"Martonas", or "the unknown Swede" as many people call him, came from nowhere and played against some of the biggest names in the world of poker. After a week of playing he had already won 2.5 million dollars, most of the winnings from just one heads-up session versus Tom "durrr" Dwan. A few days later, Tom Dwan, got his revenge.
He won back everything he had lost to "martonas" plus some more before he decided to end the session and get some sleep. "Martonas", continued playing against Phil Ivey and other big names after this big loss. He won back a lot of money he had lost and it seemed like he would be back on track again shortly. But, the poker gods had other plans for the unknown Swede. "maratonas", can't get anything going at the moment and the winnings fail to come day after day. According to different sources he's now $1 million minus after just a few months of playing under the alias "martonas". Now the big question is. How much longer can "martonas" afford to play at the highest stakes at Full Tilt poker before the bankroll takes too much damage?
PokerStars EPT in Kyiv attracted 296 players who paid the buy-in of €5000. 129 players took part in Day 1a and 167 players in Day 1b. 203 players made it through to Day 2 from Day 1, and after that day 2 had been played there were 69 surviving players left. The top 4 players (all with 300k-400k stacks) of these 69 players were Vitaly Tolokonnika (Russia), Maxim Lykov (Russia), Jonas Kronwitter (Germany), and Kirill Boydachenko (Russia). Now as Day 3 has been running for a while there are 41 players left. The current chip leader is Maxim Lykov from Russia with 760,000 chips. On second place we find an Italian named Michele Limongi (715,000), and on third place we have the previous chip leader Vitaly Tolokonnikov (452,000).
Day 2 is now over. Only 69 out of 203 players made it through to Day 3 of the tournament. Among the 69 players that will play day 3 we still find a lot of PokerStars qualifiers that keeps on playing great poker. However, the current chip leader (371,100 chips) is Vitaly Tolokonnika from Russia. He has been playing some fantastic poker during Day 2 and one can only congratulate him, because he really deserves to be the chip leader. But he's not the only 1 that has been playing good...
Maxim Lykov (Russia), Jonas Kronwitter (Germany), and Kirill Boydachenko (Russia), are all closely behind Tolokonnika in chips. Overall the new tournament structure seems to have changed the game a lot, and thats probably why the most of the remaining players still have a decent stack. It will be very interesting to see if Day 3 will bring out the big chip leader that we have waited for, but I really doubt it.
Sammy "any two" George, from England, is one of the players that Tom "durrrr" Dwan will play against in his new challenge later this year. Sammy George, is not a very well known name in the world of poker, but he's very well known and also a highly respected high stakes player in England. Even though Sammy George knows he's going to play Omaha PL or Holdem NL $500/$5000 with a minimum buy-in of $500,000 against one of the most successful online players, he's not afraid at all.
"I'm not afraid to play against players like Tom Dwan on these stakes. If you ask me, I think that Tom Dwan is just an average player. Nothing special at all! Of course there are players that I have a lot of respect for. Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius are two of them"; Sammy says.
203 out of 296 players who entered the tournament made it through to Day 2 of EPT Kyiv. The one that brought the most chips (153,825 chips) with him from Day 1 was Viktor Ivanov from Russia. At the moment Day 2 is at level 9 and 142 players are now left in the tournament. The current chip leader is Jeffrey Sarwer from Canada with 260,000 chips. On second and third place we find Dragan Galic (210,000) and Viktor Ivanow (153,00). Many PokerStars qualifiers are doing very well so far in the tournament.
Top 5 PokerStars qualifiers at the moment:
5th place - Allan Baekke, Denmark (150,000 chips) 6th place - Andrew Malott, USA (150,000 chips) 9th palce - Alexander Fritzgerald, USA (127,00 chips) 11th place - Shaun Deeb, USA (114,000 chips) 24th place - Darren Mould, UK (60,000 chips)
The seventh season of the very popular European Tour has now started. The first stop was meant to be in Moscow, Russia. But a few weeks ago a new law was introduced in Russia which makes it illegal to organize live poker events in any part of the country. Due to this new law, the first tournament was moved to Kyiv in Ukraine.
Day 1a of the main event (€5000 buy-in) has already been played. The tournament attracted 129 players who received a fantastic welcome ceremony featuring a four-man drumming troupe and more than 50 Ukrainian folk dancers. PokerStars pros that played Day 1a were Alex Kravchenko and Luca Pagano. Kravchenko is through to day 2 with 45,450 in chips. Pagano got knocked out in the early stages of the tournament. A total of 93 players are through to Day 2, these many players made it through to day 2 because of the brand new EPT main event structure which gives each player a 30,000 starting stack. Chip leader after Day 1a is Mihaylo Demidenko from Ukraine with 145,125 chips.
The unknown Swede, "martonas", hasn't been around for very long, but he's already a feared player at the highest stakes. He has won around $1,000,000 since he started playing with the alias "martonas" at Full Tilt poker. Most of the money he has won has come from Tom "durrrr" Dwan. Yesterday these two played against each other once again, and "durrrr" finally got his revenge since their last heads-up session.
Yesterday there was some crazy action going on at Full Tilt's high stakes tables. "durrrr" and "martonas" played heads-up for almost 12 hours straight. The swings were sick, but also very entertaining for those who watched. The pots in this heads-up match many times landed on $400,000 and more. At one point, "martonas", won over 1 million dollars in just 20 minutes from "durrrr". But even though "martonas" won so much money in such a short time, it was "durrrr" who dominated. "durrrr" was up between 2-3 millions against "martonas" for a while. "durrrr", decided that he had enough of poker after playing almost 24 hours straight. Probably he had a very good sleep after this long session since he had won $1,300,000. "martonas" in another hand had no plans on stop playing. He played some great poker against Phil Ivey, Lars Luzak, and Patrik Antonius. Thanks to this, he ended the day when he was "only" $859,000 minus. Even though he lost a lot, he managed to win back over $2 million after that he and "durrrr" ended their session. Quite an impressive achievement!?
In a celeb program called 'Celebrity Apprentice' a big conflict between Annie Duke and Joan Rivers started. Joan Rivers, who's a legendary comedian in USA, became so irritated at Duke that she after the show called her for a Nazi and Hitler.
Anyhow, both players made it all the way to the final, a final which Rivers won in the end. But the win wasn't enough for the comedian. After the win she continued speaking bad about Duke and in an recent interview with Los Angeles Times, she said the following.
"I don't hate poker players. I hate one particular poker player. Annie Duke is worse than white trash"
Rivers continues...
"After the TV show I went up to Duke to tell her congratulations for making it to the final, she pointed her finger at me"
Annie Duke, denies everything and says that all this is a big lie.
Tom "durrrr" Dwan, is one of the best and most well known high stakes players in the world. "durrrr" had a really tough start of the year and he lost a lot of money, but then he managed to win back everything he had lost plus a lot more. Now he's one of the biggest winners this year and once again he showed the world why he's one of the best high stakes players.
Thanks to his great success during his short poker career, he has been nominated to poker hall of fame this year. However, there is not a big possibility that he will be inducted this year as he's up against Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Tom McEvoy, Men Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen, Mike Sexton, Eric Seidel, and Daniel Negreanu.
The 1000 points requirements for a place in the top 10 has been met by 14 players so far.
catchEmAll is still in 1st place with more than double the points than B48018 in 2nd place.
The leaderboard, with $400 in prizes, is running from August 6 till September 5, so we are not even halfway yet - plenty of time for you to make the top 10 list!
The past few weeks there has been a lot of hard critics pointed at the casino in Copenhagen and Erik Jensen who's their manager. Many big names in Swedish poker have claimed that they have been treated bad and also felt threatened when visiting the casino. One of the poker pros that have been pointing a lot of critics at the casino is Micke Norinder. In an interview with a Swedish magazine he says that the casino in Copenhagen is the worst in Europe and he doesn't see any reason for anyone to go there.
"The staff at the casino have no feeling for service at all, and as soon as you take a step in the casino they ask to be tipped. When one is playing cash games at the casino they ask to be tipped every single hand, and they wont deal another hand before someone gives them something."
It's very hard times for Gus "The Great Dane" Hansen at the moment. Nothing is working out the way he wants, and he keeps on losing big. Gus Hansen, has lost over 4.8 million dollars at Full Tilt poker since April this year. One can't even imagine how it feels after losing so much money. Many people probably have asked themselves this question many times: Why don't poker players that have earned many millions of dollars stop playing when they have enough money to live the rest of their lifes in nothing but luxury?
The answer to that question in Mr. Gus Hansen's case is for sure his love for the game of poker and also because the kick he gets from playing on the highest stakes with lots of people watching him. We can be sure of one thing however. There is not a chance in the whole world that Gus Hansen will stop playing at the highest stakes until he has made of for all the losses.
We are looking forward to more action at the high stakes tables at Full Tilt poker this week.
The Canadian Poker pro, Daniel Negreanu, is at the moment in very stormy weather after that he wrote some personal thoughts about the American TV-channel 'Black Entertainment Network" in his blog. Here are some parts of the blog post that have made so many people upset.
"While I was playing a mixed 400/800 game, listened to music, and watched BET (black entertainment), it suddenly hit me. How on earth can a TV channel have this name?
"I know that there are black artists standing for the entertainment in this show and that they are targeting black TV viewers. And of course there is nothing wrong in targeting a specific group of people. But is it really okay to call a channel for Blacks Entertainment Network?!"
The poker boom is still to occur in China. Many betting companies have tried to get into the Chinese gambling market, and also tried to get a poker boom going like it did in the rest of the world a few years ago. But so far not with such a great success. So what is preventing poker to grow in China? First off, China is not officially open to online poker sites, and the current laws are unclear as to the punishments or reprimand that face players and providers of online gaming. Another reason is the deposit options.
Many Chinese banks and credit card companies will not allow direct deposits to online gaming companies, and the ones that allow them to deposit usually charges big fees. To this date, Neteller, and other popular online payment services do not accept transfers from Chinese citizens. There you have the 2 of the main reasons why the poker boom in China still hasn't occured. So, what can start the poker boom in China when so many things are preventing people there from playing? A poker movie is maybe the answer?!
The last few days there have been many rumors circulating in forums and newspapers that PokerStars ambassador Mats Sundin will stop playing ice hockey after thirteen seasons in Toronto Maple Leafs and a short comeback in Vancouver Canucks. According to Mats himself, he says that the rumors are not true and that he still haven't decided what to do yet.
However, Mats says that he will take the final decision very soon. Many people have been asking themselves what would happen with his poker career and his ambassador job for PokerStars if he stops playing ice hockey.
According to Johan Bondesson at PokerStars there are two options. -"If Mats decides to stop playing hockey, then he will play more tournaments, and if he decides to continue playing, then we will just continue like now."
Do you think it's time for Mats Sundin to stop playing ice hockey and instead concentrate more on his poker career?
APT (Asian Poker Tour) started yesterday at the Chinese gaming island Macau. The tournament will be played from 12th till 22nd August and it will include 15 events. The main event Day 1a will be played on 20th August, and Day 1b on 21st August. Because they have divided up Day 1 into two starting days one can assume that the crew behind the tournament expects many people to take part.
The most interesting event in APT will for sure be the celebrity tournament where all the money will go to charity. Lady Gaga, the artist with the mega hit "Poker Face" has been invited for this tournament. She has a gig in Macau on the 15th August and the crew behind APT really hopes she will show up, and maybe also show her "Poker Face"?
Another big name that has been invited to play in the celeb tournament is, Michael Phelps, the professional swimmer from USA who's considered to be the greatest swimmer of all time.
The billionaire, Andy Beal, needed a big challenge back in 2001, and therefore he decided to play against some of the world's best poker players with sky high stakes. Even though he knew he was not even close to as good as the pros, he thought that betting huge amounts of money which the pros couldn't afford to lose would give him a great advantage at the table.
Anyhow, Andy Beal, played against players like Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson, Jennifer Harman, and Gus Hansen. In the beginning nothing worked for the American billionaire and he lost around about 3.4 million dollars to Jennifer Harman, Todd Bruson and other pros.
Ever heard of the "durrrr challenge"? For those who haven't, or simply need to be reminded we can inform that it was the american high stakes pro, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, who challenged any player in the world to play 50,000 hands in the games NL Holdem/PL Omaha with the minimum stakes $200/$400 at Full Tilt poker.
If Tom Dwan won his own challenge, the opponent would have to give him $500,000. But if Tom Dwan lost, then he will give the other player $1,500,000. Sometime after the announcement of the "durrrr challenge" (a few months back in time), Patrik Antonius, the Finnish poker pro, accepted the challenge. According to the last update, Tom Dwan, is in the lead after 20,647 hands with $727,526.5.
Gus Hansen, from Denmark, is one of the most fearless poker players in the world. He can bluff out anyone from a pot with nothing, and he's also good at getting paid off when he has a good hand. The style of poker he uses gets the most of his opponents on tilt, and it has really paid off. Gus Hansen, has won over $7 million dollars throughout his poker career at the highest stakes live and online.
Lately however, Gus Hansen, hasn't had the luck on his side, and also he hasn't been playing his best poker. For example he lost around 1.4 million dollars last weekend. But as we all know, Gus Hansen, usually gets back in shape almost instantly after he has had a losing streak.
The other day he won around $360,000 at Full Tilt, most of it from the French poker pro, David Benyamine. One of the pots these two played landed on $222,000, and it was Gus who took care of it. Let's hope for some more high stakes action with Gus Hansen at Full Tilt poker this week!
2009's candidates that have the chance to get inducted to the poker hall of fame are Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Tom McEvoy, Men Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen, Mike Sexton, Eric Seidel, Tom Dwan, and Daniel Negreanu.
The 3 big favorites of these 10 players are Mike Sexton, Phil Ivey, and Tom McEvoy. All three have won bracelets and millions of dollars in WSOP throughout the years and also done a great job for poker and its future.
The hottest candidate of these 3 however, is Mike Sexton. Sexton has been a poker pro at the highest stakes for many years and also been the main commentator for WPT, been the ambassador for Party Poker, writing for the biggest poker magazines and much more. If you look at the requirements for getting into the Poker Hall of Fame bellow, you will understand why he's the hottest candidate.
After a short break, RummyRoyal is inviting the BankrollMob gang members to another classic rummy freeroll of $100. We know you’ve been waiting for it, so make sure to be there on Wednesday, August 19th, 19:00. The freeroll name is of course ‘BRM Private’ and the game is BRM members’ favorite – Kalooki 51.
The biggest online rummy network has also launched a new rummy game called “Rummy 500”. This is one of the most popular rummy variants worldwide and is already the second most played game in the rummy game room, after Kalooki 51. So make sure you practice that game as well, because the next BRM freeroll will be Rummy 500. To read and learn about the game, visit their site where you can also play a flash demo.
So far 8 players have qualified for a spot in the top 10, but a lot of players are close to breaking the 1000 points requirement to be in the top 10.
The leaderboard, with $400 in prizes, are running from August 6 till September 5, so we are just getting started - plenty of time for you to make the top 10 list!
Last week we wrote about the French poker pro, David Beyamine, who played under the alias "MR B 2 U SON" after that his sponsor deal with Full Tilt poker ended in the end of 2008. Playing under the new alias "MR B 2 U SON" didn't bring the French pro any luck or respect and he ended up losing around $1,6 million dollars. However, in the middle of July, things between David Benyaminea and Full Tilt poker seems to have been sorted out as he once again started playing on the highest stakes at Full Tilt with his "red pro"-account (table name: David Benyamine). Lately he has been doing nothing else than winning, and according to independent sources, he has won around $4 million with his "red pro"-account. This means that he has erased all the earlier losses he had with account "MR B 2 U SON".
Anders "Dajmen" Jonasson, 54, from Stockholm, was one of Sweden's greatest and most well known trotting tipsters. He was known for being a very helpful person that often shared his great knowledge about trotting with friends as well as people on the web. Anders, used to spend many hours per day checking old trotting results and going through videos from previous races. Thanks to all the time he spend analyzing horses and tracks, he made some bigger wins throughout his career as a "professional trotting tipster". But when his biggest win ever came and he won around $2,9 million, he died the very next day. Anders "Dajmen" Jonasson, wanted to enjoy his biggest win ever in peace and quiet, therefore he decided to celebrate at home with his family. But only 15 hours later, he collapsed on the floor in his own home and died. Anders "Dajmen" Jonasson, leaves a wife and 2 children.
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BankrollMob.
Posted on 08 August 2009 by "K".
Ooops!
We made a mistake in the newsletter we just sent out yesterday.
At the bottom of every newsletter, we usually have a few interesting poker news posted. The headlines, pictures and links were correct - but the description were wrong.
So until next time, just ignore the description and only focus on the picture and headline - and of course click on any of them, if you want to read the full article.
We just did our second update to the 
