Come up with a good one

The time has come for a contest where your participation is very important. Can you come up with the best Chuck Norris Poker Fact?

If you can, submit it to us and you might win the infinite glory as Norris Extraordinaire. If you do not, Chuck Norris will roundhouse-kick you in the face.

Chuck Norris poker facts

Top contestants so far:

“Chuck Norris sold his soul to the devil for his rugged good looks and unparalleled martial arts ability. Shortly after the transaction was finalized, Chuck roundhouse kicked the devil in the face and took his soul back. The devil, who appreciates irony, couldn’t stay mad and admitted he should have seen it coming. They now play poker every second Wednesday of the month.”

“Chuck Norris owns the greatest poker face of all-time. It helped him win the 1983 world series of poker despite him holding just a joker, a 2 of clubs, a 7 of spades, and a green number 4 from Uno and a monopoly ‘get out of jail free’ card.”

You can always tell how popular a tournament is by the number of poker pros in the field, and while the EPT, WPT, APPT and other tournament circuits split the ranks of poker players throughout the year, only a few tournaments seem to draw the entire poker world together, and the Aussie Millions is one of them.

The Aussie Millions has also become synonymous with high-stakes cash game action, where players like Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey and the rest of the poker superstars can be seen battling it out with millions on the table.
The 2010 Aussie Millions tournament begins January 14th and ends on the 31st, with the $10,500 Championship Event that will cap off the 20 tournament series.

Frank doesn’t gamble himself –at all—but has a very good reason for championing this cause: “The government shouldn’t tell people what to do with their own money.” Amazingly, you would assume this line of thought would come from the conservative side of the aisle –which as a core principle are against big government involving itself in people’s lives—but Frank, and most of the other supporters in Congress, are from the Democratic Party! At the same time, the opponents of legalizing and regulating the online poker industry come from the Republican side! With regards to this issue up is down, and black is white.

Basically, what has happened is that online gaming has become a social issue, which has flipped its proponents and opponents on its head. With the conservative right pouring money into republicans who are socially conservative it’s unlikely the end-game will be settled for years to come.

Poker is a zero-sum game. All of the money won has to come at the expense of somebody that lost. So it doesn’t matter if a player loses $50, $100 or $1,000 or more, as long as the ability (you have to be sure you are playing vs. opponents you can beat) and games exist to get it back.

Even with my total acceptance of this logic, it’s hard to fathom what went down last week when Patrik Antonius and (screen name) Isildur1 played a single pot worth more than $1.35 million on FullTiltPoker.com. It set a record for the online poker industry and was played in a $500/$1,000 game of pot-limit Omaha.

Omaha is played similarly to Hold ‘Em with the five community cards, but instead of being dealt two, players get four and must use two to make a five-card hand.

Pot-limit is just as it sounds, keeping players from betting more than the total value of the pot, but it’s deceiving. It’s common for pot-limit Omaha pots to exceed what is found in no-limit Hold ‘Em, because every flop has the potential to make a wide variety of big hands and draws.

Here’s how the historic hand went down, according to multiple online reports:

Antonius was dealt Ah-3s-Ks-Kh in the big blind, and Isildur1 had 6d-7d-8h-9s in the small blind.

Isildur1 was first to act and bet out $2,500. Antonius, playing the strength of his kings and double-suited hand, raised it to $8K. Isildur1 countered with a $24K raise. Antonius fired back $72K — we are now approaching starter-home figures.

Isildur1 calls, putting a whopping $162K into the pot to see a flop.

The cards come down 4s-5c-2h, giving Isildur1 an open-ended straight draw while Antonius’ wheel straight held the lead.

Antonius bet $72K, triggering another back-and-forth battle. Isildur1 raised to $435K and Antonius fired back $688K.

Pot-committed, which is a fancy way of saying he can’t fold due to the money involved, Isildur1 moved the final $162,473.50 remaining in his stack into the middle. Antonius called, swelling the pot to $1,358,947 and setting a new record.

The turn card was the 5h. The 9c fell on the river, giving Antonius the pot with his straight, besting Isildur1′s 9s-9c-5c-5h-8h.

For such a historic pot, you’d think each player would have had more going for him.

Antonius is well known throughout the poker industry as one of the game’s fiercest cash game players and a television staple. Still, that’s a lot of money to risk with a small straight in a game like Omaha.

As for Isildur1, whoever finds out his identity will be the first. He’s been a mysterious figure since arriving on the Internet scene months ago.

It’s possible Isildur1 didn’t know the rules of Omaha and thought he flopped the nut straight — a classic blunder.

It’s clear he’s comfortable playing for big money when you watch him in action, but this one had to hurt badly.