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.

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.

South Wins First Monster Pot of 2010

Starting at around noon yesterday a handful of players including Sahamies, South, LarsLuzak and Richard Ashby, took seats at $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha, beginning one of the first true high-stakes sessions of the year.

South played around 1,100 hands on the day, netting a total profit of over $290k.

Despite losing the massive $601k pot to South, Sahamies still managed to grind a $186k profit on the day while playing only 431 hands.

Hac “trex313” Dang also had a big day, earning over $341k in his 392 hand session. Dang’s largest pot of the day was a $192k loss to South. Fortunately, Dang had won a $132k pot from South just eight minutes earlier.

Di “Urindanger” Dang (Hac Dang’s brother) bounced around playing almost a dozen small sessions throughout the day. Urindanger put together enough small wins to finish the day with a $140k profit.

On the losing end for the day came Full Tilt pro Richard Ashby who lost on almost every table he sat at, netting over $421k in losses across 660 hands of PLO.

Tom "durrrr" Dwan had a big day playing 2,622 hands across multiple games and limits. His day included sessions in PLO, No-Limit Hold'em (all mostly at $100/$200) and even 1,591 hands of $1,000/$2,000 Fixed-Limit Hold'em. In the end Dwan suffered a loss of over $348k.

LarsLuzak, who continues his struggles from last year, lost $96k on the digital felt in just 293 hands.

Below you can watch replays of the three largest PLO pots of the day, including the $601k pot from South. To see more replays, head to MarketPulse.

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.

The Online Railbird Report: Tom “durrrr” Dwan Up $2.7 Million in December, “XBLINK” Turns $11 into $800K

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

Top 5 of 2009: The Emergence of Luke Schwartz

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

The plan is to present them to you every other day from now until New Year’s Eve and we will start today with No. 5: The Emergence of Luke Schwartz.

By March of this year, the name __FullFlush1__ was on the tip of the entire poker world’s tongues.

The ever brash and always outspoken UK based player had jumped up to the highest stakes games online and was posting massive profits against the likes of Tom "durrrr" Dwan, David "Raptor" Benefield and Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond.

But it was the way he was doing it that had him dominating poker headlines. Coming seemingly out of nowhere, the unknown Brit challenged poker’s best and brightest not just on the virtual felt, but in the chatbox as well.

Calling Dwan things like "durrrr-balls" and the rest "OMGweNerds," FullFlush’s visceral brand of chat provided endless entertainment for railbirds and an image for himself as poker’s next bad boy.

When PokerListings finally talked to the man behind it all for an exclusive interview at the end of March, his real life persona was far from disappointing.

A 25-year-old Londoner by the name of Luke Schwartz who had built a massive roll on Euro sites like Betfair before taking a shot at the nosebleed stakes on Full Tilt, he called durrrr a “nonce-cake,” trashed-talked high stakes mainstays like the Dang brothers and threatened to send the lot of them broke.

An interview with Schwartz read just like some of his best chatbox rants and the public, who either loved him or hated him, lapped it up.

"Poker needed a new kind of bad boy and Luke fit the bill," said noted author and the voice of poker in Europe Jesse May. "I can't even remember now how we could talk about poker without using terms like 'railtard', 'woteva', and 'got the jakey on.' His mouth and style got him his first five minutes of fame, but what will ensure that Luke stays around is the fact, surprising to some, that he is clearly one of the top poker players in the game."

By September, Schwartz had pulled seven figures numbers out of Full Tilt and bought himself some property in London, stepping away from the high stakes online games – But not the headlines.

Barred from playing at the World Series of Poker Europe for an incident at London’s Victoria Grosvenor Casino where he’d refused to remove his hat, PokerListings found Schwartz on the rail at the event.

It took all of one minute before he launched into a tirade against his online nemesis Dwan.

“I just can't stand durrrr,” he said. “I can't stand durrrr's face, durrrr's voice, and durrrr's eyes. I can't stand anything about durrrr.

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

With a little help from some friends in the industry, Schwartz got the ban lifted just weeks later, in time to play at PokerStars EPT London, where he made headlines once again for something other than playing cards.

This time it was a sandwich he refused to pay for after busting out of the event, claiming he’d paid enough in tournament fees to cover it, was a VIP and should be treated as such.

The result was another ban from UK casinos and one of the most talked about events of the poker world’s annual fall pilgrimage to London.

But those who thought “Sandwichgate” would be the last they’d hear from Schwartz were sorely mistaken.

By the end of the year his poker playing skills were back on display as he managed to final table both the Full Tilt Poker Million and PartyPoker World Open, two of the biggest televised tournaments in Europe.

Plus, although he hasn’t stepped back into the high stakes games yet, a little advice from him helped an unknown Swede going by the name Isildur1 take a huge chunk out of Dwan’s online roll.

"Luke has shown that he has the walk to back up the talk," added May. "And in a feat of true deception, behind all the bluff and bluster, Luke Schwartz happens to be a very good guy. He is an Ali G of poker for the decade to come."

Poker fans love a winner, but they love a character even more.

Luke Schwartz appears to be both and as a result, his emergence as poker’s next bad boy is No. 5 on PokerListings’ Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009.

PokerListings has criss-crossed the planet this year bringing you the biggest and best poker news from every corner of the globe.

Now that 2009 is coming to a close, we’ve decided to sift through the literally thousands of headlines searching for the year’s top stories.

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

The plan is to present them to you every other day from now until New Year’s Eve and we will start today with No. 5: The Emergence of Luke Schwartz.

By March of this year, the name __FullFlush1__ was on the tip of the entire poker world’s tongues.

The ever brash and always outspoken UK based player had jumped up to the highest stakes games online and was posting massive profits against the likes of Tom "durrrr" Dwan, David "Raptor" Benefield and Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond.

But it was the way he was doing it that had him dominating poker headlines.

Coming seemingly out of nowhere, the unknown Brit challenged poker’s best and brightest not just on the virtual felt, but in the chatbox as well.

Calling Dwan things like "durrrr-balls" and the rest of his crew as "OMGweNerds," FullFlush’s visceral brand of chat provided endless entertainment for railbirds and an image for himself as poker’s next bad boy.

When PokerListings finally talked to the man behind it all for an exclusive interview at the end of March, his real life persona was far from disappointing.

A 25-year-old Londoner by the name of Luke Schwartz who had built a massive roll on Euro sites like Betfair before taking a shot at the nosebleed stakes on Full Tilt, he called durrrr a “nonce-cake,” trashed-talked high stakes mainstays like the Dang brothers and threatened to send the lot of them broke.

An Interview with Schwartz read just like some of his best chatbox rants and the public, who either loved him or hated him, lapped it up.

By September, Schwartz had pulled seven figures numbers out of Full Tilt and bought himself some property in London, stepping away from the high stakes online games – But not the headlines.

Barred from playing at the World Series of Poker Europe for an incident at London’s Victoria Grosvenor Casino where he’d refused to remove his hat, PokerListings found Schwartz on the rail at the event.

It took all of one minute before he launched into a tirade against his online nemesis Dwan.

“I just can't stand durrrr,” he said. “I can't stand durrrr's face, durrrr's voice, and durrrr's eyes. I can't stand anything about durrrr.

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

With a little help from some friends in the industry, Schwartz got the ban lifted just weeks later, in time to play at PokerStars EPT London, where he made headlines once again for something other than playing cards.

This time it was a sandwich he refused to pay for after busting out of the event, claiming he’d paid enough in tournament fees to cover it, was a VIP and should be treated as such.

The result was another ban from UK casinos and one of the most talked about events of the poker world’s annual fall pilgrimage to London.

But those who thought “Sandwichgate” would be the last they’d hear from Schwartz were sorely mistaken.

By the end of the year his poker playing skills were back on display as he managed to final table both the Full Tilt Poker Million and PartyPoker World Open, two of the biggest televised tournaments in Europe.

Plus, although he hasn’t stepped back into the high stakes games yet, a little advice from him helped an unknown Swede going by the name Isildur1 take a huge chunk out of Dwan’s online roll.    

Poker fans love a winner, but they love a character even more.

Luke Schwartz appears to be both and as a result, his emergence as poker’s next bad boy is No. 5 on PokerListings’ Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009.

Antonius Cleans up at 7-Game

The one rule of thumb in the high-stakes world is simple: The action will always follow the biggest fish.

And until Isildur1 showed up on the scene, it was Hansen at the top of everyone’s hit list.

“There has been a trend in the online high stakes,” Hansen told PokerListings. “People have been following this guy who is called Gus Hansen. So I think, very soon, there is going to be some action in the 7-game mix.”

With Isildur1 either taking a break or busto after his latest loss, Antonius, Chau Giang, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, Matt Hawrilenko, David Benyamine, Brian Townsend, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, John Juanda and David Oppenheim all spent the night playing mixed games with Hansen.

Antonius came out on top, up over $510k, well ahead of Giang (AKA "La Key U" online), who finished next in line with almost $248k.

Surprisingly, it was the fish of the game who took third place in profit, with Hansen leaving the session up over $222k.

The largest loser on the night was Hawrilenko, who dropped over $432k. Second place on the bad side went to Sahamies, who ended the night down over $395k.

Townsend, who was one of the first high-stakes players to make the move to 7-Game earlier this year, lost over $312,000, twice as much as Tom “durrrr” Dwan, who left the session down $153k.

The rest of the players either won or lost less than $100k.

For more on the latest trends in high-stakes online poker, and what the biggest names in the game have to say about it, check out PokerListings' State of the High Stakes Poker Nation.

The “durrrr” Challenge: Antonius Shaves $68,000 Off Dwan’s Lead

Poker News in Brief: Nov. 23-29, 2009

With only the main event of the U.S. Poker Championships to keep poker fans busy they were left to contemplate the identity of the rumored Swede who has taken millions off Tom "durrrr" Dwan.

There was a ton of other poker news, however, and we're going to break some of it down for you today in our regularly scheduled Poker News in Brief feature.

This week we're going to look at PKR Live III results, another world record broken on PokerStars, an Andy Beal update and a certain young celebrity with a penchant for poker.

Billionaire poker player bids on Trump Casinos

It appears that billionaire banker Andy Beal isn't quite done with the poker world.

The Dallas-based businessman made a bid for three bankrupt Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. Casinos in Atlantic City this week.

Beal was portrayed as a fearless poker player in Michael Craig's The Professor, the banker and the Suicide King: The Richest Poker Game of all Time.

In the book, Craig chronicled Beal's heads-up matches against the likes of Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman and Doyle Brunson, which were some of the biggest games ever played.

Under Beal's buyout proposal, an affiliate of his Dallas-based bank would convert its $486 million mortgage on the casinos into equity.

Beal's bid is just the latest in a series that included Trump Entertainment bondholders and Donald Trump himself.

The three properties in question are the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino and the Trump Marina Hotel Casino.

Russian breaks world record on PokerStars

Russian online player innerpsy broke the record for number of hands played in a 24 hour span this week.

The 21-year-old poker pro somehow managed to log 40,088 hands on PokerStars in just one day.

"Before this challenge I never actually played more than 20,000 hands in a day before but the idea came up and I just figured I could do it," he told PokerStars Blog. "It was one of the toughest things I have ever accomplished, but I am proud I managed it."

The challenge was hosted on PokerStars by Russian forum Card Game Masters and nearly 10,000 fans logged on to watch innerpsy burn his way through more hands than some poker players go through in their lifetime.

Qualifier wins PKR Live III

A 21-year-old English man made history by winning the biggest PKR Live payout ever in London this week.

Vincent "vd12345" Diver qualified for the event for just $5 on PKR and went on to outlast 133 players to take the first place prize of PKR Live III for $33,500.

"It's an incredible sum to me and it still hadn't kicked in until I saw it on my PKR account," he said. "It has opened up a lot of doors for me."

This year's PKR Live required a buy-in of $1,000 and took place at the Loose Cannon in London. The event has grown in every year of its existence.

Grandmothers arrested for playing poker in Cyprus

Forty two women between the ages of 75 and 95 were arrested at private home game in Cyprus this week.

The police raided the house where the games took place in Ayios loannis and proceeded to charge the women for illegal gambling. The police also confiscated €100 in betting money, 546 playing chips and 530 playing cards.

Playing cards for money is illegal in Cyprus and the police regularly conduct raids at clubs, betting ships and various associations.

The women were playing poker and gin rummy.

The raid took place on Sunday at 6 p.m. after a series of complaints from neighbors about noise.

Zac Efron a poker pro?

Renowned director Richard Linklater says teen heartthrob Zac Efron is a poker shark.

Linklater told the UK's Press Association that although Efron looks clean cut, he will take your money if you play poker against him.

Linklator is currently directing the young star in Me and Orsen Welles, which sees Efron play teenager Richard Samuels who ends up working with a young Orsen Welles.

Efron has never played the popular WPT Celebrity Invitational, which takes place every year at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.

Online high stakes: The Isildur1 factor

Isildur1, the unknown Swedish player named after a character from Lord of the Rings, showed up on the high-stakes scene Sep. 16th. Two weeks later, he began to tear it apart.

His first two weeks on Full Tilt were rather uneventful. In fact, he seemed like just another new fish for the $25/$50 No-Limit Hold'em regulars to destroy.

One of his first real matches came versus Haseeb "INTERNETPOKERS" Qureshi. After playing for a while at $25/$50, the two players eventually moved up to $100/$200 where Isildur1 took Qureshi for close to $500k.

This was the first big win for unknown Swede and it was the fuse that lit the fireworks about to come.

Isildur1 spent the next few days playing some of the most well known players on Full Tilt. He picked apart UgotaBanana for $300k and went on to play some heavy sessions of $200/$400 and $300/$600 Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha.

During that time he took over $700k off of Cole South and lost small amounts to Brian Hastings and Brian Townsend. But after a few days, Tom "durrrr" Dwan finally showed up on the scene. It was the moment high-stakes railbirds were waiting for and all bets were on Dwan breaking the Swedish fish in short order.

Over four days of action - the majority of which was played at $500/$1,000 - Isildur1 won over $3 million, putting Dwan into a bankroll tailspin.

With his newly found riches, Isildur1 has played at the highest stakes available online almost every day since and the action has been ground breaking

While he has taken over $5.2 million from Dwan, Isildur1 has lost $3 million to Phil Ivey, $1.1 million to Townsend, $840k to Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies and $578k to Patrik Antonius.

And in his sessions with Antonius and Ivey, Isildur1 has been involved in all ten of the largest online pots ever played.

First Antonius and Isildiur1 teamed up to break the one-year-old record for the largest pot in online poker history when they tangled over a whopping $878,959.

Isildur1 then became the first person to lose a seven-figure pot online when he and Antonius broke their own record for the largest pot ever played less than a week later. This $1,356,947 pot went to Antonius after his flopped straight held up on the river.

Just two days, later Isildur1 beat Ivey in a pot worth $1.1 million, making him the only player online to have both won and lost a million dollar pot.

Seven of the ten largest pots in online poker history have come in the last week, all between Isildur1 and either Antonius or Ivey. However, through all of this action, Isildur1's true identity is still unknown. The high-stakes world has come up with a variety of theories, the leading one being that he is Blom90.

Viktor "Blom90" Blom burst onto the high-stakes Euro-site scene in early 2009 building a massive bankroll before virtually disappearing. Many sources have claimed Isildur1 is Blom90, but to this day, Blom has neither confirmed nor denied the rumors.

Others have claimed he is the same person behind the "martonas" account, another player who burst onto the high-stakes scene earlier this year before dissapearing. There have even been rumors he is retired Swedish footbal legend Henrik Larsson.

The only thing that can be confirmed is the action created by Isildur1 has completely re-arranged the look of the year's biggest winners and losers online. Thanks to the $3 million he's won from Isildur1, Ivey now tops the charts with over $6.3 million - $600k ahead of Antonius, who is now at $5.7 million.

In third place on the year is Sahamies with $5.7 million. Fourth place belongs to Ashton "theASHMAN103" Griffin who has remained at $3.6 million ever since his original heater in early August.

Thanks to the $1.1 million he's won off Isildur1, Brian Townsend sits in fifth place with $3.3 million. And finally, in sixth place is Isildur1 himself, who who has made just over $3 million to date.

The majority of the money made by the top earners has come from Isildur1's profit off of Dwan, who is the year's top loser, down a whopping $6.8 million so far. Gus Hansen takes up second place with $5.8 million, $2 million ahead of third place loser LarsLuzak.

Finally, in fourth sits French professional David Benyamine and his $2.3 million in losses.

To see all of the largest pots played by Isildur1 since his arrival on the scene, head to MarketPulse.

Antonius, Isildur1 hit record $1.3 million pot

In fact, in an epic session on the Full Tilt tables Saturday night, squaring off against both Antonius and Phil Ivey, Isildur1 found himself involved in five of the six largest pots ever played online, all over $800,000.

Antonius and Isildur1 set the mark for the largest pot ever recorded online at $878,959 on Nov. 16, smashing the previous record of $723,000 set by Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Di "Urindanger" Dang in October 2008.

In another session Friday, the two played what was then the second- and third-largest pots in online poker history at $783,985 and $774,910 respectively.

But Saturday on the Pot-Limit Omaha tables, they put all that to shame.

Almost half an hour after playing an $815k pot to set a new mark for the second-largest pot ever played online, Isildur1 woke up with 9♠ 8♥ 7♦ 6♦ and Antonius held A♥ K♥ K♠ 3♠.

Isildur1 opened up with a raise, Antonius three-bet and Isildur1 made it four. Antonius five-bet to $81k and the Swede made the call.

The flop came out 5♣ 4♠ 2♥ and Antonius had flopped the wheel. Isildur1 had the open-ender and when Antonius led out for $91,000, he potted it to $435,000.

Antonius re-potted to $779,000, which covered Isildur1. Isildur made the call for his stack, creating a $1,356,947 pot and breaking the seven-figure mark for the first time ever online.

The 5♥ turn and 9♣ river were bricks for Isildur1 and, just like he did five days ago, Antonius raked the largest pot in online poker history.

Less than 10 minutes later, Isildur1 took an $827,960 pot from Ivey when he rivered a higher straight against the one he'd turned. He gave that back less than two hours later, losing an $832,940 pot when Ivey turned a flush against his set.

Those two pots set the marks for the third- and fourth-largest pots in online history.

Antonius also dragged an $810,984 pot from the clutches of Isildur1 within a half an hour of setting the record, rivering a straight against his kings - all told beating him out of $2.1 million in a 4,470-hand PLO session.

Meanwhile, Ivey raked $1.2 million from Isildur1 playing both PLO and No-Limit Hold'em to knock the Swede's profits down to just $750k on the year.

After bursting on the high-stakes scene this past September and taking over $3 million from durrrr, Isildur1's profits hit a $5 million dollar peak Nov. 15.

Now it would seem he's all but done.

Below are the three largest pots of the night - the biggest in online history and the third and fourth largest. To see them all head to MarketPulse.

Tom Dwan thrashes Sammy George in London

Ivey stomps Isildur1 for $1.2 million

The match between Ivey and Isildur1 had been brewing since September, when Isildur1 burst onto the high-stakes scene and took over $3 million from Tom "durrrr" Dwan.

The two played briefly a few days ago, with Ivey taking close to $900k from the unkown Swede.

And when the match between the two finally got underway last night, Ivey did not disappoint his leagues of fans.

The two players started the session playing a combination of $500/$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha and No-Limit Hold'em. After just half an hour, the two took a break with Ivey already up close to $100k.

When they returned, Ivey came out of the gates strong, winning a $354k pot just two minutes into the session.

In the end, the Team Full Tilt Pro remained at the tables for just over three hours, long enough to take another $1.1 million from Isildur1's roll.

But while he was getting destroyed by Ivey, Isildur1 also decided to take on Patrik Antonius.

Antonius stuck around almost twice as long, but was only able to make $400k, despite all five of the night's biggest pots being played out between the two, including the second and third largest in online poker history.

At $783,985 and $774,910 respectively, the pots marked the third time in a week Antonius and Isildur1 had beaten the previous record for online poker's biggest pot ($723,000).

They set a new record of $878,959 Nov. 17.

After losing $1.6 million total on the night, Isildur1's high-stakes profit has dropped down to $2.2 million, less than half of his $5 million dollar peak on Nov. 15.

Below are the three largest pots of the session. To see more hands, including Isildur1's largest pots versus Ivey, head to MarketPulse.

Isildur1 claims another million dollar victim

The matchup between Ziigmund and Isildur1 started brewing after the second day of the Isildur1 versus Tom "durrrr" Dwan battle, with Isildur1 asking for help getting into contact with durrrr and telling Ziigmund an Omaha match between the two would have to wait.

Although the two players crossed paths on various high-stakes table across Full Tilt, they had never sat for a lengthy heads-up session until last night.

As you would imagine, the $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em match was a landslide of massive pots.

In fact, the top 25 pots alone add up to almost $10 million wagered.

After 2,217 hands, the Scandinavian battle came to a head with Isildur1 proving his mettle once more, beating Sahamies out of $1 million.

This latest million dollar win puts Isildur1 back to almost $4 million in profits on the year, as Sahamies name is added to the growing list of world class players to be absolutely destroyed by the still unknown Swede.

At this point, Isildur1 has proven to be far more of a formidable opponent than anyone gave him credit for when he first showed up on the scene this past September.

One of the only regular high-stakes players left who hasn't suffered a million dollar loss to Isildur1 is poker god Phil Ivey, who actually beat the Swede out of $800k two days ago.

Below you can see the three largest pots of the heads up session. To see more hands replayed head to MarketPulse.

Live durrrr challenge vs. Sammy George begins today

Antonius takes biggest pot in online poker history

At a whopping $878,959, the pot totally crushed the old record of $723,000 set by Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Di "Urindanger" Dang in October 2008.

The game was $500/$1,000 heads-up Pot-Limit Omaha and both players sat with over $400,000 on the table.

Nothing extraordinary happened pre-flop or post, but when the A♦ came on the turn the action went nuts with both players raising until all the money - $878,959 - was in the pot.

When the money went in, Antonius and Isildur1 both had aces up, but both also held the chance to hit cards on the river to scoop the insanely large pot.

PokerListings' odds calculator shows it was a 62.5% chance for a split pot when the money went in.

Thanks to his flush draw and gutshot straight draw, Antonius had a 25% chance to win, while Isildur1 had just a 12.5% chance with his seperate gutshot draw and a shot at a non-heart king for a higher two-pair.

In the end, the 8♦ river came down giving Antonius his gutshot and the outrageous pot.

At press time, the heads-up session was still ongoing, but thanks to the record-breaking pot Antonius was up over $2.5 million on Isildur1 in a battle between online poker's two biggest winners so far this year.

You can see how it all played out in our hand replayer below:

Isildur1 moves to the top of the list

But the most remarkable thing about Isildur1's performance is that he showed up playing high-stakes for the first time just two months ago.

In that time, the player who most suspect is Viktor "Blom90" Blom has destroyed almost every player he's faced, including Tom "durrrr" Dwan and the previous profit leader, Patrik Antonius.

Yesterday's action on Full Tilt saw Isildur1 focus the majority of his time playing David Benyamine and Antonius at $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha. When Antonius and Benyamine had both had enough, Isildur1 moved on to new games having already made over $1.2 million on the night.

Benyamine didn't return, eating his $769k loss, while Antonius returned to the tables to face Isildur1 and Dwan. After grinding back almost $200k, he ended his night with a $579k loss.

Dwan managed to finally hold one over on Isildur1 making close to $350k on the $300/$600 PLO table, but lost back the majority of his profits later in the night playing heads-up $500/$1,000 PLO and $300/$600 No-Limit Hold'em against DjAdi and Isaac "luvtheWNBA" Haxton.

Dwan left the tables with a profit of only $62k.

Once again, Isildur1 came away from the tables as the night's biggest winner with an impressive $819k profit.

This latest session put the Swede's profits for the year at around $5.4 million, over $300k ahead of Antonius, who now sits second.

Below are the three largest pots of the night. You can find more hand replays by clicking through to PokerListings' MarketPulse section.

Poker News in Brief: Nov. 9-15, 2009

Although poker legend Phil Ivey didn't win his eighth bracelet, fans were still treated to a thrilling final table that saw 21-year-old Joe Cada become poker's youngest world champion.

There was plenty of poker news that nearly slipped through the cracks, however, and as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature we've compiled a list of the lesser-known stories below.

This week we'll take a look at Fox Sports en Español picking up the LAPT, Tom "durrrr" Dwan starting his own blog, Joe Sebok passing the one million mark in Twitter and more.

Fox Sports en Español Broadcasting Latin American Poker Tour

Fox Sports en Español and PokerStars reached an agreement this week that will see the network broadcast the Latin American Poker Tour in Spanish.

The Fox Sports en Español broadcast will feature highlights from tour stops in Costa Rica, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina.

"It's amazing to see how poker has become one of the most popular sports in Latin America, it has taken off like wildfire," said Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes. "To think that the prize pool has nearly doubled in just one year is a testament to the power of poker."

Coverage is scheduled to air on Friday nights at 8:00 ET on Fox Sports en Español.

Joe Sebok hits one million twitter followers

Pokerroad.com president and UltimateBet pro Joe Sebok hit over one million Twitter followers this week.

It's an impressive feat considering if you combined the followers for Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth you still wouldn't have even 25% of Sebok's following.

To put things in perspective Sebok also has more Twitter followers than Tom Cruise (153,905) and Lindsay Lohan (142,474).

Will Tom 'durrrr' Dwan share strategy tips in his new blog?

UltimateBet is celebrating the occasion by offering a $5.50 tournament with $24,000 in added prizes and a $1,500 bounty on Sebok. The event is scheduled to take place Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. ET.

Tom "durrrr" Dwan starts blogging

Noted high stakes online player Tom "durrrr" Dwan is giving fans an inside look at his life thanks to a new blog launched this week.

One of the few players without a training site or blog, Dwan did mention in his first post that he was officially blogging for Full Tilt Poker, which he recently joined as a team member.

In his first post, Dwan discussed taking a helicopter ride with Patrik Antonius to see a Jay-Z/Coldplay show in London and skydiving while inebriated.

He also said he would be recapping some of the action at the live durrrr heads-up challenge scheduled to take place in London later this week.

You can check the blog out here.

Annie Duke to host "Use Poker Skills for Life"

UltimateBet.com poker pro Annie Duke will be hosting a special presentation on how to use skills learned in poker in real life settings.

The "Use Poker Skills for Life" presentation will take part in conjunction with the Annie Duke Celebrity Poker Night which benefits the Decision Education Foundation. Both events will take place on Nov. 19 at the Commerce Casino in L.A.

The free presentation will start at 6:30 p.m. and guest entry is on a first come, first serve basis, for up to 80 attendees.

Duke won't be the only famous poker player speaking as Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch and Ali Nejad will all take the podium during the evening.

The presentation is sponsored by Stakes Supper Club.

Brad Booth once bought into 'High Stakes Poker' for a cool million.

Brad Booth joins GR88.com

Former Full Tilt poker pro "Yukon" Brad Booth has signed with new gaming site GR88.com as their official spokesperson and head of poker development.

Primarily a cash game player, Booth is perhaps most well-known for buying into High Stakes Poker for $1 million and pulling off a risky bluff against Phil Ivey.

Although he now resides in Vancouver, Canada, Booth earned his nickname by playing underground games in the Yukon.

Booth made his biggest tournament score when he came in third place in the 2006 WPT Mandalay Bay Championship for $319,180.

Mueller wins own event in FTOPS XIV

The Full Tilt pro also beat respected online grinder James "P0KERPR0" Campbell in heads-up play to secure the $36,081 first place prize.

The former professional hockey player became just the second Full Tilt pro to win his own FTOPS event.

Team Full Tilt member Erick Lindgren was the first player to perform the feat when he won a $300+$22 No-Limit Hold'em event he hosted during FTOPS VII in 2008.

It's been a good year for Mueller who won two bracelets in the 2009 WSOP after a series of heart-breaking runner-up finishes. Both of his wins came in Limit Hold'em.

Mueller is also not the first Full Tilt pro to take down an event at FTOPS XIV.

David Pham, who has two WSOP bracelets to his name, won the $500+$35 H.O.R.S.E. event on Tuesday for $69,570.

FTOPS XIV wraps up this weekend with Tom "durrrr" Dwan hosting the $2.5 million guaranteed main event on Sunday. Qualifiers for the $500+$35 event are currently running on Full Tilt.

PokerNews Exclusive: Tom Dwan Introduced as Team Full Tilt Pro

Full Tilt Poker Adds Tom “durrrr” Dwan to Team Full Tilt

The “durrrr” Challenge: Four Sessions + 2,000 Hands = an $81,000 Win for Tom Dwan

Akenhead makes Poker Million final

Now, Akenhead has made the final of Poker Million, a made-for-TV event sponsored by Full Tilt.

"I've watched previous Poker Million's on television, so to get to the final table in my first appearance is something I'm proud of," Akenhead said. "It's the biggest tournament of this structure I've ever played in."

Akenhead's run to the final included knocking out Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Antonio Esfandiari along the way.

Those who will join him in the final include Juha Helppi, Full Tilt's Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Cardrunners' co-founder Taylor Caby and Peter Vasiliou, a travel consultant from London who qualified online at Full Tilt.

UK nosebleed stakes loudmouth Luke "FullFlush" Schwartz will come into the final table with the chip lead.

The seventh and last spot in the final can still be won online at Full Tilt Poker through the site's Poker Million - Last Chance 5000 FTP point freeroll on Nov. 22, where the winner will bypass the heats and semi-finals going directly onto the final table.

The Poker Million final will take place in December and air live Sky Sports TV.

The “durrrr” Challenge: The First 25,000 Hands