The heads-up challenge between the pros from Team PokerStars and Team Full Tilt ended with with Team PokerStars crushing their opponents 3-0 and picking up the $150,000 in prize money.

Playing at the European Poker Tour London, each player competed in a best-of-three heads-up No-Limit Hold’em online match. Team Full Tilt,
made up of Gus Hansen, Tom Dwan and Viktor Blom played heads-up against the Poker Stars team of Daniel Negreanu, ElkY Grospellier and Ike Haxton at $50,000 per match. The first player to win 2 out of 3 in each match would win a point. The team winning 2 out of 3 matches would take the total prize money.

Blom played Grospellier, Dwan played Haxton and Negreanu would face off against Hansen. After the dust settled, Tom Dwan was the only Full Tilt player to win a game as Team PokerStars walked away with the cash. Negreanu beat Hansen despite timing out twice with the nuts.

Daniel Negreanu commented, “Well, I did predict that we’d win all 3 matches and it went just as I’d predicted. When asked if there would be a rematch, Negreanu replied, “Ah well, it’s up to them!” He laughed and said, “If they’d like to donate some more to our fund, we’d be more than happy to play them again.”

ElkY added, “It went amazingly well. The whole PokerStars team had dinner together the night before and Daniel Negreanu, Eugene Katchalov and above all Isaac Haxton – because he’s played a lot against Isildur and had a lot of information to share – all gave me advice. I had also watched a lot of his matches from when he did the SuperStar Showdown on PokerStars, so I had a lot of information about his style, more than he did on mine, since I haven’t been playing as many heads-ups as I used to. I think it was very important to win the first match, it put more pressure on him. We also worked on finding what aspects of his game I could use to my advantage, and what I could do in certain situations to make him feel even more frustrated.”

This $150,000 match all started from a tweet by Gus Hansen where he teased Negreanu about a hand from High Stakes Poker from a number of years ago where Negreanu’s full house ran into Hansen’s quads. Daniel responded by issuing this challenge to Hansen and the rest, as they say, is history.

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Negreanu surveyed fans as well as other pros from Team Poker Stars to help him in his decision on who to choose for his team. Eventually Negreanu arrived at Isaac Haxton and French poker star, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier to play against Gus Hansen’s team of Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom.

Negreanu is suggesting that each player put $50,000 into the pot ($150,000 per team) with the plan being a three table No-Limit Hold’em heads-up freezeout on laptops. Hansen and Negreanu are team captains so they will play each other but we will have to wait to see how the other parings match up.

A player wins an individual match by taking two of the three tables. The team who wins will have to take two of the three individual matches overall.

This is the first time there has ever been an official competition between Poker Stars pros and Full Tilt Poker pros. Interestingly, Daniel has even agreed to play the event on Hansen’s Full Tilt Poker site instead of Poker Stars. It’s set to take place during the EPT Main Event in London, which is March 10-16.

Here’s a video of Daniel Negreanu talking about how it all got started:

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Australia has seen huge growth in the sports betting arena but poker remains the star attraction. Business analysts IBISWorld report that poker accounted for over 60% of total betting spent by gamblers during 2011 and 2012. The sports betting sector has seen phenomenal growth and is becoming increasingly popular. At present it’s only 1.6% of the total gambling market but it has seen 14.7% growth over the past five years, which is more than lotteries and horse racing.

IBISWorld predicts Australian gambling will grow to $22.5 billion, with an average of $1,256 wagered per person in 2012. Customers are displaying an increased awareness of where they are placing their bets. And they are taking full advantage of the benefits and convenience of online casino services, with casinos such as Gaming Club. Along with sports betting, gamblers now have access to a wide selection of casino games and multi-player options such as online poker tournaments. All can be accessed direct from the Internet and increasingly also on mobile devices and smartphones.

Sally Gainsbury, from the center for gambling, education and research at Southern Cross University commented that: ‘The prominence of new technology, such as the rising penetration of smartphones, enables people to place a bet anywhere’. Gaming Club’s official representative said, “The gambling industry has been very strong in Australia for many years now. This has clearly been helped by the growth of several online gaming websites that offer hundreds of online casino games.”

The six players to exit Sunday and their respective winnings are:

4th Matt Giannetti $3,011,655
5th Phil Collins $2,268,909
6th Eoghan O’Dea $1,720,396
7th Badih Bounahra $1,313,851
8th Anton Makiievskyi $1,009,910
9th Sam Holden $782,115

That left Pius Heinz, Martin Staszko and Ben Lamb left from the starting field of 6,865 players to fight it out for the title on Tuesday night.

It didn’t take long for the fireworks to begin. On hand #1, Ben Lamb on the short stack, pushed all in with KJ off suit and was called by Staszko’s pocket sevens. The sevens held up and Lamb is crippled with just 10 big blinds left.  On hand #4 Lamb has little choice but to shove with Q6 off and is called again by Staszko’s pocket pair, this time jacks. They hold up and Lamb finishes in third.

Heads up between the 22 year old Heinz and the 35 year old Staszko then begins on hand #5 with the blinds at $800,000/$1,600,000 and a $200,000 ante. Heinz, the more aggressive of the two is looking to become the 2nd youngest player to win the WSOP main event. (Joe Cada age 21 in 2009)

Heinz had trouble making hands in heads up play and fell behind to Staszko but the aggressive Heinz hung in and eventually pulled ahead.

The final hand saw Staszko,  down to just over $44,000,000 in chips, pushing all in with 10c-7c  against the As-Kc of Heinz. When neither player hit a pair, Heinz was the champion, winning $8,715,618. Staszko collected $5,433,086 for second.

The chip leader, Martin Staszko (40.1 million in chips) — A professional poker player for about one year, is 35 years old and admits that he plays much more online than live. In fact, since arriving in Vegas on June 2, he has played 15 tournaments, which he says is more than he has played in his entire life. He is the first player from the Czech Republic to make the final table.

In second is, Eoghan O’Dea (33.9 million) — He is a 26-year-old pro who has cashed in big tournaments before and his father, Donnacha, has also won a bracelet and cashed in the main event six times.

Next is Matt Giannetti (24.7 million) — A 26-year-old pro from Las Vegas, Nevada well-known in poker circles for his cash game play.

Phil Collins (23.8 million) — another 26 year old from Las Vegas, is in 4th place.

In fifth place is Ben Lamb (20.8 million) — He is considered by many, the best player at the table. He has already won a bracelet, made two other final tables and taken home $1.2 million before the main event.

In the sixth place is Badih Bounahra (19.7 million) — who at 49 is the oldest player of the nine. He is also an amateur and strictly a live player. He’s also the first player from Belize to make the final table at the WSOP.

In seventh is Pius Heinz (16.4 million) — He is 22 years old and is the first German player to reach the November Nine.

In eighth is Anton Makiievskyi (13.8 million) — The youngest player at the final table, the 21-year-old Ukrainian can become the youngest WSOP main event champion if he wins in November.

In ninth is Sam Holden (12.3 million) –a 22-year-old native of Canterbury, England who survived being short stacked for most of Days 6 and 7.

Seating for this year’s November Nine are as follows:

Seat 1:  Matt Giannetti (Las Vegas, NV) – 24,750,000 in chips

Seat 2:  Badih Bou-Nahra (Belize City, Belize) – 19,700,000 in chips

Seat 3:  Eoghan O’Dea (Dublin, Ireland) – 33,925,000 in chips

Seat 4:  Phil Collins (Las Vegas, NV) – 23,875,000 in chips

Seat 5:  Anton Makiievskyi (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) – 13,825,000 in chips

Seat 6:  Sam Holden (Sussex, UK) – 12,375,000 in chips

Seat 7:  Pius Heinz (Cologne, Germany) – 16,425,000 in chips

Seat 8:  Ben Lamb (Tulsa, OK) – 20,875,000 in chips

Seat 9:  Martin Staszko (Trinec, Czech Republic) – 40,175,000 in chips

The players are now on a three and a half month break before play resumes on November 5th. They will then play until only two players left and after a day off, will resume to determine the next No-Limit Hold’em World Champion.

The latest session finished March 29, 2011 with almost 1,100 hands being played. Jungleman 12 came out slightly ahead by about $40,000.  So far, 19,335 hands have been played out of the 50,000 to be played (with almost $130,000,000 having been bet to this point) and Daniel is winning the overall poker challenge by a little over $1,251,000.

For those unfamiliar with the Tom Dwan Full Tilt online poker challenge challenge, Tom puts up prize money at 3 to 1. If he wins, he gets the amount won at the tables and $500,000 from his opponent. If he loses,  his opponent gets the amount won at the tables and $1,500,000 from Dwan.

The first match (which hasn’t continued since August, 2010 ) has Tom Dwan playing Omaha Hi against Patrik Antonius. So far, 39,436 hands have been played out of the 50,000 hands to be played with Tom up a little over $2,000,000. Amazingly, over $342,000,000 has been wagered over those 39,000+ hands.

The totals so far in the 11 sessions played are: 11,569 total hands played out of the 50,000 hands to be played, with Daniel up a little over $580,000.  $580,000 doesn’t represent a very big hole for Dwan to dig out of when you consider that over $70,000,000 has been wagered so far.

For those unfamiliar with the Dwan poker challenge,”durrrr” is putting up prize money at 3 to 1. If he wins, he gets the amount won at the tables and $500,000 from his opponent. If the opponent wins, they get the amount won at the tables and $1,500,000 from Dwan.

The first match (which has been going on for some time) has Tom Dwan playing Omaha Hi against Patrik Antonius. So far, 39,436 hands have been played out of the 50,000 hands to be played with Tom up a little over $2,000,000. Amazingly, over $342,000,000 has been wagered over those 39,000+ hands.

The chip leader, Jonathan Duhamel (65.9 million in chips) is a 22-year-old from Montreal who finished 10th last December in EPT Prague.

Next is John Dolan (46.2 million in chips) who is a 24-year-old from Bonita Springs, Fla. He is in great position to win, especially considering that starting Day 8, he had only 2 million in chips and was 24th out of 27 players.

In third place is Joseph Cheong (23.5 million in chips) and another young full-time player who is only 24 years of age. Joseph said he has played over 10,000 poker tournaments the last few years and feels this experience plays to his advantage. He says, “There are a lot of solid guys here, but I think I’m going to win this tournament.”

In fourth place is John Racener (19.0 million in chips) has been traveling the poker circuit for the past few years and has already had success, including  11 WSOP cashes (including this main event)

Fifth place is occupied by Matt Jarvis (17.6 million in chips) a 25-year-old Canadian, who’s been making his living online and has only one five-figure cash in live play to his credit, but is still confident about his chances at the final table.

In sixth is Filippo Candio (16.4 million in chips) who is a 26 year old well-respected pro from Sardinia, Italy. He plays in a number of events and he won the Italian Poker Tour Campionato Italiano in 2009.

Seventh place is held by Michael Mizrachi (14.4 million in chips) who is a Miami native and one of the best known players in the world, with more than $8.8 million in live tournament earnings. Michael has already had a great 2010 WSOP by virtue of his winning the $50,000 Players’ Championship.

In eighth place is Soi Nguyen (9.6 million in chips) who is a 37-year-old amateur from Santa Ana, Calif. This is only his fourth live tournament and he is soaking up the experience.

The final seat is occupied by Jason Senti (7.6 million in chips) is a 28 year old Minneapolis native who has been playing poker professionally for three years.

Congratulations to all nine.

Here is the 2010 November Nine Seating Chart with Chip Counts followed by the Payouts:

Seat 1: Jason Senti — 7,625,000
Seat 2: Joseph Cheong — 23,525,000
Seat 3: John Dolan — 46,250,000
Seat 4: Jonathan Duhamel — 65,975,000
Seat 5: Michael Mizrachi — 14,450,000
Seat 6: Matthew Jarvis — 16,700,000
Seat 7: John Racener — 19,050,000
Seat 8: Filippo Candio — 16,400,000
Seat 9: Soi Nguyen — 9,650,000

Main Event Final-Table Payout:

1: $8,944,138
2: $5,545,855
3: $4,129,979
4: $3,092,497
5: $2,332,960
6: $1,772,939
7: $1,356,708
8: $1,045,738
9: $811,823

The 41st annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) is set to begin on Thursday, May 27, 2010. As every poker fan knows the WSOP is an annual event that began back in 1970.

That year, Johnny Moss was awarded the championship by votes of the other players in the event. It became the freeze-out event that it is today in 1971 and Moss won again.

Today the fields are considerably larger and the number of events have grown over the years to the current total of 57, with a gold bracelet being awarded to the winner of each event.

This year’s events will run from May 27 to July 17, 2010. The World Series of Poker will have the following events and more;  limit, pot-limit and no-limit hold ‘em, seven-card stud, pot-limit Omaha, Omaha high-low split eight-or-better, seven card stud high-low eight or better, 2-7 triple draw, HORSE, Razz and of course, the main event which will be held from July 5 to
July 17, 2010.

The main event will not conclude on July 17, but it’s expected that on that date the final table will be determined, at which time play is halted and the players who make up the final nine (now known as the “November Nine”) will be brought back together in early November to play for the championship.

What do you need to be able to play in an event? Twenty-one or more years on your age meter and of course, the buy-in. If you don’t have the full amount you need for the buy-in, you could always try to satellite your way in. What do you need to win a bracelet? All of the above and a lot of skill, focus, determination and endurance. And oh, yes, a little more than an
average amount of luck.

If you’re even a little serious about poker, then winning one of the many gold bracelets that are awarded each year has to be at the top of your poker wish/want list, so if you decide to play in one of this year’s events, good luck! And if you can’t get to Vegas, you can always watch the events on ESPN with the rest of us.

If you’re not familiar with the challenge, check out the “durrrr” online Poker Challenge that I posted previously that explains many of the rules and details of the challenge.

As of today, there have now been 27,185 hands played of the 50,000 hands to be played as part of the challenge. At this point Tom is ahead by  $779,248.00, even though Patrik won $167,620.50 in their last session where 470 hands were played.

Of course, Tom’s lead is not much when you consider that the total bet so far is over $217,037,000.

The total time played up to this point over the 42 sessions is 3 days 14 hours 50 mins.