Cates Dominates

With Tom Dwan doing so well in the first challenge against Antonius, it’s pretty hard to imagine how he could do so poorly in this one. Yet, that’s exactly what’s happening right now. Cates has won about 61.4% of all the hands played, which is a pretty good majority if you stop to think about it. Cates is doing surprisingly well, and Dwan surprisingly bad. Dwan did manage to get some major pots during their game, including a $131,000 one and a $71,000, but Cates won bigger ones such as a $173,000 pot. Obviously, it was Cates who had the better performance of the two. They actually had a session prior to this one which ended on Cates’ advantage, with Cates earning a whopping $518,000 lead. Dwan posted a tweet about how he wished that this most recent one would go better than last time, but his hopes were unfulfilled.

At the end of their game, Cates posted a tweet as well giving people an update about how he’s up by almost 700k in nearly 7,000 hands.

A Stark Contrast

One particular quality of this challenge that makes it stand out is that it’s going much faster than the other one. Antonius and Dwan seem to be snoozing on that challenge. Dwan’s lead of almost 2 million doesn’t help too because you can practically foresee how it will end. Besides, the first challenge has been dead since August 3. It’s 19 months old and still running and with 10,000 hands still left, it feels like it’ll take forever before it will move. This one, however, seems considerably more interesting because, for one thing, Dwan’s losing. Let’s admit it, there’s something fascinating about watching that guy lose, especially since he’s the one who created this ‘durrrr’ challenge in the first place. 

The people at TwoPlusTwo are going crazy with speculation. Some are even wondering if Dwan would ‘buy out’ if this challenge gets pretty bad for him. Of course, most people are of the opinion that he won’t buy out no matter how bad it gets, but you know how it is with internet debates, they never seem to end.

The Challenge

As you probably already know, this is the second part of the “durrrr” Challenge, which is a match between Tom “durrrt” Dwan and Dan “JungleMan12” Cates. The first challenge is between Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius and it has not yet ended, and is in fact about 10,000 hands short of completion. Like the first one, the second challenge will last for a total of 50,000 hands. There’s a 3:1 advantage for Cates, meaning that he will contribute $500,000 and if he wins by the end of the challenge, he will receive $1,500,000 from Dwan. If Dwan wins, however, he will get Cates’ $500,000, which is already escrowed to Phil Ivey.

A stark difference between the first challenge and the second challenge is the type of poker being played. Dwan and Antonius played the $200/400 Pot Limit Omaha while Dwan and Cates will play $200/400 No Limit Hold’em.

The Action

Some people on the TwoPlusTwo forums were actually of the opinion that Dwan was waking up to the idea that he might actually lose this and was therefore delaying the fight. But this update proved them wrong, especially when the results were aired. In fact, mostly everyone in the TwoPlusTwo forums stayed up to watch these two battle it out. A thread was even made discussing the hands played, the most exciting one being a $104,000 pot. Dwan actually had 10-8, which gave him a two-pair and Cates had a straight draw which was never really completed. In the end, Dwan scooped up the pot of $104,000, giving him a pretty nifty lead. The biggest pot, however, was when Dwan had A-J and Cates had pocket tens.

The board revealed A-3-A-6, giving him a nifty hand, and when the river was revealed to be two kings, Dwan ended up collecting $119,000. If anybody ever doubted Dwan’s talent, he truly proved them wrong with the last session, especially since he just came straight from a 35-hour online poker session. In the end, Dwan held a nice $130,000, with 1,651 hands already played. It’s unknown when the next session will be, but hopefully, it will go at a faster pace than Dwan’s challenge with Antonius.

Update: After the night’s session had finished, Cates was up a massive $518k with over 5000 hands played.

Acts of Collusion

Like many of the most pressing issues in the world of poker, talk of this reputed ‘crime’ began at the Two Plus Two Forums. One member started posting about it last February, and the rest just followed. Soon enough, solid proof started flowing in and the criminal activity could no longer be denied. Of course, this was brought to the attention of PokerStars, and the site promptly moved to ban the said users. It wasn’t until recently that an official statement was released. Jackson, a member of the PokerStars’ Game Security Team, said that they actually discovered the discrepancies at the Double or Nothing sit and gos in February after the TwoPlusTwo members started posting about it.

Investigation revealed that 38 players were actually involved in the crime ring and that their acts of collusion allowed them to steal about $494,000 from the site’s players. Apparently, they weren’t just active in the higher stakes too, but also in the low stakes games. Their range was pretty wide, but their focus was mostly on the $50 to $100 tables.

Necessary Comensation

Of course, a kind of crime like this would not be allowed to pass without proper accountability. Since the best that PokerStars could do to punish the criminals was to ban all the guilty accounts and to freeze the $85,000 worth of money still remaining in them, they had to take the brunt of giving compensation to the players. All in all, PokerStars has already paid $2.1 million for compensation to the customers of the crime ring. The criminals walked away with a hefty $400,000 profit, but at least now PokerStars is employing new methods to prevent future acts of collusion. A new security function wherein players from certain countries are disallowed to enter the same Double or Nothing events together has been instated.

Of course, this can be such a drag to those who are actually honest about their game, but so far, it’s the best feature that PokerStars can come up with in order to prevent further crime. 

If you fancy checking out some other online poker sites then try pokerbonus.org for the best bonus codes and online poker reviews.

Playing in their Birthday Suits

Not many people have the guts to visit the Cap d’Agde, a French naturist resort located on the Riviera. This is where thousands of people go to each year to enjoy life in their birthday suits. Sometimes, during the peak season, the number of guests on that resort swells to a whopping 40,000. There’s a nudist beach where people can go to should they want to take a swim. Some people also go there to play beach volleyball with other nudists.

But volleyball’s not the only game they play. Apparently, they also play poker. The nude poker tournament is currently being held at the resort’s casino, and was actually created to commemorate the said casino’s 40^th anniversary. It was sponsored by the Cap d’Agde Casino as well as the Union of Professionals of Naturist Tourism. Apparently, they’re hosting the tournament in order to promote the resort and the concept of being naturists to the people.

What will really help their cause is the participation of at least one poker pro. It’s going to be big publicity to have pros like the Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Patrik Antonius, Jennifer Harman, and the others showing up in their birthday suits. Speculation abounds as to who will attend, but for now, the pros are keeping mum about their plans. Who knows, though, maybe in a few days, we’ll find a tweet or two about the tournament from one of the bigwigs.

Tournament Details

There isn’t a set date for the tournament yet, but one thing’s for sure, it’s going to be massive. This tournament is already gaining a lot of publicity and people are already speculating if some of the world’s top pros will show up. The buy-in fee is only 150 euros so the prize pool will most likely not be that big, but this is a nude poker tournament, possibly the first of its kind. People are going to join for the fun of it, and not so much for the money. Oh, and I forgot to say, if you’re going to enter the tournament, you’ll most likely have to leave your pants at the door. That’s a pretty expensive buy-in, all things considered.

Some Nifty Benefits

At first glance, joining the Asian Poker Tour might seem a little bit iffy, especially for those who live in the West. However, look closely and you’ll see that this might just be the best decision you’ll make in your life. You know how everybody’s always wishing for a vacation, right? Well, why not take one while joining a poker tournament? The Philippines is one of the foremost tourist destinations in the world, and Resort World Manila is one of the best places to go to there. You can relax at the poolside, chill out at the bar, and do a whole lot of other activities, and what’s best, the Asian Poker Tour Officials have struck a deal with the resort, giving all the APT Players 25% off on all of the drinks and food.

The Poker Tournament will be attended with some of the best in the industry too, with the pro Nam Le, who has over six million dollars in career winnings. There’s also JC Tran and several others. Furthermore, they’re going to be employing a different system, with deeper stacks and shorter days.

Join the APT

The buy-in for this stop at the APT will be $2,700 at the Main Event. However, if you find yourself short on money, why not register at Winner Poker and try to get yourself a ticket by joining the satellites. You can win a registration for as low as $8.80 if you’re lucky and skilled. The $2700 buy-in will be yours for free, as well as an additional $2,000 for the flight and your other expenses. Who knows, this might be your chance to win big.

Furthermore, if you join Winner Poker through pokerbonus.org, you can get a 100% poker bonus which can net you a nifty $500. It’s a pretty sweet deal, all things considered.

Things to watch out for

As mentioned above, Laak’s prize for the bounty freeroll would be an Unabomber Hoodie. But for the more pragmatic players who might want to join, here’s what’s really tempting. If you join the freeroll and manage to get into the top seven spots, you’re going to win a number of gold chips which you can use to play more poker. First place gets 300 gold chips while the one at seventh place will get 50 gold chips.

A Delay in the Prizes

Truth is, the idea for this freeroll has been around for quite some time now. Phil Laak’s accident happened somewhere after the idea was conceived. If you still don’t know about Laak’s accident, then you might want to visit his Twitter account. He’s posting regular updates about his condition, pictures and all. But basically, what happened was that he got into an accident in a All-Terrain Vehicle or an ATV. As a result, his arm got fractured and is now encased in a cast. Since the injured arm was also his writing arm, there’s really no way he can do a proper autograph in time for the Bounty Freeroll. As such, they have already announced that the delivery of the Unabomber sweatshirts would be delayed. Still, though, there are a lot of great prizes, so this freeroll should definitely not be missed.

But if you’re thinking that the accident will make Laak easier to take down in the bounty freeroll, think again. His arm may have gotten busted, but his brain is still as sharp as ever. He stated in a press release that he’s already recovering and that he’s thankful that his injuries weren’t far worse. He reiterated that his talent is very much intact, so it will still be a pretty big challenge to take him down.

The bounty freeroll will take place on August 31, 8 PM ET. Registration begins an hour before the scheduled time so you better mark this date and time on your calendar if you want to join.

Other News

In other news, the NFL preseason is underway, offering a number of new opportunities for the poker players that like to indulge in a little sports betting from time to time. The latest hot gossip is the return of Bret Favre to the Minnesota Vikings after he had previously announced that he was going to retire from NFL. Remember to check out the latest NFL sports betting promotions when choosing which online gambling site to deposit at.

Hansen’s Story

Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen is one of the biggest pros today. He has over $7.5 million in live tournament winnings, so there’s absolutely no question about whether or not this guy’s good at the game. Oh, he’s talented alright, just not at online poker. Most of his money has come from live poker, as it seems to be his forte, but he has no doubt earnt extra money on the side with a little sports betting, obviously remembering to use the best sportsbook promo code when he did so. Furthermore, Gus Hansen is also a pretty savvy businessman. He has been known to make the best decisions that ultimately end up to his advantage. However, a good online poker player he is simply just not. Since 2008, Hansen has lost almost $7 million on Full Tilt alone.

In fact, he has lost the biggest amount of money in the site from 2008 to present. Of course, since he insists on battling with players the likes of Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan, it’s certainly not impossible for him to lose this amount of money. In fact, halfway through 2010, it has been revealed that Gus Hansen is down by $800,000, $500,000 of which has been lost just this August. Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan, on the contrary, have just gained a whopping $1 million each just from the past week alone.

The Live Arena

Sure enough, the virtual felt has been rather cold to him. To say that it’s not his forte would be an understatement. Yet, it’s not quite right to say that he’s not a good poker player either, as he’s a pretty impressive one when he’s playing live.  His biggest wins have always come from the live arena, which is why he should start playing there again if he wants to recover some of his bankroll. Some people simply aren’t meant for the virtual felt, and it seems as if Gus Hansen is one of them.

This last week has just been spectacular for these two pros, with both of them raking in close to one million each. Full Tilt Poker has drawn a lot of traffic to its site with the high stakes action of these pros, with players simply signing up to sit and watch the big games or even going a step further and beginning their own poker journey, while taking advantage of some of the best poker bonuses in the industry that Full Tilt offers.

A Matter of Statistics

In terms of winnings, Dwan took the top spot this weak, raking in a total of $969,145. Ivey followed with $931,000. However, Dwan played a whopping 7,070 hands while Ivey played only 3,000. So really, if we’re going to get technical here, I’d say Ivey was the bigger winner of the two. Dwan practically won at the rate of $140 per hand, and Ivey had a very impressive rate of $300 per hand. Ivey’s opponents weren’t pushovers either. He played against the likes of Cole South, NEKOTYAN, Jungleman21, and of course, Tom Dwan himself. Still, Dwan’s 7,070 hands this week just shows how much of a poker monster he is. In fact, I’d say the guy was born to be a poker pro.

The Ratings

However, among the two, Dwan still ranks higher than Ivey in terms of 2010 winnings. Dwan managed to get a pretty impressive $4.8 million, while Ivey has about $3.2 million. Those who love to argue will probably point out how Ivey puts in less hands than Dwan, but then again, the money can speak for itself. Also, Ivey’s known for being consistent, and Dwan is simply famous for his huge swings. One minute he’s winning millions and the next he’s losing them faster than he ever earned them. But Dwan’s aggressiveness on the field has always worked to his advantage in the end, so it’s anyone’s guess who will end up as the top player this year. Either way, both pros are the best in the industry when it comes to cash games, and it’s always pretty exciting to see the two of them butt heads on Full Tilt.

Much Potential

While not many of us are familiar with the movie industry in Asia, it remains a pretty noticeable fact that Asian movies are rapidly becoming popular. They can rival our own movies in terms of plot, storyline, graphics, acting, and more. Plus, the new perspective gives new twists on old tales that are simply a pleasure to watch. This new movie, entitled “Poker King”, promises to be all that and more. It will be set at the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino, which is located in the Asian gambling capital of Macau. This was also the setting of Chow Yun Fat’s God of Gamblers and also of several other movies before. Apparently, the film will be produced and also directed by Charles Heung, who is the owner of the China Star Entertainment Group LA.

The lead actors include Chan Hing Kai and Janet Chun, both of them big stars in China. Lau Ching Wan will also be included in the cast and he will be playing the role of a poker player who will be facing against the likes of Stanley Ho, who is a billionaire in Macau, as well as his daughter, Josie Ho. They seem to be aiming to create a sort of remake of the American Movie, “The Rounders”. 

Something to Watch out For

Now, some of you may remember the Rounders as the only poker movie to ever have a shred of decency. If so, then you better watch out for this one. Online Poker is rapidly becoming more and more popular and the next frontier for it is Asia. Indeed, this will be a brand new take on the game and you can be sure that it’s going to be more than you’re expecting.

History of the Women’s Poker Hall of Fame

The Women’s Poker Hall of fame has actually just been a very recent establishment in the world of poker. It was founded in 2008 by the Ladies International Poker Series, with Marsha Waggoner, Susie Isaacs, Linda Johnson, and Barbara Enright Marsha Waggoner as the very first inductees. The next year, 2009, June Field, Jan Fisher, and Cyndy Violette were inducted into the Women’s Poker Hall of Fame. Of course, all of them have worked very hard to earn their place, and it’s pretty impressive to be counted among these amazing women, so the new inductees are probably pretty proud of themselves to have been able to make it into this very exclusive list.

About the New Inducties

However, the question of who the new inductees are isn’t the only one important. You also have to ask what they have done to deserve a spot in the hall of fame. First, let’s discuss Bille Brown. Brown is actually no longer among us, as she passed away back in 2004, but she was a staunch supporter of the game and was widely viewed as a poker industry visionary. She created tournaments and promotions that revolutionized the game and she was even the very first person to create a system which guaranteed purse in a major poker tournament. Next up is Kathy Liebert, who has managed to earn a place at the tournament money list at 41th place. She is at the top of the list for women earners, having earned $5,717,426 of tournament winnings. 

Next is Jennifer Harman, the Full Tilt Poker sponsored pro. She’s one of the most popular female pros today and is widely respected in the industry because of her skills and her stellar reputation. She has over $2.6 million worth of cash from live tournaments and has been able to make it into six WSOP final tables in all. However, despite her success in the field, Harman is actually more of a cash player. Her total earnings as a cash player has not been tallied, but for a player of her caliber, it could certainly be several millions.