Ziigmund Zapped - Twice!

Finnish poker pro has had better weeks The formidable Finnish high stakes online poker pro, Ilari 'Ziigmund' Sahamies has probably had better weeks following two drubbings at the hands of other expert players of the game. Raring to have a go at mystery online poker phenom Isildur1, who has been attracting attention all over the Internet with his big online wins - and occasionally big losses - Sahamies finally managed to organise a heads up on the nosebleed tables at Full Tilt Poker.com. The two faced off in an epic $500/$1 000 NLHE match which perhaps predictably generated a series of huge pots, the most valuable twenty five of which totalled a stunning $10 million. MarketPulse reports that after some 2 217 hands, Sahamies called it a night after going down just over a million dollars Sahamies's scary loss followed his midweek live clash as the second challenger in the Dwan Million Dollar Challenge in London (see previous InfoPowa reports). With blinds starting at $500/$1 000, which later increased to $2 000/$4 000, the Pot Limit Omaha clash was as exciting as anticipated. In addition to the $250 000 buy-in, each player rebought once, bringing the grand total of dollars on the table to one million when the contest finished in compliance with the 500 hands or 12 hours rules. Dwan was in fine form after suffering a marginal defeat against Italian player 'LuckExpress' Marigliano earlier in the week, and took up Sahamies's challenge with gusto in a roller-coaster of a game which saw both pros giving it their all over the 12 hour contest at the Le Ambassadeurs Club. Playing at a rate of 50 hands an hour for much of the match, the duo engaged in some fast, talented and definitely daring exchanges before Dwan took the lead late in the competition and managed to hold onto it to emerge the winner by $68 000. Bearing in mind the $250 000 buy-in each player invested in the clash, and the subsequent re-buys, the victory margin was a slim one. As InfoPowa went to press Dwan had engaged with his third challenger, UK businessman Sammy 'Any Two' George.