Let’s be honest, the durrrr Challenge between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius has proven to be more than a little disappointing. That doesn’t mean the Challenge concept doesn’t have the potential to grab the attention of the online poker world again though.

For those online railbirds keen on any nosebleed action they can get, Dwan has finally taken on his second opponent: Daniel “jungleman12” Cates. For the past month, the two have suggested Cates would step up to the Challenge and play durrrr in the 50,000 hand heads-up battle, but considering the Challenge‘s track record when it comes to getting things done, no one was holding their breath.

Dwan faces jungleman12 in newest durrrr Challenge

Things got serious this week though. Dwan gave an interview to the Full Tilt Poker blog discussing his latest opponent and Thursday saw the action get underway with two lengthy sessions that produced some massive pots and saw some massive swings.

Unlike the Challenge with Antonius, Dwan and Cates are logging their hands at the $200/$400 No Limit Hold’em Full Tilt Poker tables rather than the PLO ones. They are also using the “run it twice” option on a number of hands to keep variance to a minimum, but even running it twice couldn’t stop jungleman12 from pulling out to a $518,191.50 lead after 5,862 hands.

The first day of Challenge play broke down into two sessions. During the first session, it was Dwan who had the upper hand, booking a $129,888.50 win over the course of 1,651 hands and a couple of hours at the tables. With the late hour and a victory Tweet from Dwan, many presumed the two were done for the day. Dwan asked for an hour break, which, if past Challenge sessions are any indication, could last anywhere from an hour to a month. Dwan did return in short order though, firing up the Challenge tables again just two hours after the first batch of hands wrapped up.

The second session was an epic one, lasting over seven hours and consisting of 4,178 additional hands. Cates erased his deficit in the early goings of the match and surged in the final hour to end the day up an impressive $518,202.75. While there were the occasional six figure pots, Dwan kept relatively shallow stacks on the table, often splitting stacks when new tables opened rather than putting more money down. Shallow stacks inevitably resulted in smaller pots, but with Cates winning 62 percent of the pots, he was able to rack up a tidy profit.

With a little more than 10 percent of the second Challenge in the books, Cates is off to a fast start to claiming that $1.5 million from Dwan, but there are still plenty of hands to be played and there will inevitably be more swings on the horizon. In the meantime, there has been no word from Dwan or Antonius as to when or if the original Challenge will wrap up.

Personally, I’m rooting for Cates, but it’s nice to see a durrrr challenge that might end in less than two years. Full Tilt Poker has not created its official tracking page for the second durrrr Challenge, but I’ll try to follow the events and keep you updated.

Gus Hansen is one of the most recognizable names in the professional poker world. He is known for his incredible live tournament success, with more than $7 million in career earnings. He’s also one of the most popular players, easily picked out at a table.

A lot consider the Great Dane one of the best in the world, so it’s stunning to see him play so terrible at online poker cash games.

Not much smiling for Gus at the online poker table

If you go over Gus Hansen’s online poker cash game statistics since 2007, he has lost an inconceivable $7.7 million. Even worse than that is the fact that Hansen has lost more money in online poker cash games in the last three years than he has won in live poker tournaments over the course of his entire professional poker career.

Since 2002, Gus Hansen has raked in a total of $7.2 million in live tournament cashes, including his $1.3 million win at the 2007 Aussie Millions. Hansen’s tournament winnings are good enough for 23rd on the all-time money list.

So how is it that such an impressive poker player could be so bad at online poker cash games? Just this year, Hansen has dropped about $800,000 at the tables.

One might begin to speculate as to whether Gus Hansen is really broke, a la Michael Mizrachi.

The one variable is Hansen’s live cash winnings or losses. He plays in the biggest live games, so it’s possible his skills don’t transfer over to the virtual felt and that he’s a winning live player.

But the most likely explanation is that like Phil Hellmuth, Gus just isn’t good at cash games. Phil stays out of big cash games unless it’s on television and it’s worth the money for the exposure. Gus, however, finds any excuse to play the nosebleeds anywhere.

It’s probable that Hansen just ran good for a couple of years, making money during the poker boom. He’s got a solid tournament game, but as anyone can tell you, tournament poker and cash poker aren’t really the same.

Maybe Hansen should take some lessons from Hellmuth.

Forget what you may have heard from Lady Gaga. If you want to bluff at the poker table, the worst face to use is a neutral, inscrutable ‘‘poker face.’’

That was the surprising conclusion of Dr. Erik Schlicht, a visiting researcher at Wellesley College in the States, who used the game to study the way humans make decisions under pressure.

“What we wanted to look at was the way people behaved in situations where there is a risky decision to make,” Schlicht said. “Traditionally, researchers do this by simulating wagers or lotteries. But I thought if we could use a scenario people were more likely to encounter in their daily life, like playing poker, we could get a sense of how people respond to biological cues, not just the abstract.”

Based on a recent study, we should probably call Phil here.

The cues in this case were facial expressions. Schlicht and his team tested how people responded to a computer that raised wagers on a hand of Texas Hold’em while displaying different facial expressions on the screen.

“We told them they could either call or fold, and what we found was that they thought longer when the computer screen showed a trustworthy face, and that they were more likely to fold,” Schlicht said.

The worst face to get an opponent to throw in the towel? The traditional ‘‘poker face,’’ Schlicht said.

The research, which has been featured in Scientific American and the New York Times, confirms what others have found about how people analyze risks.

“People are very poor at weighing risks in the heat of the moment, but they’re very good at fine motor control and reading expressions,” Schlicht said.

I can confirm the basis of this study: I’ve seen it mostly in amateurs though. For pros, it’s best not to rely on expressions and to trust your read based on betting patterns and history.

Normally, for this time each year I notice a drop in online poker traffic.

Most players, like me, are still recovering from the World Series and trying to take a break from the 14-hour sessions they’ve become so used to.

But last week, according to an online poker monitoring site, online poker traffic went up by 2.2 percent.

It seems more people are logging onto the Ongame Network, which includes Betsson. I played a little yesterday and the tables were buzzing. Who knew this was a good time to play?

Experts are saying that industry consolidation is helping to change ranks for some online poker networks. Betfair’s joining of the Ongame Network translated into some dramatic results. Player count there rose by 30 percent in just two days.

Players have been flocking toward Ongame, which is now the fifth biggest online poker site.

If you haven’t joined Betsson, you’re missing out. The games have always been better — now they’re bigger.

Thousands are playing online, it's time to join them.

Well my World Series of Poker is over. I played in three events and cashed in none. But I had a great series in cash games and came out ahead for the month-and-a-half I was in Las Vegas.

It was hard to leave the casino sometimes, and it’s hard to leave now, but soon, I’ll be heading back to London, with WSOP-Europe dreams dancing in my head.

Michael Mizrachi is one of the November Nine

While I may have had a decent June and July, it pales in comparison to the series that Michael Mizrachi had — and is having.

The troubled star made the November Nine, outlasting more than 7,000 others, guaranteeing him more than $3 million in earnings this WSOP.

If you recall, “The Grinder” won the first big tournament of the 2010 WSOP, the $50,000 Poker Players Championship amid issues with the United States Internal Revenue Service. Apparently, the Grinder owed the government $339,000 in taxes and was facing foreclosure on two homes in the state of Florida. There were rumors he was broke.

Well, that’s obviously in the past.

Now, Mizrachi stands to re-emerge as one of the biggest stars in poker, making the final table in two out of the three events ESPN will televise this season.

It’s a lucky break for a poker player who needed one. Time will tell if he can keep this up, or if another four years down the road, we’ll be hearing another hard luck story about the Grinder.

At the beginning of the series, I picked 10 players I thought would have a good series. I was wrong on a few, but those I was right about, I was spot on.

It took a while, but one of my top 10 finally broke through with a bracelet win.

I wasn’t alone thinking that Dan Kelly, a 21-year-old online star from the States, would make a splash this series, but few could have imagined how big of a splash he would make.

21-year-old Dan Kelly, an online star, won a bracelet this year

Kelly took down one of the most prestigious events at the World Series of Poker, the $25,000 six-handed no-limit hold’em event.

Kelly bested a final table full of young, Internet groomed talent, along with the year’s only double bracelet winner, Frank Kassela. He netted himself $1,315,518 and his first career bracelet for the win.

Kelly went to the final table as the overwhelming chip leader and from the moment the first hand was dealt, it was apparent his plan was to put those chips to good use. I watched him constantly raise, putting his opponents in tough situations.

Sure Kelly got his money in bad with A-10 against runner-up Shawn Buchanan’s jacks, but he had the stack to wield, and when he hit an ace on the river, the Rio erupted and gave Kelly his first of what is sure to be many bracelets.

Kelly plays as “djk123” online and before his victory, was already very well-known throughout the poker community. Kelly had already amassed millions in tournament earnings, and now has a grand total of $3.9 million to his name.

Toward the end of the series this year, everyone was talking about the odd absence of 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate.

According to his blog, the 24-year-old Danish pro said he is burnt out on tournament poker and taking an indefinite leave of absence.

“In the 20 months following my WSOP win, I feel that I have lost my motivation for playing high-level poker along the way and I have decided that now is the time to find out what I want to do with the rest of my life,” Eastgate said in a press release.

He's got money, now Peter Eastgate is taking time off of poker

Eastgate became the youngest World Champion in WSOP history, breaking Phil Hellmuth’s 19-year-old record. His cash immediately propelled him to the number two position atop the all-time WSOP earnings list – a ranking he still holds.

That financial security is now leading him to explore opportunities beyond the felt.

“The period following [my WSOP victory] has taken me on a worldwide tour, where I have seen some amazing places and met many new people; it has been a great experience,” Eastgate said.

“I have decided that now is the time to find out what I want to do with the rest of my life. What this will be, I do not yet know. I have decided to take a break from live tournament poker, and try to focus on Peter Eastgate the person,” he said.

I’m amazed by this. It should be required of WSOP Main Event champions to return to at least play the Main Event each year.

A lot of us have been frustrated with tournament poker at one time in our careers, but Eastgate hasn’t exactly struggled since winning the Main Event. Eastgate has had notable poker success away from the Rio since his win. He won a 2009 PCA event for $343,000, then finished in second place in the 2009 EPT London main event for $844,285.

It’s not known whether he’s burnt out, or exactly why Eastgate is calling it quits. But when one starts evoking the third person, usually that’s a bad sign.

It will be interesting to see when or if Eastgate returns, he did not give any timetable on the leave of absence, though he also didn’t use the term retirement or categorically rule out a return to professional tournament play.

Just when you think Phil Ivey is going to get shut out of the WSOP, that no man can run good enough to consistently win series after series, he proves his dominance by taking down a tournament.

Ivey won a bracelet in a $3,000 HORSE event at the 2010 WSOP for his eighth and third in the last two years. Even as tournament fields are getting larger, Ivey is getting better, and in the process, cementing his legacy as the best poker player in history.

.

After a quiet start to the series with a couple of small cashes in $1,500 events, Ivey made a deep run in Event 33, the $2,500 split pot-limit hold ‘em/pot-limit Omaha event, finishing 12th.

Three days later, having made a great comeback during heads-up play to defeat Bill Chen, Ivey won another bracelet to move to fifth on the all-time list.

Ever since last year, when Ivey upped the prop bets and rededicated himself to chasing bracelets, he’s dominated the WSOP, almost taking home the ultimate prize, finishing seventh in the Main Event. This year, he seems to be even more focused, and you have to think he’s a favorite to get another bracelet, with any deep run.

Speaking of prop bets, the rumors are, Ivey has a $5 million bet with Howard Lederer that he’ll win two bracelets in the next three series.

The talk now is how many Ivey will win in the next three years — another bracelet seems inevitable.

There’s a lot of discussion around the Rio about who will get to No. 13 first — Ivey or Hellmuth, who has 11. My money (about $1,000) is on Ivey.

Though as I was working on this post, Hellmuth made the final table of a pot-limit Omaha Hi-Lo event and gave me a fright.

Everyone likes to credit Chris Moneymaker for the poker boom of 2004 and beyond, but few credit ESPN for even showing the event on TV.

It was a big stretch for them to televise poker back then — it was a game that had little to no audience. But right after the boom, what followed were great telecasts of seven-card stud and Omaha hi-lo events. We met old poker players and new ones. Gentleman Joe Awada became a household name.

But somewhere along the lines, it became more about ratings, and ESPN has been on the lookout for the next poker boom, and left its poker coverage just to the main event — and a random final table here and there.

Even Bluff Magazine, which televised a few final tables last year, has given up on the series. As far as I know, ESPN will televise just two final tables this year over the Internet.

What we are missing are the great final tables the WSOP has had so far in 2010.

The best final table of the year no one will talk about

A few days ago, I watch the best final table in the past few years — the last nine of Event No. 17 $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em.

It’s a tournament that usually draws the best no-limit players in the world because of its higher buy-in. You’d be hard-pressed to find a donkey or two in this one.

Consequently, the final table was stacked with talented young players — players that will likely be the stars of poker in 5-10 years, while the older guys fade out.

There was David “Raptor” Benefield, who once lived with durrrr before quitting poker in 2009 to pursue other interests. Now he’s back and its seems committed to the game again. There was Amit Makhija, a sick online MTTer who has carried his skills over to live poker and there was Jeff “yellowsub86″ WIlliams, who won the 2006 EPT Grand Final – Monte Carlo at age 19.

It was a murderers row of awesome, aggressive players, and I rarely saw flops because of the four and five-betting going on. In the end, Jason DeWitt beat young british pro Sam Trickett for the bracelet.

It was a final table full of great poker and it’s a shame only those in attendance got to see it. So come on ESPN, we need these final tables. After all what would bestpokermoments.com be without videos?

As soon as I busted out of Event No. 14 last night, I took the opportunity to head over to the last two tables of a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event to sweat Tom “durrrr” Dwan, who had a huge stack with about 16 players left.

Yes, durrrr was my No. 1 on the list of players I thought would stink this WSOP. But what I didn’t take into account was the massive amount of volume durrrr was willing to put in this series.

Durrrr and Simon Watt at the final table of Event No. 11

I figured he’d be distracted by high-stakes cash games and play a limited schedule, but he was even multi-tabling last night, playing in the $10,000 Stud Hi-Lo championship during his dinner break.

When I arrived to watch Event No. 11, durrrr was surely a favorite, but I had written before that I thought there was no chance he’d win a bracelet, so I bet a buddy $100 he wouldn’t take home the title and pulled up a chair to watch the madness.

Turns out I had a few people on my side.

Mike Matusow, Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu and a bevy of pros dropped by to root against durrrr. Apparently, durrrr placed a bunch of bets on himself to win a bracelet with other high-stakes pros, and the talk was, if Dawn won, he’d take home more than this year’s Main Event champion.

Elimination after elimination, durrrr was still standing, and the pros near me were getting more and more nervous, so I can’t imagine what Dwan was facing.

When it went three-handed, durrrr was up against New Zealander Simon Watt and online pro David Randall, and I was looking around to see if the pros were trying to buy out with Dwan.

As an aside, I was more than a little disappointed to see Randall go, mostly because I thought he had the best chance to beat durrrr. I thought he played the best of all the final table participants. For those who don’t know Randall, you might have seen his online name, malicious222, on the virtual tables – he’s earned more than $1 million in tournament play online. This is surely the first of a bunch of cashes this series for Randall, though he was visibly upset about getting bounced from this event, after Watt’s A-2 beat Randall’s A-K.

When Randall was eliminated, Watt had roughly a 3-to-1 chip lead on my count, but I still expected durrrr to run over him.

To my surprise, Watt fought back, winning a huge pot to cripple durrrr down to about 1.6 million in chips. With the blinds at 60,000/120,000, Dwan had to shove eventually.

Here’s the final hand:

On the button, Dwan shoves his remaining $1.6 million in the middle and Simon Watt, with about $10 million, instantly calls.

Showdown
Dwan: Q♦ 6♣
Watt: 9♦ 9♣

Flop: 8♣ A♣ A♠

Turn: A♦

River: K♥

After the hand, Dwan shook Watt’s hand and darted for the exit and I took my $100 and went to bed. For getting heads-up in a tournament with more than 2,300 people, Dwan took home $381,885, a mere pittance compared to the seven-figure score he was bound to collect if he won the thing.

There were two parties very happy that Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi won the first big tournament of the 2010 WSOP, the $50,000 Poker Players Championship: the United States Internal Revenue Service and Patrik Antonius.

Back in March, a US newspaper reported that The Grinder owed the government $339,000 in taxes and was facing foreclosure on two homes in the state of Florida. A lot of the confusion came from staking deals, according to Mizrachi. Mizrachi estimated that of the roughly $6.7 million he won from 2004 to 2007, approximately $3.7 million went to backers. Despite giving another person his winnings, Mizrachi had to pay the taxes on the entire amount.

A chunk of that money is going to the IRS.

There were jokes that the IRS as waiting at podium to pick up Mizarchi’s check for him — just after he paid Antonius. Rumour was, Antonius paid half of Michael and his brother Robert’s entry fees for half their winnings. With Mizrachi taking home $1,559,046 and Robert winning $341,000 for finishing fifth, that’s a big pay-day for Antonius, whose biggest WSOP cash is $311,394 from finishing third in a 2007 $10,000 Omaha event.

With the victory, Michael and brother Robert joined Blair and Grant Hinkle, Annie Duke and Howard Lederer as the only siblings to each win WSOP bracelets. Grinder and Rob also joined Duke, Lederer and Barney and Ross Boatman as the only siblings to share WSOP final table experiences with one another. Grinder was the first in that group to emerge victorious.

Here’s a Tony Poker WSOP update: Here’s how I went out of Event No. 3. Toward the end of day 1B of the event, I shoved with about 18 big blinds with pocket queens on a 3-3-6 board, my big-stacked opponent called with pocket tens and proceeded to hit a ten on the turn. But I played well again, accumulating a big stack early in the tournament, until I lost most of it when I flopped two pair and my opponent rivered a flush.

I played five more hours after my event Sunday and won about $500 in $2/$5 Omaha. I’m feeling good and I’ve added Event No. 14, $1,500 2-7 Draw Lowball to my schedule. I’ll update later.

The big $50,000 Players Championship starts today, so for the final pre-WSOP story, I’ll examine the 10 players I think will make headlines this series — the ones I think have the best chance of winning bracelets.

Sorel Mizzi — Mizzi is on absolute fire right now. Since the beginning of the year, he’s won four live tournaments and made the final table in six others for about $1.5 million. He also took down a major online tournament this month. Expect him to go deep in many of the no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha events.

Daniel Negreanu — No one’s more committed to this year’s WSOP, at least no one I’ve read is reminding people of how much he’s committed. He’s put a schedule together of about 36 events and with his confidence of late, he should nab at least five cashes, and I can almost guarantee a final table.

Scott Seiver — He’s already got a bracelet, he won one in 2008 in no-limit hold’em, and he’s prime to win more. Since winning a side event at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in December, he’s earned more than $1 million in high-stakes tournaments against the world’s best. He’s proved he can navigate large and small fields. If I could bet on anyone winning a bracelet, it would be Seiver.

Tony Poker thinks Scott Seiver will win a bracelet in this year's WSOP.

Allen Cunningham — He had a not-so-great 2009 series. Variance kicks us all in the ass sometimes. But he’s a solid player and he’s bound to bounce back soon.

Jason Mercier — One of the hottest players on the tournament circuit for more than a year. I’ve written about him before. He should be a household name by now. If he isn’t, he will be after this year’s WSOP.

Bertrand Grospellier — We haven’t heard from ElkY in a short while, so you know what that means: It’s time for him to win again. The only reason we haven’t heard any ElkY news is that he’s been consistently cashing in tournaments for the past year, and hasn’t had any big scores since a third-place finish at the WPT Championship in April of 2009. I remember playing against him in 2008 and every tournament he was accumulating massive chip stacks. I like a repeat of 2008 this year.

Yevgeniy Timoshenko — I can speak from experience, the sick poker player known as JovialGent online has to be considered one of the top players in the world. It’s only a matter of time before he wins a bracelet. It might as well be this year.

Alexander Kostritsyn — He blasted onto the poker scene in 2008 after winning the Aussie Millions Man Event, then had a solid WSOP with five cashes and one final table in five different poker games. After an off 2009, he started hitting the virtual high-stakes tables and he’s up more than $1.7 million this year. Look for his name in the mixed game championship events.

Dan Kelly — He just turned 21 two months ago, but he’s already logged a life’s worth of hands online. Known as “djk123,” Kelly has won more than $4 million in online tournaments and he makes his WSOP debut this year. If I had to pick a Main Event champion today, KElly would be on my short list.

Tony Poker — What the hell, right? A man can dream. This is my best time of year traditionally, I always have good results in May and June. Now, I’m off to play a little poker before tomorrow’s Event No. 3.

Check back here for more blogs and the inside story for this year’s WSOP.

The biggest story at every World Series of Poker is always who will play well and who will struggle.

If you have a bad series, it can put you more than $100,000 in the hole, and not to mention, it can mess with your confidence for the rest of the year. Rarely do players have a bad series and bounce back later. The saddest day in poker is when you bust out of the main event — I can attest.

So for top story No. 2, we’ll look into the players who I predict will have a disappointing World Series of Poker:

Tom Dwan — Tournaments just aren’t his game, he thrives in situations facing people for big chunks of their bankrolls, and in tournaments, all players lose are their buy-ins.

Tony Poker is predicting a terrible series for Tom Dwan

In two years at the WSOP, he’s got just two cashes. Because of his new Full Tilt contract, Durrrr will likely be grinding in about 20 events, and I’ll guess the frustration will set in for him around the sixth or seventh event he plays in. Durrrr’s best chance for a big cash may be Event No. 35, the $10,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em Championship. There’s almost no one better at heads-up poker.

David Williams — Caught lightning in a bottle at the WPT Five Star World Poker Classic, but I don’t see this 2004 Main Event runner-up doing anything substantial this series. He’s never cashed more than four times in a series.

Annie Duke — A lot of people are predicting this will be the year of the woman at the World Series of Poker. I have to agree, the problem is there are much more talented female poker players than Duke. If she has more than three cashes I’ll be amazed. You’re better off betting on good woman players like Vanessa Selbst and Liv Boeree.

Jeff Lisandro —Not that I think he’ll have that bad of a series, but there’s no way he’ll be able to recreate last year’s amazing three-bracelet performance. No where to go but down.

Ted Forrest — He’s one of the greatest gamblers around, but for some reason, his game has disappeared since 2008. Poker players have up-and-down years all the time, but I don’t like that Forrest hasn’t cashed in a single poker event since last year’s WSOP.

Chris Ferguson — I think this can go either way, but I’m leaning toward a rough series for Ferguson. He’s got the possible Full Tilt investigation on his mind, and he’s been filling his time with speaking engagements instead of poker.

Joe Cada —One cash in many tournaments since his Main Event win. Cada may be an online “pro” but he’s closer to Chris Moneymaker’s skill. I don’t see a Greg Raymer-esque run from Cada. But I’ve been wrong before.
Gus Hansen — He’s never been the same since 2008. Struggling online and in tournaments isn’t a good recipe for success entering the WSOP.

Tony G — He’ll probably play about five events.

Doyle Brunson — He already took the first part of 2010 off because of health concerns. As much as it pains me, I don’t see him having a good series because of this. Hopefully he’ll prove me wrong and make a final table or two, because he’s good for the game, and one of my favorite players of all time. I worry now that each series could be his last.

There’s one guarantee with this list: Not any or all of these predictions will be right. So you should probably bet $10 on each to win the Main Event.

Every year, there’s a new crop of young, accomplished online and European players who are entering their first World Series of Poker events, having recently reach legal age.

This year’s group of young players may be the most accomplished. The one player everyone is excited about watching is Annette Obrestad. The Norwegian phenom has already competed in the three previous editions of the WSOP-Europe in London (with great success), but this will be the first time she will face the massive fields and the day-to-day never-ending grind inside the Amazon Room.

It's Annette_15's first WSOP in the United States. And this blogger is excited to see how she fares.

Then there are guys like Ashton Griffin and Tom Marchese who play in the biggest cash games online and already have significant live victories under their belts (the NAPT Venetian $25K Bounty Shootout and $5K Main Event respectively) and are playing the WSOP the first time. There’s also Dan “djk123″ Kelly, Randal “RandALLin” Flowers and Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz, who will likely make news for his loud mouth.

Because of their reputations, they won’t take anyone by surprise. But that’s only fueling my interest in their results. I’ll be glued to Web sites throughout the series to see how these young players do.

I’m counting down the days and the top 5 stories coming into the 2010 World Series of Poker.

For story No. 4, I don’t think we can go into any series and not consider the two Phils — Ivey and Hellmuth.

One is arguably the best player in the world. The other is arguably the most recognizable. And they make big poker news whenever they make a final table.

Let’s check in on both:

Phil Ivey

Bracelets: 7 ($2,500 Pot Limit Omaha – 2000; $2,500 Stud Hi-Lo, $2,000 S.H.O.E., $1,500 Stud – 2002; $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha – 2005; $2,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball, $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo/Stud Hi-Lo – 2009)

Results since last year’s WSOP: Ivey has finished second at the $100,000 high roller tournament at the Aussie Millions in January. He’s also cashed in two North American Poker Tour main events. And of course, he’s tearing up online cash games, up $2 million so far in 2010.

Why he’ll win a bracelet in 2010: Ivey rededicated himself to tournament play before last year’s WSOP and look at the results: Two bracelets and a Main Event final table. After his breakout in 2002, Ivey went running for high-stakes cash games, then around 2006, he started perfecting his online game. There’s nothing this guy can’t do in poker when he puts his mind to it. If he loses interest at all, there’s no doubt he’ll find inspiration in the millions of prop bets he’s made with fellow gamblers.

Why he won’t: The only thing stopping Ivey is himself. When I played in 2008, I sat a nearby table in an pot limit Omaha hi-lo event and watch Ivey — he couldn’t have been more disinterested. Still, there’s not a lot of compelling arguments for why he won’t win.

Phil Hellmuth

Bracelets: 11 ($10,000 Main Event – 1989; $5,000 Limit Hold’em – 1992; $1,500 No Limit Hold’em, $2,500 No Limit Hold’em, $5,000 Limit Hold’em – 1993; $3,000 Pot Limit Hold’em – 1997; $2,000 No Limit Hold’em – 2001; $2,500 Limit Hold’em, $3,000 No Limit Hold’em – 2003; $1,000 No Limit Hold’em with rebuys – 2006; $1,500 No Limit Hold’em – 2007)

Results since last year’s WSOP: Hellmuth made the final table of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars main event, finishing sixth. He also nearly made the televised final table of the $25,000 main event of the WPT’s Five Star World Poker Classic, finishing seventh.

Why he’ll win a bracelet in 2010: Though he hasn’t won a bracelet in the last two series, Hellmuth had a total of 11 cashes, including two final tables. He plays conservative, steady poker and every time people say the game is passing him by, he makes another final table. He’s always dedicated himself to the WSOP and 2010 should be no different. Lock to make at least one final table.

Why he won’t win: If Hellmuth goes all Hellmuth on himself, watch out, he could be in for a rough series. Some people worry about his state of mind after the meltdown at the Bay 101 event. He’s also weak in the mixed games — all his bracelets are in hold’em — so you can almost count him out of the non-hold’em events.

What do I think? I have to say, with 57 tournaments, the odds are that both of these guys will make a WSOP final table, and there’s pretty good odds one will win a bracelet — even with the humongous fields. They’re that good and it will be fun to watch if they make it.

There’s only six days left until the 41st World Series of Poker gets underway in Las Vegas, and already, a buzz of excitement and anticipation has descended on Sin City.

The most widely anticipated events on the poker calendar will be running from May 27 until July 17, and 57 gold bracelets will be offered to those hoping to grab a piece of poker history — including me.

The six-week poker extravaganza will kick off with the $50,000 Players Championship, an 8-game event which replaces the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship event of past years, and eventually will culminate in the hugely popular $10,000 WSOP Main Event.

For each day leading up to the series, I’ll bring you the Top 5 biggest stories I’m looking forward to this WSOP.

Story No. 5 — Will the UIGEA or US authorities affect the series?

A while ago, if you remember, American lawmakers postponed their vote on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act until June 1. This was the government’s attempt to stop people from depositing money into their online poker accounts from US banks. If lawmakers approve the act, it’s expected to cause quite the wrinkle in the series, throwing delays into withdrawals and wreaking havoc on players’ bankrolls.

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Also, there’s a grand jury investigation against the owners of Full Tilt Poker, and there are rumors that federal prosecutors in New York are working hard to put together an indictment before the end of the WSOP. Imagine authorities walking into the Rio to arrest Howard Lederer or Chris Ferguson, during a big event. Friends of mine say the two are a little uneasy about this year’s WSOP.

Looks like I’m in for a busy World Series of Poker.

WSOP officials are expecting larger numbers this year and are putting more tables (377) in play and committing more space (about 100,000 square feet) in the Rio for tournaments.

“We’re very confident that our total participation will set a record this year,” WSOP vice president Ty Stewart said.

In 2009, the World Series of Poker had 60,875 total entries for its 57 tournaments, easily eclipsing the previous record of 58,720. Players from 115 different countries converged on Las Vegas to participate in poker’s biggest series, creating a total prize pool of over $174 million.

Thirty-nine of the 57 events had a total prize pool of more $1 million, while 10 of the 57 events ended up selling out – including the Main Event, much to the chagrin of many top players, who were shut out of an overbooked Day 1d last year. That main event had a total field size of 6,494 players – a number that will likely be larger this year.

It’s going to be a crazy year, so if you are planning on playing in the 2010 World Series of Poker, be prepared for big crowds and try to register for events as early as you possibly can.

Got $2 million to spare? Do you hero worship Phil Ivey?

Well, for $1,995,000 plus closing costs, you could live where Ivey lived.

The home, built in 2001 in a golf course community, has walls of windows and a massive fireplace in the two-story great room. There are golf course and mountain views, three additional fireplaces, three bedrooms, six bathrooms and 6,727 square feet of living space. The attached garage has parking for four cars. The lot, which sits on more than 16,000 square feet, includes a swimming pool and spa.

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Here’s the listing: Ivey’s house.

Some are speculating that Ivey is broke, but a more realistic rumor is that Ivey’s assets are somehow being divided after his recent divorce. I prefer to think that a $2 million home isn’t just Ivey’s style any more — he’s aiming for a new pad worth more than $10 million. That’s my guess.

Whatever-the-case, I know some sick gamblers here in Vegas that would love to spend a couple of days in the Ivey house, just for the chance that Phil left some of his magic gambling dust around.

For the past two years, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker (now part of the Cereus Poker Network) have been trying to repair their images.

Ultimate Bet hired a stable of respectable pros, like Joe Sebok and Eric Baldwin, and they re-upped commitments to Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, who has had a spectacular year in poker.

But recently, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission warned of a possible security issue at Cereus, with encryption issues allowing hackers to potentially access players’ hole cards.

It’s a sad and scary reminder of the poker site’s dirty history. First a little background:

Russ Hamilton, the architect of the Ultimate Bet cheating scandal

It was only after pressure from the poker community and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission that Ultimate Bet admitted the problem and investigated the issue. In 2008, it started refunding about $6.1 million to affected players’ accounts.

The commission found that the problem started way back in 2004 and was headed by Hamilton. The company did its best to refund all players. Still, Hamilton, who lives in Las Vegas, has not yet been charged.

With the cheating scandal still fresh in players’ minds, UB must deal with the new findings from the commission, that say potential players should “use caution when accessing the two poker sites, in particular when using a public network or a private wireless network.”

The commission said it is monitoring immediate measures that are being taken to address the security issue and has been advised that a more permanent solution is to be implemented on an urgent basis.

All this report says to me is to run far away from UB. Though it’s done its best to put the cheating scandal behind in the media, its security problems remain. Critics have long disparaged UB for its crummy software, now this report confirms the company has done little to change.

If you like money, get serious and stay away from Cereus.

There are about seven weeks to go before the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, during the 41st WSOP.

Remember, this is the $1 million freeroll, where people could vote for any bracelet holder they wanted to see in the tournament and the WSOP would take the top 20 vote-getters and throw them into the field.

As of last month, here is the top 20:

Doyle Brunson
Johnny Chan
T.J. Cloutier
Allen Cunningham
Antonio Esfandiari
Sam Farha
Chris Ferguson
Barry Greenstein
Joe Hachem
Jennifer Harman
Dan Harrington
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Ivey
John Juanda
Howard Lederer
Daniel Negreanu
Scotty Nguyen
Greg Raymer
Huck Seed
Erik Seidel

The event also includes past TOC champions Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton, reigning WSOP champion Joe Cada, reigning WSOPE champion Barry Shulman and two wild cards.

David Benyamine has been spicing up High Stakes Poker for years, yet he's absent from the TOC field.

What’s concerning is the lack of European WSOP bracelet winners on this list. With the exception of Hachem, everyone is an American.

I just can’t believe players like Roland de Wolfe, Jeff Lisandro, Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri, David Benyamine and Annette Obrestad aren’t more popular. If anything, they’ve got more game than washed up T.J. Cloutier or Hachem.

You can still vote at wsop.com/TOC, so don’t waste time, let’s get some of our favourites into the tournament.

Daniel Negreanu has launched a full-scale campaign to rid the poker world of sunglasses.

Negreanu vented on an episode of High Stakes Poker recently, suggesting that wearing sunglasses can facilitate cheating, and are bad for the popularity of the game.

“They are so bad for poker on so many levels. Poker wouldn’t be on TV if everyone wore hoodies and sunglasses to hide their eyes. If anyone wants to start a petition to ban them in any form of poker whether it’s tournaments, cash games, or televised events I’d do whatever I could to help,” Negreanu said.

The ability to see and read your opponents’ eyes is a key difference between online poker and live games, Negreanu said in a recent blog post. He also said he supports a complete and total ban of sunglasses in all forms of live poker, including tournaments, cash games and televised play.

Speaking in reference to his new TV series, Negreanu proudly boasts that “there is a rule in place where you can’t hide like a chicken behind sunglasses!”

Negreanu goes on to point out that some of the biggest names in the sport, like Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Patrik Antonius and Tom “durrrr” Dwan don’t feel the need to hide behind shades.

Banning the wearing of shades, Negreanu says, will protect the integrity of the sport. He feels strongly that players should simply “man up and take [the] silly things off.”

While Negreanu is free to express his opinion, he’s wrong on both counts. Negreanu thinks he’s an expert reader of his opponent’s actions, so it frustrates him to not have a perceived edge. But hiding your weaknesses through your appearance has always been a part of poker – look at Chris Ferguson.

And I don’t know how Negreanu thinks wearing sunglasses somehow prevents a player from being accessible to a television audience. Phil Hellmuth, arguably the most recognizable player in the world, has always worn shades.

What do you think? Typical Negreanu rant? Or does he have a point?

Pack your bags and don’t forget to bring the sun-lotion!

Together with Betsson we start the month of May with a player point race with ten Live event packages in the pool worth €1400 each. The race starts on the 6th of May 00:01 CET and ends on the 9th of May 23:59 CET. In other words – the race will only last for four days and it will be ten very ‘lucky’ winners!

Collect as many player points you can during the race period and if you are skilled enough and end up in the top ten you will be rewarded with a Live package worth a total of €1400.

Prize package details:

• • One VIP Live poker event is worth €1400.
• • The Live tournament is held in Malta on May 20th – 23rd.
• • Accommodation in five star hotel, flights arranged by Betsson and VIP treatment throughout weekend.
• • €1400 includes, €550 buy-in, travel and accommodation costs.
• … and a great experience and a secret activity together with the Betsson team.

Keep close track of your way to the top by checking our Live updated leaderboard on this page. Make sure you stay in the top ten!

Sign-up here!

Good luck!

One $16,000 WSOP Main Event package guaranteed every week

It’s biggest poker event of the year – the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. Last year 21 year old Joseph Cada won $8.55 million, the youngest ever to win the main event. Is it your turn this year?

In co-operation with Betsson we offer you the chance to go to Las Vegas and shoot for the stars.

Every day there’s several low buy-in qualifiers for the weekly final each Sunday where a WSOP Main Event package is guaranteed.

Sign up for a Betsson poker account if you don’t already have one! Up to $1600 first deposit bonus!

Once you installed the poker software, go to “Scheduled Tournaments” and chose “Event Satellites” to find all the available WSOP qualifiers.

Good luck!

Main Event Package details:
Package worth $16 000 consisting of main event buy-in, hotel at Wynn for 3rd – 15th July, $3000 in travel and spending money and WSOP Warm Up tournament at Wynn casino July 5th.

One package guaranteed every Sunday. Remaining dates:

• 2010-03-25
• 2010-04-01
• 2010-04-08
• 2010-04-18
• 2010-04-25
• 2010-05-02
• 2010-05-09
• 2010-05-16
• 2010-05-23
• 2010-05-30
• 2010-06-06

I’m in Vegas for a long haul, and there’s a rumour going around that the World Series of Poker may be moving to the Strip – if Harrah’s follows through on plans to sell the Rio.

My buddy sent me this link from Business Week that the Rio is being shopped around for about $500 million.

While it’s pure speculation at this point, most expect that the WSOP will move to the Planet Hollywood casino, a recently acquired Harrah’s property on the Strip, if a sale takes place. Among all of the Harrah’s properties in Vegas (Paris, Bally’s, Flamingo, Harrah’s, the Imperial Palace, and Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall & Saloon, Caesars Palace and Planet Hollywood), only Planet Hollywood and Caesar’s have the capacity to host the WSOP.

Prior to moving to the Rio in 2005, the WSOP enjoyed a long residency at Binon’s in downtown Las Vegas. As a nod to that heritage, Harrah’s actually ran the last two days of the 2005 Main Event at binion’s before shifting the entire tournament over to the Rio.

I’ll still be at the Rio, which I’ve grown to love over the past few years this year – the 2010 WSOP will still be there.