FlopTurnRiver.com cites a Canadian University’s study that shows playing online poker reduces cortisol levels in the brain. The study claims that as poker players become more focused on the game their body produced less cortisol. This would go against everything we know about poker since cortisol is produced in response to stress or anxiety. The study claims the reduction is due to the focus required to play poker, due to the level of attention needed to play the game.

Although the researchers prove a valid point, not only about poker but perhaps why people engage in games of skill and gambling, I would have loved to have been in the room when the researchers pitched this study for a grant, and once again when funding for this study was granted. Read the rest of this entry…

One of the most discussed topics in online poker has been the identity of the new high-stakes phenom on Full Tilt Poker who uses the alias Isildur1: Million dollar pots and multi-million dollar swings have become the norm since this mystery man from Sweden showed up at the nosebleed tables on Full Tilt Poker, and it now seems the online poker community has its answer –or perhaps more precisely, confirmation.

Antanas Gouga, better known as Tony G in the poker world, made a recent blog entry where he says he can reveal that Isildur1 is Viktor Blum: A rumor that was first reported by PokerNewsBoy some weeks ago.

There seems to be a consensus amongst anyone who has sat at the tables with Viktor that he is one of the best in the world: So it will be interesting to see if the “outing” will change people’s perception of his skills or will hinder his action at the tables. If he is as good as people believe, knowing who you’re playing may not help his opponents all that much.

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If I were to tell you in January that both Gus Hansen and Tom “durrrr” Dwan would be down over $12 million collectively in 2009 you would have thought I was crazy. One of them down, sure, but both, no way!

According to highstakesdb.com Gus Hansen is down $5.78 million for the year: And Tom “durrrr” Dwan is down $6.64 million! Gus’s struggles are not unheard of, the Full Tilt Poker pro is known for his seven-figure swings: However, durrrr’s struggles are a new phenomenon for the young poker superstar. Yes, Dwan has seen some big losses at the nosebleed limits, but never for this period of time.

Dwan started the year on a horrid losing streak, but seemed to have righted the ship over the last few months, getting back to even. However, when the latest high-stakes player, Isildur1, showed up at the table, Dwan not only lost all of his recent winnings, but even more on top of it.

November 2009 could go down as the craziest month of online poker of all-time. Here are a few notable names, and how they did in November:

Isildur1: +$3.9 million
Phil Ivey: +$3.29 million
Patrik Antonius: +$1.86 million

Tom durrrr Dwan: -$6.17 million
Gus Hansen: -$3.1 million
Cole South: -$1.1 million

Barely a week since the same two players originally broke the record for the biggest pot in online poker history the two high-stakes poker players were back at it. Once again it was Patrik Antonius coming out on the good side of the battle.

The clash seemed inevitable to the rail-birds as Antonius started with over $1,000,000 on the table before Isildur1 arrived and put up his $200,000 buy-in. After Isildur1 worked his stack up to $600,000+ you just knew fireworks were about to happen between the two ultra-aggro players.

The two got into a raising war pre-flop: Isildur1 opens for $3k; Antonius re-raises to $9k; Isildur1 4-bets to $27k; and finally Antonius 5-bets (!!!) to $81k, which Isildur1 calls.

A 245 rainbow flopped saw Antonius lead out for just over ½ the pot ($91k) which Isildur1 promptly re-raised, only to see Antonius move all-in; creating a pot of $1,356,946.50!

Antonius revealed the second nuts with Ah3sKhKs while Isildur1 showed 6789 for a wrap-straight-draw. The board paired 5’s on the turn –which also gave Antonius a flush draw further cutting down Isildur’s outs from 12 to 9.

When the 9 of clubs fell on the river it took a moment for many rail-birds to realize Isildur1 didn’t have the straight –as if the hand needed any further tension—and within seconds Antonius had bested his own record by close to $500,000.

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After a relatively quiet match with Marcello “luckexpress” Marigliano that saw the Italian up $22k, followed by a back and forth with fellow high-stakes regular Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies that saw durrrr walk away $68k in the black, it fell upon English poker pro Sammy “any two” George to salvage some of the expectations poker fans had going into the contest.

When the smoke cleared, the George vs. Dwan match was exactly what poker fans were expecting all along: Big pots, and big wins and losses. In the end it was durrrr who ended up the big winner, taking $750k off Sammy George. In total Tom Dwan ended the three challenge matches up close to $800k, which should take a little sting off his recent losses to “Isildur1” at the Full Tilt Poker tables.

2009 has been a bad year thus far for Dwan with online losses in the neighborhood of $5 million; although the young phenom also signed with Full Tilt Poker which probably was the most expensive player signing of all-time.

Poker Tip: If you want to play with Durrrr at Full Tilt Make sure you get the best rakeback offer for Full Tilt.

It’s hard to imagine that a heads-up battle with $1,000,000 at stake could be described as unremarkable, but that pretty much sums up the first of the Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge matches between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Italian high-roller Marcello “luckexpress” Marigliano.

The matches are being played in London England, and are being filmed by Matchroom Sport for television—dubbed The Challenge– they are slated for a 2010 airing.

The back and forth saw both players take $100,000 leads, however most of the match the two poker pros played relatively even. Originally the match was No Limit Hold’ Em, but towards the end of the 500 hand session the two switched to Pot Limit Omaha.

When all was said and done, Marigliano made a couple thousand dollars from Dwan, who will either play Sammy “any two” George or Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies in today’s action: Both of whom are more likely candidates for big action.

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Poker Tip: Remember to always keep up to date with your Poker Strategy, so you don’t get left behind.

It seemed an inevitable outcome, since “Isildur1” showed up at the high-stakes poker tables on Full Tilt, that the unknown player would be involved in some history-making poker moments. And on Monday night “Isildur1” faced off against Full Tilt Poker pro Patrik Antonius and the two wound up competing for the biggest pot in online poker history –by a landslide!

The action was heavy but not outstanding until the turn when the two players got it all-in generating an $878,958.50 pot. Both players had top two pair with redraws: Fortunately for Antonius he had “Isildur1” drawing to a scant 4-outs for a win, while Patrik had 10-outs for the outright win.

Here is a screenshot of the history making hand, which easily eclipsed the old mark of $723,938 set by Di “Urindanger” Dang and Tom “durrrr” Dwan in a No Limit Hold’ Em match. Dwan was the winner of the largest pot in poker history –$1.1 million–against Barry Greenstein on an episode of High Stakes Poker.

Poker Tip: If your looking for a online Poker site that can compete with Full Tilt, remember to try PDC. PDC poker download

The heads-up online poker matches between Full Tilt Poker pro Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan, and ‘Isuldur1’ has had the poker world scrambling to the Full Tilt Poker tables to catch a glimpse of the action. The two high-stakes players have been tangling almost exclusively with each other, and it has been the unknown player ‘Isuldur1’ who has come out on top: To the tune of $3 million!

Despite the heavy losses, apparently ‘durrrr’ is not ready to quit ‘Isuldur1’ just yet. On his way to London for a series of $500,000 buy-in challenge matches, Dwan let it be known he would like to see ‘Isuldur1’ take part in these matches as well. Perhaps Dwan is of the assumption his online nemesis will not fare as well heads-up; or perhaps he would like to pit a name to the Full Tilt avatar –which may help him solve the riddle of ‘Isuldur1’s’ play at the poker tables.

Whether ‘Isuldur1’ accepts the offer to fly to London or not, the London trip should generate some ultra-high-stakes poker games and plenty of buzz in the poker world.

Poker Tip: Check out PNB’s Rakeback section before signing up to any new poker site. You can find out how to download many sites and get rakeback. You can even get a PDC Poker download.

According to their website, DoylesRoom.com is actively picking 10 young poker superstars for sponsorship deals: Known as the “Brunson 10” Doyle himself is supposedly hand-picking the players –which currently number 5.

The newest addition to the team is 2 Months 2 Million star Dani “Ansky” Stern, who will join the likes of Chris “Moorman1” Moorman, Amit “amak316’ Makhija, Alec “traheho” Torelli, and Zachary “Crazy Zachary” Clark.

The “Brunson 10” players may not be household names, but they are online poker phenoms, who in the years to come will definitely be making a splash in live poker tournaments. It seems DoylesRoom is following the LockPoker model of signing multiple second-tier players with a lot of upside –In the hopes that one or two will hit it big.

When the site has completed the process of signing the entire “Brunson 10” they will be able to boast an impressive lineup of pros competing in their larger tournaments, which always drives traffic to an online poker site. In addition to have a strong presence at major tournaments around the world –DoylesRoom already boasts a few big names: Todd Brunson, Mike Caro, Hoyt Corkins, Dewey Tomko, Minh Ly, TJ Cloutier, Billy Baxter, Barry Greenstein, and of course Doyle himself.

Poker Tip: If signing up to Doyles Room, make sure you sign up using Doyles Room Rakeback.

When the highly popular High Stakes Poker returns for its 6th season; poker fans will once again get a glimpse into the realm of the players who compete at the nosebleed stakes. HSP mainstays like Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, and Eli Elezra will be joined by five new faces this season: Lex Veldhuis, Sammy George, Yevgeniny Timoshenko, Andreas Hoivold, and Dennis Phillips.

Aside from Phillips, the newcomers bring an international flavor to the High Stakes Poker table, an aspect lacking in previous seasons. One of the biggest surprises in the lineup is Dennis Phillips himself: His deep run at this year’s WSOP has shown his commitment to improving his poker skills, and he is fast becoming a well respected poker player. It will be interesting to see how Phillips assimilates to the rest of the tables –As a newcomer in the high-stakes world I’m sure he is unfamiliar with the crazy prop bets and other oddities discussed at the table.

Here is the complete cast for season 6 of HSP:

* Patrik Antonius
* David Benyamine
* Doyle Brunson
* Tom Dwan
* Eli Elezra
* Antonio Esfandiari
* Barry Greenstein
* Phil Hellmuth
* Phil Ivey
* Mike Matusow
* Allan Meltzer
* Daniel Negreanu
* Lex Veldhuis
* Sammy George
* Yevgeniny Timoshenko
* Andreas Hoivold
* Dennis Phillips

Episodes of HSP can be seen on Sundays on GSN at 8PM beginning February 14th, 2010.

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