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• National Poker Championship Dream Matchups 2010 Part 1

  It is a shame the seedings for the Heads up championship and the pairings are done at random because they are a lot of enticing match ups for us to make.  Sometimes the escalating blinds means poker strategy has to be thrown out the window but there are a variety of styles and players that could make this a special year.

  For review the rosters includes: Patrik Antonius, Eric Baldwin, Andy Bloch, Doyle Brunson, Joe Cada, Johnny Chan, Don Cheadle, Allen Cunningham, Pieter de Korver, Annie Duke, Tom Dwan, Peter Eastgate, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Sam Farha, Chris Ferguson, Ted Forrest, Jamie Gold, Phil Gordon, Barry Greenstein.

  And to continue: Bertrand Grospellier, Joe Hachem, Gus Hansen, Jennifer Harman, Phil Hellmuth, Orel Hershiser, Jesper Hougaard, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Gabe Kaplan, J.P. Kelly, Phil Laak, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, Jason Mercier, Dario Minieri, Chris Moneymaker, Darvin Moon, Greg Mueller, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen, Annette Obrestad, Brock Parker, Dennis Phillips, Greg Raymer, Vanessa Rousso, Kara Scott, Huck Seed, Erik Seidel, Mike Sexton, Gavin Smith, Jennifer Tilly, Paul Wasicka, David Williams, Leo Wolpert, Jerry Yang.

  Match-Up number one: Poker Couplings. Let’s start with first round matchups between Jennifer Tilly and Phil Laak. The Unabomber vs. the movie star. Once upon a time at the World Series Laak lost a bracelet to Johnny Chan while his girlfriend Tilly was busy winning the ladies event. Laak was running back and forth coaching his lady yet couldn’t get it done on his own. Laak still doesn’t own a bracelet but his girlfriend does. It would be fun to see her best him again.

  In a field short on female players these are pseudo-couples. Kara Scottand Gabe Kaplan. While it would be more fun to see Scott vs. deposed High Stakes Poker host AJ Benza this match up would still have a lot of appeal. Kaplan and Scott could square off to settle who is the better player host/host player on the show. Given Scotts two Main Event runs many might wrongly think it’s her and ignore Kaplan’s bracelet history.

  The next “couple” would be Howard Lederer vs. Annie Duke. Again, many of her Apprentice foes, Joan Rivers and Donald Trump might have more sizzle, but everybody loves to see siblings squabble. In what would be a rematch of all their board game battles growing up Annie and Howard could settle an old score. Duke, like any sister, obvious adores Howard but that’s never stopped her from getting the best of him in poker before.

  There are several Main Event Champions and runner ups. Rematches are always fun. Paul Wasicka who has a great record in the Heads Up Event could get another shot at Jaime Gold, and you just know David Williams would love to go after Greg Raymer again. Both pairings in the rematches would pit players with divergent histories since their Main Event clashes.

  Raymer and Wasicka have gone on to win other tournaments and go deep in big events, while Gold and Williams have really struggled. Williams less so, having won a bracelet and having a decent career but not quite the career of Raymer. What’s interesting is the Gold-Wasicka had the inverse result at their main event. Wasicka finished second but has been first ever since.

  Joe Cada vs. Darvin Moon is one of the most current feuds. The kid knocked off the logger for the Main Event title but Moon acquited himself well in the battle and his wide open play would likely confuse Cada again. Plus, with the quick moving blinds these two might start the fireworks on hand one.

  Course Cada may not be too keen to play Moon again, whereas a guy like Phil Ivey is probably praying for the chance to get another shot at the Maryland native. Wonder if he could have him as badly dominated as he did in the Main Event when he held AK to AQ. More match-ups to come…

• Lineup for National Heads Up Poker Challenge

  The 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship has announced its lineup.  The tournament will take place March 4th through the 7th at CaesersPalace.    This is the third year of a four year deal NBC signed with Caesers to host the event.  The origin of the program has a murky history.  Some have suggested it was inspired by the World Heads-Up Poker Championship others say NBC was looking for poker programming and saw an opportunity to televise heads up matches.  Others suggest NBC was only looking for poker programming because of the NHL lockout of 2005 left big empty gaps on the sports schedule which a tournament like this could fill.

  The tournament is No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em.  The players are arranged in a bracket akin to the March Madness brackets with players randomly seeded 1 through 16 in four different sub-brackets.  Players that win two matches and reach the third round win 25k.  Players that get to the Quarter-finals 75k, Semi-finals 125k, the loser of the finals wins 250k with the winner taking home 500k.

  This year there will be seven online qualifiers as well as 57 pros that were selected to the field.  NBC has all the qualifiers here.  The inclusion of certain names are a bit of head-scratcher as they got in by reputation only, while others got in for being a bit of a celebrity draw.  There were certainly a lot of omissions but as we learned last year when Shannon Shorr didn’t get an invite this is a made for television event and NBC doesn’t seem particularly interested in getting the best 64 poker players in the world, the best 64 heads up poker players in the world, rather they want a compelling an entertaining product.

  Their underdogs or Cinderellas will come in the form of celebrity poker dabblers like Jennifer Tilly, Gabe Kaplan, Orel Hershiser, Don Cheadle and Kara Scott (arguably Annie Duke too) and their online qualifiers.  Don’t expect the qualifiers to get much camera time if any unless they make a deep run.  Winning a match or two won’t turn Joe Blow into the Gonzaga, Bucknell or University of Richmond of tournament poker, in fact, you probably won’t even hear about it.

  The rest of the field include the big wigs at one of the big American sites; Howard Lederer, Phil Gordon (is he still a poker player?), Andy Bloch, Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson, and sponosred pros (co-owners?) like Mike Matusow, Erick Lindgren, Patrik Antonius, Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, and Gavin Smith.  You could argue that half those players are very deserving of their invitations and a couple are getting in only because of who they are in the industry, who they used to be as players, and for nothing else.

  Once again there is an ample helping of World Series of Poker Main Event Champions and deep finishers.  There may be some confusion to the general public but Dennis Phillips and Darvin Moon despite having massive chip stacks didn’t win their Main Events.  Jaime Gold and Greg Raymer did hang onto their huge chip leads and win the bracelet and are deserved invitees but Phillips and Moon not really.  An enticing first round match up with be Moon vs. Joe Cada who like Joe Hachem, Jerry Yang, Chris Moneymaker, Peter Eastgate got invitations too.

  Robert Varkoyni never got his invite in yet another reason he won his Main Event one year too early.  Other Main Event champions include the aforementioned Chris Ferguson, Huck Seed, Johnny Chan, and Doyle Brunson with Seed and Ferguson having already won this event.  Apparently, Steve Danneman’s 15 minutes of fame is up as he didn’t get an invite but other second place finishers like Paul Wasicka  (who also has won this event), Sam Farha and David Williams did.   

  The remainder of the field include Eric Baldwin, Allen Cunningham, Pieter de Korver, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Ted Forrest, Barry Greenstein, Bertrand Grospellier, Gus hansen, Jennifer Harman, Jesper Hougaard, John Juanda, J.P. Kelly, Phil Laak, Jason Mercier, Dario Minieri, Greg Mueller, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty “Can I get a cocktail” Nguyen, Annette Obrestad, Brock Parker, Vanessa Rousoo, Mike Sexton, and Leo Wolpert.

• High Stakes Poker Returns SEASON SIX Episode 1 Recap

  High Stake Poker returned to the Game Show Network and for those that don’t know, that means the best poker show on television is back.  It’s deep stacks pitted against deep stacks, deep thought pitted against violent aggression and it’s the epitome of poker for a poker fan.  You want to see the best players in the world engage in pots at limits so high even they have to bow out?  Then watch this show. 

  The only tweak to make it any better would be to allow some Omaha action and really put the game on crack.  Several players from the first few seasons of High Stakes Poker have never been back.  Want to see how exploitable some of the supposed best players in the world are?  Put them on this show and watch them get dominated by the guys who are supposed to be their peers.

  While some of the online players sit at home and play poker on a macor a pc without a camera to catch their emotion on this show they mix it up with the live players and you get to see everything.  You hear Dario Mineri’s voice crack when asked how much he has behind, you see Tom Dwan’s eyeballs scan across the table as he considers a bluff or a lay-down, you see an online poker player from “Northern Europe” as Phil Hellmuth would dismissively say get the best of Hellmuth in live chat. 

  In the most recent episode Phil Hellmuth, Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, and others battled it out.  For video of the episodes go here.  Twas a bad day to be Phil Hellmuth.  Phil Ivey in particular got the best of the self-alledged greatest poker player of all time.  In the movie “The Usual Suspects” there was a line that went something like “And Keyser Soze showed these men of will what a true man of will really is…”  That’s what Ivey did to Hellmuth.  He had Hellmuth thinking about making a call for all his chips with AJ–preflop.  Ivey of course had QQ.

  Hellmuth bought in for 200k and quickly ran through it doing little wrong.  Course the hand that busted him he would have chastised anybody else for playing preflop so he got his just deserts.  Hellmuth flopped a flush and straight draw.  Ivey flopped a bigger flush draw.  The King on the turn paired Ivey’s high card and when Hellmuth shoved Ivey called forcing the Brat to draw ultra-slim.

  Gus Hansen remarked on the telecast that the exit interview they were required to do would be one of the most brutal he’d ever do because it would mean he just dropped his 200k buy-in.   Hellmuth who picked up after being played into a corner in one hand after another because of the deck (he also lost with a king high flush to an ace high flush) got to experience that very interview.

  He was remarkably composed considering the Poker Brat had just lost a high stakes buy-in.  Kara Scott, a new addition to the show, did the interview.  It’s clear her poker experience elevates her from the standard pretty girl on the sideline to knowledgeable sideline reporter.  She showed an earnestness in asking the questions that was a little refreshing.  Didn’t seem like she’d stand for trite answers either.

  She wasn’t the only change to the episode.  There was a new mandate that there would be no prop bets on High Stakes Poker.  Last year they created some entertaining sideshows like Antonio Esfandiari’s push-ups but they also detracted from the action.  At some point, the background noise no longer was the clinking and clanking of chips it was the discussion of the minutia of prop bets.  It was a welcome change.  However, some of the players didn’t really get the memo as again in the background similar discussions occurred they were just for future prop bets away from the table.  Producers will need to re-clarify the focus is on poker.

  Also, they axed AJ Benza and gave Gabe Kaplan the booth by himself.  As a solo act it’s clear Kaplan needs a sidekick and if that means moving Kara Scott to the tank with him so be it.  They really should have never fired Benza but maybe with a little time Kaplan will improve all by himself and the show will get even better.

• Isildur1 Returns to Online Poker Part II

  When we left off Isildur1 had just returned to destroying the top names in online poker including Tom “Durrrr” Dwan yet again.  Dwan he lost over five million to the unknown Swedish online pro was itching to get some of that loose change back instead he took another quarter of a million hit to his bankroll.  The action stopped when Isildur1 wanted to switch over No Limit Hold’Em and a testy exchange between the two took place:

  Isildur1: lets just play 6 tables 3 6 nl instead ?
  durrrr: lol
  durrrr: ur too annoying to deal with
  durrrr: play for hours then the second u get up u want new game
  durrrr: thats ridic
  Isildur1: lol, like i just to quit playing
  Isildur1: wtf
  Isildur1: i play plo with u all even tho i dont want
  durrrr: i wanna play here obv
  Isildur1: i been waiting for u at nl and u say u comming but never show up
  durrrr: its obv terrible timing right after u win 250k pot
  Isildur1: thats annoying
  durrrr: i came to play 4
  durrrr: but had 4 other games
  durrrr: u hav too many rules w/e
  Isildur1: ye ok
  durrrr: im stuck 500 ill play here
  durrrr: dont wanna move tho
  durrrr: i lost a lot to gus before u came
  Isildur1: ok sry to hear that
  durrrr: n said to friend on aim that i hoped u didnt win early or ud quit and ask me for NL
  durrrr: its k we can play another time or w/e
  Isildur1: i dont use to quit plo when im winning
  durrrr: ok lets play then?
  Isildur1: thats just bs
  durrrr: lets play then?
  Isildur1: i need 5 mins then i know after
  Isildur1: plo
  durrrr: ok
  Isildur1: would rather play nl but gimme some time i have small stuff to do
  durrrr: ok np

  Then Isildur1 did what he does second best and disappeared.  Unlike the previous interaction with ZeeJustin where he claimed to be tired than mixed it up for another long session, Isildur1 really did disconnect from the online poker site.  So in one of the most eagerly awaited “rematches” in recent memories from a high stakes online poker game Dwan got a taste of the same medicine Isildur1 served up last year.  For once it was Dwan that was getting taken to poker school and not his opponent.

  Then Isildur1 got the rematch he was hungry for when he got to mix it up with Brian Hastings again.  You’ll remember Hastings was the player that snapped off Isildur1’s heater and took all the winnings Isildur1 took from Dwan (and others).  This go round the score was reversed. 

  Hastings was the one hating life.   His bankroll got relieved of over $500k.  The biggest pot was for $274k.  Hastings screen showed him KKQ9 and Isildur1’s j1098.  The flop gave Hastings three pair with Q93.  The turn brought a brick 5.  The river was dynamite for Isildur1 as a King gave him a straight to take down the huge pot.

  Then things turned a bit for the online phenom.  ZeeJustin got to try and win back some of the money he lost to the Swede and this time things went a lot better for Justin Bonomo.  Playing No Limit Hold’em with blinds of $100/$200 Bonomo was able to grind back half his losses winning a quarter million (he lost half a million the day before to Isildur1). 

  Then things went from bad to worse.  Brian Townsend who allegedly data mined Isildur1 the last go round and fed the information to Brian Hastings got to sample some of Isildur1’s run bad.   In an up and down match on the $300/$600 Pot Limit Omaha tables Townsend built up a 500k lead, Isildur1 won it all back and took a lead, and then Townsend got it all back and more.  When the session wrapped Townsend had made an almost 660k profit off the Swede.

  Things will continue to stay heated.  We’ll have our next update after the next twist, turn, flop, and bad beat.

• Isildur1 Returns to Online Poker Part I

  Last year the biggest buzz in the high stakes online poker games was the Swedish unknown player Isildur1.  Just as rapidly as he ascended to the pinnacle of pokerdom, multi-tabling against the best players in the world:  Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan,  Patrik Antonius and others he blew his bankroll away to little known Brian Hastings.  Then he disappeared (to lick his wounds perhaps) and now… he’s back.

  The Lord of the Ring Games, Isildur1 showed up infrequently last week, and then made his big return in a meteoric 24 hour span.  Isildur1 sat down in a $200/$400 CAP Pot Limit Omaha game against players like theASHMAN103 and URINDANGER.  That session translated into an over $238k win.

  Isildur1 ran into a bit of a hiccup after that.  He played some No limit Texas Hold’Em against Isaac Haxton on eight tables with $100/$200 blinds.  Isildur1 played 2,022 losing hands and gave Haxton $90k of his winnings.  He didn’t stop instead he went bigger.  He challenged ZeeJustin and Ziigmund, two of the top online poker players in the world, and left a good bit richer after each match.  In 24 hours he played almost 6,000 hands and earned about $126 a hand.   His profit a mere 725k.   Six hours later he had built the winnings into an over a million dollar day.

  His first victim?  ZeeJustin aka Justin Bonomo.  Bonomo, a good friend with Isaac Haxton, thought the gravy train had rolled into the station.  Only problem it had but he was the train.  The two squared off and played almost 3300 hands.  Things did not go well for Justin Bonomo (ZeeJustin) as Isildur1 snapped him off for half a million.  It was the worst loss in Bonomo’s career and it took place over six $200/$400 No Limit Hold’Em tables. 

  Bonomo’s biggest loss happened when he flopped two pair and Isildur1 cold decked him with top set.   Bonomo opened for a raise from the button with Qh6h.  Isildur1 looked at two kings and popped him back.  A cold deck flop of KQ6 had Bonomo drawing really thin.  Isildur1 bet his top set.  Bonomo raised and Isildur1 just called.  An eight fell on the turn and Isildur1 cooly checked to Bonomo.  ZeeJustin couldn’t help but fire out a quarter of his stack.  Isildur1 shipped it and Bonomo called.  As the Jack of hearts hit the river the pot became official.

  Bonomo’s losses brought up an interesting piece of chat: 

  ZeeJustin: friend that had a piece backed out, i have to go down to 1/2 if you want too keep playing =(
  Isildur1: ok =( sry i am to tired for that =(

  Yes his backer backed out and Bonomo was on his own but he didn’t have the scratch to play Isildur!’s stakes.  Isildur1 apparently wasn’t too tired to play because he ran into Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies.  Their stakes were $100/$200 Pot Limit Omaha.  Isildur1 continue to run good and made a 49k profit.  Once they doubled the blinds and played 625 hands Isildur1 won another $116k. 

  The cherry on top came after Isildur1 sat down at a $300/$600 table.  With Tom “Durrrr” Dwan itching to win back some of the money he lost in the last supernova explosion of Isildur1 on the poker scene they set up some heads up tables of Pot Limit Omaha.  Alas for poor Dwan things went according to the old script and Dwan got snapped off yet again.  When it was all said and done, Isildur1 had another 230k from Durrrr’s bankroll.

  Durrrr was lucky it stopped there because he dropped a pot that was bigger than his total losses as the session ended.  The largest online pot on the day came when Dwan had two pair and a wrap draw.  Isildur1 had turned a straight and it held.  That pot alone was for over a quarter million. 

  Isildur1’s return to the online poker high stakes cash games is a welcome sign that there is some railbirding excitement.

• Jeff Madsen wins a Poker Tournament (Not an Online One)

  Jeff Madsen is known as many things these days. He caused quite a stir when he introduced himself to the poker world by winning Player of the Year at the World Series of Poker. Sure he was but 21, but it was obvious he had been playing some poker elsewhere even if it was not live. Online poker? It’s safe to assume. The Wunderkind acted like he had a way to look at the hole cards of his opponents. His relentless pressure and his healty dose of run good made him a feared opponent. He also got some attention for not being afraid of any prop bet even if it meant dressing up like a fool at a later Main Event.

  Madsen has also dabbled as a rapper. Vanilla Ice he is not. Snow he is not. Eminem he is most definitely not. As far as poker rappers go, and there may only be a handful of those in the world he’s not exactly the best at that either. Then there are his conspiracy theories. Some people are best served by not talking much. Madsen is quite adept at that at the table, letting his game do all the talking, but away from it he’s still learning.

  Course, one other notable thing about Madsen since he broke onto the scene is he known for everything but poker. His poker resume has suffered and he has yet to repeat his dominating introductory performances. Clearly, he is a kid with a lot of talent, clearly he got a lot of accolades and accomplishments early in his career, but what isn’t clear is if he’s got his head screwed on straight again. We certainly hope so. Poker is littered with players, online and live that get on a heater post some great results then retire to the land of broke and busted.

  Well, Madsen gave notice that he’s still playing and playing well. He won the 2010 Borgata Winter Open Championship. He brought the wood to over 766 players who gave it a shot in the $3,300 Championship event. Borgata lost some numbers from last year by almost 25%. Yes, they had over 1,000 players last year. Entering a lot of tournaments without a score can be gruesome. Fortunately for Madsen he has at least 62 more big buy in tournaments thanks to winning a little over $625k.

  The victory made it third major live tournament victory for Madsen’s career. Here are the final table finishing order and payouts:

  1. Jeff Madsen, $625,006
  2. Sirous Jamshidi, $367,794
  3. Tom Marchese, $190,027
  4. Barkley Hamilton, $165,508
  5. Nick Kamen, $140,988
  6. Al Grimes, $116,468
  7. Dave Fox, $91,949
  8. Ross Mallor, $67,429
  9. Chan Pelton, $49,039
  10. Matt Matros, $31,876

  Considering the roller coaster he’s been on, it’s easy to forget just how young he still is and now he has over $3 million dollars live cashes. Madsen’s first world series will always be his most memorable. Want to guess where his other two victories come from? Well, if you were paying attention we already told you.

  In 2006, Madsen won World Series of Poker bracelets in 2006 for the $2,000 No Limit Hold’Em and $5,000 Short Handed No Limit Hold ‘Em events. In the $2,000 Limit Omaha Hi/LO event he also pulled down a third place finish.

  Surely, in that first year despite felling bulletproof Madsen garnered more than his fair share of good luck. In Borgata, he had a little of that too. One memorable pot had him running daown the better hand of Al Grimes. After some raises and reraises, with the two of them deep stacked, they finally got it in. Madsen’s AK suited needed help as he faced the pocket kings of Grimes. Five cards later and Madsen rivered a flush and Grimes chip stack was down to fumes.

  After the suckout which needed runner-runner, Madsen was on a fast pace to taste glory again. He got it shortly thereafter.

• Paul Wasicka wins World Series of Poker Circuit Event Championship

  Tunica Mississippi has casinos, a nice view of the Mississippi River, some cotton and not much else. Great people too, but there’s not much to do in Tunica that doesn’t involve the casinos. Paul Wasicka last made major No Limit Texas Hold’Em Poker news at a couple of tournaments in Las Vegas. One was on a major network, the NBC Heads Up Championship, the other was in the centerpiece of poker playing for the largest first place prize ever awarded. He won the former and placed the latter. After his latest victory his live tournament winnings total almost 8 million dollars.

  In Tunica, a city with far less buzz than Las Vegas, Wasicka went back to farming victories. He won $139,422 and his buy-in to the 2010 WSOP Main Event when he prevailed in the 2009-2010 WSOP Circuit Event at Harrah’s Tunica. Wasicka who finished runner-up to Jaime Gold at the World Series of Poker Main Event probably had some sympathy for 2nd place finisher Larry Gurney though Wasicka made considerably more than the $94,488 Gurney won.

  This past World Series Antonio Esfandiari made a deep run in the event and gave a large share of credit to his mindset coach Sam Chauhan. Gavin Smith recently won a tournament and cites Chauhan as an influence, and Josh Arieh is also rumored to be a client. So it is little surprise that Wasicka credits Chauhan’s teachings for his recent hot run.  Chauhan may not even know the first thing about Texas Hold’em Rules but you can’t argue with his results.

  The positive thinking must be working Wasickastarted the second day of the $5,150 buy-in event seventh in chips with 35 remaining players and had an overwhelming chip lead going into the final table with 25% of those in play.

  Jerry Saucier went out in ninth place early in the final table action. He couldn’t get his AJ to topple Carter Phillips KK. Saucier did manage an Ace on the turn, but because Carter hit a king on the flop it was just a taunting consolation. Saucier a retiree from Alabama won $12,368 for ninth place.

  The next to go was Robert Thornhill. A bit of trickery by Larry Gurney induced a shove from a hand that needed some help. Gurney limped-in pre-flop and Thornhill shoved. He knew he was in trouble when Gurney dispatched the other limpers by making an all-in re-raise. Thornhill turned over pocket eights, and saw Gurney holding the same hand Phillips just had: pocket kings. It got worse as Gurney also made a set. Thornhill won $14,617.

  Wasickagot the honors dispatching his friend Matt Stout in seventh place. His AK improved when yet another King hit the board. Stout won $17,990.

  Another big name at the table, red-hot Dwyte Pilgrim was the next to get the heave-ho. Pilgrim took a bad beat then turned around and shoved into the pocket Aces of Robert Robb. A player so nice they named him twice.  He thought he was seeing double when the flop brought two more aces. It would have been tough for Pilgrim to overcome the two aces but four sealed an early final table demise. Sixth place paid Pilgrim $26,985.

  The big names kept tumbling because Carter Phillips shoved on the button with pocket sixes. Invariably Gurney turned over a higher pair as he was running that way on that day and his Jacks held. Phillips added $35,980 to his lifetime winnings and walked away wondering what might have been.

  Wasicka might have wondered if there was a big name hex as they fell like dominos. Looking around the table he had to recognize he was the last remaining name, still he had a chip stack that had to make him feel comfortable. Wasicka insured he wasn’t the next to go when he dispatched Shane Zell. Zell moved all-in for his remaining 100,000 chips with A10. Wasicka made the call also with A10 but his were suited clubs. Those clubs turned into a flush and Zell, the local boy from nearby Memphis went home with almost $45,000.

  Robert Rob made it to third place and $62,965 but could go no further. Heads up play only lasted a level or two and at its conclusion Wasicka had a live multi-table circuit victory championship.

• Tom Dwan’s Durrrrr Poker Challenge Continues…

  The “durrrr” challenge limped closer to completion. Patrick Antonius and Tom “durrrr” Dwan sat down in front of their pcs (or maybe they chose to play poker on a mac) and with little taps of their forefingers played another 883 hands of Texas Hold’em and Omaha. The challenge requires 50,000 hands. 883 out of 50,000 is… about 1.7%.

  Without any massive pots or railbird euphoria inducing plays Dwan steadily chipped up and added to his lead. With an additional 315k or poker winnings over the big Scandinavian, Dwan has to be feeling good. The three hour session was reward in itself especially for a player playing his way out of a downswing. The lead has grown to 1.39 million. As Dwan seems to be recovering from a downswing and picking himself off the mat, Antonius is in the midst of his own. 2009 has not been good to Patrik and Dwan getting healthy off him in the challenge isn’t making things better.

  Should they wrap up the challenge this year it’s looking more and more likely Dwan will not only win what they wager in each heads up clash he’ll also pocket a half-million from Patrik for winning the bet.

  There is hope for Patrik considering he has 17,000 hands left to play. If Dwan can win 315k in 883 who’s to say Patrik can’t win 1.39 million plus over the remainder of the challenge. However, there needs to be a significant shift in momentum. Antonius has been looking up to Dwan for the last 10 thousands hands. And the lead has incrementally grown.

  That being said, should Patrik reverse fields it won’t be the first time he’s done it in poker and for that matter it won’t be the first time he’s done it in the challenge. At one point last year Dwan had methodically grown his lead to almost the 1.39 lead he has now. Somewhere near 1.2 million Dwan watched his lead dissipate like sweat in the desert. A couple thousand hands later and it was Patrik with the lead.

  The counter to that point is that was then and this is now. The dynamics have changed. Dwan perhaps took a few more risks than normal to maybe blow open the challenge and accumulate an unbeatable lead. It was early enough for risks and maybe that played into Antonius’ hands. The former Finnish tennis player (by the way he was no Jarkko Nieminen) parried the challenges and patiently took advantage of Dwan’s risk taking.

  Dwan does not strike even the casual observer as a player willing to sit on his chips and he didn’t build his lead by being afraid to put his chips into play, so maybe he will leave some hope for Patrik. If Dwan doesn’t pull back, now almost two thirds into the challenge it’s literally anybody’s game. If he does maintain or build his lead and then rests comfortably on his stack Antonius may have to talk buy-out.

  Let’s say with 45,000 hands played and 5,000 to go Dwan is at a 1 million lead. Just to tie the youngster Antonius would need to incredibly win $200 a hand… every hand. At some point, even the capricious gambler that Dwan is, he’d have to protect his lead and small pot Patrik. How could Antonius hope to win it all back? If Dwan’s downswing bubbles up again, the money in his challenge might be too valuable for him to not play conservatively.

  Of late the pots aren’t near the size they were just one year ago, so perhaps Dwan has already started to reel back. Antonius won’t be easily beaten and the difference in the lead isn’t anywhere close enough for Dwan to think it’s over. If you are one of the fans still following the Challenge, that’s good news for you, your marathon fan-hood carries on and there may yet still be some drama to wring out of this year long competition.

• Decade in Review: WSOP Champions 2006 Part I

  Tournament poker in 2006 was summed up by the breakout performance of the world series.  A young kid named Jeff Madsen won two tournaments and finished third in two others.  Madsen had the world at his feet.  The film student didn’t mind acting or fake agonizing over big decisions time and time again, and he drew his opponents into pot after pot.  Neophyte Madsen represented the incredible change that had taken over poker.

  He and his wet behind the ears ilk were gobbling up bracelets and cashes, the old men of poker for the first year were definitely elbowed out of final tables.  Fast aggression chewed up ABC players and nobody rode the accelerator that year like Jeff Madsen.  Madsen’s first tournament victory was in the $2,000 No Limit Texas Hold’Em event where he pocketed $660k.  Paul Sheng was his final victim.

  The last guy standing in Madsen’s second bracelet winning run was Erick Lindgren.  The two played heads up in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Short Handed 6/Table where Madsen won a little over $640k.  Madsen’s twofer was the cherry on top for the new generation of players.

  Early on it got started with Brandon Cantu winning event two.  The youngest earned $757k as he prevailed in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event.  In Event Five a made for TV final table pitted young gun Dutch Boyd vs. Joe Hachem (the Main Event winner from the previous year).  Dutch Boyd outlasted Hachem, finally felting the man his mother had a crush on, and winning $475k.    The next event had youngsters Mark Vos vs. Nam Le two guys that were new to the scene but haven’t left it yet.

  David Williams won a bracelet in Event 10 $1,500 Seven Card Stud event.  The runner up to Greg Raymer two years ago, like Hachem earlier and more immediately, proved his deep main event run was hardly a fluke.  Seven card stud is supposed to be an old man’s game, an Atlantic City game, but Williams credentials didn’t include age or an East Coast origin.  No his background like many of his young peers was in the card game Magic:  The Gathering.   

  As good as the youngsters were the old men hadn’t quite left the building.  Phil Hellmuth caught up to Chan and Brunson by winning a bracelet in the $1,000 No Limit Hold’Em with multiple rebuys.  Jason Lester, David Pham, Ralph Perry, Sam Farha, and Allen Cunningham all took bracelets down too. 

  Madsen wasn’t the only two time bracelet winner.  David Wiliams almost joined him wihen he lost to Daniel Alaei in heads up play in the $5,00 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball w/rebuys.  The one guy that did it was the older Bill Chen.  Chen took down a $2,500 No Limit Hold’Em Short Handed 6/Table event and that was a follow up to his win in the $3,000 Limit Hold ‘em tournament.  Still, the complete move to the Rio away from Binions was mirrored by the success of the new players in the new venue.

  The one vestige the old guys kept a hold of was the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament which featured a final table of pre-poker boom legends.  Brunson, Cloutier, Tomko and others butted heads to win the newest event, and the most prestigious.  The winner was a guy many revered as the best all around player in the world, a guy who barely had an interest in the tournaments as it took too much time from his lucrative cash games, and a man with one of the best names in poker:  Chip Reese.  Chip won two bracelets at the World Series before that in 1978 for 19k, and in 1982 for 92k. 

  Reese’s experience in the big game, with many of the regulars like Phil Ivey at the H.O.R.S.E. final table gave him an edge on all the young newbies rocking out to their iPods.  However, the private country club at the top of the mixed games table would be broken into sooner rather then later, and Chip’s victory while sweet was in an event that was the last island to be swallowed up by the new blood.

• DURRRR CHALLENGE RETURNS

  The Durrrr Challenge, Tom Dwan’s open invitation to the online poker world to take ridiculous odds and compete in his sweet spot has reignited again. So far, because of the snail like pace of play only online poker player Patrik Antonius has been able to take Durrrr up to play online poker in the Challenge format offer. So far, it’s been acknowledged that David Benyamine and Phil Ivey. The others must wait in the wings until the Durrrr Poker Challenge completes. There was some belief that Benyamine was first up but it turns out it was Antonius that got first crack.

  The online poker site got behind the challenge and started to promote it to railbirds. They devoted special tables to the action. No small wonder Dwan later signed with the site in a poker sponsorship deal. In fact, at the beginning of the Challenge the primary beneficiary was neither Dwan nor Antonius but the place they were playing. The Durrrr Challenge landed in their lap, and the unsigned Dwan’s creation was better PR than anything their marketing department had thought up.

  The Challenge stipulations were simple enough, each player must play four tables at once heads up. The challenger has the choice of No Limit Texas Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha. The stakes must be a minimum of $200/$400. The sample size to determine the better player would be over 50,000 hands. The person leading after 50,000 hands willl be declared the winner even if the lead is as small as say $1.00. If Dwan or Durrrr is winning he keeps his profit plus wins $500,000 from his opponents pocket. To get challengers Dwan offered 3 to 1 odds meaning his challenger would win $1,500,000 if he’s up even one dollar. Those are odds that had the top players salivating.

  When it got started last year in February there was a great deal of hype and attention to it. The railbirds were tuned in and the excitement about the steep odds Dwan was offering was palaple. Questions abounded some focused on what lead would be big enough for them to settle the online poker challenge early. How far ahead did a front runner need to get people wondered? Was a settlement allowed? Was Dwan being foolish for offering such steep odds to the best players in the world? Who would snap him off?

  From the get go the two online poker pros played 3% of the required hands. Dwan took a small lead of $134k. Since then the problem with the Challenge is finding time to play. Also, Dwan’s downswings at the hands of Isildur1 and, in general, have contributed to his rumored bankroll trouble. While it is not a recognized reason for the lack of play between Dwan and Patrik Antonius it can be surmised it’s impeded the two playing. Of course Dwan has been up in the challenge and when the two finally met again all he did was extend his lead.

  The most recent meeting played over two days allowed Dwan to extend his lead. For the first time in the Challenge a player has taken a lead over a million dollars. At this point, if Dwan plays Antonius even he’s wiped out the odds he gave the Swede. Dwan stands to win over 1.5 million. If Antonius can recoup his million dollar deficit he’d win 1.5 million. So it’s almost a break even with 64% of the challenge played.

  To a degree Dwan has already won. If they were to discuss settlements Dwan now has all the leverage. Considering it’s taken a year to play 2/3rds of the challenge things should wrap up in August. Course the World Series is in July so if it’s to end more likely it should be completed by June. Perhaps, the two online poker players will use the time constraints as motivation to finish things up sooner rather than later.
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