Editorial

Sunday, 03 January 2010 23:29

It's been an exciting year for poker with the top players wining and losing fortunes in major tournaments that have sparked huge interest in the game.

Here we track the fates of the five best and five worst earners in poker's top echelons for the year 2009 and see what is possible when the game goes in your favour and when it doesn't.

Patrik Antonius

The top poker earner for 2009 was Patrik Antonius, a one time male model turned tennis professional who broke into poker and became one of the game's most respected as well as feared players the world over. In 2007 he earned $1.3 million, while in 2008 his earnings matched the previous year. But in 2009 he really came to the forefront of the game, making a staggering $8.9 million profit.

Phil Ivey

The second to top earner for 2009, Phil Ivey, raked in a profit of $6.3 million, but don't let the second place fool you as he has been consistently up there for the last few years. He was the top poker earner for 2008, making a profit of $7.3 million, while in 2007 he came third with a $1.9 million profit. Add to these winnings his two coveted WSOP bracelets and you have a player who will take on any other player at any game and with any stake.

Brian Hastings

Coming in third, the CardRunners pro has had an interesting year to say the least. It took him until August before he started to show a profit and then went from strength to strength. His big day came when he faced the enigmatic Isildur1 for what was probably the biggest of all online poker sessions in history. That win pushed his total year's profits to $4.2 million and effectively ended Isildur1’s aggressive run at the high-stakes tables of Full Tilt.

Ashton Griffin

The 20 year old Griffin who goes by the online handle "theASHMAN103" started the year broke. In April he won a prop bet thanks to making $500,000 by playing $25/$50 No-Limit which got him into a $25,000 heads-up shoot out, which he won for a further $500,000. Further wins took him into fourth place on the poker earning charts for 2009 with profits of over $3.6million.

Ilari Sahamies

In 2009 Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies had an entertaining time online, often gambling with unprecedented amounts of money which makes him a highly profitable world class player. He spent most of the year up around $2-3million but then famously took several millions from Isildur1 on December only to lose most of it to finish the year $3.2 million up.

With the five top earners making so much money, there has to be losers. Here are the five biggest of these for 2009.

Isildur1

Here is a poker player who takes big chances and while some of them paid off, others did not and spectacularly so. No one knows his real name, but he exploded onto the scene in November, crushing UgotaBanana and Haseeb Qureshi, then Tom “durrrr” Dwan, who he took for $4million within a few days. By the 21st of November he had amassed then lost $5million, most of which went to Antonius and Ivey. A week later he was back at $3million up then lost again in spectacular fashion to lose $878k to Patrik Antonius, then the record breaking million plus pot of $1,356,947. After that, he lost more than $4.2million in one single session with Brian Hastings to finish 2009 at $2million down.

David Benyamine

This French player finished 2008 with almost $3million in profit and got into a relationship with poker's beautiful Erica Schoenberg. He was dropped from Full Tilt Poker at the end of the year only to be reinstated in July 2009. He had a bad 2009, ending up almost $2.9 million down and his relationship over with Schoenberg.

Sami Kelopuro

The 22 year old poker pro from Finland, Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro showed over $1million in profit for 2007 and 2008 but crashed heavily in 2009. He lost consistently to end the year almost $4million down and has since vanished from high stakes games, starting the rumour that he has busted his bankroll.

Tom Dwan

As one of the world's most entertaining players, Tom “durrrr” Dwan has had plenty said about him. By February 2009 he was down over $4million, but came back to $1.4 million up by June.

He started the infamous durrrr Challenge, attracting Patrik Antonius as its first competitor. Everything seemed to go well until new players came in and rocked the boat. One notable player was Luke “fullflush1” Schwartz, who took $700 from the challenge and cashed out. But the biggest shock was the appearance of then unknown Isildur1, who took $5million from Dwan. After clawing back some of his $6.8 million losses, he ended the year $4.3 million down. On a brighter note, he is over $937k ahead in his own durrrr Challenge.

Gus Hansen

Of all the top poker players, Gus Hansen had the most awful year in 2009. Starting strongly with a $3million profit in January, he then set about losing consistently for the rest of the year, which he finished with a deficit of over $5.5million

It just goes to show that even the pros can lose as well as win just like the rest of us. The only difference being that they win or lose sums of money that contain rather more zeros than most regular players will ever see.