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At the start of the next Epic Poker League Main Event the EPL will honor Doyle Brunson for his lifetime achievements in the world of poker with the first lifetime exemption for the Epic Poker League according to an Associated Press article.

For his part Brunson sees the honor as “unnecessary” but is happy to accept the honor as a token to remember the struggles players faced in the early days of poker: “Poker had died in Las Vegas,” Brunson told the AP. “I think that was probably the turning point — I don’t know if poker would have ever gotten off the ground or not.” Which is when Brunson wrote the seminal poker strategy book, How I made $1 million Playing Poker (later renamed Super System), “It stimulated poker in a way that I don’t think anything else could have,”

As for the award itself, Brunson had this to say, “It’s unnecessary but I guess it’s nice to be remembered for what we went through to get poker to this point… Most people just don’t realize exactly what all transpired … but we went through some pretty adverse things.”

Obviously the honorific will likely mean Brunson will be playing in the upcoming Epic Poker League Main Event, which could bring other poker pros with Epic Poker League cards out of the woodwork to also participate in the event.

You can read the entire AP article at the following link: APNewsBreak: Doyle gets lifetime Epic poker card

After a three month absence from the online poker tables, Team PokerStars Pro Viktor “Isildur1” Blom returned to the site this past Friday, putting in a pedestrian-like 1,000 hand session that saw the young star drop $26k. Saturday saw Blom drop even more money, and end the day down $120,000 according to the high-stakes tracking site www.highstakesdb.com.

However, on Sunday the losses would be quickly erased as Blom put in a 12-hour long session, where he played over 7,000 hands of PLO spread across 42 separate sessions at PokerStars according to highstakesdb.com. What was the end result of this marathon session you may be asking? Just a $620k win for the Swedish phenom!

The win puts Isildur1 within striking distance of $1 million profit for the year, and cements his reputation as one of the most fearsome, and fearless, online poker players to ever sit at a virtual table.

Blom’s incredible 12-hour session was mainly played at the $100/$200 tables at PokerStars and included everything from heads-up matches to full-ring games. Players in the games ranged from well-known high-stakes regulars like Phil “MrSweets28″ Galfond and Jens “Jeans89” Kylonnen to anonymous nosebleed players like “Fake Love888” and “VietRussian”. The latter of which bore the brunt of Isildur1’s big run ending the day down over $240,000.

It will be interesting how Isildur1 deals with his newfound riches, considering one of his biggest leaks all along has been in pushing the envelope after big wins, but who knows; perhaps the three month break was spent on bankroll management!

After a three-month absence the enigma that is Viktor “Isildur1” Blom returned to the virtual tables at PokerStars this week, ending rampant speculation that the young Swedish star and the world’s largest online poker room had parted ways.

Blom has been MIA in the poker world for some three months now, foregoing his usual multi-tabling exploits at PokerStars –where he is a Team PokerStars Pro—as well as skipping the numerous live events that have been taking place across the European continent. Neither Blom nor PokerStars has made any kind of statement for the prolonged absence of the online poker world’s biggest stars – and we may never know, since we all know how well Isildur1 can keep a secret!

Blom, playing under his infamous Isildur1 screen-name was seen playing several $50/$100 Heads-Up PLO matches against high-stakes regular Gavin “gavz101″ Cochrane and any other willing opponents –according to the tracking site www.highstakesdb.com; Isildur1 played a 1,000-hand session and ended with a $26,000 loss.

Blom’s sabbatical came at the strangest of times, as the young star who has become known for his rollercoaster-like bankroll swings had been on a major upswing, and even with Friday’s losses, highstakesdb.com has Isildur1 listed as a six-figure winner for the year, with profits in the $430,000 range.

We’ll have to wait and see if Isildur1 goes back to multi-tabling the highest stakes games on the Internet, or if he once again disappears for a few months –something he also did after dropping millions at Full Tilt Poker in late 2009 and early 2010.

The latest victory in the three way battle that has been raging all year between Jason Mercier, Erik Seidel, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier for the top spot on the Global Poker Index rankings belongs to ElkY, as the Frenchmen wrested the top spot from Seidel in the rankings.

As for the rest of the leader-board: One phrase can sum up my initial thoughts when I first peered at the recent Global Poker Index (GPI) rankings: “The British are coming!” With the 10 spot jump of Chris Moorman into the Top 10 of the GPI the UK can boast four players in the Top 15 of the GPI rankings. Joining Moorman, who landed at the #8 spot are Sam Trickett at #7, Jake Cody at #11, and Roberto Romanello at #15.

There were quite a few big movers in both directions on the GPI leader-board this week:

Jonathan Duhamel (up 36 spots) and Matt Glantz (up 22 spots) both broke into the Top 30, while Carlos Mortensen, Alexander Kravchenko, Barry Greenstein, Shannon Schorr, Dwyte Pilgrim, Marvin Rettenmaier Martin Czuczor, Victor Ramdin, Chad Brown, Konstantin Puchkov, Noah Schwartz, and Chino Rheem all saw double digit jumps, putting them into the Top 100.

Spiraling downward were Allesio Iaia who fell from 14^th to 25^th, while Matt Marifioti, Hoyt Corkins, Allen Bari, Vanessa Rousso, Bryn Kenney, Eric Froehlich, Hafiz Khan, Amir Lehavot, John Juanda, and Chris De Maci all dropped at least 10 spots in the rankings.

You can take a look at the complete GPI Rankings (The Top 300) by visiting their website at www.globalpokerindex.com

One of my favorite TV poker moments of all-time took place during Season 2 of the PokerStars.net Big Game, when Tony G coined the phrase “I’m Qualified”. The term basically means that you have at least a pair or perhaps a draw of some sort (or in the case of Tony G you have at least a runner-runner draw) that allows you to continue in the hand.

The phrase “I’m Qualified” has now been immortalized by QuadJacks Thomas Keeling (better known as SrslySirius) in one of his Weird Al Yankovick style music video spoofs, aptly titled “Tony G is Qualified”! A comical look at some of Tony G’s funnier televised moments, with Tony providing most of the lyrics himself through some creative editing by Keeling.

The video comes after Keeling was nominated by Wicked Chops Poker in their “Best Poker Rapper” Category, and will probably tip the scales to Keeling, who has produced such legendary videos as Black and Yellow (a tribute to Prahlad Friedman joining UB Poker), Party at the DOJ (A Black Friday themed parody), and What’s My Name (summing up the Girah, jungleman and DogIsHead controversy this past summer).

Keeling will be up against one of the people he has parodied in Prahlad Friedman, as well Brett Richey and Jeff Madsen in the “Best Rapper” category at Wicked Chops.

You can check out the new SrslySirius video “I’m Qualified” at the following YouTube link: Tony G is Qualified