PokerPlayer takes a look back at the biggest winners and sorest losers of the past 12 months
2010 was another great year for online poker. But who were the standout high-stakes players of the past 12 months and who was left tugging at their coat tails? Here’s our in-depth guide to nosebleed poker’s biggest winners and losers of 2010.
Player of the year: Dan ‘jungleman12’ Cates
Cates is a relative newcomer to the nosebleed arena, but a supposed lack of experience didn’t stop the American from dominating all comers over the past 12 months, resulting in an astonishing $5.8 million heater.
jungleman12 is now one of the most recognised names on the circuit, and following his recent crushing on Tom Dwan in the durrrr Challenge, don’t bet against Cates continuing his stellar form into the new decade.
He beat some of poker’s biggest names to top the nosebleed leagues and for that we salute you jungleman12.
Top 5 money winners:*
1 jungleman12 $5,802,411
2 skjervoy $3,778,763
3 durrrr $3,290,140
4 Phil Ivey $2,855,785
5 Urindanger $2,748,261
Fish of the year: Brian Townsend
2010 was a year to forget form the former CardRunners instructor. With the now infamous Isildur1 episode behind him, Townsend failed to show the same form witnessed in 2009, when he walked away from the tables with $2.4 million in his hands.
But 2010 was altogether a different kettle of fish for the Californian pro, as Townsend struggled to get a run going on the high-stakes tables, costing him $2.5 million in the process. Ouch.
Top 5 fish:*
1 Brian Townsend -$2,532,677
2 cadillac1944 -$2,314,709
3 Gus Hansen -$2,201,393
4 Ziigmund -$1,887,300
5 Matatuk -$1,539,661
*as of Jan 5
Pot of the year:
Pot of the year goes to the six-figure monster witnessed last February, when Ilari ‘Ziigmund’ Sahamies, one of 2010’s nosebleed casualties, was on the wrong end of head-spinning $634,776 pot when he ran into Cole South’s nut-flush.
On Full Tilt’s $300/$600 PLO tables, South raised to $1,700 with Jd-As-2d-5s. Ziigmund three-bet to $5,600 with 8d-8c-Ad-4c, before Cole came back over the top for $12,600 more. A 4-8-7 flop, all spades, handed South the nuts and Ziigmund wasn’t shy on getting it all in the middle with his set of eights. The board failed to pair and South gladly raked in the monster pot.
That’s all for 2010, but don’t forget to check out PokerPlayer every Friday for the latest high-stakes news.
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