The Top 10 Poker Highlights and Lowlights from 2009 (part 2)

In part 1 of this series I counted down numbers 6-10 on my list of the poker highlights and lowlights for 2009: In this installment I will countdown the top 5 poker stories of the year.

Isildur1 generates two million dollar pots

Before Isildur1 arrived at the high-stakes tables on Full Tilt Poker the largest pots were in the $700k range, with the largest being $723k: A pot won by Di “URInDanger” Dang against Tom “durrr” Dwan back in 2008.

Well, all that changed when Patrik Antonius won a $1.35 million pot from Isildur1 -Isildur1 also won a $1.1 million pot from Phil Ivey. In fact, Isildur1 has been involved in the 12 biggest pots in Online Poker history!!!

Jeff Lisandro becomes poker’s STUD

Lisandro picked a bad year to do something groundbreaking -winning three WSOP bracelets in the three different Stud disciplines: 7-Card-Stud, 7-Card-Stud hi/lo, and Razz-since his achievements didn’t receive the recognition they deserved thanks to Phil Ivey. However, Lisandro’s accomplishment will likely never be duplicated, and could very well be a record that grows more astounding with age.

Brian Hastings wins over $4 million in one session but kick-starts “DataMining-Gate”

After Isildur1’s dramatic fall, culminating with a $4 million loss to Brian Hastings, evidence came to light that pointed to Brian Hastings, Cole South, and Brian Townsend having shared Hand Histories on the mysterious Swedish player.

What should have been a huge moment for Hastings quickly tumbled into allegations of breached rules, and even outright cheating. In the end Townsend was the only player disciplined by Full Tilt Poker -receiving a 1-month suspension as a Red-Pro-and took the blame for any wrongdoing. However, the final chapter of this story is likely unwritten.

Mystery man Isildur1 takes high-stakes Online Poker to a new level

The anonymous player from Sweden changed what we thought was possible in poker: Nobody would have believed a player could go on a $6 million heater in less than two weeks, and then produce $5 million downswing in less than two days!

Isildur1 turned the ultra-high-stakes at Full Tilt Poker into his own personal playground in late 2009, which has sparked some serious debate as to whether these nosebleed limits are good for the game of poker -Who would have ever thought poker players would think stakes have gotten out of hand!

Phil Ivey seizes the “Best Poker Player in the World” title

Ivey came into the 2009 WSOP with a respectable five bracelets -an amazing number considering Phil has been known to skip tournaments in favor of side games-and added two more to his resume which left the poker world with a clear-cut #1 player for the first time in recent memory. After his WSOP performance, the arguments have all ended, and Ivey was declared the best in the world.

However, Phil decided not to stop at two bracelets, and perhaps even more remarkably ended up at the Main Event final table! Add all that to another solid year in cash games, and his near $6 million profits from the Full Tilt Poker tables, and you can see how the title of “Best All-Around Player” has to belong to Phil Ivey.