October 23rd, 2008

When it rains it pours, it seems, for Tom “durrrr” Dwan.

His epic October Hold’em heater carried on unabated yesterday anyway, with several more big pots pushed his way and another $600k in profit.

And just like that, as soon as we reported he was heading past $2 million in online Hold’em profit so far this month, he turned the run-good tap on again and pushed his monthly Hold’em earnings up to $2.6 million.

Just how dominant has Dwan been at $500/$1,000 NLHE in October? The next highest earner so far this month is Hac “trex313″ Dang, who’s taken in $633,251 - over $2 million less than Dwan.

The biggest donator to the durrrr fund yesterday seemed to be Patrik Antonius, who apparently didn’t have the cards he needed in a couple of big pots - in particular the one below, the biggest online so far today, where a river check-shove forced him to lay his hand down and watch Dwan rake in the almost $300k pot.
Watch the big pot in the PL.com Hand Replayer here or see the text version below, as tracked by the PL.com MarketPulse software. Find the rest of the top 100 Hold’em earners list for the last day, week, month and year here.
Game: 8633281279 TABLE: GusHeaven (six-max) $500/$1000 No-Limit Hold’em Fri. Oct. 24 2008 - 2:16 a.m. (ET)

Table Setup

Seat 1 lady marmelade ($50,000)
Seat 2 La Key U ($70,496), is sitting out
Seat 4 durrrr ($295,712)
Seat 5 Patrik Antonius ($232,349.60)
Seat 6 trex313 ($132,888.55)
trex313 posts the small blind of $500
lady marmelade posts the big blind of $1,000
The button is in seat #5

Pre-flop

durrrr raises to $3,000
Patrik Antonius has 15 seconds left to act
Patrik Antonius calls $3,000
trex313 folds
lady marmelade folds

Flop [8 T 3]

durrrr has 15 seconds left to act
durrrr bets $6,000
Patrik Antonius has 15 seconds left to act
Patrik Antonius raises to $19,000
durrrr has 15 seconds left to act
durrrr calls $13,000

Turn: [8 T 3][5]

durrrr checks
Patrik Antonius has 15 seconds left to act
La Key U has returned
Patrik Antonius has requested TIME
Patrik Antonius bets $34,000
durrrr has 15 seconds left to act
durrrr calls $34,000

River: [8 T 3 5][K]

durrrr checks
Patrik Antonius has 15 seconds left to act
Patrik Antonius has requested TIME
Patrik Antonius bets $88,000
durrrr has 15 seconds left to act
durrrr raises to $239,712, and is all in
Patrik Antonius has 15 seconds left to act
Patrik Antonius folds
Uncalled bet of $151,712 returned to durrrr
durrrr mucks
durrrr wins the pot ($289,498)

Summary

Total pot $289,500 | Rake $2
Board: [8 T 3 5 K]
Seat 1 lady marmelade (big blind) folded before the flop
Seat 2 La Key U is sitting out
Seat 4 durrrr collected ($289,498), mucked
Seat 5 Patrik Antonius (button) folded on the river
Seat 6 trex313 (small blind) folded before the flop

October 21st, 2008

The people behind PKR will be making their first foray into live poker with the upcoming PKR Live taking place Nov. 14-16, and the event is already almost sold out.

PKR Live will take place at London’s Loose Cannon club and will offer PKR.com players the chance to go from the site’s celebrated 3-D online game to real-life play, with three separate events in which nearly $100,000 in guaranteed prizes will be up for grabs.

The first event will be a $60 No-Limit Hold’em on Nov. 14 to provide a warm-up for players. The action heats up quickly the next day with the PKR Live $75,000 main event. The event will run Nov. 15-16 and have a $500 buy-in with a $20,000 guaranteed minimum first-place prize.

Finally, the last event of the festival will take place on Nov. 16 with a $10,000 Bounty Freeroll. Entry is by invite only, and eliminating a PKR staff member will net players a cash bounty.

PKR.com will also be providing a selection of side games including regular online-styled Sit-and-gos and heads-up matches.

Fortunately there is a wealth of qualifying options to get into PKR Live, including satellites that start at just $2.58. For those wishing to up their chances there will also be $109 satellites with one seat being awarded per 10 entrants.

PKR.com is one of the fastest-growing poker sites on the Internet and one of the only ones to feature real-time 3-D graphics.

October 17th, 2008

In the wake of Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate’s decision against the online gambling sites in a Kentucky case, officials from iMEGA, the Poker Players Alliance and even the Internet Commerce Association have released statements.

Essentially, Judge Wingate has ordered owners of 141 online gambling domain names to appear at a Nov. 17 forfeiture hearing and demonstrate that they are blocking traffic from residents in Kentucky. If the sites don’t appear or don’t comply with the ruling, the domains will be forfeited to the state.

iMEGA, which was founded to foster cooperation between the online industry and government at all levels, believes that Wingate misapplied several existing Kentucky laws and long-standing principles regarding his court’s jurisdiction over the matter.

“This decision must not be allowed to stand, because of the threat it poses to the Internet as a whole,” said Joe Brennan Jr., iMEGA chairman.

“Judge Wingate has ignored the clear laws of his own state in coming to a decision that essentially green-lights any jurisdiction - in the U.S. and abroad - to ignore our rights and abuse their power to do away with competition or speech or content [...] they oppose, regardless of the law. This is a dark day for Internet freedom.”

iMEGA believes the effect of this ruling will be felt across the entire online world. Other Internet industries could be at risk, such as social networking, video gaming, adult entertainment and others.

“What Judge Wingate has done is to create the ‘ultimate weapon’ to be used by the powerful and influential to attack content they oppose,” Brennan said.

“This will enable government to eliminate competition from differing ideas, beliefs and commerce. This decision today is where it starts, but where will it stop?”

Jeremiah Johnston, ICA president, had similar thoughts on the decision, noting that his organization is extremely disappointed in the decision.

“This is a dangerous decision not just for domain name investors and developers but for all who value commerce and free speech on the Internet,” Johnston said.

“The Court has incorrectly held that domain names are a form of property subject to in rem jurisdiction anywhere on the face of the Earth where their associated Web sites may be viewed on a computer screen.”

Johnston also pointed out that if this decision was broadly adopted, then Internet commerce and speech would be at risk on a global basis.

“For example, U.S. companies conducting legal business activities in this nation could be subject to seizure orders for their domain names issued by foreign courts for lack of compliance with local law and regulation merely because their websites can be viewed abroad,” he said.

“Even more worrisome, the courts of totalitarian regimes could issue seizure orders against domain names used to spread truth and advocate freedom to their repressed populations. The remedy proposed by the court - geographic blocking so that none of the subject websites can be viewed from within Kentucky - is infeasible for individual domain names which could be subject to different laws and regulation in thousands of jurisdictions worldwide.”

Both iMEGA and the ICA plan to remain actively engaged in the litigation, and iMEGA is already preparing its challenge to the ruling in both the state and federal courts.

The Poker Players Alliance has also been active in the litigation to help protect poker players’ rights. The organization also expressed its disappointment in Judge Wingate’s ruling, though it had a few more reasons along with the issue of personal rights and Internet freedoms to add to the list of why the judge shouldn’t have ruled the way he did.

“Clearly, we believe the judge in this case got it wrong,” said John Pappas, PPA executive director. “First of all, we strongly disagree with Judge Wingate’s ruling that poker is not a game of skill. As demonstrated in the amicus brief we filed, skill plays an essential role in being a successful poker player.”

PPA filed an amicus brief making the argument that poker is indeed a game of skill and therefore not illegal under Kentucky law. As such, the group believes Governor Steve Beshear’s seizure of Web sites offering online poker is unfounded.

Rich Muny, Kentucky state director of the PPA, said the decision in Kentucky was also a huge disappointment to the thousands of Kentuckians who play Internet poker.

“In essence, Governor Beshear and Judge Wingate are denying law-abiding citizens this form of recreation simply because it is enjoyed on the Internet. This is Internet censorship by judicial fiat, plain and simple,” Muny said.

PPA’s membership in Kentucky also voiced its opposition to the governor’s actions by flooding his office with letters and phone calls.

“I am certain that many of the plaintiffs in this case intend to quickly appeal this matter. We are confident that the Kentucky Appellate Court will review the facts and overturn today’s order. At the same time, the PPA will continue its efforts to protect the rights of Kentucky citizens to play poker online,” Pappas said.

Pappas said that to truly address Beshear’s concerns with online gambling, the state should introduce legislation to license and regulate the online gambling industry, rather than trying to ban it. There is potential for the state to gain millions of dollars in tax revenue if it did that.

“Governor Beshear has shown great leadership in protecting and promoting the rights of Kentuckians to gamble on horse racing and in casinos,” Muny said. “He should do the same for those Kentuckians who seek the freedom to engage in online poker.”

October 16th, 2008

One of the most elite poker leagues in the world is coming back ahead of schedule.

The PartyPoker Premier League III will take place in London Nov. 24-30 with a new $75,000 buy-in and the added money being increased to $350,000, making for a total prize pool of $1.25 million.

The next event was only scheduled for 2009, but the demand for the event from international broadcasters has persuaded organizers to push the dates forward.

Last year’s champion, Irishman Andy Black, has already committed to defending his title and will compete against 11 other players, who are yet to be announced, during the event in November.

Black, who is sometimes known as the “Mad Monk,” was already enthusiastic about the prospect of repeating as champ.
“There will be no ‘Mr. Nice Buddhist’ this year,” he joked. “The attitude and spirit I will be bringing to the tournament can be summed up by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Asked as Conan the Barbarian what was most important in life he said it was: ‘to crush your enemies and hear the lamentation of their women.’” Sounds like Black has found his inner Ahnold, all right.

The series, which was developed by Matchroom Sport, features 12 of the world’s best poker players competing in a unique league format. All 12 players play six times in the preliminary stages with the four leading players progressing to the final table and the next four battling it out in heads-up matches for the final two seats.

“The Premier League is now established internationally as poker’s number one TV show,” said head of online gambling at Matchroom Sport Eddie Hearn. “The worldwide ratings and distribution have exceeded all expectations and the demand is such that we have decided to hold another Premier League event this year.

“We are delighted to welcome back last year’s champion Andy Black to the League and we will now sit down and hand pick the remainder of the chosen 12. There isn’t a poker player that doesn’t want to be part of this event.”

In the past players like Phil Hellmuth, Marcel Luske, Annie Duke, Tony G, Alex Kravchenko, Dave “The Devilfish” Ulliott and Roland De Wolfe have all taken part in the league.

One of the most memorable moments of the series came in 2007 when Hellmuth commanded such a big league in the tournament he announced that he would raise the 21 hands of the heat just for fun.

Ulliott responded by saying, “If you keep playing like that they are going to have to put you in a straitjacket and you’ll have to push all your chips in with that big head of yours.”

Despite holding a large lead, Hellmuth would end up finishing third in the first edition of Premier League Poker, while Finnish player Juha Helppi took first place.