Poker 2009: The Year In Review

August 2009
Pitbull Poker became the latest room to face accusations of security breaches and liquidity issues, rumors that would ultimately, proven or no, lead to the room’s demise. Douglas Rennick, the head of payment processing company Account Services was charged with a laundry list of crimes by US officials.

The WPT was sold (for the first time) to Gamynia. Bet on Bet and Eurolinx announced that they were liquidating, costing online players tens of thousands of dollars in now-uncollectable balances.

The hot topic on the poker gossip boards was the identity of new online nosebleed player Martonas. Phil Galfond announced that, Martonas or no, he was walking away from the nosebleed stakes for an undetermined period of time.

A bid for regulated intrastate online poker in California failed to clear some basic hurdles even as a UPenn study concluded that poker was, in fact, a game of skill. 2 Months, 2 Million debuted to largely positive reviews.

September 2009
The world waited for the return of the November Nine, and PokerStars ran good – again – by nabbing Joe Cada to fly the PS flag. On the other side of the major room fence, FTP didn’t work too hard to put out rumors that they were moving to sign Tom Dwan. Luke Schwartz ended up looking like a branch from the Nostradamus family tree for predicting that Dwan would be broke by the end of 2010 – before Isildur1 came on the scene.

Pitbull Poker officially closed their doors after being dogged by allegations of this, that and the other for months. An amendment intended to be attached to a health care reform bill that sought to regulate online poker died a far quicker death. Pokerati chronicled a new rash of robberies involving underground poker games in Texas.

The 2M2MM house continued to find their lofty profit goal tougher to attain than planned. House member Ansky announced he was leaving Poker Savvy Plus and heading for Deuces Cracked. Patrik Antonius spoke out agianst his apparent internet imposter-stalker.

Joe Sebok created a stir by signing with Ultimate Bet and the Poker Hall of Fame created … no real stir at all with their announcement of the nine finalists for 2009 HOF induction.

October 2009
The WPT shocked literally dozens of people by accepting a last-minute competing bid from Party Gaming to purchase the once-mighty company. As the calendar ran down, the PPA stepped up their anti-UIGEA efforts and the Kentucky Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Commonwealth’s appeal of a lower court’s decision to reject Kentucky’s attempt to seize several online gaming domain names.

PokerStar’s Million Dollar Challenge drew better ratings than the horrid Face the Ace (backed by FTP), surprising no one. AJ Benza was bounced from the co-host chair at High Stakes Poker, surprising himself and a handful of others. Daniel Negreanu and Jennifer Harman posed in the buff for ESPN the Magazine, surprising everyone, at not in the good-surprise way, really.

Barry Shulman won the Main Event of the WSOPE. Online poker saw a new room open, backed by the UFC. Mike Sexton was named as the lone inductee for the Poker HOF.

The live durrrr Challenge was postponed, but Dwan was now able to run it twice online at Full Tilt after their major October update.

November 2009
The WSOP happened and Joe Cada won it. Details of the 2010 WSOP were leaked just as 2009 was finally wrapping up, and we learned that 2010 would be a Jeffery Pollack-free affair, as the WSOP commish announced his surprising intent to depart.

Ultimate Bet rebooted and rebranded, returning as UB. Tom Dwan rebooted and rebranded as an official Full Tilt Poker red pro, and his live durrrr challenge rebooted and rebranded as a FTP event – the Million Dollar blah-blah-something-or-other-poker-fest, during which Dwan walked away 750k or so richer.

Isildur1 was all anyone could talk about, as the unknown Swede took the high stakes game by storm, winning millions (mostly from Dwan) and then handing millions right back. In equally compelling news, PokerStars launched yet another live poker tour. In actually equally compelling news, Shaun Deeb announced that he was leaving the world of online MTTs.

The compliance deadline for the UIGEA was pushed back an additional six months.

December 2009
Durrrr shaved his head. Brian Hastings shaved Isildur1’s bankroll by winning over $4m from him at the PLO tables. The win ended up generating some controversy after Hastings admitted that he, Townsend and South had collaborated via hand history sharing to build up a gameplan for bringing down the mystery Swede. Townsend got a 30-day time out from Full Tilt Poker as a result. Even ESPN got in on the Isildur1 game, with an article covering his impact on the high-stakes ecosystem.

A Congressional hearing on Barney Frank’s efforts to regulate online poker went well enough, all things considered. One-time gambling foe (and NBA commissioner) David Stern indicated that it might be time to rethink his stance on the issue. Australia took a different stance, moving ahead with a controversial plan to filter out objectionable content from the internet, relying on a blacklist that included several online gaming properties.

ChicagoJoey set a record for most hands played online in a 24 hours period, with 50k+ hands logged (and a small profit made). Vanessa Russo launched some show on E! about something having to do with money and people wanting it. Mike Kosowski won a cool million by defeating Negreanu in the PS Million Dollar Challenge.

Last but not least (but also not-not-least) Dutch Boyd got sued by 2+2 and the Las Vegas City Center complex opened its first poker room with the launch of Aria’s comfy-looking couple dozen or so tables.

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