Poker News

The “durrrr” Challenge: Dwan Leads Antonius by Over a Million

The “durrrr” Challenge: Dwan Leads Antonius by Over a Million

The “durrrr” Challenge: Dwan Leads Antonius by Over a Million

Ivey Loses $320k to Ziigmund

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Phil Ivey Loses $320k to Ziigmund

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The “durrrr” Challenge: Dwan Pads Lead by $58,781

Ziigmund canes Antonius for $844,000

PokerStars Announces 2010 Nordic Poker Awards

The Nordic Poker Awards, previously the Scandinavian Poker Awards, will celebrate the best players from Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden on Feb. 15 – the day before EPT Copenhagen begins.

This year there are 30 nominees from across the four Nordic countries.

Some of the notable players to be nominated include Peter Eastgate, Patrik Antonius, Ville Wahlbeck, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Ilari Sahamies, Jens Kyllonen and Erik Sagstrom.

The categories for 2010 include Best Live Tournament Player, Best Performance, Best Online Player and Rookie of the Year.

Award winners will be chosen by a public vote.

All EPT players are invited to the awards ceremony, which will be held at Park Café in Copenhagen at 8 p.m.

Check the PokerStars website for the complete list of nominees.

Ziigmund Breaks $1.5 Million Mark

Sahamies is now up over $1.6 million for the year with the majority of the profit coming from the last eight days.

Despite his reputation as a wild gambler, Sahamies has not logged a losing day on the online tables since Jan. 20.

His session yesterday began at $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha where he lost $14k against regular opponents Cole South, Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Gus Hansen.

After an hour and 108 hands, Sahamies made the move to $300/$600 PLO heads-up against South. In just 28 minutes (55 hands) Sahamies took over $252k.

After an eight hour break, Sahamies returned to $300/$600 PLO to play Patrik Antonius heads-up, but once again only stayed for about 20 minutes and 59 hands.

In the short match Sahamies took $53k from Antonius bringing him up to $296k on the day.

Dwan, who has struggled at the tables since his $5 million dollar string of losses in late 2009, sat for over 2,000 hands, but only managed to finish the day up $27k.

Antonius still seems to be having trouble finding his footing this year, which is a stark contrast to his domination in 2009.

The Team Full Tilt pro played three matches of heads-up PLO losing $54k to Sahamies, $78k to South and winning a modest $5k from Dwan.

In total Antonius adds over $126k to his losses in 2010.

Despite losing over $134k, and finishing as the day's top loser, South remains one of the year's most profitable players, up over $1 million.

Below you can see three of the largest hands from the previous sessions, or head to MarketPulse for hundreds more.

Patrik Antonius Dumps $826k

Antonius' session started at $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha against Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies.

Dwan, who had been at the table for 30 minutes prior to Antonius taking a seat, left just a few hands after Antonius's arrival.

Just 20 minutes later, Dwan's spot at the table was taken by Cole South, setting the cast for the remainder of the session.

Despite his best efforts, and multiple re-loads, Antonius seemed doomed to end up on the short end of the stick, dumping over $800k in just two and a half hours.

Fellow Finn Sahamies took the largest chunk of profit from Antonius, thanks in part to winning the biggest pot of the session – worth just over $281k. In total, Sahamies won just over $436k.

Including another $252k profit mostly from a heads-up session against South and a $14k loss on another table earlier this morning, Sahamies earned a massive $674k for the day, making him the most profitable player on the year with over $1.5 million.

After making over $257k from Antonius and an additional $118k from $100/$200 PLO, it was looking like a big session for South until he sat down at $300/$600 PLO to play Sahamies heads-up again. The $252 loss left him with just over $165k profit on the day.

Dwan, who has been busy playing live poker at the Aussie Millions, added $164k to his comeback by playing a mix of PLO and No-Limit Hold'em. This latest profit leaves Dwan down only $240k on the year.

Below you can see the three largest pots from the day, or you can head to MarketPulse to see the rest.

Ilari Sahamies and Cole South against Patrik Antonius

There was a very interesting 3-handed Omaha session on Full Tilt Poker yesterday. There was no fishes involved as the three fearless lads clashed against each other.

Foes on the poker table, friends outside the game. Antonius and Sahamies.

Ilari Sahamies started the session with a heads up against Patrik Antonius, but shortly after Cole South joined their tables. And as you can guess, the game got very aggressive when all three got deep stacks in front of them.

It was Patrik Antonius who ended up losing this time around. They played $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha and Sahamies won almost all the big hands.

Ziigmund and Antonius in the biggest pot of the session - $281k
Cole South cracks Ziigmund’s top set - $268k
Also Antonius manages to win a big pot - $258k

In the end Antonius left the tables when he was around $810k down leaving Sahamies and South counting their winnings from the last 24 hours. Sahamies was up $454k and South $386k. South was running hot on PokerStars as well as he won nicely from “nutsinho” playing heads up.

Ziigmund: how much u end up?
Cole South: no clue, was playing a bunch of games and not sure what i won where
Cole South: u
Cole South: i was stuck a lot at first here
Ziigmund: totally up
Ziigmund: like
Ziigmund: 600
Cole South: live results says around +400k but a bunch of that was mix and 50100 plo
Ziigmund: when started with patrik
Cole South: not a bad day to be ziigmund
Ziigmund: lost for durrrrr 200
Cole South: gg
Ziigmund: gg

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Ilari Sahamies and Cole South against Patrik Antonius

Antonius, Dwan, Ivey and Hastings Crush 7-Game

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gus Hansen Leans on Patrik Antonius

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jonas “Nebuchad” Danielsson Announces Retirement From Poker

On Friday, a top European online poker professional announced that he would quit playing poker, citing fatigue and a depleted bankroll as the reasons.

Swedish professional Jonas “Nebuchad” Danielsson, in a rambling blog post issued last week, stated (in a rough translation from the original Swedish), “The fire and passion I had for poker is now complete. It's like a bonfire that burned all night and now (it) hisses in the morning.” Citing an inability to sleep and the desire to experience other things in life, Danielsson says that the decision to quit playing poker has been brewing in his mind for the past two years; only now did the time feel right for his retirement.

In addition to the physical desire to stop playing, “Nebuchad” also states in the blog that he couldn’t do what most players do when faced with a depleted bankroll. There were “hints,” he says, from his fellow players that he should step down in levels and attempt to rebuild, which Danielsson pushed aside for two reasons. First, Jonas writes, “It would not change my financial situation. I should not have to work harder in my life, if I play my cards right.”

The second reason demonstrates one of the pitfalls of all players, whether they play at high-stakes or micro-stakes: “Secondly, going from top to bottom anywhere on the table and the risk of going out is too much for my vanity psyche. Without exaggerating, I would find it hard to look people in the eye.” Ego is something that all players have to face at some point in their poker playing lifetimes.

“Nebuchad” continues with a couple of memories that made him one of the top online players in the world. He discusses his legendary battles against Patrik Antonius, including a breakdown of a few hands, and remembers the moments quite fondly. “I can’t describe the feeling I had in poker (that day),” Jonas recalls.

In a down moment for his poker career, Danielsson recaps what should have been one of the top moments in his life. In 2008 during the Scandinavian Poker Awards, Jonas won the best online player award and accepted it from top professional Daniel Negreanu. When Negreanu asked him what his screen name meant, “Nebuchad” responded with a statement that implied that he disliked members of the Jewish faith. It was a statement that was taken out of context and, since that time, Danielsson has stated he meant no disrespect of the Jewish people and that he was highly nervous during the awards ceremony.

In a thread on the TwoPlusTwo forums, the common belief is that the Swede will be back at some point. The poster "mumrik" writes, “(From his blog post), it doesn’t seem like he has given up the thought of playing poker completely.” "GiantWalleye" agrees and cites his own experience: “I played fulltime back in 04-06, got bored and got a job. (I) realized I didn't like working and was back to playing fulltime by ‘08. He will be back.”

In his live playing career, Danielsson had been suffering from a downswing. According to the HendonMob database, “Nebuchad” did not cash in a live event in 2009 and only took in approximately $190,000 over his four-year live career. Jonas cashed in three events during the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and earned his best live cash, a third place in the Swedish Poker Championships for $67,658, early in the year. The earnings from his online cash games, however, are said to have Danielsson well off. At some point, the desire for the game could potentially bring “Nebuchad” back from the grave.

Patrik Antonius ends 2009 with $9m profit online

WSOPE To Air On ESPN2

Cable network ESPN2 will unveil its coverage with back-to-back one-hour episodes beginning at 11 p.m. ET Jan. 31 featuring action from the inaugural Caesars Cup.

Filmed live at the Casino at the Empire in London, England, the Caesars Cup features some of the biggest names in the game including Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, Annette Obrestad, Peter Eastgate and Patrik Antonius, playing in a unique Team Europe vs. Team Americas format.

WSOPE Main Event action begins airing Feb. 7 at 10 p.m. ET with poker’s elite battling it out for the bracelet and $1.3 million first-place prize.

Lon McEachern and Norman Chad will reprise their familiar roles as hosts for the show and will be joined on each WSOP Europe telecast by sideline reporter Kara Scott.

New WSOPE episodes will air on ESPN2 through the end of Februrary.

Poker2Nite wonders where Patrik Antonius is

The latest episode of Poker2Nite is out. This time they wonder where has Patrik Antonius vanished.

Antonius is being missed in the big live games and Poker2Nite is speculating where he is. Some other topics are the interview of the famous tournament director Matt Savage, some chat about Shaun Deeb and a few interesting hands from the past.

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Poker2Nite wonders where Patrik Antonius is

High-Stakes in 2010: A Slow Start

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ilari Sahamies writes about 2009: “Little more sense and I could’ve won 7 million”

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies writes about his New Year’s partying at Tahko, Finland. Even though the party was a success, he lost his third tattoo bet.

Patrik Antonius and Ilari Sahamies were big winners in 2009 on Full Tilt Poker

Sahamies continues to tell that all the games in 2009 went very well, except when he lost 2,2 million dollars to Isildur1 and a bit less to some other players in December.

“I dont wanna say my all statements from every sites and cashgames last year but from Fulltilt I won 3,3 million…I should be fine with that but im not.Little bit more sense and I was winning like 7″, Sahamies writes in his latest blog entry.

Sahamies sets some goals for 2010 as well: he promises not to play when he is tired or in tilt.

The next time Ziigmund will play live is in Finland, in Helsinki Freezeout which starts this Friday.

Source: Ilari’s blog

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Ilari Sahamies writes about 2009: “Little more sense and I could’ve won 7 million”

2009 WSOP Europe Air Dates Announced

Fans of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe won’t have to wait long for the tournament series to air on ESPN. The first episode kicks off on Sunday, January 31st at 11:00pm ET and a total of 10 hours will air.

The opening episode will be one of two recapping the Caesars Cup, a made-for-television tournament that featured Team Europe taking on Team Americas. The former ultimately crushed the Americas squad four matches to one, with the stars of poker turning out to compete on behalf of their continents. Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu captained the Americas squad, which also featured DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson, 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey, 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Huck Seed, 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event winner John Juanda, Big Game player Jennifer Harman, and Barry Greenstein, who was a last-minute replacement for Chris Ferguson.

The American squad held a total of 45 gold bracelets and more than $50 million in career earnings. Their foes: Team Europe, led by 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion and Betfair pro Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad. Her group of young guns included 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate, Italian poker sensation Dario Minieri, 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure victor Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Power Poker front man Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, and Betfair qualifier John Harvey, a 47 year-old pipe inspector from Scotland.

On March 1st, the second of two hours dedicated to the Caesars Cup will air on ESPN. The festivities kick off at Midnight ET and serve as the run-up to the WSOP Europe Main Event, which will begin on February 7th. The £10,000 buy-in tournament drew a crowd of 334 runners and featured one of the toughest final tables ever assembled in WSOP Europe history. Two members of the November Nine – James Akenhead and Antoine Saout – reached the feature table in London, a feat accomplished in 2008 by Ivan Demidov.

Also at the WSOP Europe Main Event final table was Negreanu, the face of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge,” who took fifth in the same event in 2008. Joining Negreanu was Barry Shulman, whose son, Jeff Shulman, reached the final table of the Main Event in Las Vegas. The duo was seeking to make poker history as the first father/son team to win poker’s most coveted bracelets in the same year. The final table lasted 16 and a half hours and the entire WSOP Europe schedule panned out at the Casino at the Empire in London.

Here is the schedule for the 2009 WSOP Europe Caesars Cup and Main Event on ESPN. All times are Eastern and each episode runs for one hour:

Sunday, January 31st: 11:00pm (Caesars Cup)
Monday, February 1st: 12:00am (Caesars Cup)
Sunday, February 7th: 10:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 7th: 11:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Monday, February 8th: 12:00am (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 14th: 11:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Monday, February 15th: 12:00am (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Monday, February 15th: 1:00am (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 28th: 9:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 28th: 10:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)

Poker PROductions filmed WSOP Europe for ESPN. The same company also brings poker television staples like NBC’s “Poker After Dark” and GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” to life. Last August, ESPN and the WSOP reached an agreement to keep the tournament series on the cable station until April 2018. The WSOP attracts a total viewing audience of more than 80 million people each year and at least 32 hours of coverage will air annually.

WSOP Europe air dates outside of the United States will likely be announced soon.

Face the Ace: Nico Mamy Drops $200,000 Match to Mike Matusow

Frenchman Nico Mamy hit a brick wall named Mike Matusow on Saturday’s installment of the poker game show “Face the Ace.” He dropped the $200,000 match in the process on what was the final episode of the series. It aired at 2:30pm ET on NBC.

Mamy’s wife taught him how to play poker and, in a battle of non-U.S. competitors, the French online poker pro squared off against Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius in the $40,000 match. In a key hand, Mamy doubled up after raising pre-flop to 1,100 with A-K, including the ace of diamonds. Antonius, holding Q-10, including the ten of diamonds, made the call to see the flop come 2-9-8 with two diamonds. Antonius led out for 2,000 and Mamy called. The turn came the seven of diamonds, putting three of the suit on the board, and the action went check-check. The river filled both players’ flushes. Antonius bet 5,000 and Mamy shoved over the top for 9,500. Antonius called and Mamy doubled up.

Holding A-8, Antonius raised to 3,100 pre-flop and Mamy pushed with pocket sixes. Antonius called with his “Face the Ace” tournament life on the line, but on this episode, no crowd gathered around to watch the all-in confrontation. The board ran out J-K-2-9-9, giving Mamy the win in the $40,000 match. “Face the Ace” host Steve Schirripa, of “The Sopranos” fame, then asked Mamy if he wanted to take the money and run or play another ace for $200,000. Mamy decided to continue and selected the ace of spades, Matusow.

In a key hand for the online qualifier, Mamy coyly called pre-flop with A-K and Matusow raised to 6,000 with A-9. Mamy pushed the action to 17,000 and Matusow made it 39,000. Mamy moved all-in for 98,000 and Matusow tossed his hand into the muck. Mamy pulled down the pot of 137,000, giving him better than a 2:1 edge in the critical match.

Then, Many’s luck turned for the worse. Holding J-8, he called pre-flop and Matusow checked his option with J-9. The flop came J-J-2, giving both players trips, but Matusow held the better hand with a nine kicker. Matusow bet 6,000 and Mamy called, bringing a king on the turn. Matusow check-called a 6,000-chip bet from Mamy and the river fell a six. Matusow checked with the best hand and Mamy bet out 16,000. Matusow called and scooped a 68,000-chip pot, giving him the lead in the match for good.

Several hands later, Mamy was crippled and once again held J-8. This time, he limped pre-flop with his soon-to-be least favorite hand and Matusow checked with J-10. The flop came 9-7-3, giving both players a gutshot straight draw, but an eight on the turn filled Matusow’s hand. At the same time, Mamy made a pair, which turned into trips when another eight hit on the river. Matusow checked, Mamy bet 28,000, and Matusow pushed for 60,500. Mamy called, doubling Matusow up. The qualifier told Schirripa, “It’s tough to fold trip eights in that situation heads-up.” Mamy was sent packing on the next hand shown, leaving the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas empty-handed.

The final qualifier on “Face the Ace” was Drake Jackson, whom Schirripa labeled “cocky” multiple times, eliciting an eye-roll from the Full Tilt Poker patron on one occasion. Jackson claimed he was afraid of playing Huck Seed, but instead wanted to play Phil Gordon because Seed is a better player. Nevertheless, Jackson bested Allen Cunningham after making a flush on the turn in the match’s final hand. Jackson won $40,000 and elected to leave with the money rather than play on for $200,000.

In a comical segment shown after the final cards were dealt, Jackson, Seed, and Gordon appeared in a back room. The latter irately commented, “You trash talked me on national television. I want to go for it on that $40,000 you just won. I got a dealer right over there. Sit down and play a chump.” Unfortunately for viewers at home, no match aired.

“Face the Ace” struggled mightily in the ratings after premiering on August 1st and its future now appears to be up in the air.

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.

Poker After Dark Season 6 Kicks off January 4th

Fans of the popular NBC poker franchise “Poker After Dark” won’t have to wait long after the clock strikes Midnight this evening to catch the show’s sixth season, which debuts on Monday night, January 4th, at 2:05am ET.

Ali Nejad and Leeann Tweeden will reprise their “Poker After Dark” announcing and hosting roles, respectively, as the show enters season number six. The first week is entitled “Commentators III” and, while the name isn’t very catchy, the action on the felt should be nail biting. Howard Lederer, Gabe Kaplan, Joe Sebok, Nejad, Mark Gregorich, and Kara Scott will all play in “Poker After Dark’s” Season 6 premiere. Sebok, who hosts UB.com’s “Poker2Nite,” and Scott, the new floor reporter for GSN’s “High Stakes Poker,” are making their “Poker After Dark” debuts. You can catch “Commentators III” beginning on January 4th.

A total of 13 shows were filmed for Season 6 of “Poker After Dark,” including six-handed freezeouts and three different buy-in cash games. Followers of 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champion Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad will be able to catch the youngster on a special “Nicknames” episode that also features Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, and Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth. Obrestad, a Betfair pro, turned 21 in September and is finally old enough to gamble legally on U.S. soil.

A $50,000 buy-in cash game features a star-studded lineup of Brandon Adams, Todd Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Matusow, Esfandiari, and Hellmuth. A press release distributed by Poker PROductions notes, “Any time Matusow and Hellmuth play against each other in a cash game, the insults alone make for must-see-television.” A high-stakes $150,000 buy-in cash game will see Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Patrik Antonius, David “Viffer” Peat, Eli Elezra, Kaplan, and Alan Meltzer take to the felts. The six are staples of “High Stakes Poker” and one mounts the comeback of the century.

One of the more notable freezeout themes is “Lonesome Shark,” which features Lindgren, James Akenhead, Esfandiari, Matusow, David Williams, and Brad Booth. What do they all have in common, you ask? All six are poker’s most eligible bachelors and the heads-up battle in this episode is one of the longest of the season. Mixed Martial Arts will take center stage shortly thereafter in a show featuring UFC announcer Bruce Buffer, Antonius, Strikeforce fighter Dan Henderson, former UFC champion Randy Couture, Lederer, and Lindgren.

Here is the schedule through April for new episodes of Season 6 of “Poker After Dark” according to NBC.com:

Week of January 4th - Commentators III
Howard Lederer, Gabe Kaplan, Joe Sebok, Ali Nejad, Mark Gregorich, Kara Scott

Week of January 11th – Nicknames
Annette Obrestad, Mike Matusow, Antonio Esfandiari, Erick Lindgren, Phil Laak, Phil Hellmuth

Week of March 15th - Cash Game $50,000 buy-in, Part 1
Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Brandon Adams, Todd Brunson, Mike Matusow

Week of March 22nd – Cash Game $50,000 buy-in, Part 2
Todd Brunson, Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Brandon Adams, Antonio Esfandiari, Chris Ferguson

Week of April 19th - My Favorite Pro
Craig Ivey, James Ashby, Steve Bartlett, Phil Hellmuth, Jens Voertmann, Chris Ferguson

Week of April 26th - He Said, She Said
Erica Schoenberg, Jean-Robert Bellande, David Grey, Karina Jett, Mike Matusow, Annie Duke

Additional dates for new episodes will be announced in the future and re-runs of popular shows will also air over the first four months of 2009. “Poker After Dark” will take a hiatus during the weeks of February 15th and 22nd due to the Winter Olympics, which NBC owns the rights to.

“Poker After Dark” and “High Stakes Poker,” both products of Poker PROductions, were filmed in October at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas. The latter begins airing on GSN on Sunday, February 14th.

2009 Poker News Story of the Year

What is the poker news story of the year for 2009? Is it Swedish online poker pro Isildur1 igniting the high-stakes cash game world? Is it the World Poker Tour (WPT) being sold to Party Gaming? Is it something else? Poker News Daily’s staff evaluates the nominees.

In a poll posted on Poker News Daily asking readers to choose which of five news stories was the most important of 2009, an overwhelming majority picked the high-stakes cash game action featuring Isildur1. Others selected Joe Cada becoming the youngest winner of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, while many readers picked the delay of mandatory compliance with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Also receiving votes were Party Gaming’s purchase of the WPT and the sudden closure of several high-profile poker rooms.

We asked each of our writers to select one option and argue why it is the top poker news story of 2009. Here’s what they had to say. Don’t forget to voice your choice in the poll to the right of this article.

Isildur1 Ignites High-Stakes Poker Scene
By Brett Collson

With the Durrrr Challenge moving at a crawl and the rest of the nosebleed games on Full Tilt Poker lacking in attendance, it appeared that the online high-stakes action was deteriorating in the fall of 2009. That all changed when an unknown Scandinavian with a seemingly bottomless bankroll appeared out of nowhere to take on anyone up to the challenge. Isildur1 shocked the world when he exploded onto the scene in November, recording multi-million dollar wins over Tom "durrrr" Dwan, the man we all perceived to be unbeatable. Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, and many others took notice and sat down with the Swede, resulting in swings that the online poker world had never witnessed before. At one point, Isildur1 had a profit of around $5 million, but after a number of losing sessions and a record-setting match against Brian Hastings, he was stuck nearly $3 million in a matter of weeks. While his masked emergence may have been brief, the mysterious Isildur1 changed the dynamic of high-stakes poker on the internet.

Joe Cada Becomes Youngest WSOP Main Event Champ Ever
By Jessica Welman

While Isildur1’s online run was impressive and the UIGEA delay was important, ask the casual poker fan what happened this year and they’ll likely cite the 2009 WSOP Main Event final table. This year’s November Nine had everything - big names, great stories, broken records, and a lot of suckouts. Fans were surely sad to see Phil Ivey bust in seventh place, but young Joe Cada has proven to be a more than adequate ambassador, as he brought poker to the mainstream media with appearances on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” CNN, “WWE Monday Night Raw,” “ESPN SportsCenter,” and Time Magazine. “The Kid” and his fellow November Niners captured the attention of people who typically didn’t give poker a second thought and took huge strides towards taking the game out of the backrooms, out of cyberspace, and into the spotlight, which no other poker headline was able to achieve in 2009.

WPT Sold to Party Gaming
By Earl Burton

There are several reasons why the sale of the WPT to Party Gaming is the top story of 2009 in poker. The most important reason is that, for the first time in its illustrious history, the WPT is now on a firm financial footing with an organization that can promote it to the fullest. In the future, with Party Gaming’s financial backing, there shouldn’t be problems securing tournament venues or television contracts. With the ability of Party Gaming, through its online poker site PartyPoker, to provide satellites for players to earn their way into events, tournament fields will probably grow in the coming year, potentially even returning to the “glory days” of a few years ago before the UIGEA. These and many other reasons should continue to keep the WPT in the same stratosphere as the WSOP and makes the sale of the WPT to Party Gaming the top story of 2009.

UIGEA Compliance Deadline Delayed
By Dan Cypra

I wonder whether I would even be here right now if the UIGEA regulation compliance date of December 1st had stood. The online poker industry in the United States, which feeds live tournaments around the world, could have potentially come to a screeching halt. Although nobody knows for sure what the real-world implications of the delay will be, the actions by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke essentially preserved the status quo for another six months until June 1st, 2010. The delay marked the most important legislative development since the UIGEA was passed in 2006 and should be the most important poker news story of the year.

Pitbull Poker/Eurolinx/BetOnBet Closures
By Tom Jenkins

The closures of a handful of notable online poker sites represented a dark chapter of 2009. Pitbull Poker, Eurolinx, and BetOnBet all shut their doors to the general public, with thousands of poker players potentially out money as a result. Given the circumstances surrounding their closures, one can easily see why the very foundation of the online poker world could be disrupted going forward. Players must be able to trust that their money is safe when they deposit online given that very little punishment exists for wrongdoing by poker rooms. The wave of closures may ultimately lead to industry consolidation in 2010 and beyond, making this one of the top news headlines of the 2009 calendar year.

Returns

Filming of 13 different shows concluded in October at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas featuring a mixture of well-known regulars from previous seasons and thirteen players making their Poker After Dark debut.

Ali Nejad, returns to provide commentary and Leeann Tweeden is back for her third season as the show’s host.

Seven of the new shows will follow the traditional Poker After Dark week-long six-handed winner-take-all freezeout format while the remaining six will feature cash games of varying buy-ins that will each air over a two-week period.

Producers say there are first-time winners, matches that end in dramatic fashion, huge swings, plenty of laughs and many other memorable moments.

The season will kick-off Jan. 4 with a Poker After Dark staple: The “Commentators” episode, featuring Nejad and High Stakes Poker host Gabe Kaplan along with newcomer Joe Sebok from Poker2Nite and Kaplan’s new co-host Kara Scott.

A “Nicknames” episode will follow that includes Annette “The Huntress” Obrestad’s Poker After Dark debut and great names like Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, and Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth.

The first cash game episodes to air will feature a $50,000 minimum buy-in and players including, Todd Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Matusow, Esfandiari, and Hellmuth.

In what could be the first win for an amateur on Poker After Dark a “My Favorite Pro” episode will air including online qualifiers Craig Ivey from Australia, James Ashby from Alabama, Jens Voertmann from Germany, and 2009 Howard Lederer Charity Event winner Steve Bartlett playing alongside Hellmuth and Ferguson.

In a match similar to the “Battle of the Sexes” theme of Season 2, a “He Said, She Said” episode will include Erica Schoenberg, Jean-Robert Bellande, David Grey, Matusow, Annie Duke and Karina Jett, making her Poker After Dark debut.

The next cash game show has a $100,000 minimum buy-in and includes some of the biggest cash players in the world. Here Hellmuth will take on Eli Elezra, Doyle Brunson, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Gus Hansen, and Laak.

A “Lonesome Shark” show will feature bachelors Lindgren, James Akenhead, Esfandiari, Matusow, David Williams, and Brad Booth and there is a “Mixed Martial Arts” show featuring Bruce Buffer, Dan Henderson, Randy Couture and Patrik Antonius.

The third and final cash game has a $150,000 minimum buy-in and includes Dwan, Antonius, David Peat, Elezra, Kaplan, and Alan Meltzer.

Finally, the season wraps up with a “Charity in Mind” show, highlighting the charity work of players including Phil Gordon, Jennifer Harman, Andy Bloch, Duke, Lederer and Ferguson.

Season 6 begins Jan. 4 in Poker After Dark’s regular 2:05 a.m. timeslot on NBC.

For more information and the entire schedule, check out the Poker After Dark page on NBC’s website.

Top 5 of 2009: Isildur1 and the Seven-Figure Pots

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. 2: Isildur1 and the Seven-Figure Pots.

An unknown Swedish player using the name Isildur1 first showed up on Full Tilt’s $25/$50 tables in September to very little fanfare.

Before long he was crushing the regulars, most notably taking close to $500k from Haseeb "INTERNETPOKERS" Qureshi.

Soon after he was taking on all comers at $200/$400, $300/$600 and even $500/$1,000 and the poker world began to take notice.

Those who weren’t paying attention were suddenly forced to when the unknown Swede rocked Tom "durrrr" Dwan for $3 million over four days of action in early November.

Isildur1 continued to pound on Dwan, raking in another $2.2 million, as players like Phil Ivey, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, Brian Townsend and Patrik Antonius stepped up.

As he traded pots with the biggest names in online poker's biggest games, rumors of Isildur1's true identity ran rampant and Dwan was left shaking his head and hoping for another shot.

“He’s a big action player and he did very well versus me,” Dwan told PokerListings. “Hopefully we’ll play again in the future and things will swing more in my favor.”

The action really heated up by mid-November, when Antonius and Isildiur1 teamed up to break the one-year-old record for the largest pot in online poker history, tangling over a whopping $878,959.

Less than a week later they did it again, breaking their own record and playing the first ever seven-figure pot online, worth $1,356,947.

Just two days after that, Isildur1 won a $1.1 million pot off Ivey marking the second and only other time in history players have jousted over seven-figures online.

By the time the dust had settled, Isildur1 had helped set a new standard in high-stakes poker online, having found himself in the middle of seven of the ten largest pots in online poker history.

But the action was far from over.

While most of his earnings from Dwan had been dumped to Antonius, Ivey and Sahamies, it appeared Isildur1 had a sizeable enough bankroll to continue to take on poker’s premier high-stakes players.

Until CardRunners’ Brian Hastings came along, picking Isildur1 apart to the tune of $3.2 million on Dec. 9.

It would later be revealed that Hastings used reports and queries on Isildur1’s game put together by fellow CardRunners instructor Brian Townsend to help him destroy the Swede in one massive session, resulting in a suspension for Townsend.

But the damage was done.

Isildur1 posted a few more losses at smaller stakes and by late December was nowhere to be found.

However, by taking part in the seven of the ten biggest pots in online history, including the only two seven-figure hands ever recorded, the unknown Swede had certainly made his mark and earned the No. 2 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
• No. 3: The durrrr Challenge

2009 Online Poker Year in Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top 5 of 2009: The durrrr Challenge

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

The plan is to present them to you every other day from now until New Year’s Eve and we continue today with No. 3: The durrrr Challenge.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They chose the former.

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

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

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

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

However, Dwan says they will get through it.

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

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

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

PokerListings' Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009:

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

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.