Poker News
Poker News

Antonius wins biggest online pot

Thursday, November 19, 2009


It was only a few days ago that we were salivating at the thought of how much cash some of the best high stakes players make. And now this!

Full Tilt Poker has just seen the largest pot in the history of online poker created in one of their rooms. And it wasn't just two unknowns playing for the cash, either. Two of the biggest money winners in online poker, Patrik Antonius and Isildur1, faced off in a pot worth an incredible $878,958.50!
"Isildur1 opened for $3,000 preflop and Antonius called. The flop came 5h-7h-Qs and Antonius checked. "Isildur1"bet $5,000 and Antonius raised to $21,000. Isildur1 called and the turn brought the Ad and a ton of action. Antonius bet $48,000 and Isildur1 raised to $192,000. Antonius then moved all-in for $415,479.50 and was called by Isildur1, creating the largest pot in online poker history at $878,958.50."
While both players showed the top two pair, it was Antonius who took glory when the river produced the Eight of Diamonds - he needed either an Eight or a Heart to win, while Isildur1 was holding out for a non-Heart King or Jack.

Full Tilt's Patrik Antonius went on to win $3 million from Isildur1, a huge dent in his account, especially when you consider that he is ranked as the fourth highest cash winner in online poker, with just over $5 million.

Isildur1's identity is still unknown, although Barry Greenstein did reveal that he was Swedish and that we'd be seeing a lot more of him in the future. All I can say is that I certainly hope so. He's an incredible player, and I'm sure this loss won't keep him down for long.

Still, congratulations to Patrik Antonius for such a momentous win! Do you think we'll be seeing more of these incredible pots in the near future? Have your say by commenting below.


Posted at 12:24 AM Permalink | 0 comments | Talk on the Poker Forum


Biggest Online Winners

Tuesday, November 17, 2009


In a recent thread at 2+2, there was a post on the top 11 winning and losing high stakes poker players online. For your convenience, here are the top 11 and their recent earnings:

1. Phil Ivey with $12,901,299
2. OMGClayAiken with $7,651,217
3. Patrik Antonius with $7,272,543
4. Isildur1 with $5,033,951
5. Urindanger with $4,705,220
6. trex313 with $4,588,666
7. howisitfeellike with $4,073,977
8. Ziigmund with $3,584,047
9. KaiBuxxe with $3,186,717
10. theASHMAN with $2,960,874
11. Mark Vos with $2,906,447

Phil Ivey clearly makes a very decent living from high stakes games. His playing in live tournaments must simply be a vanity and a way of getting better sponsorship deals. I recall an interview where he mentioned that most tournaments cannot compare to high stakes ring games in terms of income for him, due to the amount of money that can be won per hand in a ring game. He really is just that good.

It's encouraging to see Patrik Antonius ranking so highly, especially as that same forum post revealed that Tom 'durrrr' Dwan of the durrrr Challenge is no longer in the top 50 high stakes earners. Interestingly, both Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius are members of Team Full Tilt, an honour that Dwan recently received as well. Perhaps the two more successful high stakes players can teach durrrr how to have a long lasting poker career - like not challenging everyone to incredibly high stakes games and deliberately setting the odds against yourself. In Dwan's defence, he is doing very well in the challenge currently, though the balance of wins seems to be swinging to Antonius once more.

Now, here is the list of the bottom 11 from worst to the least worst:

1. noataima at -$7,126,621
2. lady marmelade at -$6,632,177
3. patatino at -$5,924,545
4. Gus Hansen at -$5,520,219
5. elmariachimacho at -$4,161,883
6. Niki Jedlicka at -$2,396,580
7. LarsLuzak at -$2,030,695
8. ahtata at -$1,615,234
9. MR B 2 U SON at -$1,570,698
10. KObyTAPOUT at -$1,502,831
11. Brandon Adams at -$1,477,492

The total losses for those 11 are around $39,958,975. Wow, that's a lot of money, and bad news for Gus Hansen with his $5,924,545 in losses. I really feel for the big money players on a downswing in fortunes, but I also weep for the fact that they are losing amounts that may exceed my lifetime income! Oh well, more power to them, and here's hoping they can break through their losing streaks.

The moral of this story is simple: do not mess with Full Tilt Poker's Phil Ivey or Patrik Antonius unless you have somehow leveraged a massive advantage over them. Also, when you play high stakes, the losses can be staggering. Have the bankroll to survive a bad run, or else stick to lower stakes.

Do you have your own stories about winning streaks or losing runs in your online poker play? Pour your heart out in the comments.


Posted at 1:27 AM Permalink | 0 comments | Talk on the Poker Forum


durrrr joins Full Tilt

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

With all the excitement of 21-year-old Joe Cada taking out the World Series of Poker Main Event, it seems that another rising star has almost been forgotten.

It has been more than a year in the making, and with speculation running rampant, Full Tilt Poker finally made a statement regarding the talented Tom "durrrr" Dwan.

"Team Full Tilt doesn't take adding a team member lightly," said Team Full Tilt member, Howard Lederer. "But, Tom Dwan has proven, through skill and dynamic play, that he will be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come. We are proud to count Tom as one of our own."

The only surprising thing about this entire event is that it has taken so long for Dwan to be recruited. Full Tilt haven't signed any new members since Patrick Antonius way back in June, 2008, but with the inclusion of Dwan, Team Full Tilt is looking rather imposing with the likes of Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, and Erik Seidel in the mix.

So now that he's a full-blown member, Dwan gets all the perks that come with such a title. You'll be able to check up on his Full Tilt blog, share in his poker wisdom at the Full Tilt Poker Academy, and, of course, play against him at the online tables.

Check out the video below to hear what fellow Full Tilt members had to say about the kid who has already won more than $1.1 million in his young career.

What do you think about Tom Dwan's recent success? Have your say by commenting below.





Posted at 6:53 PM Permalink | 0 comments | Talk on the Poker Forum


I was wrong!

Monday, November 09, 2009


Man, I was complaining about the bookies suggesting that Darvin Moon was the most likely to bust out Phil Ivey, and what does Ivey go and do? He gets busted out by Darvin Moon!

Ivey moved all in with Ace of Clubs/King of Spades against Moon's Ace of Diamonds/Queen of Spades. It's understandable that Ivey would go all-in with that, and it's understandable Moon would call. Unfortunately for the greatest poker player in the world, sometimes the cards just don’t go your way. The flop gave Moon another Queen, and there was no help for Ivey.

Sometimes that's just the way things go in poker, though. Anyone who criticizes Ivey for busting out to Moon should remember how patient he was before then and that everyone at the table treated him as dangerous right through to the end. I'm sure a few cocky upstarts will try to find Ivey in a high stakes game at Full Tilt Poker. I'm equally sure that many of those players will quickly regret their mistake and beat a hasty retreat.

Ivey busted out in seventh place for prize money of $1,404,002. That bumps up his WSOP earnings to a bit over $5 million total, and his total tournament winnings rank him as one of the biggest tournament earners of all time. This is nothing but a minor setback for him, and it'll be interesting to see how he performs in the WSOP next year.

The WSOP Main Event final table is now down to the final two: Joe Cada and Darvin Moon. Cada has the chip lead with 136,925,000 chips and Moon is at a disadvantage at 58,875,000 chips. PokerStars must be ecstatic to have signed Cada just before his final table performance, as if this young poker pro wins the WSOP, he's certain to become a poker superstar. Moon is still in with a shot, however, and there's every chance he could win this if he gets another stroke of luck like the one that took out Ivey for him.

What do you think about how the WSOP Main Event final table has run? Do you think it will be good or bad for poker? Please tell us in the comments below. We'll have a full wrap-up of the 2009 WSOP Main Event once Joe Cada and Darvin Moon have gone head-to-head later in the week, but you can read more about what's happened so far in our news section.

- Shad


Posted at 1:37 AM Permalink | 0 comments | Talk on the Poker Forum


Who will win the Main Event?

Monday, November 02, 2009

It's been hyped for four long months, but the World Series of Poker Main Event is just around the corner. This Friday, November 6, in fact.

Odds are currently pointing in Darvin Moon's favor, if only for the fact that he is the clear chip leader. Moon is an incredible example of how an amateur poker player can compete at the highest level in the sport. A logger from Maryland, Moon took out $130 satellite event to move into the WSOP Main Event. Alongside Steven Begleiter and Antoine Saout, Moon has no WSOP earnings to his name. Yet.

Phil Ivey is the only member of the November Nine that has any WSOP bracelets, seven in total. If it weren't for his meagre chip count, he would be far and away the favorite to win, but as it stands he has to be content with his odds.

While it may be true that Ivey is the only bracelet winner, five other competitors have two or more WSOP cashes to their name. Eric Buchman, Jeff Shulman, Joe Cada, Kevin Schaffel, and James Akenhead are all veterans of the World Series of Poker, and all know just what it takes to finish in the money.

Darvin Moon - 58,930,000
Eric Buchman - 34,800,000
Steven Begleiter - 29,885,000
Jeff Shulman - 19,580,000
Joe Cada - 13,215,000
Phil Ivey - 9,765,000
Kevin Schaffel - 12,390,000
Antonie Saout - 9,500,000
James Akenhead - 6,800,000

So who do you think will take out this year's Main Event? Will Darvin Moon shock everyone and beat out the pros? Or will Phil Ivey prove his dominance of the sport by coming from nearly 50 million chips down to win? Have your say by commenting below.


Posted at 1:50 AM Permalink | 2 comments | Talk on the Poker Forum


Daniel Negreanu's top 10 players

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Daniel Negreanu: PokerStars pro, Kid Poker, and self-confessed poker stats geek.

In a recent blog entitled "I am a Stats Geek Like No Other", Negreanu dissects mountains of statistics and information in order to systematize his top ten poker professionals into three unique lists.

You can take a look at Negreanu's official blog here.

Kid Poker took every player who had participated in 30 or more World Poker Tour events into consideration, and assumed that there would be a standard ROI (return on investment) of at least $20k in order to cover food, accommodation, flights, taxes, etc.

He used several categories to organize the 176 qualifying players into the lists, with Total Earnings, Final Tables, and Cash Percentages all factoring into the final result.

The results are quite interesting:

Top Ten Players in Earnings Per Event:

1. Carlos Mortensen - $107,354.29
2. Jonathan Little - $93,077.19
3. Martin DeKnijff - $92,130.72
4. David Chiu - $91,053.53
5. Gus Hansen - $90,816.93
6. Tuan Le - $90,781.26
7. Nick Schulman - $77,838.60
8. Michael Mizrachi - $69,479.43
9. Daniel Negreanu - $68,591.79
10. Alan Goehring - $59,936.17

Bottom Ten Players in Earnings Per Event:

Don Barton - $2,056.33
Matt Glanttz - $1,794.71
Jean-Roberte Bellande - $1,792.57
John Esposito - $1,678.67
Yosh Nakano - $1,547.50
Jason Lester - $1,010.52
Robert Williamson III - $1,000.00
Alan Schien - $938.45
Dan Alspach - $728.47
Frank Kassela - $606.29
"Essentially what that means, is that for every $10,000 on average that these players put into an event, they get back what's listed."
Finally, Negreanu lists his top 10 (okay, 11) players based on final table percentages:

1. Gus Hansen - 15.6%
2. Scotty Nguyen - 11.1%
3. Jonathan Little - 10.8%
4. Phil Ivey - 10.5%
5. Ted Forrest - 8.8%
6. Daniel Negreanu - 8.6%
6. Can Kim Hua - 8.6%
6. Humberto Brenes - 8.6%
9. David Pham - 8.4%
10. Steve Sung - 8.3%
10. Hoyt Corkins - 8.3%

- TheDoctor


Posted at 9:12 PM Permalink | 0 comments | Talk on the Poker Forum


Poker Dad Hits Supernova Elite


The PokerStars blog has reported that Dan 'DannyOhBoy' Grolemund has reached PokerStars' top VIP level - Supernova Elite - for earning 1 million VPPs. That's impressive enough as it is, but it gets better, as he did it in just 10 months and all while looking after his newborn baby boy.

Grolemund even credits his son with helping him, saying "It is because of him that I was able to reach Supernova Elite so soon." It may seem like a baby would make earning 1 million VPPs even harder to achieve, but the more you hear from Grolemund, the more it seems to make sense. If his kid has a poker face anything like the one pictured here, there'll be a promising future for the lad.

He apparently followed a strict schedule revolving around his son.

"I planned my poker sessions around his sleep schedule. I moved a high chair and a playpen right next to my computer," said Grolemund.

Most of the focus has been on how unbelievable it is that he managed to do this while looking after his new kid (1 of 3) and keeping his business running wife happy, but I can honestly see how poker and caring for an infant would be complementary. Many stay-at-home parents find that they need some purpose outside of their role as carer, and who here wouldn't consider poker to be a fun way to do that?

Apparently, Grolemund is going to continue playing despite having achieved Supernova Elite level, which goes to show how it's so much easier to achieve goals like this when you make them a habit. Continuing isn't such a bad idea, either, as there are tangible benefits to earning so many VPPs, a fact that Grolemund used to convince his wife that this whole venture was a good idea.

"I sat down with my wife at the beginning of the year, explained the benefits of becoming a Supernova Elite, and we both agreed that I should go for it ... She can't wait to go on the two luxury vacations that PokerStars will provide to us," said Grolemund.

Is anyone else out there a stay-at-home parent who plays poker as well as raising kids? Have you got any tips on how to manage your time effectively? Tell us all about it in the comments.

-Shad

Labels: ,


Posted at 2:50 AM Permalink | 0 comments | Talk on the Poker Forum

Powered by Blogger