Isildur1 Defeats Tony G in PokerStars SuperStar Showdown, Earns $44,000

On Sunday, the second ever SuperStar Showdown took place on the virtual felts of PokerStars and featured sponsored pro Isildur1 facing off against PartyPoker’s Tony G. After the 2,500-hand encounter, Isildur1 booked $44,000 in profit and was declared the winner, boosting his SuperStar Showdown record to 1-1.

Following the match, Tony G sought comfort on the TwoPlusTwo forums and posted a four-paragraph recap. He closed by calling for another round with Isildur1, who many believe he backed earlier this year: “Now, I need everyone to lobby for a rematch that is fair, and my sponsor deserves it. Let’s replay this thing on my home turf at PartyPoker ASAP and I will add $50,000 to the pool, as a contest of this magnitude deserves some money added and we will hide Isildur1’s identity. That is not up for discussion.”

Tony G and Isildur1 fired up two tables of $50/$100 No Limit Hold’em and two tables of $50/$100 Pot Limit Omaha on Sunday, with each table stretching for 625 hands. However, Tony G’s lack of multi-tabling experience may have ultimately led to his demise, according to text found on the PokerStars Blog: “Although he is quite seasoned when it comes to nosebleed-stakes cash games, unlike Isildur1′s previous challenger Isaac Haxton, the name Tony G is not exactly synonymous with multi-tabling online heads-up matches.”

Tony G shot out to an early lead after his wired pair of aces held up in Omaha, but Isildur1 bounced back in Hold’em by hitting a spade flush on the river to scoop a $20,000 pot. Isildur1 then made another flush in Omaha to extend the lead even further, but Tony G ended up $23,000 after the first 207 hands. After 561 hands, it seemed that the match could be out of reach, as the PartyPoker pro had built $47,000 in profit.

Then, perhaps hubris set in for Tony G, who asked his opponent in the chat box on one table, “u feeling ok my man… u getting owned by a total donk old man… start pressing some all-in buttons boy… are you even qualified… are you committed to this?” Isildur1 responded to the pep talk by raking in a $45,000 pot after making Broadway in Omaha to best Tony G’s king-high straight.

After 1,000 hands, Isildur1 was back in it and trailed Tony G by just $22,000. Then, text found on the PartyPoker Blog detailed, “In a three-hand sequence that spanned less than three minutes, Isildur1 entirely eroded Tony G’s profits and was back in the black to the tune of $2,450.” Isildur1 then scooped a $27,000 pot with top two pair against Tony G’s pair of eights. Following that hand, another $70,000 was pushed Isildur1’s way after spiking a set of sixes in Omaha to move ahead $46,000. By the halfway point in the second SuperStar Showdown, Isildur1 was up $77,000.

Tony G scooped an $82,000 pot after making the nut flush to bring the contest closer to even, but Isildur1 struck back by landing a monster pot worth $124,000 with a straight in Omaha. Tony G then proceeded to fume about the rules of the SuperStar Showdown, labeling the match a “freak show” and a “farse” in the chat.

Tony G fought back after his tirade, running hot in Hold’em to draw Isildur1’s lead to just over $7,000. However, when the smoke cleared, Isildur1 recorded his very first SuperStar Showdown win and received the following concession speech from his nemesis: “I have been humiliated… well done… let me go and look for my bike.” Interestingly enough, Isildur1 booked just $500 of his profit in No Limit Hold’em, but dominated in Pot Limit Omaha.

The next installment of the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown has not yet been announced. Officials from the world’s largest online poker site had hinted at another one occurring during the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which starts this week, but no announcement has been made.

SuperStar Showdown: Isildur1 Silences Tony G

As per the challenge rules, Isildur1 and Tony G played 2,500 hands on PokerStars, this time half Pot-Limit Omaha and half No-Limit Hold’em at $50/$100 stakes.

The session would end if either player exhausted their $150k bankroll for the event.

Thanks to some fortunate bounces early on Tony G jumped out to a $47k lead on Isildur1 in the first hour of play.

Of course Tony G was spitting out his usual mix of trash talk throughout the session. When Tony G took the early lead in the Showdown he tried to needle Isildur1 about it.

“Tony G: u feeling ok my man?”

“Tony G: u getting owned by a total donk?”

Isildur1 responded by hitting a broadway straight to win a $47k pot, the biggest up to that point.

It didn’t faze Tony G, however, as the Lithuanian would win a $49k pot 15 minutes later. Tony G hit his own straight to take that one down.

As the clock hit 6:30 p.m. EST, Tony G was leading by more than $60k and Isildur1’s entire $150k bankroll was spread on the four tables they were playing.

Isildur1, who is still rumored to be Viktor Blom, was forced to abandon one table because he didn’t have enough to reload.

Despite the fact there were only three tables going, it was around this time that Isildur1 started to turn his fortunes around.

Isildur1 managed to win three pots that were worth $40k each and in just three minutes Tony G’s lead was erased.

From there Isildur1 shifted his game into overdrive and secured the biggest pot in the session – worth $103k.

Isildur1 won the pot with two-pair while Tony G, who 3-bet shoved, elected not to show his cards.

Despite a few comebacks by Tony G, Isildur1 never gave up the lead after that hand.

Near the end of the session Tony G started to gamble and after a few $10,000 coinflips, was actually getting close to even.

Unfortunately for Tony G his luck flipped yet again and Isildur1 started to pull away in the last 600 hands.

When the final hand was completed, after eight hours and 56 minutes of play, Isildur1 was holding on to a $44k lead. Tony G was humble in defeat.

“Tony G: well done.”

“Tony G: let me go and look for my bike.”

Isildur1 is now 1-1 in the SuperStar Showdown with a loss against Isaac Haxton and a win versus Tony G. Isildur1’s next opponent has not been chosen yet but it’s a good bet the player will be announced during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure later this week.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

The Sunday Scoop: Brianm15 Does it Again

The PokerStars Sunday Million carries a $1.5M Guarantee, but that was laid to waste when 9,466 players dropped the $215 buy-in for a chance at online poker glory.

With a $1,893,200 prize pool up for grabs, Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier made a deep run that ended in 87th, but it was Brianm15 who stole the headlines this week.

After making seventh last week, he finished ninth in his second Sunday Million final table in a row, proving his 2009 Sunday Warm-Up win was no fluke.

He earned $13,252.40, but the big cash was reserved for winner He77_Razor, who grabbed $270,353.82 beating stevemruk ($198,786) heads-up. touchmynuts1 had to settle for third, but still managed to collect a healthy $140,948.74.

The Sunday Warm-Up had a million dollar prize pool of its own thanks to the 5,046 players who got in on the action.

A chip-chop three handed left $10k for first and three six-figure scores for the top three players.

7de9 took the title and $138,294.81 beating Anita seku ($114,190.71) heads-up, while pawnUz ($106,216.74) took third.

Meanwhile, KJulius10 just missed a six figure score, collecting $86,995 in the $530 Sunday 500.

He got past a field of 1,122, including a final table that featured EPT Berlin winner Kevin "ImaLuckSac" MacPhee (5th).

The hotly contested $109 Rebuy almost handed out six-figures for the winner as well, thanks to 1,268 entires, 2,245 rebuys and 1,088 add-ons.

In the end, lissi stinkt took first and $83,968.25 beating a final table that included Team PokerStars Pro and back-to-back LAPT champ Jose "nachobarbero" Barbero (3rd).

The guarantees were rendered moot on Full Tilt as well, with 4,556 creating a $911,200 prize pool that paid 648 players in the site's $750k Guarantee.

mcc3991 beat Hungarian pro Andras Nemeth heads up to take the title and $157,601.15.

The $95,676 second-place prize wasn't enough for Nemeth, however, as he went on to finish 12th in the Sunday Mulligan for another 2,279.70.

Meanwhile, The Sunday Brawl drew 3,044, creating a $608,800 prize pool that left $121,760 for first. neker2013 gladly grabbed that and his first Sunday Major win.

Finally, 1,011 players ensured there would be no overlay for the $200k GTD on UB.

NO1TK took 45,151.26 out of a $202,200 prize pool with a win against a final table that also included Shannon "BLUFFFORRENT" Shorr (7th).

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

2010 Poker Memories by Linda Johnson

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

Proudest 2010 Poker Memory

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

Favorite Poker News Story

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

Favorite Poker Vacation

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

Favorite Charity Event

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

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

Most Disappointing Poker News

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

Favorite Whirlwind Trip

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

Most Prestigious Poker Event

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

Favorite New Poker Procedure

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

Favorite New Poker Social Media Source

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

Favorite Tournament Series

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

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

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

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

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

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

Daniel Negreanu Speaks Out on Rumored Prahlad Friedman UB.com Signing

Late last week, poker pros Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth parted ways with UB.com, a USA-friendly site on the CEREUS Network. Word quickly spread that Prahlad Friedman would be signing with UB.com as a replacement in the coming days, sparked in part by his name appearing on Duke’s old biography page.

Over the weekend, PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu bantered on Twitter about Friedman’s rumored signing. Negreanu congratulated Hellmuth for leaving UB.com last week and then fired off a series of Tweets blasting Friedman’s decision. His first thoughts were, “So disappointed in @prahladfriedman signing with the devil who stole millions from him. He was so ‘anti-sellout’ and then he did the unthinkable… They must have paid him a lot to join the dark side and endorse the exact same people who ruined him. So sad and so mind-boggling… The current owners of AP/UB are spending Prahlad’s money. They must be mocking him at this point. Cheat the dude and watch him endorse us!”

Among those responding to Negreanu was bracelet winner Jon Friedberg, who inquired, “Is that official? I thought just speculation. Smart biz move for @UB if it’s true, despite any opinions about him or them… And again if true, then they obv convinced him that they’re not shady anymore. He’s a very bright guy. Anxious to see if true.” Negreanu retorted, “Sure, totally cheat and destroy a guy and then offer him a deal. That company is no less shady today and they cannot prove otherwise?” “Kid Poker” added, “It’s true and you are all being lied to if you think the infrastructure of the company has been miraculously cleaned up.”

In other responses to inbound Tweets, Negreanu replied, “I also like Prahlad a lot, just disappointed he would do something this stupid after years of saying he’d never sign with a site.” Negreanu countered other nay-sayers by continuing to rip the Blanca Games site: “Imagine a world where crooks weren’t held accountable and continue to rob people with no recourse? The world should know… I’m all about 2nd chances in the right circumstances; this isn’t one. They are no more transparent today than in the past.”

Negreanu’s series of Tweets sparked the ire of two-time bracelet winner Matt Keikoan, who fired, “I can see people like @RealKidPoker, sitting behind his $4 mil a year PokerStars contract, w/ his nose up in the air, judging other people.” Negreanu countered, “I spoke out against UB when I was broke, always will. Prahlad is the one who said he’d never sign with a site and then chose UB… I was dead broke and turned down a deal with them. I don’t hate Prahlad, I’m disappointed he made what I think is a bad move.”

Keikoan asserted on Sunday, “And what, PokerStars is some great moral company, out for the good of all mankind? Gimme a break.”

One of Negreanu’s followers asked the PokerStars front man what would happen if his home online poker site experienced a scandal similar to the one that unfolded on UB.com. Negreanu claimed he’d be exiting stage right: “If anything like that were to happen (it won’t) my morals would have me resign immediately.” PokerStars recently found itself in hot water over a scandal involving Chinese players in its Double or Nothing games.

A possible signing by Friedman would signal a changing of the guard of sorts at UB.com, whose roster of sponsored pros would become remarkably younger. It currently includes players like Maria Ho, Tiffany Michelle, and Joe Sebok.

Sorel Mizzi Wins 2010 Bluff Player of the Year Title

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poker Players Ring in the New Year

Over the past few days, poker’s most prolific Tweeters have been actively preparing for the New Year. Whether they were traveling or reflecting on the year that passed, it provided a great deal of entertainment.

The New Year’s celebrations got off to a start as early as Wednesday, with model and poker player Christina Lindley Tweeting, “Beginning an absurdly fun Vegas week w some troublemakers right… now.” As New Year’s Eve came, Lindley sent out a Twitpic of a shiny silver mini and Tweeted, “Picking up the NYE dress from the tailor.” Also journeying to Las Vegas was PokerStars “Big Game” hostess Amanda Leatherman, who fired off, “Goodbye North Carolina! It’s time to go to Vegas and forget about all the things I did here.”

Other poker players had not quite decided what to do to celebrate the New Year. DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit Makhija admitted to his followers, “Last minute before New Year’s and I’ve been slacking on making plans. Anyone less lazy than me have New Year’s plans that Tara & I can crash?” For their part, both Antonio Esfandiari (“Gearing up for my annual NY Eve party. It’s going to b a madhouse.”) and Alec Torelli (“Off to Atlanta for New Year’s.”) seemed a little better prepared to usher in 2011.

Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, and Marco Traniello were celebrating New Year’s with each other. After Traniello Tweeted at the others, “r u guys ready to party ?,” Negreanu responded, “the house is full and we all got spray tans, so yeah, we are ready.” Fresh off of his departure from UB.com, Phil Hellmuth’s plans for New Year’s Eve included, “sit(ting) in Jerry Buss’ box for Lakers game, then we hit Drai’s!”

The last few days of 2010 also led to some experimentation by “High Stakes Poker” hostess and PartyPoker pro Kara Scott. She Tweeted, “Bleurgh. Spent much of tonight trying to perfect a rum/coconut drink for tomorrow and am now completely sick of it. Margaritas for everyone!” Tiffany Michelle will be celebrating New Year’s Eve in Hawaii, but took time to chirp, “Counting my blessings today. Some people are stuck in snow storms, rain, & freezing weather while I’m surfing in the warm waters of Hawaii.”

The New Year brings those pesky resolutions along with it and poker players were no different in putting their thoughts for 2011 on Twitter. “This year I wish @philnolimits places 2nd to me in WSOP Main Event,” Rafe Furst jabbed at his buddy Phil Gordon. Allen Bari took the New Year as a chance to change his table demeanor, Tweeting on Friday, “This time tomorrow I will be a really nice and respectful guy at the poker table, I will smile and not berate at the table.” This prompted World Poker Tour Tour Director Matt Savage to fire back, “@allenbari it is January 1st not April 1st. You know that right?”

Adam “Roothlus” Levy vowed through Twitter, “My 2011 resolution is to get more Main Event coverage by doing far worse.” Meanwhile, Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis was not feeling well as the New Year approached, Tweeting, “Is this really the day to get sick? Woke up sneezing and I feel cold and weak. Hope it’s gonna be better during the day.”

Some poker players were also glad to see the previous year fade to the past. “Oh, 2010, you crafty little bitch,” UB.com’s Joe Sebok Tweeted. “You’re good, I’ll give you that. Quite good. Only 14 more hours of you though and then poof, gone.” Full Tilt’s Justin “Boosted J” Smith also took time to look at the year gone by: “I want everyone to think about all the great things that happened to them in 2010… even if it was a rough year… small laughs to big things.”

Perhaps the venerable Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers summed up everyone’s thoughts for the New Year: “This year had its share of good and bad times. Hoping 2011 will have more of those good times for myself and everyone else!”

With 2011 off to a roaring start, Poker News Daily would like to take the time to wish all of our readers a happy and prosperous New Year.

Weekly Freerolls: Happy New Year!

This week PL.com players will want to pay close attention to the 888poker $1,000 freeroll on Sunday and the $2,500 William Hill Poker freeroll on Wednesday.

Next week the action will get even hotter with a 5,000 Titan Poker freeroll to look forward to on Jan. 13 as well as a $5,000 freerolls on Absolute and UB Poker on Jan. 15 and Jan. 16.

PokerStars will once again be offering a mega-freeroll on Jan. 15 with $15,000 in Sunday Million tickets.

There is still time to qualify for most of these events so sign on and treat yourself to a few hands of poker in the New Year.

If you're not a PL.com registered player on any of the following sites, click on the site's name in the list to sign up.

888poker

PokerListings players will have access to a $1000 freeroll by 888poker.

Date: Jan. 2 Value: $1000 Qualify with: 100 status points in December Sign up here

William Hill Poker

William Hill is running an exclusive $2.5k freeroll for PokerListings players in the first week of January.

Date: Jan. 8 Value: $2,500 Buy-in: 10 William Hill Points Sign up here

Betfair Poker

PokerListings players will want to check out the Betfair Poker $3,000 freeroll on Jan. 9.

Date: Jan. 9 Value: $3,000 Qualify with: 5 frequent player points Qualify between: December 1-31 Sign up here

Titan Poker

Titan Poker is running a $5,000 freeroll for PokerListings players that cost just 25 Titan Points to buy into.

Date: Jan. 13 Value: $5,000 Qualify with: 25 Titan Points Sign up here

PartyPoker

PokerListings players have access to exclusive monthly $2,000 freerolls on PartyPoker.

Date: Jan. 15 Value: $2,000 Qualify with: 100 Party Points Earned Qualify between: Dec. 1-30 Sign up here

Absolute Poker

Absolute Poker runs $5,000 monthly tournaments for PokerListings players.

Date: Jan. 15 Value: $5,000 Qualify with: 100 raked hands in December Qualify between: Dec. 1-30 Sign up here

UB Poker

PokerListings players get a shot at the UB Poker $5,000 exclusive monthly tournaments.

Date: Jan. 16 Value: $5,000 Qualify with: 100 raked hands in December Qualify between: Dec. 1-30 Sign up here

Poker770

Poker770 is hosting an exclusive $1,000 freeroll for PL.com players.

Date: Jan. 16 Value: $1,000 Qualify with: New deposit Qualify between: Any day before Jan. 16 Sign up here

PokerStars

PokerStars is running a massive $15,000 Sunday Million freeroll on Jan. 16.

Date: Jan. 16 Value: $15,000 in Sunday Million tickets Qualify with: 75 VPPs Qualify between: Dec. 1-30 Sign up here

bwin Poker

bwin Poker is running exclusive monthly $1,000 freerolls for PokerListings players.

Date: Jan. 23 Value: $1,000 Qualify with: 50 frequent player points Qualify between: May 15-Jan. 22 Sign up here

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Biggest Poker Surprises of 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top Ten Stories of 2010: #3, North America Gets a New Poker Tour

A new kid joined the neighborhood in 2010 as PokerStars launched the resoundingly successful North American Poker Tour to find a spot at #3 on our list.

December 31st – Weekly News Update

Welcome once again to the Poker News Daily weekly news update. I’m your host Sean Gibson and I’ll be delivering the top headlines for the week in the world of poker – and what a week of news it was!!

Our first story rocks the world of online poker as superstars Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke are officially parting ways with UB.com for different reasons. Both have been the faces of UB.com and represented for nine years. We did get a comment from Annie Duke about HER decision to leave UB.com:

“After some thought, I made a decision to leave UB.com because I would like to explore other avenues of business and personal growth. I realized I needed to spend my time on other things.”

Duke has stated that she has no intentions of signing on with another poker site. She said that she is moving on from UB.com to persue other projects on a full time basis. Hellmuth continues to be one of the biggest names in the world of poker and his departure, although rumored in the last few weeks, still comes as a huge shock. As more develops in this story, stay tuned right here at poker news daily for the latest.

Another online poker industry icon is moving on as Lee Jones earlier this week announced his resignation from Cake Poker. Jones posted on the TwoPlusTwo forums on Tuesday:

“This is a brief announcement to let you know that, as of yesterday, I have resigned my position at Cake Poker and will not be making any further posts here. Their management has made some strategic decisions with which I’m not comfortable.”

Jones, who also is a guest columnist here at our site told us that he simply wasn’t comfortable with some of the decisions that the Cake management was making. Jones refused to comment further but added that he hopes to remain in the poker industry and says he has a couple of irons in the fire. Jones rose to fame in the online poker industry originally in roles with PokerStars, the EPT and at CardRunners.

For those of you that can’t get enough Isildur1 action, the next SuperStar Showdown match has been announced. Coming off a loss to Isaac Haxton, Isildur1 will now face the notorious Tony G in a high stakes battle. You might remember that it was Tony G that supposedly staked Isildur1 for a comeback bid and reportedly knows the Swedish player’s identity. The match will take place on Sunday, January 2nd at 4pm eastern time on PokerStars. The game will be half no limit hold’em and half pot limit Omaha at $50-$100 blind stakes. Interested parties can rail the action at PokerStars by looking for tables labeled showdown under the Omaha tab or under the Holdem, No Limit all tables tab.

Jon Friedberg, known online as pokertrip will be debuting a new talk show right here, exclusively on Poker News Daily. Friedberg will host the new show, called “The Showdown” every week here at PND, and promises to feature some of the game’s most prolific names. Set to start during the first week of January, Friedberg’s first guest will be former Survivor castaway Jean-Robert Bellande. When asked about his new home here at PND, he stated:

“I see myself not as a member of the media, but rather a fellow poker player who sees eye-to-eye with players I interview. I don’t have any problems asking questions that other poker media might be scared to address. My passion is to share the lifestyles, strategies, and thought processes of poker players.”

Be sure to catch the first episode of “The Showdown” right here at Poker News Daily next week!

In recent days, Party Gaming and bwin announced merger plans to form a giant online gaming group that will become effective sometime in the first quarter of 2011. It’s expected that this merger will create the biggest largest listed online gambling business. The new company will operate worldwide with its existing brands and both bwin and Party Gaming will retain most of the core of their brands but be operated under a new umbrella company. Bwin’s CEO had this to say:

“Our products and target markets complement one another perfectly, and we can continue to expand our technology lead in all key product segments: sports betting, poker, casino, bingo, and games.”

Now that the year is over, CardPlayer has officially crowned Tom Marchese the 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year. His epic run in 2010 saw him make 11 final tables in major live tournaments to the tune of over $2 million in profits. The highlight of 2010 for Marchese was the win at the NAPT Venetian Main Event for over eight hundred thousand dollars. He beat out Dwyte Pilgrim, Sorel Mizzi and Vanessa Selbst for the award. Marchese had four six-figure paydays in 2010 with final tables at the European Poker Tour, World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker.

Well that wraps up a very exciting and busy week in the world of poker as well as our last weekly news report of 2010. Be sure to come back to poker news daily for all the latest poker headlines every single day and as a reminder, be sure to catch John Friedberg’s new show, “The Showdown” right here next week along with another episode of our weekly news recap. I’m Sean Gibson wishing you a very happy and safe new years!

£50,000 January giveaway at PokerStars

PokerStars is giving players from the UK and Ireland a perfect opportunity to get 2011 off to a flying start in a series of New Year Giveaways.

Phil Hellmuth Leaves UB.com in Major Shakeup

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Annie Duke Leaves UB.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Isildur1 to Battle Tony G in Second PokerStars SuperStar Showdown

At 4:00pm ET on Sunday, January 2nd, new PokerStars pro Isildur1 will face off against his rumored former backer Tony G in the second running of the SuperStar Showdown. The stakes will be at least $50/$100 No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha and text found on the PokerStars Blog succinctly sums up what we can expect: “Well, this should be good.” Both Tony G and Isildur1 are expected to buy in for $150,000.

Tony G is a sponsored pro of PartyPoker and, earlier this year, tried to bring the mystery Swedish player to the Big Game IV. Isildur1 agreed, but then ultimately pulled out of the appearance, leaving Tony G to lament in a PartyPoker blog entry, “To say I am disappointed is an understatement. I have spent so much time talking to him and reassuring him recently, but he’s just not going to come.” Tony G had offered to lend Isildur1 his Kermit the Frog outfit to preserve the Swede’s anonymity.

Posters on TwoPlusTwo were largely looking forward to the master versus apprentice showdown on Sunday. One member of the online poker community exclaimed, “OMG this is going to be freaking awesome. Isildur1 will pump up the variance and Tony will never fold, especially at these stakes. Can’t wait!” Another poster remarked, “I seriously doubt [Tony G] can keep up with the pace at two tables, let alone four. He doesn’t care about money at $25/$50 anyways. I will be very surprised if Isildur1 doesn’t win this.”

Other posters, however, were not content with the $50/$100 stakes set forth in the SuperStar Challenge, which sees players battling for 2,500 hands. One TwoPlusTwo member explained, “It’s kind of awesome that Tony G is facing off against Isildur1, but why can’t they play real high stakes?”

Weighing in on the upcoming SuperStar Showdown was PokerStars front man Daniel Negreanu, who noted that he won’t be facing off against Isildur1 anytime soon: “I’m very excited to see this match; should be entertaining either way. I don’t plan on challenging Isildur1 because I’m just not good enough, especially four-tabling, but I do want to practice these matches at small stakes, 2,500 hands at maybe $5-$10, and see if I can get used to it. If that goes well, I may try this challenge next year, we’ll see. I’d be comfortable doing a challenge like this in Eight Game if there were people interested, $400-$800.” Negreanu is a four-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner.

Last week, Isildur1 squared off against Isaac Haxton in the inaugural SuperStar Showdown. In the end, Haxton booked $41,000 in profit over 2,500 hands and was declared the winner. The rail featured a hodgepodge of poker talent, including Kevin “ImaLucSac” MacPhee and Chad “lilholdem954? Batista, and resulted in a 90-page thread on TwoPlusTwo.

According to PokerStars, the loss to Haxton resulted in Isildur1’s PokerStars bankroll plummeting to just $10,000. However, he has since parlayed that sum into over $300,000. Many believe the identity of Isildur1 to be Viktor Blom; however, Blom has not issued confirmation that he is the man behind the curtain. Blom took 16th in the 2010 WSOP Europe Main Event for £33,000.

The SuperStar Showdown may travel to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January for a live installment, according to the PokerStars Blog. Interested challengers can fire off an e-mail to showdown@pokerstars.com to toss their hats into the ring for a shot at Isildur1 and eternal poker glory.

PokerNews Podcast: 2010 Year in Review feat. Jared Huggins

In the latest PokerNews Podcast, we take a look back on the happenings in the poker industry in 2010 and talk to Jared Huggins about his quest to be on the PokerStars Big Game and the support he's received from the TwoPlusTwo community.

“Isildur1? vs Tony G - Second SuperStar Showdown coming up

Yeah, you read it right. Tony G is challenging “Isildur1″ in the second SuperStar Showdown which will be played in next Sunday on PokerStars.

First Tony G and “Isildur1″ will play No Limit Hold’Em, then the next half will be Pot Limit Omaha.

And just like last time, both will buy-in for $150K. They play $50/$100 at four tables and the total hands to be played is 2,500.

Isaac Haxton took down the first SuperStar Showdown, so let’s see how he plays against the aggressive and unpredictable Tony G.

PokerStarsBlog is updating “Isildur1’s” games from the past days - he was up $117,720 on Monday and $172,062 yesterday.

There’s no records for last night, but it looks like “Isildur1″ has continued to play well. He played some $25/$50 PLO against Scott Palmer.

Source: Pokerista.net

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

“Isildur1″ vs Tony G - Second SuperStar Showdown coming up

Isildur1 destroys Scott “urnotindangr” Palmer in epic battle

Forget England bowler James Anderson, it's Isildur1 who has truly proven himself to be the King of Swing since signing for PokerStars. His most recent swing was truly upward and came at the expense of Scott Palmer, better known online as urnotindangr who took on the Swede at multi-tabling heads-up PLO and promptly lost $175,000 over the next 3,500 hands.

Isildur1 vs. Tony G in the next PokerStars SuperStar Challenge

Not too long after Isildur1 lost out in the inaugural SuperStar Showdown to Isaac “philivey2694” Haxton, another challenger has stepped up to the plate hoping to better Haxton’s $41,000 victory.

SuperStar Showdown: Tony G Steps Up

On Jan. 2 Tony G and Isildur1 will each put $150,000 on the line in 2,500 hands of half No-Limit Hold’em and half Pot-Limit Omaha.

The winner is the player who finishes up after 2,500 hands or completely exhausts the other player’s $150k stack.

Isildur1, who is rumored to be Swede Victor Blom, was defeated by Isaac Haxton in the first edition of the SuperStar Showdown last week.

There were several significant swings in the session but when the final card was dealt, Isildur1 was down $40k to Haxton.

Tony G and Isildur1 already have some history with each other.

Last spring Tony G offered to stake Isildur1 in the PartyPoker Big Game IV in London. Apparently Isildur1 initially agreed to play but backed out at the last minute.

Meanwhile Tony G will be facing a red-hot Isildur1. After racking up some big losses in previous weeks, Isildur1 is currently up more than $300k in the high stakes games on PokerStars this week.

The match is set to go off at 4 p.m. ET this Sunday on PokerStars for anyone who is interested in railing the online poker competition. We’ll also have complete coverage and results on Monday.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

NAPT LA Montage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tom Marchese – Poker Player Bio

Tom Marchese is known by the online moniker “Kingsofcards” and makes his home in New Jersey.  His lifetime tournament career earnings exceed $2.4 million and he was named the 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year.  His 2010 campaign will be remembered as the breakout year for a player that many had on their radars as one of the up-and-comers in the world of No Limit Hold’em.

Marchese’s CardPlayer Player of the Year victory was by a wide margin over Dwyte Pilgrim, Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, Venssa Selbst, and November Niner John Racener. Marchese won the award by making 11 final tables, winning two tournament titles, and recording over $2 million in just 16 live cashes.  His strong point total would have won him the award in four of the last five years.

His biggest cash of 2010 came in the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Main Event.  He bested 872 entrants and took down $827,648 for his efforts.  Finishing in the top 20 in that same Main Event were notable pros like Blair Hinkle, Andrew Chen, Andrew Lichtenberger, and “Miami” John Cernuto.  Marchese stated that winning the NAPT Venetian Main Event was the highlight of the year.

His win at the NAPT Venetian Main Event was just the tip of the iceberg.  He finished in fourth place in the No Limit Hold’em High Roller Event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo stop for $350,125 and also had another six-figure payday at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em World Championship, where he finished in sixth place for $123,264.

Marchese had two other six-figure finishes in 2010. The first came in September in the EPT London Main Event, where he finished in seventh for $156,490. The second came in October at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Foxwoods World Poker Finals, where he finished third for $211,759.

It’s an ironic twist of fate that Marchese rose to fame in the world of live tournament poker after making his bankroll in online cash games.  He played Limit Hold’em at $0.50-$1 blinds, but made his way up to the $15-$30 and $30-$60 games.  Later, he took up No Limit Hold’em and was a regular at the six-max $2-$4 games. Eventually, he table selected between heads-up and short-handed games at mid- and high-stakes.

He started playing professionally around the age of 20 while still in college.  He told Poker News Daily that he would show his father cash game graphs and explain that the game of poker wasn’t just simple luck.  It wasn’t until a big score at a live tournament at Borgata that the decision to turn pro and leave college behind came to fruition.  Now, his father constantly text messages to get chip updates during tournaments.

Marchese has said that his favorite poker destination was Aruba because of the beaches and relaxed atmosphere.  He also stated that he likes to travel to Portugal or anywhere that has nice beaches.

Top Ten Stories of 2010: #5, Isildur1’s Journey to PokerStars

Isildur1 continued to fascinate the poker world in 2010, culminating in a sponsorship deal with PokerStars.

“Isildur1? has played almost 10,000 hands and has won over $218,000

“Isildur1″ has been really, really busy on the PokerStars $25/$50 PLO tables and for once he has been recording some good wins.

“ISildur1″ is the biggest winner in the last 36 hours according to HighstakesDB. He has won a bit over 218,000 dollars.

He literally grinded the game down as he played about 9,600 hands. “Isildur1’s” biggest wins came from Scott “urnotindangr” Palmer who lost almost $154,000 in $25/$50 PLO.

After almost 10,000 hands, “Isildur1″ tells that he can’t read the board anymore:

Isildur1 said, “10 more mins i cant even read the board anymore”
urnotindangr said, “me ethier lol”
urnotindangr said, “didnt realise the board paired”
Isildur1 said, “haha mean either”

The biggest pot, “Isildur1″ wins a $69,000 pot with a full house

The Swede is up almost $300,000 this week, but only time will tell if his pace holds up.

“Isildur1″ has a bad habbit to lose his wins really fast, last time helost all his wins to Phil Galfond.

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“Isildur1″ has played almost 10,000 hands and has won over $218,000

“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

Lee Jones Resigns from Cake Poker

In breaking news from the world of online poker, Lee Jones has stepped down as Card Room Manager of Cake Poker, effective immediately. Jones posted in a thread on TwoPlusTwo around 3:00pm ET on Tuesday, “This is a brief announcement to let you know that, as of yesterday, I have resigned my position at Cake Poker and will not be making any further posts here. Their management has made some strategic decisions with which I’m not comfortable.”

Despite departing the site, Jones, who is also a Guest Columnist here at Poker News Daily, spoke highly of his former colleagues: “Please direct any questions or concerns to the Cake support staff; they are top-notch people.” Cake Poker is the flagship site of the USA-friendly Cake Poker Network.

Also departing Cake Poker concurrently with Jones is Serge Ravitch, who is known in the online poker world as “adanthar.” Ravitch served as Cake Poker’s Tournament Director and Jones affectionately dubbed him the “Minister of Tournament Arts” in homage to the Harry Potter franchise. Ravitch was one of the figureheads in uncovering the cheating scandal at Absolute Poker.

Ravitch posted in the same TwoPlusTwo thread on Tuesday, “It sincerely pains me to say that, for the same reasons, I am also no longer affiliated with Cake in any way. I wish them the best of luck going forward.” What “strategic decisions” Jones and Ravitch alluded to were not clear at the time of writing. In addition, Cake Poker has not released any statement.

Jones could only tell Poker News Daily on Tuesday afternoon, “I’m just not comfortable with some of the decisions that the Cake management was making.” However, the veteran of the poker world hopes to remain in the industry, explaining to us, “I have a couple of irons in the fire. I certainly have every intention of staying in the poker business, so I’ll have to see what pans out.” Jones formerly brought customer service to new heights while with PokerStars and also worked with the European Poker Tour and CardRunners.

In TwoPlusTwo’s “Cake Poker Feedback Thread,” which is where Jones dropped the bombshell, posters weighed in en masse. The first responder explained, “This isn’t totally unexpected. Best wishes in your future enterprises.” Another poster predicted that Jones and Ravitch would land on their feet: “Lee and ‘adanthar’ are top-notch in my opinion and won’t need luck, but agreed nonetheless.”

According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room traffic, the Cake Poker Network is the 24th largest worldwide and boasts a seven-day running average of 740 real money ring game players. Its peak traffic passes 1,100 cash game players and the family of sites happily accepts action from the United States.

Besides Cake Poker, other rooms on the Network include the Doyle Brunson-fronted DoylesRoom, Only Poker, Poker4Green, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies’ Power Poker, Red Star Poker, Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker, and Victory Poker, the latter of which joined in August.

The holidays have not been kind to the Cake Poker Network, which has not eclipsed the 1,300-cash game player mark since December 21st. In the 30 days prior, it passed 1,300 ring game players 14 times.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for more developments on this breaking story.

PokerStars ANZPT Season 3 Taking Shape

The third season of the PokerStars-backed Australia-New Zealand Poker Tour, or ANZPT for short, is taking shape. A total of eight events are on the docket, starting in February with a trip to Adelaide for an AUD $2,400 buy-in tournament from the 2nd to 6th. The event’s field is capped at 200 runners.

From Adelaide, the ANZPT crew will travel to the Burswood Casino for ANZPT Perth from March 23rd to 27th. The stop features an AUD $2,500 buy-in Main Event that, like the Adelaide event, is capped at 300 players. Following the sojourn to Perth, PokerStars officials will pack their belongings and head to Sydney, where the Star City Casino will host another AUD $2,500 buy-in Main Event. The Sydney stop is capped at a healthy 500 entrants. You can catch the marquee tournament starting on April 13th; it will crown a champion four days later.

The fourth stop on the ANZPT Season 3 schedule is at the Jupiters Hotel and Casino for ANZPT Gold Coast. The AUD $2,500 buy-in event takes place between May 17th and 22nd and will reach capacity when 350 players have punched their tickets. Following the Gold Coast festivities, ANZPT Canberra will play out at Casino Canberra. The tournament takes place from June 10th to 13th and is the smallest event capacity-wise at 240 players.

Three other ANZPT events are on the books for Season 3. However, PokerStars has not yet announced a buy-in or dates for ANZPT Queenstown, ANZPT Melbourne, or ANZPT Darwin. What is known is that the trio of tournaments will take place at the SkyCity Queenstown, Crown Melbourne, and SkyCity Darwin, respectively.

The first stop in Adelaide features a 13-day festival of poker that includes 16 events starting on January 25th. The richest tournament on the docket is not the Main Event, but rather the AUD $4,000 buy-in Big Stakes Event, which will pan out on February 6th. The series features several strict regulations, including one regarding betting and raising. Text found on the ANZPT website explains, “Adelaide Casino is very strict regarding string bets/raises – it is recommend that players announce the amount of the raise or release all of the chips in hand over the line in one single motion.”

If you have an iPod, leave it at home because the popular Apple device will not be allowed at ANZPT Adelaide due to government regulations. In addition, according to PokerStars, “If you act out of turn and the intervening player bets more, you forfeit your out of turn bet if you fold.”

In October, Danny “Brotha D” Leaoasavaii came away with the win in Darwin, the final stop of the second season of the ANZPT, and picked up AUD $57,000. ANZPT Season 2 Player of the Year Tony Hachem finished 10th in the tournament, adding another AUD $5,000 to his poker bankroll, and Billy “The Croc” Argyros also made the final table.

For winning the ANZPT Player of the Year title, Hachem took home entry into four PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) events as well as either the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event or the Aussie Millions Main Event. Hachem logged 252 Player of the Year points during Season 2 and edged out John Maklouf, who accrued 233. Amazingly, the top 51 players on the ANZPT Season 2 Player of the Year leaderboard hailed from Australia.

Here is the preliminary schedule for Season 3:

ANZPT Adelaide: Adelaide Casino
AUD $2,400 buy-in
February 2nd to 6th

ANZPT Perth: Burswood Casino
AUD $2,500 buy-in
March 23rd to 27th

ANZPT Sydney: Star City Casino
AUD $2,200 buy-in
April 13th to 17th

ANZPT Gold Coast: Jupiters Hotel & Casino
AUD $2,500 buy-in
May 17th to 22nd

ANZPT Canberra: Casino Canberra
AUD $2,200 buy-in
June 10th to 13th

ANZPT Queenstown: SkyCity Queenstown
TBD

ANZPT Melbourne: Crown Melbourne
TBD

ANZPT Darwin: SkyCity Darwin
TBD

Visit PokerStars for more details.

NAPT LA Coverage Concludes on ESPN

On Sunday night, while many poker players were grinding online or traveling for the holidays, ESPN2’s coverage of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Los Angeles Bounty Shootout and Main Event came to a close. The two-hour finale featured Lon McEachern and Norman Chad bringing the action to life.

The first hour was devoted to the final table of the NAPT LA Bounty Shootout, whose two preliminary flights were shown last week. A winner-take-all top prize of $135,000 was up for grabs and every player who made the final table earned $20,000. Each person started with a stack of 100,000 in chips and all bounties accumulated were worth $1,000 apiece.

UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin doubled up early on at the expense of November Niner Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi to take the chip lead. Baldwin flopped a set of aces and then dodged a flush draw to vault to the top of the leaderboard. Meanwhile, Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee, who took down the European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Berlin earlier this year, was the final table’s first casualty and earned $23,000.

Mizrachi doubled up through PokerStars Canadian pro Pat Pezzin after coming out on the winning end of a race with A-J against pocket tens. Then, pocket tens would prove to be his demise, as “The Grinder” moved his chips in with pocket fives, but ran into the superior wired pair and couldn’t improve to depart in eighth place. Pezzin followed him out the door in seventh after his A-J could not overcome Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania’s pocket sixes. Charania flopped a boat and never looked back.

Justin Young eliminated Clint Coffee in sixth place to record his fifth bounty of the tournament and was tied with Charania for the lead in that department. The player with the largest number of bounties would receive a buy-in to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Bounty Shootout in January. After Tom Marchese was ousted in fifth place, Charania’s bid for the Shootout title came to an end after being eliminated in fourth place at the hands of PokerStars pro David Williams.

“DW” was bumped in third place and picked up $24,000. He ran A-Q into the pocket tens of Young on his final hand, as yet another player had shown down two tens. His exit gave Young his sixth elimination to secure the bounty title and Young went heads-up against his good friend and Henderson, Nevada neighbor Baldwin. On the final hand, Young committed his chips with A-Q before the flop and Baldwin woke up with cowboys. The board ran out 9-5-8-5-2 and Baldwin took down the NAPT LA Bounty Shootout title.

Following Baldwin’s win, Chad observed, “Two class acts. I wanted them both to win.”

The second hour of coverage was devoted to the NAPT LA Main Event, which featured a final table of eight players and a massive $725,000 first place prize. Joe Tehan doubled up early on through chip leader Chris DeMaci and then went on the tear of a lifetime, eliminating every single member of the final table.

ESPN’s coverage focused heavily on Jason Mercier, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner and champion of the PokerStars NAPT Mohegan Sun Bounty Shootout. Mercier’s run in the NAPT LA Main Event came to an end in seventh place after running A-K into Tehan’s pocket jacks. The board ran out 6-5-9-3-8 and Mercier, whose parents came from Florida to rail him at the Crystal Casino in Compton, was eliminated.

In the final hand of the NAPT LA Main Event, DeMaci committed his chips with K-4 on a flop of K-5-3, but Tehan held K-10 for top pair with a better kicker. The turn was a five and the river was a four, giving Tehan the Main Event title with kings-up. The tournament marked a historic run for Tehan, who ousted all seven of his opponents. In 2006, he took down the Mandalay Bay Poker Championship in Las Vegas, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT), for over $1 million.

That concludes ESPN’s coverage of NAPT LA. Check out encore presentations of WSOP events all this week on ESPN’s family of networks.

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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