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After nearly 32,000 hands in the Tom “durrrr” Dwan Million Dollar Challenge, the youngster leads rival Patrik Antonius by well over $1 million. Dwan ended the latest session up $199,000 after a quick 892-hand encounter. Let’s take a look at a few recent hands during January’s play.

In a sizable Durrrr Challenge pot, Antonius raised to $1,200 pre-flop with Ac-Kc-2h-Qc and Dwan came over the top with 5d-Js-8s-6d. Antonius made the call and the flop came 9-7-A with two spades, giving Antonius top pair and Dwan flush and straight draws. Dwan check-raised to $22,000 at the $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha table on Full Tilt Poker and Antonius called to bring the queen of hearts on the turn. Dwan bet $51,600, Antonius shoved all-in for another $19,000, and Dwan called. The river was a five, filling Dwan’s straight and trumping Antonius’ two pair. The high-stakes pot was worth $193,000.

In another $193,000 pot, Antonius raised to $1,200 pre-flop with Ks-Qs-6h-Kh and Dwan raised to $3,600 with As-7d-9d-Ad. Antonius re-raised to $10,800 and Dwan called. The flop came 3h-2h-7s and fireworks went off. With Dwan both players holding overpairs to the board, Dwan checked, Antonius bet $14,000, Dwan raised to $63,600, Antonius raised all-in to $85,600, and Dwan called the remaining $22,000. Antonius hit lightning in a bottle on the turn, as a king gave him trips. Needing help on the river, Dwan watched as a 10 hit.

In a $160,000 pot, Antonius raised to $1,200 before the flop with Kc-5c-5s-8s and Dwan made it $3,600 to go with Qd-Ac-Jc-10h. Antonius called and the flop came Ah-10c-6s. The action went an uncharacteristic check-check despite Dwan holding top two pair and a straight draw and the five of hearts hit on the turn. Dwan checked, Antonius bet $6,000 with trips, Dwan pushed the price of poker to $25,200, and Antonius called. The river was the six of diamonds, giving Antonius a full house against Dwan’s two pair. Dwan pushed for $53,000 and Antonius called all-in for $51,400, scooping the pot.

Dwan has taken down 17,041 of the 31,912 hands required for completion of the Durrrr Challenge, or 53%. Dwan has reigned supreme over his foe in the last 8,000 hands and the latest burst over the $1 million mark was his second seven-figure lead during that span. If Dwan is up by at least $1 at the end of 50,000 hands, Antonius will owe $500,000. Contrastingly, if Antonius is up by at least $1 at the end of 50,000 hands, Dwan will fork over a colossal $1.5 million. In either case, the victor keeps the spoils of the 50,000 hands of play.

Dwan has won all but two of the challenge’s 10 largest pots. However, Antonius has scooped the competition’s largest, a $477,000 pot that came back on June 19th. Despite the nosebleed-stakes action, some members of the online poker community have grown frustrated with the lack of action in the Durrrr Challenge. On PocketFives.com, one poster claimed, “Who cares about the durrrr challenge anymore! Is this the 3rd year its been going on now?”

Others on PocketFives.com questioned why Dwan, who dropped more than $5 million to mystery Swedish pro Isildur1, receives so much attention in the poker world: “durrrr is a losing player and he is still getting attention. after losing millions there is no reason for him to ever been acknowledged until he somehow accomplishes something in the poker world.” Despite his misfortunes against Isildur1, Dwan has largely had a stranglehold on the Durrrr Challenge, leading for all but a few thousands hands.

The action in the Million Dollar Challenge takes place across four $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha tables. Stay tuned to poker news Daily for the latest challenge headlines.

The following <a href=”http://www.freerolls24.com”>freerolls are open to all PokerListings.com players. Qualify in the specified qualification period, then take your seat to win a boatload of free cash.

If you’re not a PL.com registered player on any of the following sites, click on the site’s name in the list to sign up. Getting your free seat in the tournament can be just as simple as that.

William Hill Poker

William Hill Poker offers a monthly $2,500 <a href=”http://www.freerolls24.com”>freeroll for PokerListings players. You need to collect just 100 points this month to qualify

• Date: Feb. 4
• Value: $2,500
• Qualify with: 100 points in January

Full Tilt

Full Tilt offers weekly <a href=”http://www.freerolls24.com”>freerolls to all PokerListings players. Qualify with 100 points earned the week before the event to grab your seat.

• Date: Feb. 6
• Value: $1,500
• Qualify with: 100 points
• Qualify between: Jan. 31- Feb. 5

Titan Poker

The next $5,000 Monthly <a href=”http://www.freerolls24.com”>freeroll is almost here, buy in with just 25 points.

• Date: Feb. 7
• Value: $5,000
• Qualify with: 25 points

Pacific Poker

Just two days left to earn your seat in February’s montly <a href=”http://www.freerolls24.com”>freeroll.

• Date: Feb. 7
• Value: $1,000
• Qualify with: 100 points
• Qualify between: Jan. 1-31

Party Poker

With your final two days to earn your points and qualify, be sure to have collected 100 points in January for your seat in the next $2,000 Party Poker <a href=”http://www.freerolls24.com”>freeroll.

• Date: Feb. 13
• Value: $2,000
• Qualify with: 100 points
• Qualify between: Jan. 1-31

PokerStars

The next massive <a href=”http://www.freerolls24.com”>freeroll from PokerStars comes as a $25k event awarding $24k worth of “turbo takedown tickets” plus $1k cash for the final table. Collect 100 points in January as a PokerListings player to earn your seat.

• Date: Feb. 21
• Value: $25,000
• Qualify with: 100 points
• Qualify between: Jan. 1-31

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23-year-old Tyron Krost won a $640 online satellite to get into the main event at the Crown Casino and walked away AUD$2 million richer after besting a field of 746 this week.

“It feels like a dream and I don’t want to wake up,” he said moments after the win. “$2 million, it’s amazing.”

After a fairly lengthy feeling-out process, fellow Aussie Steven Shelley was the first player to get his walking papers from the final eight Saturday, running sevens into Krost’s jacks.

But it wasn’t long before he was joined on the rail by online superstar and 2007 World Series of Poker Europe champ Annette Obrestad.

The Betfair pro got into a flip for her stack with ace-jack against the PartyPoker qualifier’s sevens and would have liked the straight draw she picked up on the flop if that same flop didn’t give Krost a set.

The turn and river bricked out and Obrestad was sent back to Norway seventh.

Strangely, pocket sevens were involved in the next elimination as well, with Reno, Nevada’s Steve Friedlander running them into Aussie Kostas Varoxis’ big slick.

A king on the flop and another on the turn did the lone American at the final table in and play went five handed.

It stayed five-handed for quite a while until Canadian Peter Jetten appeared to implode, shipping it in with K♦ 5♦ against Krost’s tens on a move and failing to improve.

Once the massive chip leader, Sorel Mizzi’s downfall began soon after when he doubled up Frederik Jensen and before the Betfair Poker pro knew what had hit him, Krost had suddenly moved into the lead.

A few desperations shoves from Varoxis were next on the agenda, and although the first couple worked, his luck eventually ran out when he couldn’t beat Jensen’s deuces with A♥ 6♣.

Mizzi’s downfall ended three-handed when he ran pocket sevens into Krost’s ace-king and could not hold, leaving the two PartyPoker qualifiers to battle it out heads up.

Krost began heads up with better than 2:1 chip lead over Jensen and the Aussie began applying pressure on the Dane right from the outset, pounding him into submission before getting him all in dominated to book the win.

A humble Krost seemed to have the all big hands when he needed them throughout the final, beating some of the best young players in the game while following up Stewart Scott’s 2009 win to become only the second Aussie to keep the title on home soil in Aussie Millions history.

“I just ran really well and got really lucky,” he said. “I had a lot of big hands.”

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In 2009 Australian Stewart Scott became the first Australian player to win the Aussie Millions main event. The run of Aussie champions at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia has now been increased to a second year. Tyron Krost

The Aussie Millions $10,000 AUD pot-limit Omaha event has come to a close and the champion is Erik Seidel (pictured left). He took home the top prize worth $120,000 and …

On Wednesday, February 17th at 9:00pm ET, the USA-friendly online poker room UB.com is hosting an extra special <a href=”http://www.freerolls24.com”>freeroll in which the winner gets a once-in-a-lifetime skydiving experience with Joe Sebok. In total, $2,000 in cash and prizes will be up for grabs, with the winner plummeting to the ground with the PokerRoad personality.

The jump occurs over the Nevada desert and the top prize also includes quality time with one of the newest members of Team UB. The tournament’s password will be released through UB.com’s Twitter feed just before it begins. poker news Daily sat down with Sebok to get the inside scoop on this buzz-worthy promotion.

poker news Daily: Thanks for joining us. Where did the idea for the skydiving <a href=”http://www.freerolls24.com”>freeroll come from?

Joe Sebok: I had always wanted to do something like that. This was one of the reasons I wanted to get involved with UB.com in the first place, so I could do cool things. If you aren’t having fun, then what’s the point? Each UB.com pro will have a unique experience. I had about 50 things that I thought would be cool.

PND: What were some of the other ideas you had?

Joe Sebok: Jumping out of a plane is my style or maybe going down to San Felipe and racing dune buggies. It really comes down to how much stuff UB wants to do. Hopefully, this will be the first of many unique experiences. We got to do the Twitter tournament and now this. I want to get through the negative stuff with UB so we can get to the fun stuff.

PND: What’s your skydiving background?

Joe Sebok: I love it. I have been about four times now. Thomas Wahlroos is an incredible skydiver and I wanted to go with him. I’ve always gone tandem, but for this one, I’d like it to be a solo jump. It’s terrifying to think of. There’s a class and you have to sit down and go through the techniques. You can imagine how scary it is. When you’re on someone’s back, there’s nothing for you to do other than fall. Everything’s different when you’re responsible for pulling the chute.

PND: Tell us about how the process of distributing hand histories relating to the Russ Hamilton-led cheating scandal is going.

Joe Sebok: It’s going well. In my recent blog, I asked people to get in touch with me with any issues. I probably had around 15 to 20 people do so. The bigger hand history orders, which mainly belong pros, are still being compiled. The main thing for people to understand is that UB had to pick a formula. It was all of the money you won versus cheating accounts minus money lost versus cheating accounts and if it was negative, we gave it back. Some people are angry with that formula and some are grateful. You have to pick a way to go and be consistent. Some will be stoked to get a refund and some won’t be.

The main thing I try to get people to understand is that everyone thinks I’m lying to them or won’t help. It’s just not true. Ever since I signed, I’ve spent a ton of time on this. People need to understand that I’m on their side. I’m trying to make things better and make sure we get this information out.

PND: Give us a quick recap of the first season of the UB.com poker news show “Poker2Nite,” which airs on Fox Sports Net on Wednesdays at 11:00pm ET.

Joe Sebok: The transformation since the first show has been great. In a short amount of time, we’ve improved a lot. We like to think we do that with all of our projects. We just want to continue to improve it heading into Season 2.

A recent decision by the European Union’s Court of Justice (ECJ) offered clarification as to how EU law affects online gaming regulations in individual states within the Union. The ruling in the Winner Wetten v. Mayor of Bergheim case earlier this month stipulated that any national gaming laws needed to be consistent with EU law and denied Germany an exception to preexisting EU regulations that allow for free trade and fair competition.

The case at the heart of the decision involves German company Winner Wetten, which was placing sports bets on behalf of the Maltese company Tipico. While Tipico retains a Maltese gambling license, Winner Wetten was ordered by the mayor of its hometown of Bergheim to cease betting operations because it lacked its own gaming license issued by the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, one of the 16 states within Germany. Winner Wetten then took the matter to court, claiming, among other things, that it violated EU treaty law promising companies the freedom to establish a business and provide services.

The case was referred to the EJC and Advocate General Bot issued his opinion on the matter on January 26th. Bot ruled in favor of Winner Wetten, stating that the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia’s existing laws regarding sports betting were in violation of EU law. It is worth noting that North Rhine-Westphalia has only issued one gaming license in the territory, to the Westdeutsche Lotterie, one of a number of state run lottery ventures in Germany.

Bot also commented on the German government’s argument that the country should be granted an exception to EU treaty laws because the matter pertained to online gaming versus some other type of business. In Bot’s eyes, EU law does not allow for such exceptions and he went so far as to say that it would not be in the best interest of European consumers to make exceptions that do not allow for consistent rules and regulations, even in the online gaming sector. Ultimately, Bot ruled that state laws must be consistent with existing EU treaty laws without exception.

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) was quick to comment on the landmark ruling. In a statement posted on its official website, EGBA Secretary General Sigrid Ligné offered the following insight on the case: “This opinion is crucial for developments in Germany. The AG has made clear that EU law prevails and that unjustified restrictions are not admissible even for a transitional period. Today’s opinion will further fuel the current political debate on online gaming in Germany.” Ligné went on to add that the EGBA agrees with Bot’s ruling and hopes it will lead to more consistent and systematic regulation of online gambling across the Union.

The ruling in the Winner Wetten case stands in stark contrast to another gambling-related EJC decision issued last fall. The case stemmed from online gaming group bwin sponsoring a Portuguese soccer team even though bwin did not have a license to offer gambling services within the country. Portugal, which has a statewide monopoly on online gaming, ordered the sponsorship deal to cease immediately. The EJC ruled in favor of Portugal, claiming the country’s gaming restrictions were reasonable and legal.

One thing PartyPoker has done extremely well in its history is provide some of the best promotions for its customers. With its popular Cash Machine set to end on January 31st, PartyPoker had to come up with another promotion that would continue to capture the interest of its players. That new promotion, called Hit Or Run, will start on February 1st.

The Hit Or Run promotion gives players an opportunity to earn over $10,000 per day throughout the month of February. Players on PartyPoker already earn PartyPoker points that can be used to enter poker tournaments, buy items in the PartyPoker Store, and turn the points into cash. The Hit Or Run promotion is offered as another way that players can use their PartyPoker points.

For every 20 PartyPoker points a player earns on their real money tables, PartyPoker will give players $1 that they can take to play Hit Or Run. Once a player enters into the Hit Or Run arena, they are dealt two hole cards to play heads-up against the PartyPoker system. If a player wins the first hand, that $1 is doubled and the player is given the option of playing again, or taking another “Hit.” The game continues until the player is beaten in the game or the player decides to “Run” with what they have won.

Players can earn up to ten entries per day to play the PartyPoker Hit Or Run game. If a player is able to win ten straight heads-up hands, they will take away $1,024. If a player does this ten times per day and wins every hand, that player would walk away with $10,240. Of course, a player can, at any time, opt to take whatever money they have earned by hitting the “Run” button.

The new Hit Or Run promotion is simply the latest offering that PartyPoker has for its players. Currently, PartyPoker is also running satellites for entries into February’s World Poker Tour (WPT) L. A. Poker Classic and Celebrity Invitational. PartyPoker also offers its popular $1 million Guaranteed the first Sunday of each month and has a $300,000 Guaranteed every other Sunday when the Million Guaranteed isn’t running.

PartyPoker continues to reign among one of the leaders in the online poker industry. Up until 2006, it was the largest poker room in the industry, but the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006 forced the parent company of PartyPoker, Party Gaming, to pull the plug on players from the United States. Since that time - and catering to players outside of the U. S. only - PartyPoker has slipped behind such sites as PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, which still continue to accept American action. PartyPoker vies against the iPoker Network for third place in the online poker industry, according to PokerScout.com.

“You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.” Thanks to Kenny Rogers and his hit song, “The Gambler,” those words will forever be ingrained in the game of poker. The song is more than 30 years old, but its popularity has maintained throughout the years as a staple in the ever-expanding poker community.

Phil Bellante hopes his new poker-themed song will have the same impact on the new crowd of poker players. The musician, songwriter, and producer from Cleveland released a new album in 2009 and on it is the track “All In,” a catchy tune that he’s attempting to market as the new theme song of poker. He’s already receiving rave reviews from the poker media. (The song can be heard at http://philbellante.com/)

Bellante has been busy promoting “All In” and poker news Daily had a chance to speak with him about the song, his poker history, and his friendship with a well-known poker pro.

poker news Daily: So Phil, can we assume that you’re a poker player and fan?

Phil Bellante: Absolutely, a poker player and a huge fan!

poker news Daily: How long have you been playing and what game(s) do you prefer?

Phil Bellante: I have been playing for at least 10 years and I would have to say that No Limit Texas Hold’em is my game of choice.

poker news Daily: You recently did an interview with your friend and Full Tilt Pro Phil Gordon on ESPN Radio’s “Poker Edge”. How did you become close with Phil?

Phil Bellante: Phil is my good friend’s brother-in-law, so every year for the past several years, we all get together at their place for Thanksgiving and have a poker tournament. It’s a lot of fun, especially when Phil doesn’t win and somebody that hardly knows what they are doing wins the whole thing. Part of the mass appeal, I think, of the game is the ability for anyone to win at any time because of the luck factor and getting dealt the right hand.

poker news Daily: Are there any other poker players you like or admire?

Phil Bellante: I admire people like Annie Duke, who has also heard the song and given it a nice review on my site. She is a forerunner for women poker players who are now becoming more involved in the game. That takes some fortitude and guts when it’s a male-dominated sport. I also think the old timers like Doyle Brunson are to be admired, as they started playing the game when very few people could make a living at it like they do today. I think now the appeal is more the big winnings for people rather than a true love for the game.

poker news Daily: What was your influence for creating the song “All In” and what are your aspirations for it?

Phil Bellante: To be honest, it wasn’t planned, which is usually the underlying ingredient to a great song because it comes from something beyond the intellect and usually connects with people on a deeper level. I was sitting around watching a tournament one afternoon and just put myself in the mind of one of the players who went all-in with his hand and then managed to write the song in less than 10 minutes. I then produced the song with a Grammy Award winning engineer a few months later.

While writing the song, I just pictured myself at a tournament performing it. It would be great to be the entertainment for some of these upcoming poker tournaments and really see it catching fire. I have many people working around the clock in various capacities to get maximum exposure for this song. We are looking at movies, video games, TV programs, poker tournaments, etc. I guess you can say, I am going “All In” with this song.

poker news Daily: Is this going to be “the” poker song for the next generation of poker players to latch onto?

Phil Bellante: “All In” has great potential due to the size of the poker market and its very catchy chorus. Andrew Feldman said during my recent ESPN Poker Radio show interview that the song had been stuck in his head all day. I just received the same comment from some of the top people in Nashville who are very interested in it and choose hit songs for the platinum country artists.

I really feel the song speaks to the poker community. It has that emotional and intense build leading up to a huge swelling chorus that kind of releases all the tension. Every player knows what that adrenaline rush feels like, so they can definitely relate. That is why I think it would be so perfect to sing at a poker tournament.

In the end, only time and the fans/players will be able to determine whether this is the case. The last generation had Kenny Rogers’s song’ “The Gambler,” so I wouldn’t mind him passing the torch to me for the next generation. I think I am holding a good hand with this song and so do a lot of the higher ups in the music world so time will tell.

The song can be downloaded at www.thepokersong.com

Like father, like daughter. Doyle Brunson’s daughter, Pam Brunson, will manage the Brunson 10, according to officials from DoylesRoom. The stable of up-and-coming poker pros numbers four, with six men and two women yet to be named.

A press release distributed by DoylesRoom in recent days notes, “As Manager of the Brunson 10, Pam Brunson will be responsible for overseeing PR requests, handling scheduling and managing the Brunson 10 internally. As the world’s biggest poker legend continues to fill spots on his team of poker professionals, Pam Brunson will be tasked with managing their relationship with one of the fastest growing online poker sites and its players.” The younger Brunson is a regular in the online poker site’s weekly Bounty tournament, which offers a refund of the $27.50 buy-in for first-time players.

Amit “amak316” Makhija, Dani “ansky451” Stern, Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark, and top online poker pro Chris “moorman1” Moorman currently comprise the Brunson 10. Stern is the group’s newest addition, having joined the clan during final table play in the 2009 <a href=”http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/articles/wsop/” title=”World Series of Poker”>World Series of Poker (<a href=”http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/articles/wsop/” title=”wsop“>wsop) Main Event in Las Vegas. A press conference was held at the Wynn for Stern’s introduction, with “2 Months, $2 Million” housemate Jay Rosenkrantz on-hand to witness the festivities.

Meanwhile, former Brunson 10 member Alec “traheho” Torelli departed the online poker site to join Victory Poker, whose roster of pro players includes Antonio Esfandiari, Andrew “good2cu” Robl, and Full Tilt Poker defects Paul Wasicka and Lee Markholt. The site is set to debut on February 1st on the merged Everleaf/UPN network, with a launch party to occur after the Trash Talk Championship of the World Straddle Tournament at the Hard Rock on February 6th.

On replacing Torelli, DoylesRoom officials told poker news Daily that a fifth member of the Brunson 10 will be named no later than mid-March. In addition, the forthcoming announcement may include the introduction of two new faces to the Cake Poker Network site that welcomes action from the United States. The newest additions will fall under Pam Brunson’s wings.

According to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, the Cake Poker Network is the 10th largest worldwide, offering a seven-day running average of 2,100 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, which occur in the evening across North America, nearly 3,000 cash game players call the network home. Besides DoylesRoom and Cake Poker, other sites on the network include City Poker, Lock Poker, PlayersOnly, Poker Host, Red Star Poker, Stryyke, and Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker, which was added to the family this week.

The 2010 calendar year also saw DoylesRoom unveil its very own online store, which offers unique items like a limited edition Doyle Resitol Cowboy Hat. Other goods available in the DoylesRoom Store include DoylesRoom apparel, laptop bags, Brunson autographed merchandise, GPS systems, iPod accessories, digital cameras, Nintendo Wiis, and “the hottest lifestyle enhancing accessories.” Gold Chips are the currency of the DoylesRoom Store, which can be accessed from the online poker room’s website.

The recent World Poker Tour (WPT) Southern Poker Championship featured DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins coming out on top to claim his second WPT title. Corkins earned $739,000 for his efforts and defeated a final table that also included Jonathan Kantor (second place for $366,00), Jerry Vanstrydonck (third place for $197,000), Jared Jaffee (fourth place for $135,000), James Reed (fifth place for $106,000), and Tyler “Tydean” Smith (sixth place for $87,000). The Southern Poker Championship marked Corkins’ sixth WPT final table appearance. The tournament will air as part of Season 8 on Fox Sports Net.

Pam Brunson finished 364th in the 2007 wsop Main Event for $34,000. That year, she won a ladies’ event held during the Legends of Poker for the same amount.