The biggest poker stories of 2013 - Part 1

Barry Carter looks back at the stories which entertained him the most in the last twelve months.

This is not necessarily a list of the biggest stories of the year in terms of global impact, it is much more my own personal selection of the stories I found interesting and entertaining to follow and report on: 

Dan Bilzerian goes viral

Most of the time we report on players who have found success by virtue of their own hard work or talent. However in 2013 both the poker world and the mainstream media got to know Dan Bilzerian, a poker player who has been living a playboy lifestyle on a multi-million dollar trust fund set up by his father. 

This year his instagram account went viral as he regularly posts some very interesting (and often very unsuitable for work) pictures of him partying on yachts and private jets with beautiful women. When he is not doing that, he often posts about playing in games with millions of dollars on the table.

You might hate him, you might be jealous, you might think he is completely undeserving of his lifestyle (and you would probably be right on all three counts) but he certainly has been an interesting character in 2013. 

Moorman smashes his own online records

One player who really has deserved everything he got in 2013 is online MTT legend Chris Moorman. Although he is yet to win that elusive live major tournament, he proved he is the best of all time on the online felt this year. 

In September he broke an online tournament record when he surpassed $10 million in lifetime cashes, but that was only part of what would be a tremendous year.

Moorman is perhaps best known for his online triple crown record (Winning three tournaments on three different sites in seven days) for which he held the record of 12 at the start of 2013. 

This year he won seven triple crowns, extending his own lead to 19. Amazingly he also managed to win three triple crowns in two weeks which included a six-figure Sunday where he won three tournaments in one day.

We had a fantastic interview with Chris this year where he talked of his love of online triple crowns. 

Gus Hansen's losses

Not everyone was so lucky in 2013 and one player who really has fallen from grace (in a playing sense) was Gus Hansen. Despite millions in live tournament wins and no doubt plenty in endorsements, the Great Dane's online losses have become a thing of ridicule. 

At the time of writing, Gus is reported to be down around $8.5 million in 2013 and nearly $15 million since high stakes results were recorded online. It is not that he is necessarily a terrible online player, simply that he only seems to sit down in really tough games. 

Gus has always been a fantastic ambassador for the game but this year the poker community has questioned whether it is pride or being a degenerate that has kept him playing in these games with the best online players in the world, not to mention how close is he to going broke?

Phil Ivey vs Crockfords Casino

It was also a rocky year for Phil Ivey. He did capture his ninth bracelet at the WSOP APAC event this year, but that $50k win was small change compared to the huge battle he had with a London casino that not only has cost him financially but also brought him a lot of negative publicity.

Crockfords Casino in London withheld £7.7 million that he won playing Punto Banco, a form of baccarat. They suggested that Ivey had somehow cheated and the story made the mainstream media all over the world. Ivey was forced to take legal action, and in doing so revealed that he had been 'edge sorting' - a technique whereby he noticed small design flaws on the backs of the cards.

Both Ivey and the poker community seemed to agree that the technique was not technically cheating and he was due his winnings, however it did slightly damage his reputation nonetheless. 

The International Stadiums Poker Tour

One of the most farcical stories in recent poker history concluded in 2013, and perhaps the most astonishing thing of all was that the International Stadiums Poker Tour actually went ahead.

The initial concept, that 30,000 people would cram into Wembley Stadium and play online poker on tablets, was laughed at and matters got worse for the event when the organisers reneged on their guarantee multiple times. 

However Dusk Till Dawn owner Rob Yong liked the idea of playing on the pitch of Wembley Stadium so much he stepped in and guaranteed a first prize of €1 million. With the backing of one of the strongest live poker brands in the world, the event picked up a lot of steam and became both plausible and credible.

DTD rescued the ISPT from oblivion but sadly could not hit anywhere near the heights of the originally promised 30,000 players and $30 million guarantee. The event attracted 761 players and Yong was forced to pay a huge overlay to the final table. The eventual winner was Jakub olorion Michalak who took €436,000 after a deal. 

Stay tuned for part 2 of the biggest poker stories of 2013 coming very soon. 

by Barry Carter