One poster came to Dwan’s aid: “He obviously has a ton of commitments, combined with a social life and girlfriend. When you have as much money as he does, playing a challenge like this isn’t a number one priority.”
Other members of the online poker community offered up suggestions for future cycles of the Durrrr Challenge: “If this format wants to have any future, there has to be a clause that it has to be finished in 3-6 months or something like that. And if it isn’t finished by then, they have to play the rest of the hands in one session. If someone gives up during that session, he automatically loses.”
The first installment of the Durrrr Challenge featured Dwan squaring off against fellow Full Tilt Poker pro Patrik Antonius. The last play in that match-up occurred in August. Through nearly 40,000 hands out of the 50,000 required for completion, Dwan has profited $2.1 million off Antonius. The lack of action and a steep deficit have led many in the industry to believe that Antonius has accepted a buyout, although Full Tilt has not given any official word that a deal has occurred.
In his match against Cates, Dwan is down by $500,000 after 14,190 hands. Cates and Dwan are battling in No Limit Hold’em, whereas Antonius and Dwan are dueling in Pot Limit Omaha. The latter match is nearing the two-year mark.
Dwan spent Christmas Day in New Jersey watching a family member utilize Full Tilt’s Rush Poker Mobile application. He Tweeted, “At Christmas w/ my family and just saw Rush Poker on my cousin’s phone, pretty crazy.” Meanwhile, Cates revealed that he was by himself this Christmas: “Roommates went home, going to be by myself for couple days. It’s better and worse in a couple ways.”
If Dwan is up by $1 or more at the end of the 50,000 hands, then Cates will owe $500,000. If Cates is up by at least $1 at the end of the Challenge, then Dwan will owe $1.5 million after giving any taker 3:1 on his money. In either case, the winner keeps the spoils of the 50,000-hand marathon. Visit our sister site, DurrrrChallenge.com, for more details.
The Online Railbird: Antonius & Ziigmund Back on Track, Cates Flounders
Ziigmund is back! Won almost $120,000
Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies has returned from his break and like normally his games have been quite swingy. It took a while, but finally Ziigmund managed to book some wins.
Just a few moments ago Sahamies left the tables on Full Tilt Poker and he managed to record a $120,000 win after 240 hands.
The Finn played some $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha against Patrik Antonius, Di “Urindanger” Dang and “DrugsOrMe”.
A really wild hand which Sahamies takes down. $137K pot
Can Sahamies keep up the momentum? Only time will tell.
Read more results from here.
Source: Pokerista.net
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SuperStars Showdown: Haxton Bests Isildur1
It took a little more than four hours for Haxton and Isildur1 to burn through 2,500 hands with a very high-profile rail that included Kevin “ImaLucSac” MacPhee, Chad “lilholdem954” Batista and Daniel Negreanu taking in the action.
Haxton and Isildur1 started the session by buying in for $10,000 at four $50/$100 tables. The rules of the challenge stated that whoever was ahead by 2,500 hands or won $150,000 would be crowned the champion.
Isildur1 drew first blood in the event by winning an early $17,000 pot when he rivered a flush with K♣ T♣.
The lead didn’t last and after about one hour of play Haxton laid a sick beat on Isildur1 with Q-J beating QQ.
The suckout seemed to ignite Haxton’s game and by the 820th hand he had built a lead of $16,500.
It didn’t last, however, as Isildur1 rivered a flush with 7♦ 6♦ and raked in a $34k pot. After winning a series of smaller hands Isildur1 was suddenly the one in charge but that wouldn't last either.
Around the 1,000-hand mark Isildur1 was leading by $31,099 and Haxton started to make a serious comeback.
First Haxton scooped a large pot by making it to showdown against Isildur1 with ace-high but a better kicker.
Shortly after the ace-high hand, Haxton hit a flush against Isildur1 and then had the fortune of getting Isildur1 to shove a flopped pair of threes into his aces up.
With 471 hands to go Isildur1 started to take a few more risks and paid the price in the last 100 hands when Haxton won a session-defining $44k pot.
In the hand both players flopped a pair of nines but Haxton eventually secured the pot by having a superior kicker.
When the 2,500th hand was finally played, Haxton found himself up $41,701 and therefore the winner of the first SuperStar Showdown.
Although another opponent has yet be picked, PokerStars representatives did say there will be another SuperStar Showdown very shortly, perhaps at the PCA in the Bahamas.
In other high stakes news Patrik Antonius was the biggest winner on Full Tilt taking down $223k while fellow Team Full Tilt Pro Phil Ivey won $83k. Gus Hansen was also in the mix with a $29k victory.
On the losing side were Dan “jungleman12” Cates who posted a rare $267k loss, IHateJuice who dropped $84k onto the tables and psychobenny who donated $$55k.
For more information on the SuperStar Showdown check our online poker stats section.
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Durrrr Challenge Rolls On, Tom Dwan Cuts into Lead
On Wednesday morning, the poker world awoke to play in the ongoing Tom Dwan Million Dollar Challenge. The second incarnation of the “Durrrr Challenge” features Dwan battling against Dan “JungleMan12” Cates in 50,000 hands of No Limit Hold’em. On Wednesday, Cates cut into Dwan’s lead. Now, Cates is up by $564,000 after 12,976 hands. Visit our sister site, DurrrrChallenge.com, for a full recap.
Wednesday saw over 1,400 hands played in the early morning hours. When the smoke cleared, Dwan raked in about $9,000 in profit, leaving Cates with a $564,400 lead with the challenge one-quarter of the way through. Dwan and Cates have bet an amazing $82 million over the course of the first 13,000 hands and played 13 sessions totaling 22 hours of real time.
In one of the largest pots of the most recent session, Dwan raised to $1,200 pre-flop and Cates 3bet to $3,600. Dwan called and the flop came 2-9-4 with two hearts. Despite the seemingly benign flop, fireworks went off, as Cates led out for $3,600 and Dwan pushed all-in over the top for $26,000. Cates called and tabled pocket queens for an overpair, while Dwan showed 10-5 of hearts for a flush draw.
The turn and river were dealt twice. The first board included the nine of spades on the turn and ace of diamonds on the river, giving $30,000, or half of the pot, to Cates. The ace of clubs and 10 of clubs fell on the second board and Cates scooped the entire $60,000 pot after no heart came to the rescue.
In another hand, Cates raised to $800 pre-flop and Dwan pushed the action to $2,400. Cates called and the flop came 10-3-9 with two hearts. Dwan fired out a bet of $3,200 and Cates came along to see a black nine on the turn. Dwan bet out $8,600 and Cates called time to decide his action. The challenger ultimately called and the river brought the three of diamonds.
Dwan checked and Cates wisely checked behind. Dwan, who had tried to slow-play his hand on the river, showed pocket nines for quads, while Cates mucked. The pot was worth $28,000 and helped Dwan continue to cut into Cates’ early lead in the second running of the Million Dollar Challenge.
Dwan has come out on top in the last two Durrrr Challenge sessions. In the action on December 8th, Dwan pulled down $172,000 in profit, giving him nearly $200,000 for the last two sessions combined. Dwan had jumped out to the early lead in the Durrrr Challenge, but lost it by the 2,000th hand. Since then, Cates has been on a tear and was at one point up by over $800,000.
Six days ago, Cates was seemingly on a roll, chirping to his followers on Twitter, “I may or may not have revolutionized poker today – I quadruple range merged. More forthcoming.” Then, on December 14th, he admitted, “Played all night, some vs Patrik Antonius, and ended up losing. Not happy with how I played.” Dwan, meanwhile, reported that nourishment may have been the cause of his hot run in Wednesday’s Durrrr Challenge session: “Just had some tasty duck, now gonna play JungleMan in 30min or so.”
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the Tom Dwan Million Dollar Challenge.
Antonius takes on jungleman12; dead heat in NL/PLO mix
Tags: Patrik Antonius
The Online Railbird Report: Scott “URnotINdanger2″ Palmer Gets The Better Of Patrik Antonius
Patrik Antonius battles Scott “URnotINdanger2” Palmer
theASHMAN103 Takes $104k
Griffin, who played over 428 hands of $50/$100 PLO last night, has been known to play slightly smaller stakes than players like Ziigmund and Patrik Antonius but has still amassed $1.4 million in winnings this year.
Last night Griffin’s biggest win came in a $50/$100 Six-Max PLO game against Niki Jedlicka. No one else joined the game and Griffin and Jedlicka played heads-up for 75 hands. Griffin was the definitive winner taking down $86k from the Austrian.
Griffin would go on to win some smaller sessions against Ziigmund to bring his win total up to $104k on the day.
Right behind Griffin in profits was luckexpress10, who earned $103k, mostly from playing Erik “DIN_FRU” Sagstrom at $500/$1,000 Cap PLO.
Noted Full Tilt star Phil Ivey was third in earnings, taking down $88k in $3k/$6k Limit Hold’em against IHateJuice.
The aforementioned Erik Sagstrom was the evening’s biggest loser, pouring $100k from his account onto the tables. Also in the losing column were IHateJuice (-$88k), Niki Jedlicka (-$86k), 4rebmun (-$33k) and Ziigmund (-$31k).
The durrrr Challenge 2 is still MIA, although Dan “jungleman12” Cates played several hands against Patirk Antonius last night.
For more information about the high stakes online action last night be sure to check out our online poker stats section.
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Scott “URnotINdanger12? Plamer crushes Patrik Antonius at $500/$1000 PL/HA
Scott “URnotINdanger12″ Palmer and Patrik Antonius had a wild heads up session last night. They played at two $500/$1000 Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha Hi (HA) tables on Full Tilt Poker.
Palmer and Antonius played about 500 hands and the Finn lost $400K to Palmer. We don’t have the exact figures as HighstakesDB is having a maintenance.
Antonius, Palmer and the other players have most likely played a lot more last night, so the results are not telling the whole truth.
The biggest pot of the HA games, Palmer has kings against Patrik’s open ended straight draw:
Source: Pokerista.net
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Scott “URnotINdanger12″ Plamer crushes Patrik Antonius at $500/$1000 PL/HA
No Dwan, Ivey or Antonius on High Stakes Poker Season 7?
High Stakes Poker didn’t get too many praises in last season when A.J. Benza was replaced by Kara Scott. The upcoming season doesn’t look that promising either.
Full Tilt Poker might forbid their players to participate on the show. The reason for the ban is that the show is sponsored by PokerStars, which is the biggest rival to FTP.
Barry Greenstein writes about it on 2+2 forums:
“I talked to Howard Lederer and Mori.
However, Full Tilt has two major concerns. First is they don’t like their players playing when PokerStars is the sponsor of the show. (I assume Full Tilt can buy ad time but I didn’t check this out with GSN or PokerStars.) Secondly, they were unhappy that PokerStars bought the HSP archives.
In the early seasons of HSP, the players didn’t wear logos, so FTP is concerned that viewers will be able to go to pokerstars.tv and see the FTP players without logos and be confused by their affiliation,” Greenstein writes.
Greenstein doesn’t like the current policy, because everyone would like to see Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey and Tom “durrrr” Dwan on the show.
“Most of us would like to see the three top FTP cash game players on the show along with some of the other characters we have had in previous seasons. If they don’t play, they’ll be replaced by some new young stars of the game, some affiliated and some not,” Greenstein concludes his post.
Only time will tell what happens. Let’s hope that the policy will change, so HSP would get a season waht the fans deserve.
Source: Pokerista.net
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Gus Hansen Victorious at Full Tilt Poker Million IX
Defeating one of the toughest tables ever assembled for the tournament, recent World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe bracelet winner Gus Hansen emerged victorious at the Full Tilt Poker sponsored Poker Million IX.
The event, which took place on live television in England on Sky Sports Network, featured some of the best players in the world vying for a $1 million first place prize. Along with Hansen were such notable players as 2010 WSOP Europe champion James Bord, Patrik Antonius, and Howard Lederer. With such a huge prize on the line, the eight players battling for the Poker Million IX championship wasted little time getting to action.
On the 37th hand of play, Antonius departed in spectacular fashion. After a raise from Tony Bloom with A-3, Antonius looked him up from the small blind with A-9 and Bord came along for the ride out of the big blind with 10-8. The flop was magical for Bord, 9-7-6 rainbow, giving the Englishman the nuts. With his top pair, Antonius led out only to face a re-raise from Bord. Bloom released his hand and, after a bout in the tank, Antonius moved his stack to the center. Bord delightfully called, tabling his winning hand and seizing a sizeable lead in the early going.
Soon after Antonius’ elimination, Bord attempted to take down Hansen, but fell short after his A-J fell against Hansen’s A-Q and the “Great Dane” doubled up. Hansen used these chips to eliminate Lederer from the tournament when, in a battle of the blinds, Lederer moved all-in from the big blind with A-8 of diamonds. Hansen, in the small blind, deliberated for a bit before making the call with his A-J and, after dodging eights and diamonds on the board, was in a seemingly dominant position to take down the Poker Million IX title.
Two internet qualifiers, Seth Webber and Gary Peniket, performed well on the big stage, but were unable to drive deep. Webber was dispatched from the tournament at the hands of Hansen, while Peniket departed the table via a bad beat from Bord. After Bord raised from under-the-gun with K-10 of clubs, Peniket decided to make a stand with K-Q. Peniket’s dominant position changed on the flop, which came down 5-10-9 with two clubs, giving Bord the lead. Drawing thin, Peniket could not find one of his seven outs and was eliminated in fifth place.
Bloom got back into the action when he defeated Hendon Mob member Barny Boatman, out-flopping Boatman’s pocket tens with an A-3. After remaining quiet, Bloom began to impose his will on the felt, defeating Bord in a key hand where the WSOP Europe champion held an up-and-down straight draw against Bloom’s flopped two pair and couldn’t find a closer.
After eliminating Bord, Bloom was behind Hansen by about 140,000 chips and the duo only took two hands to decide who would be the champ. After catching pocket queens on his first hand and raising Bloom out, Hansen looked down to see A-8 on the very next hand. After Bloom moved his stack to the center, Hansen decided to look him up and was thrilled to see he was in a dominant position against Bloom’s A-6. An unnecessary eight on the flop sealed the deal for the Danish poker champion, propelling him to victory and the $1 million first place prize.
The victory caps a tremendous year for Hansen. Although he only won $581,073 in tournament poker during 2010, Hansen was able to shed the “Best Player Never to Win a Bracelet” tag by winning the epic marathon that was the £10,000 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up event at this year’s WSOP Europe. The bracelet became the latest addition to Hansen’s trophy chest alongside his three World Poker Tour titles and 2007 win at the Aussie Millions. All totaled, the “Great Dane” has won over $8 million in his career, not counting his Poker Million victory.
Tournament organizers Matchroom Sport have promised to pull out all the stops next year when Poker Million gets its tenth outing. “Poker Million is one of the few remaining poker majors that has truly stood the test of time,” said Eddie Hearn, Managing Director of Matchroom Sport. “It has remained Europe’s most prestigious title and 2011 will see the event reach its tenth year. We plan something very special for Poker Million X and want to give the poker playing public a real shot at the million.”
December 19th – Weekly Update
Welcome back to the Poker News Daily Weekly update where we highlight the biggest stories in the world of poker. I’m your host, Sean Gibson, and let’s get to the news.
Well, It’s shaping up to be an interesting last few days of the current Congressional session for members of the online poker community. On Tuesday, Politico published an article revealing that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was attempting to add a bill legalizing online poker to the measure extending tax cuts.
Politico confirmed Reid’s desires with Senator Orrin Hatch. Senator Jon Kyl, one of the masterminds of the original UIGEA, would not allow the plan to come to fruition. Kyl told Politico,
“[There is] zero chance – no chance whatsoever that would be part of the tax deal. I don’t think it would be the right thing to do.”
We’ll keep you posted on this constantly changing story.
Nearly leading the tournament wire-to-wire, Antonio Esfandiari took down the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, a stop on the World Poker Tour. Esfandiari, a Victory Poker pro, banked eight hundred seventy thousand dollars for his efforts. The tournament can be seen as part of Season Nine of the WPT on Fox Sports Net next year.
Esfandiari edged out fellow Victory Poker pro Andrew Robl heads-up when “The Magician’s” King Jack held against Robl’s Queen Ten on the final hand. Here’s how the final group of six cashed out in the ten thousand dollar buy-in tournament:
1. Antonio Esfandiari – $870,124
2. Andrew “good2cu” Robl – $549,003
3. Vanessa Rousso – $358,964
4. John Racener – $232,271
5. Kirk Morrison – $168,924
6. Ted Lawson – $126,693
Earlier this week, PokerStars took the unexpected step of signing Isildur1. The Swede gained fame by multi-tabling against the world’s best players including Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, and Tom Dwan. The signing is atypical for PokerStars, which usually aims to ink established pros who have had a ton of television face time. This time around, they’ve gone with a player without an identity who has yet to play on TV.
As part of his sponsorship deal, Isildur1 will be taking part in high-stakes heads-up SuperStar Showdown matches exclusively played at PokerStars. These matches are feature a format of twenty five hundred hands at stakes no lower than fifty, one hundred. The official word from PokerStars is that these SuperStar Showdown matches will be played either as No Limit Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha.
Poker News Daily polled the online poker industry to see what reaction several pros had to Isildur1’s signing. CardRunners founder Taylor Caby had this to say:
“I’m definitely excited to see Isildur1 back in the spotlight. As a poker fan, I’ve enjoyed watching him play and I’ll be on the rail when he starts playing again.”
Jay Rosenkrantz, founder of DeucesCracked said:
“Seems like a good move for PokerStars, creating a bit of a distraction too amidst all these legislative happenings. Watching Isildur1 play nosebleeds was better entertainment than anything on television and if they can create that kind of spectacle again, I’m sure it will be a good thing for their business and for poker.”
Unleashed Poker is handing out presents to all of its players this holiday season. Players on the site will have the opportunity to earn numerous prizes as part of Unleashed Poker’s Christmas Giveaways. From now until December Twenty-First, players can pick up exclusive Unleashed Poker swag along with high-end electronics. For those partial to Apple products, iPod Shuffles, iPod Touches, and iPads will be given away.
Players on the virtual felts at Unleashed Poker will earn Frequent Player Points, which can be used for the Christmas Giveaway prizes. Unleashed Poker will give out one FPP for each dollar raked at the tables and every prize has an associated FPP level. Unleashed Poker makes its home on the USA-friendly Cake Poker Network.
Actress Cheryl Hines of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and former World Series of Poker Main Event champ Joe Cada will host the third annual All In For Cerebral Palsy celebrity charity poker tournament at the Venetian’s poker room on Saturday. Proceeds from the event will benefit the One Step Closer Foundation, a non-profit organization whose main goal is to ease the lives of those who suffer from cerebral palsy through financial freedom and social acceptance.
The No Limit Hold’em charity tournament will have a five hundred forty dollar buy-in with unlimited two hundred dollar rebuys for ninety minutes. Half of the prize pool will go for the tournament’s payouts, with the other half going to the foundation. There will also be sports and Hollywood memorabilia available through auctions and an after-party with free drinks courtesy of the One Step Closer Foundation. Players can register at the Venetian Poker Room cage until the end of the rebuy period.
Finally, Full Tilt Poker released a software update on Monday that addressed many of its customers’ requests. Among the new features to the software were an “Auto Add-On” button for rebuys and a “Quick Fold to Any Bet” option for Rush Poker players.
The “Auto Add-On” button was probably the most asked-for feature that Full Tilt’s software was missing up until this latest upgrade. After PokerStars inserted a clickable “Auto Add-On” box for its rebuy tournaments in June of last year, Full Tilt players requested the same. It took well over a year, but the site came through for its multi-tablers who were frustrated about forgetting to add on after the rebuy hour. Full Tilt happily accepts players from the United States.
Well, that does it for a very busy and exciting week in the world of poker. Be sure to stay tuned in to Poker News Daily for the absolute latest in poker news and be sure to follow us at twitter dot com slash poker news daily. I’m Sean Gibson, thanking you for watching and wishing you a sick run this weekend at the tables!
Tom Dwan Cuts Dan Cates’ Lead to $582,000 in Durrrr Challenge
Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Dan “jungleman12” Cates put in a long session on Wednesday, as the two high-stakes stars logged more than 1,400 hands of $200/$400 No Limit Hold’em, moving them past 11,000 hands of the 50,000-hand Durrrr Challenge. Dwan, who entered the day down $755,000 through about 10,000 hands, managed to cut his opponent’s lead by $172,000 despite losing the five biggest pots of the session.
The largest pot of the day went to Cates, who dealt a $169,000 cooler to Dwan early Wednesday morning. With Cates playing a stack of nearly $85,000 and Dwan having him covered, Dwan raised to $1,200 pre-flop and Cates called to see a flop of Ks-8s-5c. Cates checked and Dwan fired a bet of $2,000. Cates check-raised to $7,000 and Dwan put in a 3bet to $19,600. Cates raised again, this time to $42,200, and Dwan moved all-in. Cates called off his remaining stack and tabled 8c-8h for middle set, with Dwan drawing thin with Kh-5h for two pair. The duo decided to run the turn and river twice, and Cates won both to scoop the enormous pot.
Cates won another massive pot worth $124,778 by hitting a four-outer on the river. Cates min-raised pre-flop to $800 and Dwan called to see a flop of Ad-6s-2h. Dwan checked, Cates made a continuation bet of $1,200, and Dwan check-raised to $4,400. Cates took some time before deciding to call. The turn brought the Jh and Dwan slowed down by check-calling a bet of $7,400. The 5c landed on the river and the chips went flying. Dwan checked, Cates bet $21,000, Dwan moved all-in, and Cates quickly called. Dwan’s Ah-5h (two pair) came up short, as Cates revealed 4d-3c for a rivered straight.
Dwan’s biggest win came later on in the match and certainly helped him maintain momentum. Dwan had the button and raised to $1,200 pre-flop. Cates 3bet to $4,400 and Dwan called. On the 7s-7c-2s flop, Cates led out for $4,400 and Dwan raised to $11,900. Cates moved all-in, having Dwan covered, and Dwan called off his remaining $35,500 with Ts-Th; he was in great shape against the 9h-9s of Cates. They decided to run it twice, with the first board filling out 3s-8c to lock up half the pot for Dwan. The second board came 7d-Jc to give Dwan the entire $103,600 pot.
Dwan finished the day up $172,000, surely a relief considering he hadn’t booked a big win against Cates in months. The session ended with Dwan typing the following in the chat box:
durrrr: “foods”
durrrr: “might shower after”
durrrr: “but still shouldn’t b too long”
jungleman12: “good bye”
Dwan and Cates have played nearly 20 hours over the course of 11 sessions, with Cates currently leading by $582,788. Meanwhile, Dwan’s first Durrrr Challenge against Patrik Antonius is at a standstill, with Dwan leading by more than $2 million through 39,000 hands. Dwan and Antonius haven’t played since August 3rd.
With no set schedule in place, Dwan and Cates could fire up another session at any point, so stay tuned to Poker News Daily and our sister site, DurrrrChallenge.com, for the latest updates.
Dwan dominates December - “cadillac1944? and Patrik Antonius the biggest losers
Undoubtedly most railbirds have been following Isildur1 on PokerStars lately, but there has been some big games going on at Full Tilt Poker as well.
Tom “durrrr” Dwan is leading the December’s winning chart at the moment. He has won about 650,000 dollars for now and his domination doesn’t show no end. There’s some players just behind Dwan though: Di “Urindanger” Dang ($550K), Andreas “skerjoy” Torbergsen ($530K) and “IHateJuice” ($434K).
There’s two really big losers in December: “Cadillac1944″ (-$1,2M) and Patrik Antonius (-$860K).
The whole December’s Winner/Loser list below (remember that there’s still no results from the big 2-7 Triple Draw games):
Source: Pokerista.net, HSDB
You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com
Dwan dominates December - “cadillac1944″ and Patrik Antonius the biggest losers
Poker Industry Buzzing About Isildur1 Signing with PokerStars
Yesterday, PokerStars took the unexpected step of signing the online enigma Isildur1. The Swede gained fame by multi-tabling against the world’s best players including Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan.
The signing is atypical for PokerStars, which usually aims to ink established pros who have had a ton of television face time. This time around, they’ve gone with a player without an identity who has yet to play on television.
As part of his sponsorship deal, Isildur1 will be taking part in high-stakes heads-up SuperStar Showdown matches exclusively played at PokerStars. These matches are feature a format of 2,500 hands at stakes no lower than $50/$100. The official word from PokerStars is that these SuperStar Showdown matches will be played either as No Limit Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha.
Poker News Daily polled a number of big names in the world of poker and asked for their impressions of the Isildur1 signing.
Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby, Founder of CardRunners: “I’m definitely excited to see Isildur1 back in the spotlight. As a poker fan, I’ve enjoyed watching him play and I’ll be on the rail when he starts playing again.”
Brian “BW07507” Wilbur, instructor at LeggoPoker: “I am really glad to see that Isildur1 will be playing again. I think he is great for poker and look forward to watch some of his matches with other high-stakes PokerStars players.”
“Verneer,” coach at CardRunners: “I am surprised to hear that Isildur1 signed with PokerStars since most of the elite heads-up players are all on Full Tilt. That said, I’m excited that we’ll be seeing more of the biggest high-stakes game catalyst online on a regular basis.”
Dusty “Leatherass9” Schmidt, member of Team PokerStars Pro Online: “It looks like the high-stakes action will be heating up on PokerStars! I can’t wait to sweat what will surely be some epic high-stakes matches.”
Jay Rosenkrantz, founder of DeucesCracked: “Seems like a good move for PokerStars, creating a bit of a distraction too amidst all these legislative happenings. Watching Isildur1 play nosebleeds was better entertainment than anything on television and if they can create that kind of spectacle again, I’m sure it will be a good thing for their business and for poker. The SuperStar Showdown matches seem really gimmicky. What grabbed people’s attention was the mass multi-tabling against Dwan, Ivey, Antonius, and the like, so they need to deliver something on that level. Otherwise, it’s just another new addition to Stars’ ever-growing young squad of pros.”
John “JimmyLegs” Wray, CardRunners coach: “It seems odd that they’d want him representing PokerStars considering their squeaky clean image and the ongoing battle to convince the world that poker is a legitimate game of skill. As fun as he is to watch, Isildur1 comes across as a turbo-bonkers degenerate gambler.”
Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, high-stakes tournament pro: “Reading his signing in the headlines caught me by surprise because we are so used to seeing people get signed after making their name and face known on television. With that said, the mystery behind Isildur1 and his uniqueness is a great thing to market and will create a great buzz for online poker.”
The SuperStar Showdown promotion page is up on the PokerStars website and states that the winner is the one who shows a profit after 2,500 hands or wins all of their opponent’s match bankroll. Anyone can challenge Isildur1 to a match, assuming they have the bankroll, by sending in an e-mail. The matches will be seen inside the cash game lobby under “Hold’em,” “No Limit/Pot Limit,” and “Showdown.”
The first match Isildur1 will have will take place on December 19th at 6:00pm ET against a challenger that has yet to be announced. According to PokerTableRatings.com, which tracks No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha games, Isildur1 is down $2.59 million since the site began following him. He was also the first person ever to lose a seven-figure pot, but also won a $1.1 million pot against Ivey just two days later.
Although he is down over $2.59 million lifetime, he is up $2.4 million playing No Limit Hold’em cash games. Isildur1’s identity remains confidential, with many believing that his true identity is Viktor Blom. His last session of note was back on October 6th, when he lost about $50,000.
PokerStars Signs Isildur1
In a surprising move, the terror of the nosebleed stakes, Isildur1, has signed a sponsorship deal to become the latest member of the Team PokerStars Pro stable.
Although he still has not, as of yet, announced his name or released any photos, Isildur1 becomes the top online cash game player that the largest site in the industry has been able to snare. The announcement today also indicates what the future will hold for the Swedish high roller.
“I chose to join PokerStars because it’s the biggest site and it will be an exciting challenge,” Isildur1 stated during the announcement. “It means a great deal to be playing on a team alongside players such as Daniel Negreanu, Dario Minieri, and Johnny Lodden.”
2011 should bring Isildur1 to the live felt under the sponsorship from PokerStars, something that he admits he is preparing himself for. “My goals now are to improve my live game for some upcoming events,” Isildur1 continued in the PokerStars statement. “(I will) continue to focus on Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em, but also try to develop my Pot Limit Omaha game.”
The news of the signing of Isildur1 to a sponsorship deal excited one of the leaders of Team PokerStars Pro, Negreanu. “It’s not every day that a player like Isildur1 comes along,” Negreanu stated during the announcement. “If you look up the definition of the term ‘phenom,’ you’ll see a picture of his face!”
Negreanu observed that, when the Swedish poker pro takes to the virtual felt, it’s an iconic moment in the poker community. “When he is playing, the poker world takes notice,” the Canadian poker pro explained. “Hate to overuse the poker term ‘sick,’ but Isildur1’s No Limit Hold’em game is just that – sick! Few people step up to the plate against him, but the ones who have universally respect his raw talent.”
To celebrate the arrival of the Swedish pro, PokerStars has already built a promotion around him that is sure to draw plenty of action. The Superstar Showdown will allow players to battle Isildur1. At stakes no lower than $50/$100, Isildur1 will take on all comers for a 2,500-hand heads-up match either in No Limit Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha. The winner of the Superstar Showdown will be the player who shows a profit for the match after the requisite 2,500 hands or takes the other player’s bankroll.
PokerStars is already fielding plenty of challengers for Isildur1 through a special e-mail that has been established. This e-mail address, showdown@pokerstars.com, is reserved for those who have the bankroll to take on the Swedish wunderkind. PokerStars states in the promotion, “Only serious applicants will get a response.”
For those with lesser bankrolls, PokerStars is also offering a chance to earn your way into a heads-up match against Isildur1. SuperStar Showdown qualifiers will start on December 13th and run through April 3rd. These qualifiers will feed players into finals that will be played on February 13th and April 10th. The winners of these two finals will take a $15,000 bankroll heads-up against Isildur1 and, if the winner is able to take the Swedish pro’s bankroll in the heads-up match, they’ll earn a $10,000 bonus. Be warned, however, that Isildur1 has the same motivation to break the winner. If he does, then he receives the $10,000 bonus.
Perhaps because of the mystery surrounding his identity – many have assumed he is noted pro Viktor Blom, among other players – the poker world stops when Isildur1 brings his bankroll to the tables. Over the past year, Isildur1’s bankroll has been in excess of $5.3 million at its peak according to PokerTableRatings.com and he has battled the likes of Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan at previously unimaginable stakes.
Isildur1 has been involved in all 10 of the largest pots in online poker history according to PokerTableRatings.com and also has the distinction of losing the first ever pot in excess of $1 million. Even with these swings, Isildur1 continues to battle against the best in the game. Visit PokerStars today.
High-Stakes Phenom Isildur1 Signs With PokerStars
The online high-stakes star, who took the poker world by storm last fall playing seven of the ten largest pots in online poker history with the likes of Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius, including the first two worth over one million dollars, is now a Team PokerStars Pro.
While widely rumored to be Viktor Blom, he has still yet to publicly reveal his identity. PokerStars now says he will do so in the very near future.
“I chose to join PokerStars because it's the biggest site and it will be an exciting challenge," Isildur1 said. "It means a great deal to be playing in a team alongside players such as Daniel Negreanu, Dario Minieri and Johnny Lodden.
“My goals now are to improve my live game for some upcoming events, continue to focus on Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em, but also try to develop my Pot-Limit Omaha game.”
In an attempt to prove he is the top heads-up cash game player on the planet, Isildur1 will be playing a series of high stakes heads-up matches on PokerStars.
The SuperStar Showdown format consists of a single session of 2,500 hands at no lower than $50/$100.
The first match will begin at 6 p.m. ET Dec. 19 with the opponent to be named in the coming days.
"It’s not every day that a player like Isildur1 comes along," said fellow Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. "If you look up the definition of the term ‘phenom’ you'll see a picture of his face.
"When he is playing, the poker world takes notice. Hate to overuse the poker term ‘sick’ but Isildur’s No-Limit Hold'em game is just that – sick!
"Few people step up to the plate against him, but the ones who have, universally have respect for his raw talent.”
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