European fans of the tenacious online poker superstar Tom Dwan will be delighted to hear he will be visiting London this September to take part in a new Million Dollar Challenge. With the action slowing on the much railed “Durrrr” vs. Antonius Challenge on Full Tilt Poker it was only a matter of time before someone thought of setting something similar up in a live environment and so it has proved. The Challenge, in association with Matchroom Sport, will see Dwan face off against 4 opponents who have yet to be named face him over the course of 500 hands with a buy in of $500,000 and blinds of $500/$1000. The games on offer are pot limit Omaha and NL Holdem. The matches will all be heads up affairs and there can be no interruptions unless the 500 hands are completed or one of the players goes bust.

Dwan told Matchroom, “I am looking forward to sitting down and playing some of the world’s best players live in London. There looks to be lots of interest in people wanting to play me, but they never seem to appear online. It will be interesting to see the response [we get] and just who is willing to get it on.” Potential opponents will be announced over the coming weeks

Dwan is currently up to the tune of $726,000 Dollars vs Antonius after being behind in the challenge for much of the early to mid stages. He is surely hoping his hot streak continues for this much anticipated live event in London. The matches will take place in junction with the World Series of Poker Europe which runs annually from the 19^th September to the 2^nd October at the London Clubs International.

Post from: Ridge Gaming

Tom “Durrrr” Dwan takes on new Million Dollar challenge this September

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Support the PPA and be a Winner!

Cake poker is running an incentive for players registered with them to enter a $3,500 freerole for signing an online petition to be presented to President Obama.

Once you have signed the form (using the same e-mail address as you registered your cake account from) the Poker Players Alliance will forward your e-mail address to Cake Poker and you will be able to take your seat. Cake will send you a ticket which can then be used on one of the Saturdays between the 27^th June and the 25^th July 2009.

In addition to the above promotion, the Poker Players Alliance is fronting a campaign during National Poker Week (19-26^th July) encouraging its members to send letters to Congress in support of the Barney Frank initiatives and repeal of the UIGEA. The carrot in this deal is that if a letter is sent by the 12^th July you will receive a ticket to a $10,000 freeroll on Cake Poker.

Party Poker launches “The Genius” Promotion

How very clever even if I say so myself! Party Poker has just announced what it has called “the Genius” promotion. In essence what will happen is a prize will be paid out every 50,000 hands for 10m hands on Party Pokers cash tables! Every 50,000^th hand will be squared, with a minimum prize of $100 up to $5,000. All players involved in a pot will split the prize money equally with the winner of the pot also taking that down.

Every millionth hand will have a guaranteed $10,000 prize pool whilst the last hand of the promotion will be worth $100,000 guaranteed. Just to clarify how it works, if the pot stands at $50. That pot is squared ($50 x $50 = $2,500) and then split by the number of people at the table. If the pot is $5 ($5 x $5 = $25) then $100 is split between the players as that is the minimum prize payout.

Post from: Ridge Gaming

Online Poker Promotions July 2009

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The last few weeks have not seen a fantastic amount of action on the online front with all of the biggest movers and shakers in the poker world still in Las Vegas at the Bellagio as well as the WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E tournament scheduled for 5 days. That’s not to say there wasn’t any action though!

Tom “Durrrr” Dwan had an amazing week considering the amount of time he spent at the tables. The last few weeks has seen Dwan resurge from a pretty shaky start to the year (he was at one point $4m or so down from online play) to hitting the half way point more than $1.5m to the good. This last week so more than half of that profit being scored in the space of less than 600 hands! In total he played 8 sessions with the majority of the hands being played against Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies. They played 200 hands or so at the $500/$1000 pot limit Omaha tables on Full Tilt Poker. Dwan won 11 of the 15 largest pots of the night, the largest 3 all being over $350,000.

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies was clearly loosing his rag towards the end of the session with this hand showing he was beginning to lose his concentration: Dwan open raised to $3000 with Sahamies making it $9000 to go with Dwan called. The flop dropped Ad8d2h. Sahamies opened $18,000 into the pot which was smooth called by Dwan. The turn was the 7d. Sahamies fired $45,000 into the pot only for Dwan to smooth call again. The 10s fell on the river. Sahamies then fired $121,000 into the pot only for Dwan again to smooth call. Ziigmund had been betting with air with his qc6s4d4c for Dwan to collect with his flush (Js10d9d7c). That pot was worth $386,000.

Soon after the match was called to a halt, with a not too pleased Sahamies keen to get Dwan at Bobby’s room to continue with some live action:

Ziigmund: f** I’m tilt

Ziigmund: come to f**king bobbys room u get more

Durrrr: I’ll be 15 minutes

Durrrr: game already going I think

Durrrr: same as yesterday

Ziigmund: come to f bobbys room u get more f sicko

I think it’s safe to say Sahamies didn’t have the best session of his career and needed someone to vent at! Anyway, despite blowing $489,000 this last week I’m sure he manages to console himself at night knowing he is $2.2m or so in change to the good so far in 2009.

Post from: Ridge Gaming

Tom “Durrrr” Dwan and what a difference a few weeks make!

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It’s not that often that 5 World Series of Poker bracelet winner Ted Forrest chances his luck in the online poker world arena, but he decided to do just that on Full Tilt Poker this weekend. Forrest is an incredibly good live player due to his uncanny ability to read his opponents (something honed in when he spent his time as a dealer in card rooms) so it is a rare treat indeed to see him playing at Full Tilt. On Friday night he booked a $187,000 profit playing $1,000/$2,000 Omaha/8. His opponents were, “Sirens”, Ashton “theASHMAN103” Griffin, “Rekelme” and Rafi “howsitfeellike” Amit had no answer to him bleeding $80,000 between them. Later on that day Forrest played heads-up against Griffin at the $2000/$4000 level which again turned into a one way affair. Forrest took every major pot of the session including this typical hand:

Forrest calls a raise from the big blind for the flop to drop QcJd4d. Griffin leds out for Forrest to raise. Griffin calls behind. The turn was a 5s which Griffin again leads out on. Forrest makes the same play and re-raises for Griffin to call. The river was the 7d. This time Griffin checks to Forrest who bets out again which Griffin calls. Griffin mucked his hand as Forrest showed Ad9h3d3s for the nut flush and second nut low to scoop the pot.

Maybe he has a taste for it now after making close to $200,000 in a day or so! We will have to wait and see so watch this space.

Post from: Ridge Gaming

Rare Online Session Brings out the best in Ted “profbackwards” Forrest

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It was a night young Dwan probably wished he turned on his Xbox rather then playing Antonius the other night in a continuation of their 50,000 hand challenge. They re-took to the $200/400 heads up pot limit tables on Full Tilt and carried on for nearly an hour before Dwans Internet connection issues convinces him to stop play and fight on another day.

Dwan is now out of pocket to the tune of $488,133 over the last 13,246 hands and this session’s 290 hands have proved to be his most expensive yet. Antonius was in the zone from the outset and literally crushed his opponent on all four heads up tables in a decidedly off night for Dwan.

Within the first 40 hands of the session Antonius had won two 6-figure pots. In the first of which, Antonius held AcQcJs9d and called Dwan’s 4 bet pre flop. The flop dropped Qs9h4h which was to Antonius’s liking and he opened the betting with $21,600 which Durrrr smooth called. The Turn was the 6d and that is where Antonius made his move and moved all in for the remainder of his $51,1999. Dwan paused for a while before calling with his AdJd10h4c. The river was the Ah giving Antonius the $152,800 pot with top two pair.

Antonius won a similar amount when another 4 bet hand preflop went his way. This time he held As10s8h5h vs Dwans QcQh9d8d. The flop came down Jh8s2h. Dwan fired $8,600 into the pot which Antonius called. The Turn was the 5c giving Antonius 2 pair and the flush re-draw. Dwan fired again this time for $29,200 only for Antonius to move his stack into the pot ($60,875). Dwan called only for the river to blank with the Kd and another $150,949 pot was shipped to Antonius.

Dwan did win the largest pot of the night however and it was a classic AA vs KK hand. Antonius opened the betting with KsKcQsjh with Dwan responding with a 3-bet with his AcAs5c5h. Another reraise from Antonius pushed the betting to $6000 for Dwan to pitch it to $18,000 to see the flop. Antonius called and saw the Qc6s6d flop. Dwan bet $14,000 into the $36,000 pot for Antonius to call. The 10s on the turn gave Antonius the flush and straight draws to go with his over pair. The remaining stacks went in unsurprisingly and Dwan could sigh with relief when the river blanked with the 4h. $174,197 moved its way over to Dwan.

The near $500,000 deficit faced by Dwan in this challenge is by no means insurmountable, especially with these two buying in for $50,000 and playing on 4 tables! It looks to me that Antonius is starting to push his edge however and I can see him extending his lead in the next few sessions as Dwan looks to chase his losses.

Post from: Ridge Gaming

Durrrr continues his cold streak in challenge vs Antonius

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Yesterday saw a rematch of the Heads Up game last week between Gus Hansen and Tom “Durrrr” Dwan. They sat back at Hansen’s Hangout and Suckout Omaha tables on Full Tilt for a session which saw over 20 $100,000 + pots.

Dwan probably felt it just wasn’t his night the last time these two played, but last night must have felt more comforting for him after posting an estimated $400,000 win over The Great Dane. It didn’t start out to well for Dwan when he was dealt AhAd5s10s and 4 bet his hand preflop vs. Hansen’s Qh10HJd7d. The flop was 10d2s9d and Hansen opened for $54,000. Dwan shoved over the top for $141,371. Gus put his remaining $31,492.5 into the pot with his inside straight flush draw and was pleased to see the 3d on the turn followed by the 8d on the river to complete his straight flush. The Pot was worth $224,984.5 and was the largest of the session.

Durrrr quickly made the majority of that loss back when he 3 bet his 10d6s8dQh hand preflop vs Hansen’s As9S3cQ3. The flop dropped Qd3s2s giving Hansen 2 pair and the nut flush draw. Hansen leads out for $18,000 which Dwan smooth calls. The turn is the Kd. Dwan leads out the betting for $54,000 with his top pair and flush draw. Hansen shoves the remainder of his $96,492.25 chips into the pot. Dwan calls for his $23,483 behind and must have been delighted to have hit the 6c on the river to sweep the pot with a better 2 pair. Durrrr had an encouraging session and will be re-energised in his quest to break even for the year. He still has his challenge vs. Patrik Antonius to play out and will undoubtedly revisit that before the WSOP starts in the next month.

Post from: Ridge Gaming

Dwan clears his head with a positive session vs. Gus Hansen

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Another night another 4 hour session at the high stakes full tilt tables for Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius. They stuck to 4 tabling the $200/400 Omaha tables and after another 842 hands of the 50,000 scheduled , Antonius came out on top by $75,153 to push his total lead in the challenge to $159,727.

Antonius won the vast majority of the large pots with 10 of the 15 pots over $50,000 being won by the charismatic Finn. He was dominant across all 4 tables and will be confident in the next few sessions that will be squeezed in before the WSOP next month. However, despite Antonius’s dominance this evening, he did lose the largest pot of the night:

Both players were hovering around the $100,000 mark when Antonius was dealt, AdAsKhKc and Dwan held Qs10s9d8c. The Finn 4 bet his hand pre flop with the ever aggressive Dwan coming along for the ride creating a pot of $108,000. The flop dropped 9s8s7h hitting Dwan as well as he could have hoped leading him to push his remaining $45,000 into the pot which Antonius called with his over pair. The turn dropped the 5s and the river was the 9c filling Dwans boat and shipping the $199,000 pot his way.

The roles were reversed in the nights second largest pot of $148,000. Dwan held the big pair this time with KcKsQc7S whilst Antonius held Jd10c9d6c. After Dwan 3 bet preflop for Antonius to flat call. The Flop must have made the Finn smile with QhJhJc. Antonius led out the betting with a half pot bet which Dwan called only for the turn to blank for both of them with the 3d. Antonius pushed all in for his remaining $48,048 and after some deliberation Dwan calls. The river was the 6c, this time giving Antonius the house and the pot.

The balance shifting was evident when Antonius played his AhAdKh9s aggressively 3 betting preflop. Dwan calls with 10d8d7s4d happy to see a Qh7c4h flop. Antonius led out with Dwan flat calling. The 2d on the turn missed them both. After Antonius fired another shot of near $20,000 into the pot Dwan retaliated with a shove all in for $72,479. After a small pause Antonius called for the remainder of his $40,992 in chips. The river was the 8h giving Antonius the nut flush and the $139,583 pot.

These two have now completed nearly 13,000 hands (12,956). Playing at this rate it is going to take another 45 sessions or so before a result is posted so there is still plenty of time to go for Dwan to catch up. The $160,000 Dwan is down is small change to him especially compared to the $750,000 losses he sustained playing Gus Hansen this week.

Post from: Ridge Gaming

Another night another Dollar for Antonius in “Durrrr” Challenge

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With the big games at the Bellagio finishing up some of the high rollers that were away were tempted back to the high stakes tables, but some of them like Patrik Antonius headed off to the EPT in San Remo. This gave Dwan a window to play some hands against Hansen in between his challenge with Antonius. It would prove to be an expensive session for Dwan as he would hand over $890,000 to Hansen. Dwan wasn’t the only big loser over the weekend against Hansen with Di Dang also posting a $735,000 loss.

In one of the largest pots of the night, Hansen started the action off with a pre flop raise to $3,000 with AhQh7C4D. Dwan called from the big blind with Jc10c7d7s.
The flop dropped KhJs3c. Dwan lead out with a small bet only for Hansen to call. The next card hit Hansen hard and it was the 10s giving him the nut straight. Dwan lead out again, this time for $12,200 which Hansen again smooth calls. The river is the 9c. Dwan checks for Hansen to bet out for $31,000 only for Dwan to check raise to $133,000 which Hansen was only too happy to call. This pot was a tad under $222,000.

Another huge pot was on a Qh8s6s board. Both players got it all in. Hansen with AhAsqS2h and Dwan with JcJs10s9s. Hansen’s pair held up when the board turned 4c and rivered an 8h and he collected another $200,000 + pot. There were 4 $200,000 pots that session and all of them where won by Hansen against Dwan.

Hansen must have slept well on Saturday after the weekend before. He is well up again on the year which cannot be said of Dwan who is now nearly $1m in the red. It’s a good job these sorts of amounts are pocket change for the high rollers of the Full Tilt high stakes tables.

Post from: Ridge Gaming

Hansen takes revenge after last weekends mauling

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How much do you have to lose to have a bad day at the office? Gus Hansen’s fans were left feeling for him this weekend when he was punished to the tune of $1.2million dollars. Although we don’t have to start a whip round just yet for the famous Dane, this loss on Friday night ranks up there as one of his worst ever nights at the cloth.

The session lasted pretty much all night with Gus playing 4 of his $500/$1000 PLO high stakes tables on Full Tilt. The players who profited most from the Dane were Di “Urindanger” Dang and David “Mr B 2 U SON” Benyamine who siphoned a cool $740,000 and $645,000 respectively.

In one big hand, Benyamine swept a $236,000 pot. He raised to $3000 from the button with QsQh8s3s, Hansen then called from the small blind with Kc7c2s2d. The flop dropped Qd10h2h, and after a small bet and call on the flop, and got it all in on the turn when the 4d dropped. The 10c was the river card pairing the board and the pot to Benyamine.

His big pot against Dang was a little more unlucky. Dang opened for $3000 with 10c10h9d7h only for Hansen to raise it to $9000 with JdJc6s5d. The flop dropped Ac6c5h and Hansen led out for $14,000 only for Dang to call. The J of H dropped on the turn to give Hansen a set. He raised the pot to $46,000 only to be re-raised to $122,000 on a gutshot and flush draw semi bluff from Dang. Hansen calls the bet to be all- in only for the Kh to drop filling Dang’s house to collect the $238,000 pot.

With the $4000/$8000 mixed game and $1000/$2000 NLHE/PLO game running at the Bellagio the high stakes tables on Full Tilt are likely to involve Gus Hansen for the next few days, with the odd appearance from Tom “Durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius to carry on their challenge.

Hansen at least can console himself with the $2.79 million he won in January this year so is still comfortably up for this year. However, statistics from www.highstakesdb.com suggest he’s been a losing player for the last few years posting a $730,000 loss in 2007 and $620,000 loss in 2008. The one thing to remember when looking at the figures is that www.highstakesdb.com did not take into consideration the mixed games where Hansen was a huge winner last year, to the tune of about $3m. That together with his Full Tilt Sponsorship and the huge figures in rakeback he must be generating I would guess he’s doing a little better then breaking even!

Post from: Ridge Gaming

Is Gus Hansen a Fish… Hardly!

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The Australian government has been toying with the idea of making ISP’s (internet Server Providers) effectively block websites of their choice that they deem to increases its citizens exposure to questionable material online. Initially, the list contained sites that a reasonable person might agree controls are required - child pornography, extreme violence, weapon-making etc – however over the last few weeks a significant amount of “creep” has occurred and this list now includes the two behemoths of the online poker world Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars.

Sceptics of the scheme say that this is a way of getting the Australian gambler to spend his money at home. After many years of boom the economic outlook for resource rich Australia does not look so rosy. They are losing revenue fast due to the huge drop in commodity prices and have recently lost the ability to raise money through taxing alcopops. All this drop in revenue coincides with a spending stimulus of $42 billion AUS. However, going into the global slowdown Australia seemed better placed then most with many years of budget surpluses.it enjoyed. It makes the decision to attempt to make a few theoretical dollars from online poker players all the more astounding.

The idea initially was about creating a software filter that people could opt into but as the creep has expanded into more politically sensitive websites (straight and gay porn sites and sites that promote various religions.) Apart from the inevitable mistakes (a Dentist and a School Canteen Consultant have both been put on the list!) people are up in arms that peoples liberties are being encroached upon. So it wasn’t surprising then that someone at one of the ISP’s the ACMA originally sent it’s first draught list to leaked it to http://wikileaks.org (an online news information house).

The thing that strikes me is that now that America seems to have turned the corner with allowing Party Gaming to settle their differences out of court (well they won’t prosecute them!) Australia is taking a major step backwards in the liberalisation of the industry.

Here is a list of the poker rooms / poker related websites that would be affected if the legislation eventually becomes law:

bodoglife.com
ultimatebet.com
cdpoker.com
hollywoodpoker.com
fulltiltpoker.com
pokerstars.com
absolutepoker.com
paradisepoker.com
mansion.com
betfair.com
888.com
coralpoker.com
goldenpalace.com
pacificpoker.com
partypoker.com
pokerroom.com
williamhillcasino.com
vegaspalms.com
gamblingclub.com
pokernews.com/duplicate-poker/

Who knows if it will all come to fruition? There are some big names on that list and i’m sure there will be much lobbying on behalf of the gaming websites going on in the corridors of power there. Whether or not that will be enough to stop the ACMA in its tracks remains to be seen.

Post from: Ridge Gaming

Australian Government add Poker websites to ACMA “Blacklist”

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