The Top 10 Poker Highlights and Lowlights from 2009 (part 1)

It’s been quite an interesting year in the poker world, and as 2009 winds down I present you with my list of the top 10 newsworthy moments -both highs and lows-that helped shape poker in 2009.

A renaissance for Challenge Matches

Poker fans would have to go back to the epic battle between Johnny Moss and Nick “The Greek” Dandalos to find a comparable challenge match to what is taking place today. 2009 will likely go down as the year of the challenge match, thanks almost entirely to Tom “durrrr” Dwan.

The first of these challenge matches was simply known as the “Durrrr Challenge” which saw Dwan lay 3-to-1 odds on a $500k bet if anyone could best him over 50,000 hands of Online Poker. Patrik Antonius was the first to accept the challenge, and while the Online Poker world was abuzz over the prospect, people’s attention started to drift when they realized how long 50,000 hands would take to play -to date the two are a little more than halfway done.

Since the initial challenge, we have seen numerous cash-game challenges that span 500 hands or so.

Father and son make WSOP and WSOPE Final Tables

When poker players hear the names of Barry Shulman and Jeff Shulman they immediately think of Cardplayer magazine, but from now on the father and son combo will just as readily be known for their 2009 WSOP and WSOPE accomplishments.

While Jeff landed on the bigger stage -the WSOP-it was his father Barry, who was able to close the deal by winning the World Series of Poker Europe title in dramatic fashion -beating Daniel Negreanu heads-up. The elder Shulman took home $1.3 million for his win, while his son made an impressive $1.95 million for his 5^th place finish. I’m sure Thanksgiving at the Shulmans’ will go something like this:

Barry: “BUT I WON!”

Jeff: “That’s great dad, but I made more money.”

WPT sold to PartyGaming

Rumors were swirling throughout 2009 concerning the possible sale of the World Poker Tour, and speculation was rampant as to whom the company would be sold. After a deal was announced to sell the WPT it seemed the flood gates opened up with new bidders.

In the end it was Party Gaming who wound up purchasing the WPT, which many people see as the companies second step in returning to the US market - The first would be the settlement reached between PartyGaming and the US government.

Tom Dwan joins the Full Tilt Poker Team

Easily the most coveted online sponsorship name in all of poker, Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Full Tilt Poker were finally able to reach an agreement and the young superstar joined the ranks of Team FTP.

The deal has done little to turn around Dwan’s miserable results in 2009 however, as Dwan is on pace to have one of the worst year’s in Online Poker history, down an astounding $5 million!

Players turned away at the WSOP

All-in-all the World Series of Poker went off without a hitch in 2009: Right up until the last day of registration for the WSOP Main Event, when hundreds of players were unable to register for the tournament due to a lack of seats.

The current registration process allows players to choose which day they would like to play; unfortunately most players seem to be fond of playing on the last day! The WSOP is suppose to be the tournament that anyone can play in and win, however, it’s hard to win something you can’t enter!