Monthly Archives: February 2012
The Story Behind “Durrr”
As juvenile as it may sound, Tom Dwan’s screen name “durrr” was originally created when he first started playing online poker at the tender age of 17. He made the username when he registered at Paradise Poker with a $50 birthday present from his dad. By his 18th birthday, four months after he started playing poker online, Dwan had amassed a $15,000 bankroll. In 2008, he earned more than $5 million at Full Tilt Poker. Did his choice of obscure screen names have any effect on his success? He admits to choosing the name “durrrr” to intimidate his opponents. He thought that if he won, his screen name would anger his opponents, putting them on tilt and further increasing his chances of winning more pots from them. And while durrrr has lost a great deal of whopping pots, he’s won some of the biggest online poker pots in the history… Read More »
Iowa Passes Bill on Intrastate Poker
Earlier we reported on a subcommittee hearing of an Iowa Senate Study Bill that would regulate Internet poker within the state of Iowa. To the delight of online poker players throughout the US, the bill was passed into law with an 11 to 4 vote. With Nevada on board with regulating intrastate online poker and California looking to legalize the game as well, every state that successfully passes online poker legislature is one step closer to the cause. Republican Senator Rick Bertrand representing Sioux City, Iowa commented on the bill, “I don’t see this as an expansion of gambling. I see this as an expansion of freedom.” Three Republicans and one Democrat did vote against the bill, though no one had anything to say against it. Republican Senator Bill Dix representing Shell Rock, Iowa said, “We have a situation in Iowa where Iowa citizens are not being protected. This will… Read More »
Betfair Signs Eastgate
One year ago, Peter Eastgate, 2008 and youngest WSOP champion, came out of “retirement” after an eight-month break from poker, just a few months after selling his WSOP bracelet on eBay for charity. Eastgate is a unique character, as are most poker pros, and he’s now joined up with Betfair Poker along with Stefan Raffay. Both from Denmark, Eastgate and Raffay will promote the Betfair brand, highlighting the exclusive Betfair Danish WSOP promo, which will send Betfair players to the WSOP along with Eastgate and Raffay. The two new Betfair sponsored pros join Hans Vogl and John Tabatabai on the Betfair Poker Team. Betfair Danish manager, Peter Weinreich, says, “We hope their expertise and popularity in the poker community will ensure a positive relationship for both parties. Eastgate won the 2008 WSOP and was paid more than $9 million for his efforts. He auctioned his WSOP bracelet for just under… Read More »
Iowa Attempts to Pass Intrastate Internet Poker Bill
Iowa seems to be the next state to jump on the legal online poker bandwagon. A subcommittee will meet today to discuss Senate Study Bill 3164, which if passed will allow licensed operators “to conduct gambling games on an excursion boat, gambling structure, or racetrack enclosure to operate internet wagering on poker and making penalties applicable.” Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission’s study revealed that up to $60 million could be possible collected by operators per year in rake, creating a potential of up to $13 million in tax revenue for Iowa at the rate of 22%. As usual, critics of legal Internet poker are speaking up, expressing their concern that gambling addictions may increase, though the bill does address these concerns. For instance, the bill obliges that players must have the option to limit their maximum deposits per a 24-hour period. The bill further requires that online wagers must be… Read More »
Duhamel Leads POY & WSOP Bracelet Recovered
Jonathan Duhamel, 2010 WSOP champion, is leading two of 2012’s player of the year races after a stellar start to his 2012 tourney tour. Duhamel leads the Bluff Magazine POY Race as well as the PokerNews/Global Poker Index (GPI) POY Race. He sits in fifth place in Card Player Magazine’s POY Race. In the Bluff rankings, Duhamel holds a 32-point lead over Oliver Speidel, 2012 Aussie Millions champion, with John Dibella in third, Ruben Visser in fourth, and Faraz Jaka in fifth. Phil Ivey currently holds the Bluff sixth place spot. In the GPI leaderboard, Duhamel has a massive lead over second place Jason Koon, who Duhamel leads by almost 200 points. Third place in the GPI rankings is Ruben Visser, second is Sam Chartier, and third is Faraz Jaka. Duhamel has won his ground with a first place win in the 2012 PCA $5K NLH (winning $239K+), a second… Read More »
Poker Player Somerville Blogs a Confession
One thing you don’t hear about too often in the poker circle is poker players’ sexual preference, at least of those who prefer the same sex, but this is not the case as of Valentine’s Day when WSOP bracelet winner Jason Somerville came out of the closet. Somerville won the $1K NLH, walking away with the first place cash prize worth nearly $500K. He came out on his blog and explained that on his 2011 birthday, April 15th, the all too familiar Black Friday, he was faced with the realization that he just wanted to be happy, and he was no longer able to escape to online poker. He knew something had to change. He wrote, “By the time WSOP 2011 came around, I had already begun to want real change, and once WSOP passed I had a few important heart-to-hearts with some very close friends and my mindset finally… Read More »
Dwan’s Early Career and Earnings by Year
Tom “durrrr” Dwan was born on July 30, 1986, so every year, about two weeks after the WSOP wraps up, he celebrates his birthday. Before dropping out of college to play poker full-time, Dwan attended Boston University. When Dwan was only 17, he put $50 of his birthday money his dad gave him in an online poker account at Paradise Poker and moved from the play money tables to real money online poker. That’s when he first began using the name “durrrr.” He thought that when someone lost to him, the name would irritate his opponents, further affecting their game and putting them on tilt. He first played sit n gos for $6. He lost $35. He was able to turn it around with his last $15, as he continued playing sit & gos. Once he found his stride and began winning, he moved to cash games, which is where… Read More »
Russian Poker Pro Evdakov Dead
The poker community met sad news on Monday, when the wife of Russian poker pro Nikolay Evdakov announced online that her husband had passed away. Evdakov was only 47, and the cause of death is still unknown. His wife, Nataliya, posted the news on Evdakov’s poker forum, CGM.ru. She wrote: “On the night of February 6, Nikolay Evdakov died – a loving father and an exemplary family man, a friend of the community of poker enthusiasts, an outstanding professional player and the owner of CGM.ru. Generous, but ambitious, Nicholas won the hearts of people with kindness and sympathy, being open-hearted, he was ready to respond to the call of any of his friends and acquaintances.” Evdakov was a top poker pro in Russia with more than $1.1 million in tournament winnings alone since 2006 when he first cashed at a live event. He had won the $500 Russian Poker Championship… Read More »
Official WSOP Schedule Released
Last week we announced that the November Nine installment of the World Series of Poker would be eradicated from the schedule for 2012. While this is true, there will still be a lag between play after the final table is settled in July, but poker fans won’t have to wait quite so long. The full schedule for the 2012 WSOP was released with a few tweaks from what we are used to. First of all, the final table will be carried out in October, not November. This is mainly due in part to the 2012 presidential election that will take place during the first week of November. So as not to interfere with the election, WSOP officials have moved the final table up just one week. The prestigious tournament series will start up on May 28th, Memorial Day, and run through July 16th when the final table of the Main… Read More »
November Nine No More
The 43rd annual World Series of Poker schedule will be released later today, but an advance notice by Caesars Entertainment Corporation has announced that there will be no November Nine this year.
