Richest Online Poker Session Ever Heads PokerListings.com MarketPulse Report for October

Poker's biggest names and brashest young guns couldn't get enough of the high-stakes online Hold'em action last month, and the results, as tracked by PokerListings.com's MarketPulse software, were record-shattering. Among the online poker marks toppled in October: biggest pot in online poker history ($732k), richest session ever and biggest stack on the table ($1.2 million), leaving only one question lingering for November -- can online poker's first-ever $1 million pot be far behind?

Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles (PRWEB) November 6, 2008 -- Poker's biggest names and brashest young guns couldn't get enough of the high-stakes online Hold'em action last month, and the results, as tracked by PokerListings.com's MarketPulse (http://www.pokerlistings.com/market-pulse) software, were record-shattering.

Among the online poker marks toppled in October: biggest pot in online poker history ($732k), richest session ever and biggest stack on the table ($1.2 million), leaving only one question lingering for November -- can online poker's first-ever $1 million pot be far behind?

"The numbers we've been seeing over the last couple of months in online poker," says Hannah Mayen, media relations director for PokerListings.com, "and in October in particular, are simply mind-boggling.

"Million-dollar stacks on the tables, literally dozens of pots over $400,000 … Put it this way: it took over 11 years to see online poker's first $600k pot, which came only in September. Since then, that record has been broken five times -- and the new standard sits over $100,000 higher.

"It's a brave new world for online poker, and who knows just how high it will go?"

No doubt about it, the record-breaking action in October has been predominately fueled by two factors:

1) A massive demand for high-stakes Hold'em games, and the subsequent addition of a second $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em table at Full Tilt Poker (dubbed "GusHeaven" and with a reserved seat for Gus Hansen, complementing the existing "RailHeaven" table).

And 2) The frequent presence at those tables of two very deep-pocketed high-stakes "fish" that go by the online handles of "lady marmelade" and "elmariachimacho." (Both, interestingly enough, rumored to be billionaire Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté.)

Whoever they may be, they've almost single-handedly kept the games flush with players trying to take advantage and donated over $3 million to the coffers of their online foes last month, according to the MarketPulse Top 100 Online Player Losses list (http://www.pokerlistings.com/market-pulse/poker-player-stats/money-losses).

Surprisingly, however, they didn't factor in to the aforementioned "richest session ever," which happened just over a week ago (Oct. 26) and saw the record for biggest pot broken an astonishing four times on the night before settling in at awe-inspiring $723,941.

See a full recap of the record-breaking session here (http://www.pokerlistings.com/biggest-night-ever-for-online-poker-32045), and watch all of the record-breaking pots in the PokerListings.com Hand Replayer here (http://www.pokerlistings.com/market-pulse/biggest-pots).

"What we're witnessing these days," Mayen adds, "is truly a watershed for online poker.

"You've got the biggest stars in the game -- the likes of Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, David Benyamine; the game's brightest young stars in Tom 'durrrr' Dwan and Phil 'OMGClayAiken' Galfond; huge fish with virtually unlimited bankrolls, and a revolving door of unknowns scraping together $50k to take a shot at the big game."

"It's an old-fashioned free-for-all, and It's really only a matter of time before we see more records fall, including online poker's first $1 million pot -- and PokerListings.com's MarketPulse section will have every last detail."

For a full look at the most comprehensive "real-time" statistical breakdown in the online poker industry, visit the full PokerListings.com MarketPulse (http://www.pokerlistings.com/market-pulse) section.

About PokerListings.com's MarketPulse:

Automatically tracking and analyzing nearly 20 million online poker hands every month, PokerListings.com's new MarketPulse section is the most comprehensive statistical "snapshot" of the online poker industry ever developed. Biggest pots in the last day, week, month and year with full hand histories; traffic volume and trends across all poker rooms; statistical breakdowns for all Hold'em limits and table-types; summary profiles for over 3.5 million online players … just some of the statistics you'll find, all in an easy-to-read format and updated every hour, giving unprecedented access to "real-time" online poker statistics.

About PokerListings.com:

PokerListings.com (http://www.pokerlistings.com) was launched in 2003 and quickly became the largest online poker guide in the world. It provides poker players with in-depth reviews of all major online poker rooms, the world's best sign-up bonuses and promotions, breaking poker news and detailed content on strategy, tours, tournaments and the game's best players. PokerListings.com also has the best live poker tournament reporting on the Web, with unrivaled year-round coverage from the WSOP, the World Poker Tour, the European Poker Tour and more.

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