2010 Poker Year in Review — Part II

Most of 2010 was marked by waiting for online-poker legislation. France and Estonia voted to license and regulate the game, but the U.S. market remained idle; that is, until the closing days of December, which were marked by a flurry of news regarding attempts to rush online-poker legislation through Congress in a lame-duck session. In the end, nothing happened, and online-poker legislation should remain dormant throughout 2011 as the Republicans take back control of Capitol Hill. Even with this setback, the overall health of poker looks promising.
The last half of the year remained busy as far as poker news was concerned, despite the legislative lethargy. There were many changes for U.S. tours, London retained its title as the European epicenter for poker in October, the World Series of Poker main-event final table in Las Vegas took center stage in November, and the theme of redemptive victories for well-known professionals continued while the “year of the woman” was further solidified with a notable female pro capturing a second major title and making a Card Player 2010 Player of the Year run.
U.S. Poker Tours Try Some New Tricks
At the end of the World Series of Poker, a few major announcements were made in regard to the U.S. poker tours that fill the blank spaces on the calendar during the rest of the year. The WSOP Circuit added four $10,000 regional championships, in the Midwest (Hammond, Indiana), East (Atlantic City), West (San Diego area), and South (New Orleans). It also installed a points ranking system by which players can qualify for the $1 million-guaranteed WSOP Circuit National Championship that will take place in May 2011, with a coveted gold bracelet up for grabs. In addition to the four regional championships, the WSOP Circuit increased its overall offerings to 16 events at various locations across the country.
The World Poker Tour made many changes, as well, by focusing on enhancing the poker experience for the television viewing audience. Kimberly Lansing was welcomed back to the show as the WPT anchor, rejoining WPT mainstays Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten on air. Many new faces were added, as well. Tony Dunst joined the show after beating out hundreds of people in an audition process that included many top poker professionals. He will host the “Raw Deal” segment of the show in season IX, which will provide in-depth analysis of poker strategy. The WPT also added six “Royal Flush Girls” to the cast from Prestigious Models, four of whom will attend each tour stop and be featured on every episode during the new season. December saw another relationship between poker and the mainstream media when Royal Flush Girl Melanie Iglesias beat out thousands of other applicants to become Maxim’s Hometown Hottie of 2010.
The Year in Poker Television
The new changes for the WPT will be available for television audiences to watch on FOX Sports Net beginning in February 2011. The WSOP Circuit regional and national championships will air on Versus, which is a first for the sports network.
The World Series of Poker remained the staple of television poker, with ESPN airing a full lineup of episodes from the Rio this summer and the “November Nine” this fall. Unfortunately, ratings were down 26 percent from 2009 for the main-event final table. Yet, the number of television poker offerings keeps the game in front of the general public on various television networks.
The PokerStars North American Poker Tour was picked up by ESPN2, adding a new brand to that family of networks, and ESPN Classic continued to air past WSOP main-event episodes, which gives a little perspective on how far poker on television has come. High Stakes Poker continued to garner high ratings on GSN; Poker After Dark provided a presence on one of the major television networks, NBC; and PokerStars’ Big Game and Million Dollar Challenge provided high drama on FOX.
Political Yearbook Both at Home and Abroad
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had previously remained quiet in regard to online-poker legislation until late in 2010, and then he made a major push to pass poker legislation in a
lame-duck session of Congress in December. Mainstream news outlets from the Las Vegas Sun to the Wall Street Journal reported that Reid was attempting to attach the Prohibition of Internet Gambling, Internet Poker Regulation, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2010 to the proposed tax-cut plan on Dec. 8. The $858 billion tax package did pass by the end of the session, but the poker bill was not included. This was a setback for any online-poker legislation at the federal level in the United States, since it will be considered a dead issue once the Republicans take control of Congress in 2011.
While poker’s fate was hurt at the federal level, a late 2010 ruling in New Jersey made some progress for regulated online poker on the intrastate level. On Dec. 8, the New Jersey Assembly Regulatory Oversight and Gaming Committee passed a bill that would allow Atlantic City casinos to offer online gambling internationally and to state residents. The bill must now be passed by the entire New Jersey Assembly before it is signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie. A study conducted by the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) has estimated that a New Jersey intrastate gambling system could raise up to $250 million in revenue and bring in $55 million in taxes. However, not all states are flocking to the possibility of regulated online poker. In the fall of 2010, players in the state of Washington were blocked from both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker following the state Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the state’s Internet gaming prohibition.
While the battle continued to rage in the U.S. in 2010, major progress was made on the legal level in some European nations. In April, France’s parliament made a historic decision to open up the state-dominated gambling market after it passed a bill legalizing and regulating online betting, including poker. The bill was signed into law and the first round of 11 licenses to private operators was approved ahead of the World Cup in June. Online poker will be taxed at 2 percent, while sports betting will face a tariff of 7.5 percent.
Also, Card Player Europe reported in October that PokerStars was approved for a legal operating license in Estonia. The site, PokerStars.ee, joined the company’s regulated and licensed offerings in France and Italy. And Card Player Finland reported that while Finland will add state-run poker, there are many hiccups, as well, including some restrictions. The Netherlands will be the next European nation to make major decisions regarding online poker in 2011.
To keep up with the international increase in poker news, Card Player continues to increase its international media offerings. In 2010, Card Player added new magazines in India and Argentina/Uruguay. There are now 24 localized versions of Card Player on the global market, in addition to the flagship Card Player, and Card Player Europe.
Jonathan Duhamel Wins “November Nine”
A Canadian won the World Series of Poker main event for the first time in 2010 when Jonathan Duhamel took home $8,944,138 and a gold bracelet. The Quebec native went to the November Nine final table as the chip leader, and although he didn’t retain the chip lead the entire time, he did emerge victorious. Duhamel faced professional John Racener in final heads-up play, but most of the fireworks came during three-handed play.
While Racener played a survival game that eventually led to a nice $5,545,855 payday, Duhamel and Joseph Cheong battled in huge pots. Cheong was all but eliminated when Duhamel doubled up in a pot of 177,600,000, the largest in WSOP history. Cheong had played almost perfectly before that hand, but he ultimately chose the wrong time to six-bet all in preflop, with Duhamel holding pocket queens.
Cheong earned $4,129,979 and a lot of respect for his third-place finish. The other player who made big waves at the final table was Michael Mizrachi. Although he didn’t become the first big-name professional in the post-Moneymaker era to win the world title, he did bank $2,332,960 for his fifth-place finish, and moved into the top five on the career money-winning list, with more than $11.2 million in earnings.
Female Success, Redemption Wins, and a Close Player of the Year Race
While the WSOP main-event final table was taking place in Las Vegas, Vanessa Selbst was putting the punctuation mark on the “year of the woman” halfway around the world. She won her second major title of the year in November at the Partouche Poker Tour Grand Final in Cannes, on the shores of the French Riviera. She won $1,823,430 and increased her winnings for the year to $2,803,013. She also finished among the leaders in the Card Player 2010 Player of the Year race. She is the first female to make a serious run at winning the award, and did so while playing part time, balancing her poker schedule with law school at Yale.
Another theme in 2010 was that of some big-name professionals booking their first major tournament victories in quite a while. Phil Laak completed a roller-coaster year that included setting a Guinness World Record and having an ATV accident by capturing his first gold bracelet at the WSOP Europe in September. He won a six-handed no-limit hold’em event, for $263,494 and the bracelet.
Laak’s good friend Antonio Esfandiari found himself at one of the most impressive final tables of the year at the WPT Five-Diamond World Poker Classic in December. “The Magician” defeated Andrew Robl, Vanessa Rousso, John Racener, Kirk Morrison, and Ted Lawson at the final table to win his second WPT title and $870,124. His first WPT title came all the way back in 2004 at the L.A. Poker Classic.
The top three contenders in the Card Player 2010 Player of the Year race — Thomas Marchese, Dwyte Pilgrim, and Sorel Mizzi — closed out the year in exciting fashion by cashing all the way down to the wire. At press time, one major event remained in the year, the WSOP Circuit East Regional Championship in Atlantic City, bringing to a close one of the most competitive POY races in the history of the award.
Online Happenings After the World Series of Poker
After the World Series of Poker wrapped up its summer offering of events, the majority of the online community’s attention returned to the high-stakes cash games that were running frequently on Full Tilt Poker. Patrik Antonius, who at one time was the biggest online cash-game winner in the world, was suddenly in the midst of his biggest downswing ever. This made his continuation of the “Durrrr Challenge” against fellow Full Tilt pro Tom Dwan nearly impossible.
So, Dwan turned his attention toward a new opponent in Dan “jungleman12” Cates. The brash, young University of Maryland student seemed to have Dwan’s number, and Dwan was undoubtedly looking for a favorable format to get some revenge. The rules are the same: Each challenge consists of 50,000 hands spread over at least four tables of $200-$400 or higher. At the conclusion of the contest, if Dwan is ahead by $1 or more, he receives an additional $500,000. If Dwan is down $1 or more at the end of the contest, he owes his opponent $1.5 million.
Although his match with Cates was initially a spark that generated some interest, like his bout with Antonius, it too fizzled, thanks to scheduling problems. Both bets still stand upon entering 2011, but each is far from being finished. Dwan currently enjoys a $2 million lead on Antonius with just over 10,000 hands to go, but he’s down nearly $600,000 to Cates, nearly 12,000 hands in.
In October, the online world geared up for the ninth-annual PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). This popular tournament series started out as just a nine-event run in 2002, but the 2010 edition boasted 62 events and a total prize pool of $62,717,400. Although it coincided with the World Series of Poker Europe and the World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open, it was still able to shatter records, with 141,126 total players.
Jamie “Xaston” Kaplan was the only player to record multiple wins, taking down a $200 no-limit hold’em rebuy event and a $500 seven-card stud eight-or-better tournament. Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo became the all-time leader in bracelets won after picking up his third in a no-limit hold’em rebuy event. Australian James “Andy McLEOD” Obst, with four final-table appearances and 11 cashes, was named Player of the Series. The series concluded with a $5,000 main event that drew a field of 2,443 players and generated a total prize pool of $12,215,000. Montana’s Tyson “POTTERPOKER” Marks was the eventual winner, taking home $2,278,097.
In December, PokerStars awakened the online community from its holiday nap by announcing the addition of unknown high-stakes phenom Isildur1 to its Team PokerStars lineup. Although widely believed to be Swedish pro Viktor Blom, the site announced future plans to officially unveil Isildur1’s identity to the world.
Isildur1 wasn’t the only player to earn a sponsorship deal during 2010. PokerStars supplemented an already well-stocked team by adding notables Vanessa Selbst, David Williams, and Liv Boeree to its cast of all-stars. Curiously, former Team PokerStars members Gavin Griffin, Hevad Khan, and J.C. Alvarado were dropped from the roster. Full Tilt Poker boosted its team’s profile by adding former boxing superstar Audley Harrison and tennis great James Blake. It was also able to snatch up Annette Obrestad, who was previously with Betfair. Betfair also lost Card Player 2010 Player of the Year contender Sorel Mizzi, who moved to Titan Poker. After losing Justin Bonomo, Team Bodog was left with two ladies in Evelyn Ng and recent addition Amanda Musumeci. ♠

Biggest Poker Tournaments by Continent
Major poker tournaments have spread to six continents of the world. It may be a while before we see the World Series of Poker Antarctica, but until then, Card Player takes a look at the biggest poker tournaments in the world by continent in 2010:
Note: For ranking purposes, all monetary figures are in U.S. dollars.
North America: World Series of Poker Main Event
Buy-in: $10,000
Number of Entrants: 7,319
Total Prize Pool: $68,798,600
First-Place Prize: $8,944,138
Europe: PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final
Buy-in: $15,769
Number of Entrants: 848
Total Prize Pool: $11,364,310
First-Place Prize: $2,278,328
Australia: Aussie Millions Main Event
Buy-in: $9,705
Number of Entrants: 746
Total Prize Pool: $6,885,285
First-Place Prize: $1,784,525
Asia: PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau Main Event
Buy-in: $5,160
Number of Entrants: 342
Total Prize Pool: $1,639,372
First-Place Prize: $418,026
Africa: World Poker Tour Marrakech Main Event
Buy-in: $6,615
Number of Entrants: 222
Total Prize Pool: $1,222,400
First-Place Prize: $323,443
South America: PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final
Buy-in: $5,000
Number of Entrants: 258
Total Prize Pool: $1,176,200
First-Place Prize: $322,280
Growth of U.S. Tours
Year-over-year fall attendance numbers of major domestic poker tournaments showed growth in 2010.
World Poker Tour Fall 2009 Attendance
Bellagio Cup V – 268 players
Legends of Poker – 279 payers
Borgata Poker Open – 1,018 players
Festa al Lago – 275 players
World Poker Finals – 353 players
Five-Diamond World Poker Classic – 329 players
Overall Attendance: 2,522 players
World Poker Tour Fall 2010 Attendance
Bellagio Cup VI – 353 players
Legends of Poker – 462 players
Borgata Poker Open – 1,042 players
Festa al Lago – 335 players
World Poker Finals – 242 players
Five-Diamond World Poker Classic – 438 players
Overall Attendance: 2,872 players (13.9 percent growth)
World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event Fall 2009 Attendance
Note: Buy-ins were changed from $5,000 (2009) to $1,600 (2010).
Council Bluffs, Iowa: 46 players
Southern Indiana: 55 players
Hammond, Indiana: 248 players
Lake Tahoe, Nevada: 64 players
Harrah’s Atlantic City: 195 players
Overall Attendance: 608 players
World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event Fall 2010 Attendance
Council Bluffs, Iowa: 251 players
Southern Indiana: 289 players
Hammond, Indiana: 872 players
Lake Tahoe, Nevada: 246 players
Harrah’s Atlantic City: 352 players
Overall Attendance: 2,010 players (230 percent growth)