Last week, PokerStars announced that the mysterious high-stakes phenom Isildur1 had signed on to become the latest member of Team PokerStars Pro. At the same time, a new promotion, the SuperStar Showdown, was launched, allowing all comers to take on Isildur1 in a nosebleed stakes heads-up match. On Tuesday, Isildur1’s first opponent was revealed.
On Sunday, December 19th at 6:00pm ET, Isaac “philivey2694” Haxton will put $150,000 on the line, as he takes on Isildur1 at four tables of $50/$100 No Limit Hold’em. The young Haxton is well known throughout the poker community and, in addition to his cash game success, has put together a nice record on the live tournament circuit in just a few short years.
He burst onto the scene in early 2007 with a runner-up finish in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, cashing for $861,789. Then, he came through in big way again, finishing second in the $40,000 No Limit Hold’em event at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), banking over $1.1 million. All told, he has 13 WSOP cashes and three WPT cashes, which have contributed significantly to his almost $3 million in live tournament winnings.
Isildur1 has become a railbird’s dream since he jumped into high-stakes online games just over a year ago. He has been involved in the 10 largest pots in online poker history and was the first player ever to lose a million dollar pot. This year, he has seen his online bankroll top out at $5.3 million.
The PokerStars SuperStar Showdown is more or less a mini version of Tom “durrrr” Dwan’s Million Dollar Challenge. Matches between Isildur1 and his challenger will be played across four tables simultaneously at minimum stakes of $50/$100. No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha will be the permitted games.
The matches will last either 2,500 total hands or until one of the players goes bust, whichever happens first. The winner is simply the player who ends up with the most money. Anyone who is willing to pony up 1,500 big blinds can issue a challenge to Isildur1 by e-mailing PokerStars.
PokerStars is also running a series of online qualifying tournaments, giving the winners the opportunity to take on Isildur1 heads-up at one-tenth of the minimum stakes of the standard SuperStar Showdown, or $5/$10. Round 1 qualifiers include a daily $10 + $1 tournament with a 512-player cap and 4,096-runner capacity freerolls held each Saturday. The winner of each Round 1 tournament advances to the Final (the $11 tournament also distributes cash prizes).
The Finals will be held on February 13th and April 10th, with the two winners receiving the seat across the virtual table from Isildur1. In the lower stakes Showdowns, if either Isildur1 or his challenger stacks his opponent, he will receive an additional $10,000 from PokerStars.
Anyone can watch the SuperStar Showdown between Isildur1 and Haxton on Sunday night. The tables can be found under the “Hold’em” tab, then “No Limit/Pot Limit.” Both money and pride are on the line as the first in hopefully a long series of challengers steps up to the plate against the unnamed high-stakes star.
