The 20 Best Moments in Poker in 2013: 5-1

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Sure, ranking them on such an arbitrary and unquantifiable scale such as "best" and "worst" is a fool's errand.

But that's never stopped us before. Enjoy (and share your thoughts in the comments)!

5. WSOP Asia-Pacific Debuts

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The World Series of Poker expanding to another continent (again) is pretty big, right? Especially if that continent/region of the world is home to well over a billion people.

Taking place at the Crown Casino in Melbourne the first-ever WSOP APAC saw fairly modest attendance levels but some truly magical moments.

Phil Ivey won a bracelet. Daniel Negreanu won the Main Event. Aussie Aaron Lim won a bracelet on home soil. The Caesars Cup ... well, it happened.

But still. This was a first-class event from beginning to end and we were thrilled to be there as the official live reporting partner.

Moving to the Fall for 2014 and alternatng year-on-year with the WSOP Europe going forward, this event will be a global poker centerpiece for years to come.

4. Heinecker Tops $10m in Earnings. FOR THE YEAR

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It took Chris Moorman many, many years to hit $10m in tournament cashes online. Germany's Niklas Heinecker just made that much in less than a calendar year.

Which is just absurd, really.

Granted Heinecker's cashes were buoyed by a $4.4m win at the turbo-style GuangDong Asia Millions. But still. Piling up an additional $5.5m in online high-stakes cash games against the likes of Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, Ben "Ben86" Tollerene and Phil Galfond is no joke.

Mike "Timex" McDonald even went so far as to call him one of the top 5 players in the world which, given the $10m thing ... story checks out.

3. US Full Tilt Poker Player Claims Processed

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Ok, sure. No American poker players actually received any of their money back in 2013. But getting 75% of the way there (80%? 85%?) is a big f'ing deal.

2. Negreanu Wins APAC Main Event, WSOP Player of the Year

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We won't beat this to death as we've covered it relentlessly already. But man .Daniel Negreanu really crushed 2013, didn't he?

Any one of his accomplishments alone would be enough for a monster year but winning his second career WSOP Player of the Year title - something that might never be done again - could be his greatest moment in poker. And that's saying a lot.

1. Online Poker Returns to US

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It's limited to just three states. And off to a slow start, traffic-wise (although 100,000 account sign-ups in New Jersey has to count for something).

But a select few American poker players played legal, real-money hands of poker this year. And it's hard to think of anything bigger than that.

More Best and Worst Moments in Poker in 2013