PokerWorks

Splashing the Pot captures the foam created by the disturbance and turbulence of action, action, action, and is filled with tidbits above and beyond the victories and beats and adds a little spice to the game of poker.

Doyle Brunson Recovering After Dental Surgery

On Monday’s edition of Splashing the Pot it was reported that Doyle Brunson just had a six hour dental surgery, and was taking a leave of absence from the game.  Well, the leave of absence didn’t last too long, as “The Godfather of Poker” was feeling well enough to play the Wednesday Night Bounty on his online poker room, Doylesroom.

The 10-time World Series of Poker Bracelet Champion was also feeling well enough to do one of his favorite things, Tweet blonde jokes: “A blonde's house caught fire and she called the fire department. They said ‘calm down, how do we get there?’ blonde.. duh, in a big red truck.” 

It is unclear if Brunson plans to stick to waiting until the 2010 WSOP to play again before getting back to the live tables, but regardless, it’s good to see him feeling well enough to play online and cracking jokes in his usual manner.

PokerStars 40 Billion Hand Celebration Offers Tons of Promotions

As PokerStars gets close to dealing their 40 billionth hand they have pulled out all the stops in promoting the historic occasion.  Officially called the “February 40” or “F40” promotion, the entire promotion will predictably revolve around the number 40.  In past hand celebrations it focused mostly around cash games, but this time around they have some good things set in store for tournament players.

February 14 kicks off with a $40 buy-in tournament with a prize pool of $1 million dollars.  On February 21st the Sunday Millions tournament will have a record $4 million dollar guarantee.  Also, throughout the duration of the promotion there will be eight events with a buy-in of only 40 Frequent Player Points with a prize pool of $40,000.  Finally, for sit-in-go players, they will hold a series of four 40-player sit ‘n go’s with varying degrees of buy-ins.  The winners of these tournaments will each receive a share of $40,000.

Don’t worry, cash game players, there are still plenty of opportunities for you to strike
For a detailed explanation of the promotion, please visit here.

Durrrr Challenge Update

Amazingly, the first installment of the “Durrrr Challenge “ pitting Tom Dwan vs. Patrik Antonius is now over a year old.  Nearly 33,000 hands into the 50,000 hand challenge, Dwan now has what appears to be an almost insurmountable $1,392,760.50 lead over Antonius.  Keep in mind, not only does Dwan get to keep any money won during the 50,000 hands played, but he also wins a $500,000 side bet.  If Antonius can make an amazing comeback over the next 17,000 hands, he gets to keep the money won, plus an additional 1.5 million to come from Dwan’s pocket.
 
The latest battle between the two took place on February 9th, where they played an 883 hand session, which saw Durrrr come away with $315,000 of Antonius’s money.  When this session finally ends, two other cash game giants wait in the wings for their crack at Dwan: David Benyamine and Phil Ivey.

Isildur1 Back Full-Time, Tough Results

Since the 1st of February, “Isildur1,” whoever he is, has made a full-time return to the tables, but as of yet has been unable to recreate the high-stakes wins he was booking when he originally came out of nowhere to take down the biggest online cash games, for a short time, anyway.  Despite losing back almost all of his money to the likes of Brian Townsend, Phil Ivey, and Patrik Antonius, the poker community felt he would be back.
 
Since his return, “Isildur1” has logged nearly 18,000 hands in pot limit Omaha and No Limit Texas Hold’em.  Over those 18,000 hands he is down $151,293.  One of the biggest beneficiaries of Isildur1’s downswing has been Tom Dwan.  In a match-up that brought the railbirds out in droves, Dwan walked away from the 183 hand session $48,000 richer.
 
$6,270 Worth of Freeroll Prizes This Weekend and Valentine’s Day.

This weekend PokerWorks and their online poker room partners offer two great freerolls.  On Saturday February 13th, the Cash Freeroll Series on PokerStars has a tournament prize pool worth $2000.  The tournament starts at 6:30 pm ET.

On Sunday February 14th the freeroll action continues on PartyPoker with a prize pool of $1500.  This tournament starts 7:35 pm ET.

The Cash Freeroll Series continues on Valentine’s Day with a prize pool of $2770 up for grabs on Poker770. 

For information on all of our great freeroll opportunities, and to find out how to qualify for all the action, please visit our PokerWorks tournament page.

Tony G Pokes Fun at Phil Hellmuth, and “Goes Green”

Tony G, who is in Las Vegas for the PartyPoker Premier League IV sent a little harmless jab in the direction of Phil Hellmuth.  Tony G, who usually travels with his personal concierge, was a little upset when he heard that his sponsor and host of the event, PartyPoker, wouldn’t allow his concierge to accompany him on the trip.  Tony G, felt one of the reasons was because Phil Hellmuth would feel left out if he got one and the “Poker Brat” didn’t.  Tony G had this to say on the PartyPoker blog about the incident:

"...there was also murmurings about the likes of Hellmuth getting distraught if I had a personal concierge and they didn’t. My response, Hellmuth always has to have a limo – I come in on my bike. I am an environmentalist not a gas guzzler. I have more chance of saving the world than the poker brat. The emissions that come from his mouth are much more toxic to the ozone layer than mine.”

All of this was in good taste, but if it causes a little more drama and excitement in the PartyPoker Premier League IV proceedings, then we are all for it!

*Read Billy Monroe's Blog*