Unibet Poker launches Fast Poker - their version of FTP Rush Poker

It’s been a winter of mixed fortunes for Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan. After his squeaky clean image and flamboyant poker skills saw him join Team Full Tilt and secure a lucrative stake in Tiltware, the company that owns Full Tilt Poker, he was flattened by the Isildur1 express for $5.2 million.

But his nemesis has since gone into disarray, plunging $2 million into the red after some bitter encounters with Brian Townsend, Ziigmund and Phil Ivey. Dwan finally recorded a winning session last night, racking up a $145k profit at the expense of Urindanger and Patrik Antonius on the $200/$400 6-max PLO tables, and showing his diversity by taking the 7-Game tables for $483k. Highlights included a $404k pot scooped from Cole South. Things got a tasty on a 10 5 2 9 board, with Dwan (4 10 3 9) holding top two pair and an open-ended straight draw. South (A A 6 5) got frisky with his over-pair and nut flush draw, but the 3 on the river was no help to the Cardrunners pro.

2009 has still been a gruelling year for Dwan online, as he reels from a $6.2 million deficit. However his live successes, (High Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark, and more recently at the ‘live’ durrrr challenge in London where he took brash UK entrepreneur Sammy George for $500k) means Dwan might just be able to afford to put the turkey on the table this Christmas. Dwan’s addition to Team Full Tilt, and not just the Full Tilt pro roster, means he joins founding fathers Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Phil Ivey and will reap the financial benefits accordingly.

Meanwhile Full Tilt Poker has bolstered its professional roster with the addition of Jani ‘KobyTapout’ Vilmunen to its ranks. Finland seems to have an uncanny knack of producing successful high stakes players, with the likes of Patrik Antonius, Ziigmund and LarzLuzak all proving their mettle. Vilmunen is regarded as an Omaha specialist, having triumphed at the £5k PLO WSOPE event in September for $336k.

In other tournament news, former Irish football legend Tony Cascarino proved he has made a smooth transition from the pitch to the green felt by winning the GUKPT Grand Final in London. Cascarino bested a field of 182 players, including shrewd PokerStars pro Vicky Coren and Marc Goodwin, before defeating Antoine Arnault heads-up for £168k. Cascarino couldn’t wait to rub salt in the wound of his former wife, who he divorced this year, expressing his, ‘delight that she won’t be getting her hands on any of this’.