POKER RIVAL
Over the years there have been some great battles between one poker rival and another at live poker events such as the World Series of Poker where one poker rival manages to outplay the other following days of determination at the tables. There have been other occasions where one poker rival has challenged the other to a high-stakes heads-up cash game at one of the internet’s top poker sites following a dispute. This has led to some interesting showdowns. There have even been great rivalries between poker sites such as Full Tilt Poker and their biggest poker rival PokerStars who each attempt to outdo each other regularly with bigger and better poker bonuses and online poker tournaments.
When it comes to high-profile cash games there’s one poker rival that everybody wants to beat, Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan. Dwan is one of poker’s most prolific players starting out from humble beginnings playing $6 Sit n Gos and moving his way up to play some of the biggest hands in online poker history. Dwan’s biggest poker rival has to be the enigmatic ‘Isildur1’ from Sweden following their many battles at the online poker tables of Full Tilt Poker.
Isildur1 became Dwan’s poker rival back in November last year when he challenged Dwan to a series of heads-up No Limit Holdem cash games over six tables where there was regularly over $1 million in play. After a week at the tables Isildur1 had gone on the largest run in the history of online poker, winning approximately $5 million from his new-found poker rival, Dwan.
Dwan threw down the gauntlet to any poker rival who wished to play him in his Million Dollar Challenge. This challenge is an online poker marathon where Dwan plays a poker rival heads up for 50,000 hands 4-tabling $200/$400 or higher playing No-Limit Texas Holdem or Pot Limit Omaha. If Dwan is behind after 50,000 hands of poker he will give his poker rival $1.5 million plus any losses accrued during the challenge but if Dwan is ahead at the end of the poker endurance test his poker rival will have to give him $500,000 on top of his winnings made during the challenge.
Two of the biggest poker sites on the internet have a history of great rivalry too. Full Tilt Poker and their great poker rival PokerStars can often be seen attempting to outdo each other. For example, last year Full Tilt Poker arranged to host an online poker tournament which attempted to break the world record for the number of entrants, which they did. However the following day Full Tilt’s biggest poker rival, PokerStars hosted a tournament which was even bigger.
Our article couldn’t be complete without mentioning the biggest poker rival facing online poker sites which is the UIGEA. The UIGEA is a bill that makes the transferring of funds to and from US citizens from online poker sites illegal. This has seen many financial institutions being prosecuted in the US and others simply refusing to offer games of online poker to the biggest poker marketplace in the world for fear of prosecution.