Poker training site DragTheBar publicly announced today it is offering elusive online poker star Isildur1 a $250,000 contract to join its roster of coaches.

According to DragTheBar CEO Hunter Bick, included in press-shy Isildur1’s contract is an option to keep his identity a secret. In April, Isildur1 — who has never made a public appearance — supposedly said he would participate in a London-based, made-for-television event called PartyPoker’s Big Game IV, but he failed to show.

Bick said attempts to reach Isildur1 through conventional channels have been unsuccessful.

“We have no other way of reaching Isildur1 other than making a public offer,” Bick said. “He is a one of a kind player, and I think his unique thought process would be a huge addition to our site and add tremendous value for our members. He should know that we’ll keep his identity anonymous if he wants us to."

Bick said that if he is interested, Isildur1 should transfer $5 to BeachJustice on Full Tilt and forward the transfer-receipt email with a message to coaching(at)dragthebar(dot)com. After contact is made, each party will sign a non-disclosure agreement.

The mysterious Isildur1 adrenalized the online poker world when he showed up on Full Tilt Poker in November 2009. Within weeks he was sitting with $1 million-plus across 6-8 tables, while playing the likes of Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and Phil Galfond. Isildur1 took home $5.5 million in two weeks, a streak widely believed to be the most lucrative in the history of online poker.

In mid-December, Brian Hastings won $4 million from Isildur1 in five hours, though soon afterward Hastings admitted he’d been helped in his victory by sharing hand histories with Brian Townsend, a violation of Full Tilt’s terms and conditions.

By the end of the year, Isildur1 had been involved in all 10 of the biggest hands in the history of online poker. By December, he’d lost a nearly $1.4 million pot to Antonius and won a $1.1 million pot from Ivey, making him the only player to have both won and lost a million-dollar pot online.

Isildur1 has since returned to Full Tilt, experiencing seven-figure swings on multiple occasions.

Isildur1 is widely believed to be Swedish phenom Viktor Blom, though Blom has fiercely denied the association.

DragTheBar.com boasts free membership and rakeback options at a variety of poker rooms. It also offers steep discounts for long-term membership purchases. The site’s poker training videos are not digital-rights managed (no DRM) and are compatible with Apple products. Alongside poker, the site also offers backgammon, coached by world champion Bill Robertie.

There is no activation fee for joining DragTheBar.com, which has one membership level for all stakes and multiple payment options. The site is presently offering a 7-day free trial to all prospective members.

After a very long hiatus from releasing poker training videos, Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad is currently working more through PokerVT.  5+ hrs have already been recorded, and maybe even perhaps it might be her revisiting the famous "no peeking" tournament win!  Also note that this is also the first year that Annette will be eligible to play in the WSOP, some exiting news for her, her fans, and PokerVT.  For more information on Annette15 poker training or PokerVT.com, click here for our PokerVT review

Another new poker training site has emerged the past month, and this one looks like it has the potential to be a valuable one.  Tournament Poker Edge officially released last month and promises to provide "Professional MTT training from the top live and online pros."  Though there is a nice initial roster, the main featured instructor has to be the previously unsigned Casey "bigdogpckt5s" Jarzabek.  Casey is currently the #1 ranked online tournament pro according to pocketfives.  This Canadian has been crushing online tournaments the past few years and has over $3 million in tournament winnings.

Other pros coaching on TournamentPokerEdge.com include: Charles “Hagbard Celine” Sizemore, Ryan “HITTHEPANDA” Franklin, Jon “Wein” Wein, Derek “Killingbird” Tenbusch, and “RonFezBuddy”

Poker Training Guide will have a complete Tournament Poker Edge review very soon, stay tuned.

Full Tilt Poker Academy is running a WSOP challenge right now where you can win a FREE seat to the 2010 WSOP Main Event as well as private coaching from a Full Tilt Poker Pro.

Freeroll Your way to the Main Event

From Monday, April 26th to Sunday, June 20th, take the Full Tilt Poker Academy WSOP Main Event Challenge to earn entry to exclusive Academy Challenge Freerolls and play for your seat at the Main Event:

• Sit-N-Learn: Players who complete any Sit-N-Learn will automatically receive one Tournament Ticket for entry to a daily Round 1 Freeroll; finish in the top 100 and you’ll advance to a weekly Round 2 Freeroll

• Academy Challenge: Players who complete any Academy Challenge will automatically receive one Tournament Ticket for entry to a weekly Round 2 Freeroll

Winners of weekly Round 2 Freerolls will advance to the Challenge Final, on Sunday, June 20th, 2010 at 15:00 ET to compete for their $12K Main Event prize package and the chance to learn one-on-one from a member of Team Full Tilt.

Learn from the Pros – in Person

The Academy Challenge winner will also have the opportunity to learn from the pros in person. When you arrive in Las Vegas in July, you'll participate in a one-on-one training session with a member of Team Full Tilt that will be recorded for the Academy web site. Listen closely and ask good questions – if you outlast your instructor in the Main Event, the Academy will give you an extra $5,000!

>>> CLICK HERE TO JOIN FULL TILT POKER ACADEMY FOR FREE <<<

CardRunners New Feature Guide

Cardrunners referrer code:  freetrial

Video Player - The new video player has many new features designed to improve your video watching experience. The player was designed to be functional for learning while also aesthetically pleasing.

Time Stamps – Time stamps are a quick way to identify and mark a certain spot in a video for the purposes of creating Discussion Notes or Personal Notes.

Discussion Notes – Discussion notes mark spots in videos and post comments or questions to be viewed by members and instructors. Discussion notes are saved for later use.

Personal Notes – Personal notes mark spots in videos for notes about concepts or reminders related to the topic. Personal notes cannot be viewed by other members or instructors. Like discussion notes, they can be referred back to at later times.

Shoves – The Shoves page is a resource for the most popular content on CardRunners as well as on external websites. The content is nominated by members and the list is displayed according to popularity in the community. The Shoves page is a great way to stay up to date on everything that is new in both the CR and the poker community!

Playlists – Users now have the ability to create their own customizable playlists of CardRunners videos. These playlists can be shared among members or kept for your own private reference.

Quick Hits – Found on the homepage at CardRunners, the Quick Hits section lists fresh and important CR content.

Content and Philosophy

CardRunners will be increasing the amount of non-video content that we produce. While instructional poker videos are still the core of our learning community, we believe that adding more diverse content to our regular schedule will make for a more enjoyable and educational member experience. This includes poker strategy articles, interviews with pros, poker legislation updates, community updates, poker humor or entertainment, and other topics. Additionally, we will have regular Podcasts and other iPod compatible content available for download.

As you would expect, all of this content is tailored towards the interests of the serious poker player. After all, the common thread that links everyone at CardRunners is that we all want to become better poker players. Some of us are just starting to get serious about the game, others have been professional players for years. No matter where you are on the spectrum, we know you are serious about improving your game and we are here to help you make that happen. Simply put, we aim to provide useful and interesting content for poker players who are interested in improving their skills.

Visit the NEW and improved Cardrunners today!