Picking Up A $1.5 Million Internet Poker Gauntlet

Top players are prepared to go heads up with Tom Dwan It hasn't taken long for some of the world's most accomplished online poker players to accept the $1.5 million challenge thrown out earlier this week by online poker ace Tom "durrr" Dwan (see previous InfoPowa report). Phil Ivey, David Benyamine, Barry Greenstein and Patrik Antonius have all picked up the gauntlet, according to Poker Road Radio. Benyamine is likely to be the first to take on Dwan in what promises to be an epic match that will probably be hosted by the Full Tilt Poker.com website. Dwan's extraordinarily confident challenge earlier this week was that he would put down $1.5 million to any challenger's $500 000 in games played on four virtual tables simultaneously, heads-up with minimum $200/$400 stakes. Each contender will have to play at least 50 000 hands and if the challenger finishes even a dollar more than where he started, he wins Dwan's $1.5 million. Conversely, if 'durrrr' ends up ahead, he gets to keep the challenger's $500 000. The players have all competed at one time or another against each other on the Full Tilt nosebleed tables, and therefore have some idea of their opponents' strengths and weaknesses. Added to the considerable talent each has, this makes for some truly exciting high stakes poker action. FTOPS 11 SCHEDULES ANNOUNCED $15 million in guarantees and 25 events hold the promise of another successful tournament The eleventh edition of the popular Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) tournament will take place between February 4th and 15th, with some $15 million in guaranteed prize pools covering a total of 25 events. Although most of the events revolve around Texas Hold Em, there are a variety of other poker gamestyles on offer as well. The Main Event this time around takes place on February 15th and has a guaranteed $2.5 million prize pool that is sure to be a big crowd-puller. Full details of events and buy-ins are now up on the Full Tilt website for interested readers.