Poker News Daily 01/14/2009

Ivey Accepts Durrrr's Poker Challenge


“Somebody’s probably going to go broke,” said Phil Ivey. “That’s a lot of money, and a lot of time.”

When Phil Ivey says something is “a lot of money,” most people take notice.

In what will surely become one of the most anticipated heads-up poker matches of all time, should it actually occur, Phil Ivey has accepted Tom “durrrr” Dwan’s open heads-up challenge to the world.

Dwan told Card Player about his challenge last month, and it is described in full detail in the magazine’s upcoming cover story about him, set to hit casinos this week.


Above: Tom Dwan and his pokerface

Basically, Dwan has challenged anyone in the world — with the sole exception being his good friend and professional poker player Phil Galfond — to play 50,000 hands with him heads up, in either no-limit Texas hold'em or pot-limit Omaha at $200-$400 stakes at a minimum of four online tables.

"I don't get enough people to play me heads up. Even though there is more money to be made in other games, rather than playing heads up at one or two tables, it's so interesting and you learn a lot," said Dwan. "I think I might have an edge here, but it's more to have fun and gamble a bit. That's why I'm making this challenge."

If, at the end of the 50,000 hands, his opponent is up, Dwan will fork over an additional $1.5 million to pad his opponent's winnings. If Dwan is up, he keeps the profits, as well as another $500,000 from the competitor.

It hasn’t taken very long for his 3:1 odds offer to be seized upon by the other vultures of the poker community.

Ivey told fellow pro Barry Greenstein today at PokerRoad.com that he has called Dwan to accept the challenge. Ivey said in the interview that he thought French pro David Benyamine had first dibs on Dwan, but Benyamine told Card Player today that he has not accepted Dwan's bet, although he is still considering it.

Greenstein pointed out just how long 50,000 hands will take, saying on the podcast, “That’s like playing four games for about a month, four- or five-hour sessions.”

He told Ivey, “I don’t know if you really have the patience to play a guy for a month,” but tipped his hat earlier in the show who he thought was better when he said that that he “would’ve expected [Dwan] to challenge everyone except for maybe Phil Ivey, who’s looking to me like the best heads-up player.”

Ivey conceded that Dwan might have an edge early on in the battle, since he is not as used to multi-tabling as the online pro is.

“The funny thing is, he probably does have an edge,” said Ivey. “There’s something tempting about that million and a half to $500,000.”

Ivey also said that Patrik Antonius, as well as a number of other pros, have indicated that they are interested in taking up the 22-year-old phenom.

“A lot of people are confident in their game, but no one I’m aware of has ever backed it up like this,” Galfond said, of Dwan's challenge. “As far as the challenge being open to anyone but me, I take that as one of the highest compliments I’ve received as a poker player.”



2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship Schedule Announced

NBC has 6 of your Sundays planned with their 12 hours coverage of the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, beginning April 12, according to the schedule announced, shown below.


The annual poker tournament is in its fifth season. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson will return to defend the title he won last year. Click here to see the coverage of last year's show down between Chris Ferguson and Andy Bloch. Also, click here to see a summary of last year's results.

Championship:

March 5: GoDaddy.com Draw Party (at PURE in Caesars Palace)
March 6-8: National Heads-Up Poker Championship (Caesars Palace)

Television Coverage (check local listings for PT):

April 12: Noon - 2PM ET
April 19: Noon - 1PM ET
April 26: Noon - 2PM ET
May 3: Noon - 2PM ET
May 10: Noon - 2PM ET
May 17: Noon - 3PM ET

Prize pool total is $1,500,000, consisting of:

Places 9-16: $25,000
Places 5-8: $75,000
Places 3-4: $125,000
2nd place: $250,000
1st place: $500,000



Some of the 64 players who have already qualified for their seats are:

Andy Bloch
Chad Brown
Glen Chorny
Ivan Demidov
Peter Eastgate
Chris Ferguson
Scott Fischman
Ted Forrest
Jamie Gold
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Ivey
John Juanda
Erick Lindgren
Jonathan Little
John Phan
Huck Seed
Kenny Tran
Paul Wasicka
Jerry Yang



Source: cardplayer&pokerpages