Welcome to the first of what I hope to be many of the Nose Bleed Updates, where I'll discuss different aspects of the biggest online action. Despite all of the economic turmoil, high stakes cash games continue to flourish. Perhaps the average poker player feels the crunch, but the premier pros in the world seem to be oblivious to any financial plight.

The biggest games in the world used to unfold on a daily basis at Bobby's Room in the Bellagio. Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, and Barry Greenstein played the Big Game in semi-seclusion behind glass walls in a corner of the poker room. Even if you pressed your face up against the glass, you only caught just a small sample of the action. These days, the highest stakes are played out on the virtual felt. You no longer have to visit Las Vegas to railbird the high stakes action; all you have to do now is fire up Full Tilt Poker to watch the likes of Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, and Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies battle it out for six-figure pots.

Every week, the biggest sharks in the world gamble gigantic sums of money in stakes so high that it makes you queasy just watching. The largest pot ever won online was recorded by Di "Urindanger" Dang. At the end of last year, the young pro from Virginia won a pot worth $723,938 against Tom "durrrr" Dwan at the $500-$1,000 no-limit hold 'em tables on Full Tilt. Uridanger and durrrr got it all on a flop of 9-5-4. Uridanger's A-A held up against durrrr's K-K and he won the record-setting pot. At this rate, we're not far away from seeing the first ever $1 million online pot which should unfold sometime this year.

The biggest payout in the month of February was a delicious pot worth over a half-million dollars. Durrrr had the honorable distinction of raking in the $506,878 pot against Zigmund at the $500-$1,000 pot-limit Omaha tables. Durrrr flopped a set of Queens and Zigmund turned a straight to take the lead. However, durrrr prevailed when he rivered a boat to win the hand.

Durrrr also posted one of the biggest losing sessions of the month when Phil Ivey beat the wunderkind for $1.1 million. Durrrr challenged Ivey on his home turf at the infamous Thunderdome-Ivey's heads up $500-$1,000 pot-limit Omaha table on Full Tilt. Ivey manhandled durrrr during the five-hour long session and won a pot worth over $336,000 en route to his seven-figure score.

Mark Vos polished off another successful month at the tables. The brash bracelet winner from Australia is up over $1.6 million in 2009. His controversial tactics, such as playing minimum buyins and "hitting and running," drew fire from the pundits and pros on different message boards, but whatever strategy Vos employed, it's been working.

I also kept an eye on the latest rounds of the Durrrr Challenge. Patrik Antonius and durrrr completed almost 4,000 of the 50,000 hand challenge, with durrrr out in front by almost $150,000. The two played three total sessions, four-tabling $200-$400 pot-limit Omaha. Both players begin play with $40,000 stacks.

After Durrrr took the lead in the opening session, Antonius stormed back with a $191,000 win during the second session, highlighted by a pot worth over $152,000. Antonius flopped aces full of jacks with Ad-Ac-5c-4 after and he trapped Durrrr. When the dust settled, durrrr was felted and Antonius won the largest pot of the session. Antonius took a slight lead overall. During their third session, durrrr banged out a $206,757 win over 1,000 or so hands. Durrrr regained the overall lead, but the two still have 46,000 more hands to go. Check Full Tilt Poker sporadically because you never know when the big dogs are going to play! The software is free to download and well worth the price of admission.

Paul "Dr. Pauly" McGuire is a writer, poker player, and avid traveler from New York City. He's the author of the Tao of Poker blog which can be found at taopoker.blogspot.com. Feel free to contact him at pauly@lasvegasvegas.com.