Although the WSOP main event has finally wrapped up, the news in the poker industry has been anything but stale. After the announcement that Jeffrey Pollack was stepping down as commissioner of the World Series of Poker, attention turned to the online poker rooms for a number of reasons.
With the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act primed to be enacted on Dec. 1, many industry insiders have been wondering what will happen to the online poker scene in the United States. Although the bill was passed nearly three years ago (Sept. 30, 2006), there have been many lengthy steps to determine just what actions would need to take place before enforcement. On Dec. 1, banks will no longer be able to process any financial transactions that are deemed to be in relation to an online gambling site. Many online poker players have received letters from their banks explaining that these transactions will no longer be allowed, but even weeks away, the Poker Players Alliance remains hopeful that their efforts will come to fruition and a delay or exemption for poker will be put in place.
Over the last few weeks the PPA has asked poker aficionados to "tweet for poker", send e-mails to their representatives and make phone calls. The PPA also petitioned Timothy Geithner for a delay of enforcement, but is still waiting on a response. After numerous recent studies about how much money regulation could generate for the government in taxes, the Treasury and Fed will have a very tough decision to make.
For now, the online action continues to be in full swing, and the largest pot in the history of online poker happened on Monday night. Patrik Antonius faced off against online newcomer "Isildur1" at four tables of $500/$1,000 pot-limit Omaha. "Isildur1", who had recently been crushing the high stakes action -- including taking more than $4 million dollars off of new Team Full Tilt member Tom Dwan -- got the best of Antonius in a previous session, but not on Monday, when Antonius took the Swedish player for more than $3 million dollars. While there were many critical hands, the biggest came with both players holding massive stacks: $450,494.50 for "Isildur1" and $439,479.50 for Antonius.
Isildur1 opened for $3,000 preflop and Antonius called. The flop came 5h-7h-Qs and Antonius checked. "Isildur1" bet $5,000 and Antonius raised to $21,000. Isildur1 called and the turn brought the Ad and a ton of action. Antonius bet $48,000 and Isildur1 raised to $192,000. Antonius then moved all-in for $415,479.50 and was called by Isildur1, creating the largest pot in online poker history at $878,958.50.
It seemed as if the hand would be chopped when both players showed top two pair, but both players did have additional draws. Isildur1 showed As-Ks-Qd-10h (to win he'd need a non-heart king or jack) and was against the Ah-Qc-9s-6h of Antonius (who needed a heart or an eight). The river was the eight of diamonds and Antonius raked in the massive pot.
Isildur1 remains a mystery to those who follow the action as his true identity has yet to be revealed. All we do know is that he is Swedish, which Barry Greenstein confirmed over at Poker Road. Greenstein also mentioned that we'll be seeing a lot more of the player in the future.
More poker on TV ... or something like that
Joe Cada won the WSOP main event title on Nov. 10, but since the victory he's been arguably the busiest main event champion we've had in a few years. Cada has been traveling the country doing numerous interviews, making appearances and having a good time nonetheless. Cada was ringside at WWE's Monday Night Raw at Madison Square Garden, then spent the night in New York City in preparation for David Letterman on Tuesday. On Thursday, Cada will be heading to ESPN for numerous appearances across many platforms including "SportsCenter," "Mike & Mike" and, of course, ESPN.com.
"TV's First Family-Friendly Poker-Themed Game Show" is coming to a television near you. "Shuffle Up and Deal" will be appearing on the MyTV network in 2010 and has been booked for 13 episodes. Hosting the show will be a very familiar face to the poker industry, Mike Sexton. The new poker Hall of Famer will be alongside Brandi Williams in a game that really doesn't have much to do with poker at all.
The game play is described in a press release: "In each episode, amateur poker players choose their own cards from an over-sized electronic board, and the turn of each card either helps the contestant's hand or destroys their chances of winning. The main objective of the game is to finish with the largest amount of cash winnings amongst the five contestants. The one that advances to the bonus round plays for a progressive jackpot that seeds at $250,000 and goes up ten thousand dollars for every day it is not hit. The jackpot will eventually top out at one million dollars."
There will be some interactive elements for viewers at home as well as a traveling game show in which professional poker player Chad Brown will serve as the host. There really isn't a ton of information out there yet, but I'm sure their Web site will be updated soon.
Also starting this week is "Poker2Nite," a poker news show that will air weekly on Fox Sports. Joe Sebok and Scott Huff will anchor.
Small blinds: For the second time in as many months a man won a "ladies only" tournament. Greg Sessler, a 22-year-old communications and film major at the University of California-Davis, won $9,932 in the $340 event. ... Jean-Robert Bellande is once again a free agent as he has been released from Bodog. Bellande had been a member on Team Bodog for the past few years. ... Brad Booth has become the official spokesperson of GR88.com. ... Dani Stern became the fifth member of the "Brunson 10," a group of players who will endorse Doyle's Room and keep the legacy of Brunson going. Brunson has handpicked these players and will end up with 10 men and 2 women when the team has been completed. ... A new poker movie was released. "Shark Out of Water" is an 18-minute film featuring Matty Finochio and Artine Brown. Professional poker players Phil Hellmuth and Brad Booth also made appearances. ... Matt Keikoan won the WSOP Circuit event at Harvey's Lake Tahoe. ... Joe Sebok recently hit over 1 million Twitter followers. ... Daniel Negreanu recently bought a walk-on role in "Entourage" for charity. ... Cornel Cimpan won $910,058 at the WPT World Poker Finals event at Foxwoods. This was his second WPT win in 2009.