Monthly Archives: September 2012

As many of you are surely aware, Howard Lederer gave a very long interview to PokerNews in which he discussed the full history of Full Tilt Poker and its eventual self-imploion. Tom Dwan, once one of the most infamous nose-bleed stakes players at FTP, gave his reaction to the 7 video long interview provided in 30 minute segments, now known universally as the Lederer Files. Unlike most of FTP’s tight-lipped high-stakes players, Dwan has been the most vocal of all poker pros involved with the Full Tilt brand. He has kept the general public informed of all he could since Black Friday hit via his Twitter account and the 2+2 forums, even going so far as to appear on American news stations. Dwan promised everyone that he would speak more on the matter once an acquisition of Full Tilt Poker had taken place. While he didn’t exactly follow up on… Read More »

The very last Partouche Poker Tour Main Event is over (more on that in a moment). Ole Shemion has surely found the perfect spot on his mantle to display that shiny new trophy as he became the last champion of the 5-season-long poker tour, scooping up €1,172,850 for his illustrious victory. But an equally intriguing story developed just as quickly as it vanished from the tables on Day 2 of the PPT Main Event. It may be time to give our dear friend Tom Dwan a new nickname. Instead of “Durrrr”, maybe we should start calling him “Speedy Gonzalez”! Okay, that reference was probably just lost on the last two generations. You see, Speedy Gonzalez was this little cartoon mouse… oh, never mind. The point is he was really fast! Mr. Dwan showed up early at the Cannes Palm Beach Casino in Cannes, France on Day 2 of the Main… Read More »

The International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT) isn’t your traditional poker tour. It’s not a tour at all, in fact, but a single, massive poker tournament set to take place in one of the world’s largest and most famous stadiums. With nearly a full year to go before the first annual ISPT takes place, they are heavily promoting the event by signing sponsorship deals with some of the best known faces of poker, including Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Sam Trickett, Liz Lieu and Michael Mizrachi. The most recent signature came from French poker pro David Benyamine on Tuesday. Benyamine has been playing poker for many years now, but didn’t make a name for himself until 2003 when he won €350k for taking down the WPT Grand Prix de Paris. He solidified his skills in 2008 when he earned his first WSOP bracelet in a $10,000 Omaha Hi/Low Split Championship, followed by… Read More »

This summer was a hot one for poker tournament action, especially in China where 73 fierce competitors took to the tables in what became the 2nd largest buy-in poker tournament in the history of the game. I’m talking about the High Stakes Challenge in Macau, where each player posted HKD $2,000,000 (USD $257,854) to participate in the event. The action took place at the StarWorld Hotel’s Poker King Club in Macau on Friday, August 31, 2012. All of the biggest names in the live and online poker world came together to compete, each posting the extreme buy-in. Names you should recognized include Phil Ivey, Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Joe Hachem, Johnny Chan, Sam Trickett, Gus Hansen and Igor Kurganov, just to name a few. If 73 players paying over $250k USD wasn’t enough to develop an incredibly large prize pool, don’t forget to add in another chunk… Read More »