Rounders Report

Today marks the beginning of the live version of the Tom “durrrr” Dwan Million Dollar Challenge, which is unfolding in London. The festivities will see Dwan battle Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Sammy “Any Two” George, and Marcelo “luckexpress” Marigliano.

The match’s format is simplistic. Dwan will take on each opponent across 500 hands of No Limit Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha. The series has a buy-in of $500,000 and neither player is permitted to leave the table until they are broke or the requisite number of hands has been played. The price of poker is $500/$1,000.

Eddie Hearn, who is organizing the gala on behalf of Matchroom Sport, commented in a press release distributed on Monday, “The stage is set for Tom to make history in London this week. The opponents are ready. Tom Dwan is the biggest draw in poker and to have a TV show in his name at such a young age shows the commercial power of the man. Poker is changing and we are delighted to be at its cutting edge.” Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 17% [?]

• Nicknamed “Birdguts”
• 2006 WPT “Player of the Year”
• Numerous big cashes in the last year

Gavin Smith plays online at Full Tilt Poker.

Gavin has been playing poker since 1994, when he discovered the roving charity casinos in the Toronto area. He turned pro in 1998. That year, Gavin played in his first poker tournaments during the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods and he made two final tables.

His first major tournament win came in the 1999 World Poker Finals, when Gavin won a No-Limit Hold ‘em tournament. The next year at Foxwoods, he won a 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better tournament. Since then, he’s made a dozen more final tables.

Without question, 2005 has been his best year. At the Mirage Poker Showdown, Gavin won two tournaments, taking home more than $155,000 in the $2,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em event and more than $1.1 Million in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em World Poker Tour event. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 15% [?]

• 1 WSOP Bracelet
• Winner of the $25K Heads-Up World Championship
• 2 Final Tables in the WSOP $50K HORSE Tournament

David Singer plays online at Full Tilt Poker.

David has been playing poker for a living since 1996. For the first five years, he played 7-Card Stud exclusively, honing his skills at Foxwoods and at a private club in New York. Stud is still his favorite cash game.

In the last few years, the big prize pools for No-Limit tournaments have attracted David to the game. He finished ninth at the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003, and has had numerous large cashes and high finishes since then. In 2006, David won $435,000 with a third-place finish at the WPT Caribbean Adventure. He then went on to win the Mirage Heads-Up Poker Showdown for $232,000, and took sixth in the $50K HORSE event at the 2006 WSOP, where he won another $411,000.

In 2007, David returned to the $50K HORSE final table where he collected more than $337K for another sixth-place finish. Four months later, he earned his biggest ever payday when he collected $1 million for winning the Caesars Palace Classic in Las Vegas. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 15% [?]

There have been some pretty epic heads-up, high stakes battles on Full Tilt Poker in the past.

Phil Ivey vs Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies. Tom “durrrr” Dwan vs “martonas”. The list goes on and on.

However, Sunday night’s battle between “isildur1″ and Tom “durrrr” Dwan outshined any of the previous battles by a mile.

Huge pots. Several million dollar swings. Incredibly aggressive play.

In total, Tom “durrrr” Dwan and “isildur1″ battled it out on Full Tilt Poker yesterday for nearly twelve hours. They mostly played No Limit Hold’em, but also decided to add a few hands of PLO right at the end of the session. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 19% [?]

The elite group of 13 poker pros that comprise Team Full Tilt Poker has a new member joining its ranks.  The online poker room just announced that its 14th member of the team will be 23-year old high-stakes online poker pro Tom “durrrr” Dwan.

Full Tilt Poker recently added Dwan to its roster, but Dwan has been a noticeable presence on the site for quite some time prior to the new sponsorship deal.  Full Tilt has been hosting Dwan’s “Durrrr Challenge” cash game tables since the epic bet first came to light in February and the youngster is a mainstay on all of the highest stakes cash game tables on the site as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 18% [?]

Johan Storakers plays online at Full Tilt Poker.

Swedish player Johan Storakers is based in Stockholm, where he was born and raised. He was introduced to poker by a friend who taught him how to play Seven-Card Stud. While working various jobs, Johan joined a private members club where he played live low-stakes ring games and tournaments. He was mentored by well-known Swedish poker player Gunnar Ostling, focusing his attention on Pot-Limit and No-Limit Hold ‘em, as well as Pot-Limit Omaha. He gradually built his bankroll and decided to play poker full time in 1997. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 17% [?]

• Over $200K in Career Tournament Earnings

Bruno Stefanelli plays online at Full Tilt Poker.

Italian player Bruno Stefanelli has been playing poker since the age of 18. He was introduced to Seven-Card Stud in his local casino, and started out by playing cash games. As his game improved, he began playing tournaments and now enjoys a 50/50 approach.

Bruno slowly built his bankroll by playing live ring games, and decided to leave the hairdressing profession to play poker full time. His first big win came in 1998 when he placed 1st in the ATS 3,000 Split Limit Seven-Card Stud event at the Bregenz Spring festival, winning over $22K. He has had regular and consistent success in tournaments ever since. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 17% [?]