PokerStars, arguably the largest online poker room on the Internet, has just added to its elite team of professional poker players. Jude Ainsworth has signed on to be their newest member.

Ainsworth comes with pedigree. He’s probably most famous for his 1st place tournament win at the PartyPoker Irish Poker Championships last year, where he cleaned up to the tune of €180,000 (about $268,000). This is most likely what first tipped the PokerStars team to his presence.

But it was his performance at this year’s PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker that most likely sealed the deal. The $10,000+$300 buy in makes this a tournament not for the faint of heart, but Ainsworth outlasted a field of more than 500 players to take down the coveted first place prize. He cashed almost a million dollars. Download www.pokerstars.com and play against the pros!

If you view Ainsworth’s profile on most sites, you might think he hardly plays, but that’s because they don’t track the online stats, which is where he crushes. What’s remarkable about Ainsworth is that, of the tournaments he’s participated in in the last two years, he’s made it all the way to the final table more than 40% of the time, and has never walked away without cashing more than he bought in for. So while he may not be the flashiest player, he’s a solid grinder.

Ainsworth will be representing Team PokerStars Pro at the UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT), which kicks off in December this year in Galway, Ireland.

Monday the 16th of November saw the biggest online pot ever change hands between two of the world’s elite players, and it went down at Full Tilt Poker. Antonius was facing off against Isuldur1, the unidentified poker player who has been crushing the poker world’s elite for the last week or so.

The two were playing heads up Pot Limit Omaha with deep stacks – both players had well over $400,000 each when the hand commenced. The players posted blinds, and Antonius received 6h-Ah-Qc-9s while Isuldur1 got Qd-10h-Ks-As. Isuldur1’s hand may look strong, but remember that in Omaha, you’re only allowed to use 2 cards from your 4 card hand. Isuldur1 raised to $3,000 and Antonius called.

The flop came down 5h-7h-Qs, giving both players a pair of Queens but no clear advantage – although Antonius now had possible line on a straight. The betting went up to $21,000 – nothing much at this level – and then the river brought an Ace. Download www.fulltiltpoker.com and try to take down a record pot of your own!

Both players now saw themselves with 2 pairs, and this kicked off a flurry of betting. Antonius raised to $48,000, Isuldur1 cranked it to $192,000, and Antonius responded by going all in. Isuldur1 called it, creating a record breaking pot of $878,959!

Things were extremely tense, but the river card came down 8d, giving Antonius his straight and the largest pot in the history of online poker.

Isuldur1 was left with just $11,000 on the table. His identity remains unknown, but an unsubstantiated rumour is doing the rounds claims that he is Viktor Blom.

This week while playing $10/$20 No Limit Hold’em on Carbon Poker, we were in a position to view a classic Bad Beat up close and personal. Names have been changed to protect the miserable.

So, we’ve been grinding away for about two hours, and the table is not soft. But by this stage everyone’s worked out who the maniacs and who the fish are, and things have settled into a mildly competitive session of who can lay the best traps.

Now, on the hand in question, everyone folded out but the blinds. Big Blind raises to $40 rather than checks, and after some thought, Small Blind calls.

The flop comes down 10c-Jc-6h – someone’s potentially holding a flush. Small Blind checks, but Big Blind raises $200. These are big numbers for a $10/$20 game, but not unheard of. Small Blind calls.

The turn brings the Qc – the threat of a flush is now palpable. Small Blind checks. Big Blind raises $200, but Small Blind seems to be feeling confident about something, because he shoves all in. Perhaps he was expecting Big Blind to fold, but instead he called instantly.

There is now close to $11,000 in the pot, and the tension around the table is intense. The players reveal their cards – Small Blind is holding 8c-9c, the natural straight – no wonder he was so confident.

Imagine his horror when Big Blind turned over Kc-Ac. It doesn’t come any more crushing than that.