Big day on Full Tilt nosebleeds

*this screen shot is not from yesterday

Today was a big day on Full Tilt in the nose bleed stakes and after it was all said and done, these were the big winners and losers (more action may have occurred in the wee hours):

PLO and Mixed HA results:

Durrrr +$670k
Patrik Antonius +$208k
Phil Ivey +$187k

Gus Hansen -$912k
martonas -$130k
Juggle This -$100k

I can see why these guys don't give a flying duck about tournaments and live games anymore when this kind of cash is being thrown around on the internet. I have no idea who Martonas or Juggle This are, I'm sure the info is available somewhere out there...

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Durrr vs. Antonius update

These two poker powerhouses have now played a total of 7,087 hands (head's up/one-on-one) and Patrik Antonius is up a mere $23,467.

The action has been considerably slower than the poker community expected and because of that this epic challenge has lost a lot of it's luster. I'm wondering if they will even come close to finishing before the WSOP starts because we all know that the big game during the WSOP can kill someone's bankroll in one or two bad sessions (see Brian Townsend aka SBRugby).

Here are the results of their last session:

Session 10:
Table 1) TD -$6,815.00 PA +$6,790.00 109 hands
Table 2) TD +$43,038.50 PA -$43,063.50 113 hands
Table 3) TD -$120,353.50 PA +$120,329.00 109 hands
Table 4) TD -$7,989.00 PA +$7,966.00 129 hands
82 minutes 460 hands
TD -$92,119.00 PA +$92,021.50

Total to date:
TD -$24,956.00 PA +$23,467.50 22h3m 7,087 hands

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High Stakes Poker Season 5 Teaser

Here's a good clip of a strong call down by Patrik Antonius. I'm not sure but I think these episodes will start airing on Fox Sports in the next week.

The challenge begins

Today Tom "Durr" Dwan and Patrik Antonius started their 50,000 hand face-off. The players will spread four tables of Omaha and NL Hold 'Em for 50k hands. If Dwan is ahead at the end of the match, he wins an additional $500k from Antonius. If PA is ahead, he wins $1.5 million.

So far at the end of 1,541 hands played today, the totals look like this:

durrrr's results: +$134,911
Patrik Antonius's results: -$135,209

You can see regular updates at Highstakesdb.

Summarizing the challenge:

The challenge, which is outlined in an upcoming issue of Bluff Magazine, basically consists of 50,000 hands of online heads up play spread across 4 tables with minimum stakes of $200/$400. Games being played would include both No Limit Hold Em' and Pot Limit Omaha.

The interesting part comes in the fact that Durrrr is willing to lay 3:1 on his money that he will be ahead by the end of the 50k hands. He's willing to post $1.5 million to his opponents $500,000.

Antonius Officially Accepts Durrrr's Challenge

Shortly after Tom "durrrr" Dwan's Heads up poker challenge was made public, a few names were thrown around regarding the most likely candidate to take Dwan up on his offer.

As we learned earlier in the week, Ivey has already accepted the challenge and now high stakes pro Patrik Antonius has also officially accepted to take Dwan on as well.

In a recent phone interview with Card Player magazine Antonius discussed just what went through his mind when he first heard about Dwan's offer:

"It sounded too good to be true. I tried to figure out what would be the trap there and I still haven’t really figured it out. But I’m sure he’s really thought about it. For sure, he’s one of the best at the moment.

It’s like Phil Ivey says. He plays anyone, and everybody knows that. I’m basically the same. I mean, obviously I would not play him if it was just even because there’d be much better games out there. But it’s pretty interesting. Even if I lose, it’d probably help my game a lot. I really hate losing though."

He then goes on to discuss who he believes has a better chance of beating Dwan between him and Phil Ivey:

"I mean, it would be kind of stupid to not say me. But Phil Ivey — I’ve said it so many times before — he’s the greatest that I’ve played. He just has something that most people can only dream of. I don’t know how he does it. He just thinks differently. He’s a very smart guy. It’s going to be very interesting to see how they play. In fact, I might want to play second to see how they play."

Click here for the full interview.

Personally, I think out of the three players who have expressed the most interest in taking Dwan's challenge (Ivey, Antonius and Benyamine) Antonius seems like the best suited to succeed. Out of the three, he's the one who actually worked his way up multi tabling online while the other two first emerged on the live scene and then made the transition to online poker. Not to imply that the other two don't stand a chace. I mean, Benyamine is regarded as one of the best pot limit omaha players in the world and Ivey...well Ivey's just Ivey.

Tom Dwan also recently gave an interview on CardPlayer tv about the Challenge so make sure to check that out as well.

Huge cash game hand: Ivey vs. Antonius

Not sure how I missed this one but it's from this year's Aussie millions in the Full Tilt Million Dollar cash game.

Phil the Phenom has pocket jacks, raises. Antonius calls on the button with A-10 and Booth calls in the small blind with 88. The flop is AAJ and that's when the fun begins.

Phil Ivey wins million dollar cash game

Poker's best player has done it again. Up against the best cash game players in the world, which included Hellmuth, Antonius, Hansen, Matusow, Durr, Townsend, etc., Phil Ivey won the million dollar cash game (Full Tilt sponsored) in London.

To my best knowledge, the way the game works is player buy in with their own money for either 100k or 200k, then whoever is up the most at the end of the two-day session also wins a trophy and a bonus cash prize. This is just info I've picked up from conversation.

Here's a link to the story on the Full Tilt blog.

"Million Dollar Cash Game" announced

Full Tilt Poker has announced it's lineup for this year's "Million Dollar Cash Game," which will take place on September 17 and 18 in London.

The lineup will consist of Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Erick Lindgren, Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Eli Elezra, Tom Dwan, and Tony G.

Obviously some of these players are getting staked by someone. Each player has to buy in for approximately $180 grand.

via pokernews

"You know I had a big hand"

Thank to V for this clip, in which Ivey gets P.A. off his nines (that would have flopped a set), then gets Benyamine off his 10's with 6-high on a a flop with three overs. From the Aussie Millions cash game.

Patrik Anonius talking shit to Doyle

Looks like there is going to be some serious gambling going on this summer. This is from Patrik Antonius' blog.

I was enjoying my first few days back in Vegas when all of a sudden I received a ton of phone calls and emails all asking me about a golf match with Doyle Brunson. I had no idea what they were talking about until I read Doyle's blog, and saw he challenged me to a $100,000 per hole golf match. First of all, when the hell did Doyle Brunson start writing a blog, is it even legal for a man that old to blog? Pretty amazing for a guy that was around before TV's and telephones. And second, what is the gambling world coming to when a 108 year old man can challenge a young man in the prime of his life to a $100,000 a hole golf match.

High Stakes Gambling: Patrik Antonius

Patrik Antonius outlined some of the bets he has going this summer. The bets are a for a lot of money, which is always intriguing to fellow gamblers. IMO he's a favorite against Adams and Hansen, but a dog against Negreanu (has been playing golf longer and is good at Stud 8), Brunson (I believe will be picking the games they play head's up) and the Finnish pros (PROS).

Heads Up Poker match vs the legend Doyle Brunson (I have been working non stop on my pineapple game Doyle, so you better watch out)

Tennis / Golf bet for $100,000 with Brandon Adams

Tennis match vs Gus Hansen for $200,000

Golf team match with my assistant vs two Finnish pros for $200,000

Heads Up Stud 8 or Better match / Golf match with Daniel Negreanu for $500,000

It'll be interesting to see what happens so hopefully he posts his results.

PA's blog

Sick Hand, 750k Pot

Jamie Gold again proves that he runs sick when the big bucks are on the line. Good thing Antonius decided to run it thrice.

Doyle Brunson vs. Patrik Antonius for 7 Figures

From Doyle Bruson's blog:

"It is amazing how things can be taken out of context. I saw in Cardplayer Magazine where Patrik Antonius said that someone told him Doyle Brunson said he would swim a river to play Patrik. I don't remember exactly. I could have said I would swim a river to play the internet stars in a real cash game. I certainly never used Patrik's name but he made a challenge to play me any game for any amount.

Patrik is one of the players I would have named that would have fit in with the old days. He has the style, love of poker, instinct, and the gambling mentality that it takes to compete in high stakes games. So I would never have singled him out to play.

I really like Patrik and I think he is a great player, but he cast the gauntlet and I'm prepared to do battle. So, I accept his challenge.

I think he made a mistake when he said, "I'll play him any game for any amount." I've got 7-10 different games, all of which I've played in Las Vegas casinos for high stakes, that I'm willing to commit to for at least a seven figure match. There will be no animosity between us; we are both pros who love a good gamble. It will be interesting if he accepts and I'm sure we will both have a great time playing."