Poker Hall Of Fame

Veronika Larsen: The Queen Of Poker

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 08:29:00 +0000

Poker has been around for a long time and back then it was only the man's best game. It is a sport that has been in man dominated world until women conquer the poker world like a lightning. Most of female poker players has a combine their gorgeous looks with their aggressive poker skills and charming bluffing techniques.

Nowadays, men think poker as not only with male poker legends like Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan or Phil Hellmuth but they are lurking for some sexy female poker players that dominates the poker world. One of the best female poker player is Veronika Larsen with a combination of oozing sexiness, attractive and a great poker skills.

The Norway's pride has also added a lot of things to the sports and gaming world as Veronika Larsen is a very skillful poker pro and considered to be one of the best poker players in the poker history.

In 2006, Veronika Larsen started getting to get interest in poker when she was crowned as the "Poker Queen". While it may seem as if she is a favorite simply because of her good looks, it should be known that her reputation as the queen of poker has come not only because she is a sexy, intelligent but because she is one of the best texas hold'em players in the world.

As the sponsored of a renowned online poker room Betsson, Veronika Larsen earned so much fame during the European Poker Tour. However, as she is not currently active in the poker limelight, or even quitting her day job and committing to life as a poker pro in which its her calling she embraced with enthusiasm. She got the attention of a lot of the enthusiasts and fellow poker players by ranking higher stands at the European Ladies Championship.

Recently, Veronika Larsen is not much active is some poker tournaments, but you can even play with her more on cash games and online poker. This doesn't mean that she is not a common sight at EPT events. Still at a young age, Veronika Larsen has more decades of poker ahead of her. It probably won't be long before she starts showing up at the other big poker events as well as the associated television shows and modeling.

Moreover, you can even see her playing poker at European Poker Tournaments every year. With each passing day she is becoming a better poker player and even more sexier and more players are recognizing her poker dexterity.

A lot of professional poker players foresee Veronika Larsen as the most dominating female professional poker tournaments for decades to come. Continuing her prowess and charming techniques to bait men on her venom, no wonder why she is on the list of the poker hall of fame.

The Professor In Online Poker Industry

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 11:51:00 +0000

Did you know that Howard Lederer has placed poker up to 70 hours a week for 2 years and now he is considered ar kone of the best poker players like Jay Heimowitz as well as Dan Harrington. These are just a few of the big, huge names that Howard Lederer has been playing with for years.

Howard Lederer is on of the top poker players in the world as he is one out of 4 poker players with WSOP bracelets and multiple WPT victories such as Daniel Negreanu, Carlos Mortensen and Barry Greenstein are the others. Apart from poker, he is a world-class chess champion and member of the legendary Mayfair Club, he is credited by his sister, Annie Duke for teaching her how to play poker and he’s developed a four-staged evolutionary chart for the course of a poker master.

As most players called him “The Professor”, as Howard Lederer is the best when it comes to analytical, systematic style of play that gives him a huge advantage. Just like lots of poker pros, Howard Lederer has a strong background in other strategic games like chess and backgammon, which has helped him immensely at the poker table.

Howard Lederer began playing poker in an unusual manner; growing up he was a skilled chess player and attended Columbia University in New York City. In New York he played chess at many of the famous New York City Chess clubs, and this is where he met some of his future poker players, Eric Seidel and Dan Harrington. These players introduced him to the game of poker, and his life would never be the same.

Poker player Howard Lederer has recently focused on the business side of poker, which has turned out to be a very lucrative market for him. He is one of the featured teachers on Fox Sports Network's Learn From the Pros TV show. Also, he is the host of Fox Sports Network's Poker Superstars Invitational, although he also plays the event from time to time. In addition to that, he offers a Fantasy Poker Camp to players who'd like to learn from their favorite pros.

In 2000, Howard won the WSOP $5,000 Omaha High-Low Split event, winning $198,000 in prize money. He picked up another win and another $165,870 at the WSOP $5,000 Deuce to Seven event the next year.

In 2003, Howard did exceptionally well, winning both the WPT $5,000 Limit Hold’em tournament and the $2,500 Bellagio Five-Star WPC, and his fans went berserk. As if that was not enough, the next year Howard won the booty at the Bellagio Five-Star WPC/WPT, playing the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha and $2,500 No Limit Hold’em games.

If he is not in the poker table, Howard Lederer also enjoys spending time with his two sons, discussing poker with his sister, and gambling on other activities such as golf and board games. Howard Lederer is a strict vegetarian and has been obese for most of his life, that he under went gastric bypass surgery to help him lose weight.

Sexy Celebrity Poker Player Profile

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 12:39:00 +0000

When it comes to celebrities that play poker, the undisputed Queen of the tables is Jennifer Tilly. She came out of nowhere last year, winning the Ladies WSOP bracelet and a Ladies WPT championship. Over the last year her impact has been as important to the growth of the game as any other player's. The sexy poker player is already 39th on the WSOP all-time women's money list, and she's improving every day.

Her career has spanned over three decades and includes over 80 acting credits. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as a struggling actress named Olive Neal in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway in 1994. She's appeared on many No. 1 T.V. shows over the years including "Cheers", "Hill Street Blues", and "Frazier". Jennifer Tilly was also busy appearing in bit parts, in films such as Moving Violations, Inside Out, Remote Control, He's My Girl, and Rented Lips, one year after the other.

Jennifer Tilly was making the television rounds, with a role as an extra on Days of Our Lives, to a recurring role on Hill Street Blues in 1984. That year she was cast as Shannon Winters on the short-lived sitcom, Shaping Up, and followed it up with guest appearances on Remington Steele, Cheers, and another recurring role on It's Gary Shandling's Show.

In 1988, Jennifer Till has also made an appearance to Johnny Be Good which featured a young Uma Thurman, Jennifer appeared in High Spirits. After roles in Let It Ride and Far From Home, Jennifer was finally recognized for her role as auditioning singer Blanche "Monica" Moran in 1989's The Fabulous Baker Boys.

When she is not acting or doing voice-overs, poker pro Jennifer Tilly is tearing it up playing poker. Tilly holds a coveted WSOP bracelet after winning the Ladies’ No Limit Texas Holdem event at the 2005 WSOP. She has also been on several of the popular poker TV shows including the World Poker Tour where she won the ladies invitational in 2005, GSN’s Poker Royale and the Celebrity Poker Showdown.

She followed up this accomplishment on September 1, 2005 by also winning the third World Poker Tour Ladies Invitational Tournament held at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. She also appeared in the third season of Poker Superstars but was eliminated in the preliminary round.

Jennifer Tilly is currently dating poker professional Phil “The Unabomber” Laak and has even picked up the nickname “The Unabombshell” in the poker world. She was married to The Simpsons producer, Sam Simon, but divorced in 1991.

Jennifer Tilly's poker career began around the same time her romance with a young poker player named Phil Laak began. Right now, Jennifer says that she is more interested in pursuing professional poker than acting. In fact, she has completely immersed herself in the world of poker. She is in The Poker Movie, a 2006 documentary film that features interviews with several poker professionals, including Phil Gordon, Jennifer Harman, and Howard Lederer.

Joe “Hash” Hachem Poker Player Information

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:49:00 +0000

One of the best poker players in the history, an Australian poker player which originally from Lebanon, Joe Hachem became an instant poker celebrity when he claimed the $7 million main prize at the 2005 World Series of Poker.

It was with the movie Rounders when poker pro Joe Hachem started playing the Manila version of poker for fun during his teenage years and decided to try his luck playing live at the Crown Casino in Melbourne. He studied medicine, eventually qualifying as a chiropractor. However, in 2002, at the age of 36, Joe Hachem was forced to give up his career as a chiropractor due to the diagnosis of a rare blood disease.

Having a rare blood disease doesn't stop Joe Hachem in playing poker, instead he began working as a mortgage broker and devoting more time to poker playing regular live games in Melbourne and online at PokerStars.com.

Considering as one of the top poker players in the industry, Joe Hachem won several key Australian tournaments, enough to justify Joseph's ambition to be a professional card player. He played at the Crown Casino in Melbourne. Building up an enough of a bankroll that he was able to enter the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event through the $10,000 buy in. Only three other non-Americans had ever won the main event, but no one from the Pacific Rim had ever done so.

In 2005, his poker career skyrocketed when he survived a field of 5619 players to win the World Series of Poker No Limit Hold’em Championship Main Event and $7.5 million in first place prize money. Poker player Joe Hachem was only at the world series in Las Vegas because a friend had won an entry via an online satellite. He decided to buy-in for $10,000 and test his luck in the main event, and the rest is poker history.

Joe Hachem also made some poker tournaments such as finishing at 5th at the 2005 WSOP Tournament Circuit event at Paris/Bally's in Las Vegas, which brought him nearly $90,000. He also ended up 7th at the Bellagio Friday/Saturday No Limit Hold 'Em Tournament. And just recently, Joseph Hachem won money at the PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure.

Although Joe Hachem made a success in poker tournaments, he made a lot of losing streak over the World Series in 2006, defeated in December 2006, winning numerous professionals in the Five Diamond World Classic, the figure of $ 2,207,575, above all a victory in another poker tournament in the world most prestigious.

One of the best poker playing style of Joe Hachem that keeps him winning is his notorious for his explosive temper and unpredictable style of play. His tendency to play to the river with weaker hands makes him a bad beat risk for his opponents, and he takes advantage of this by playing all his hands very aggressively.

Now that he is in his million dollar life, Joe Hachem is a sponsored PokerStars.com player, the devoted family man to whom "nothing is more important than family" has the resources to travel to international tournaments with his wife and four children in pursuit of the best poker the world has to offer.

The Best Female Poker Player In History

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 10:21:00 +0000

One of the most hottest female poker player that hits the poker industry is none other than Jennifer Harman, as she is considered to be one of the most fierce competitors found at a poker table. Knowing poker as a sport, Jennifer Harman proves that even a girl can dominate in the gamer of poker. As she was in the Fulltilt Poker Team and keeps on winning.

Her successful relationship with the game of poker began when she was just an 8 year old little girl who is observing her father's game. In the many times that her father would lose two to three hundred, she was put in the game in the attempt to get even with his friends who were his playmates. And her father made no mistake of putting her in as she won most of the time.

It was when she turned 21 that she started playing poker professionally. By playing games with increasing limits, she was able to gradually work her way to the top. Despite her huge winnings, she has remained disciplined with her spending and investing styles thus maintaining her hefty bankroll.

Despite having success in tournament plays that some can only achieve in their wildest dreams, Jennifer Harman prefers cash games. She is often included in the list of poker players in the world's largest live-action game in Las Vegas. The top poker player Jennifer Harman prefers cash games because decisions are based on play of hands and opponent estimations whereas in tournaments, one has to consider several factors in coming up with a single decision such as marginal situations and chip conservation.

In 2004 when poker pro Jennifer Harman had to quit playing poker because she needed a kidney transplant, but when she returned to poker, she returned with a bang. She finished 4th in the World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic and also finished 5th in the first Professional Poker Tour event. Her kidney transplant inspired her to found Creating Organ Donor Awareness (CODA).

Her success can be attributed to the fact that she constantly seeks ways to learn fresh ideas about poker. Moreover, she enjoys challenging matches with the champions in the field, seeing these as learning experiences. As a matter of fact, she prepared for an unfamiliar alternative poker game by watching the games several times before actually playing. Prior to the tournament, she had tutorials from a pro. This careful albeit simple preparation technique proves to be really beneficial as she has several winnings under her belt.

Jennifer Harman's gender appears to be the reason why some patronize her. She actually sees this as an advantage as most men perceive women as poor poker players. Because of this, male players often try to bluff their cash on her to no avail as she proves to be excellent in spotting bluffs. The world of poker is still dominated by men thus earning respect of other players may prove to be difficult.

This is actually something she is not too concerned about as she is perfectly okay with the respect given to her by husband Mario Traniello and her close friends. Indeed, hard-working players like her are a gem in the poker industry.

The November Nine Chip Leader Poker Profile

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 10:22:00 +0000

Best poker player Jonathan Duhamel has earned a 65 million-chip lead for the 2010 WSOP main event’s final table. This young player chipped up in a big way in the 2010 WSOP and used up his arsenal strategically to play big stacks in poker games, exceeding the expectations of many spectators and poker pros gathered at the prestigious event.

Becoming a poker player was not his plan. He initially enrolled in college, hoping that he would get a finance-related job after he graduated. That obviously wasn't to be. He ended up quitting, becoming a poker player. Jonathan Duhamel is the chip leader by quite a margin sitting on over 60 million chips with the second place player holding around 45 million.

Entitled as the chip leader, Jonathan Duhamel makes a powerful accomplishment making his profile as of the top poker players in history. Being placed in 17^th on the leaderboard with a position he entered the 7th day of the main event with a stunning 4.30 million in chips but stunned the organizers and other players alike by boosting this amount to a staggering 8 million in just a few hours!

There is really no question about what makes Duhamel the chip leader as he coolly entered the 2010 WSOP November Nine competition and has his huge stack of 65.98 million backing him up all the way. John Dolan who is at second place has 50% less than Duhamel, which makes Duhamel’s win more commendable than ever.

Another of his memorable moves took place at the Main Event’s final table when Duhamel had the chip lead and managed to knockout Matt by calling the latter’s all-in using pocket jacks when the board had 10-9-7-Q. His opponent had come up aces while he had gone down to the river on 10 outs but when an 8 hit the board, Jonathan Duhamel found it easy to shock the pot that had reached a fat 42 million in chips. This healthy pot equaled 20% of the playing total.

Jonathan Duhamel had picked finance as his major in college and the cool, logical thinking taught in theories back in the classroom seem to have filtered through and stayed embedded in Duhamel’s competitive mind because when he needed to make a particularly tough decision during the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max tournament, he picked up $6000 approx, though he finished in 50!

However, as far as his poker game strategies are concerned, his best work was witnessed during European Poker Tour and not the US events because here Duhamel shone at the final table worth of 5000 Euros, raking in 55,000 Euros as prize money in his favorite No Limit Hold'em event held at Prague.

Poker pro Jonathan Duhamel had featured among a strong list of final 10 participants that include Canadian poker champ Andrew Chen, WSOP bracelet owner Sebastian Ruthenberg as well as serious competition in Nasr El Nasr, all of whom he surpassed to bag this international honor.

One of the most remarkable career spot for Jonathan Duhamel came during the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure where this energetic young player entered the Main Event and bagged $17,000 in cash prize even as he exited the game at 151st place and so continues to be one of Pokerstars’s top champs that are solid examples of this biggest online poker room's possibilities for even bigger wins!

Lacey Jones: The Sexy Poker Barbie

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 11:20:00 +0000

Aside from being a celebrity, a sexy model and a poker hostess, Lacey Jones is also one of the best female poker player in history. By the time Lacey Jones was all of 16 years old, she was offered an attractive modeling job and had to fly to Hong Kong and Japan; however her father dissuaded her from taking it up as he wanted her to pursue her education.

At the age of 22, Lacey Jones completed her BA in Political Science and French at the University of Arizona. With hot and scorching body and a barbie-like face Lacey Jones became a familiar face in the world of modeling, and she began working with the big names in the industry- Daimler Chrysler, Panasonic, Sony, Nike Golf, Playboy Leather Collection, Mac and Co, St. John, Carolina Herrera, and others.

The hot and sexy Lacey Jones set foot on the acting field and bagged herself some quality roles for The O.C. and Entourage shows. A successful model as well as a successful actress, Lacey Jones' career graph was at an all time high.

Lacey Jones started playing poker as a young girl around the family card table which soon led to playing and winning hands through college. While finishing her degree in political science, she pitted her poker skills against her male frat-boys and quickly learned she could really play. While she was learning to play, she was also learning to win. And in 2005, Lacey Jones was invited to compete in an ESPN event as a model. Before the event was set to start, she insisted she could play.

In 2008, Lacey Jones was the Co-Host of The Real Deal! at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas while also gracing the cover of Bluff Magazine in their November 2008 issue. This was 1 of only 3 covers in Bluff circulation history to feature a woman.

Currently poker pro Lacey Jones continues to be a force in the poker world. In 2009, she was a Borgata Poker Spokesmodel for January and September’s Winter Poker Open in Atlantic City. Lacey has also hosted interviews at the 2009 WSOP for ESPN 360, wsop.com, and Bluff Magazine.

She even hosted the official kick off party for 2009 World Series of Poker, while also being the official Hostess of the 2009 World Series of Poker Final Table Main Event. November of 2009 brought Lacey to Fox Sports new poker show, Poker2Nite, where she was their roving reporter, interviewing the biggest stars of the poker world.

In addition to all of that, for the fourth year in a row Lacey Jones has been the media darling and tournament hostess for Canada’s largest event, The British Colombia Poker Championship. Top poker player Lacey Jones did much more than just hosting and interviews in 2009.

The sexy poker player accomplished everything from high model fashion runway for St. John and Valentino, to winning 3rd place in the 2009 WPS Costa Rica Showdown. She has even starred in a hip hop video and landed large modeling billboard campaigns with gaming giants LUXOR hotel and MGM Skylofts.

In fact, Lacey Jones is notorious in LA and Las Vegas for editorial, runway, print and television and during her free time Lacey Jones loves staying in touch with her loyal fan base online, while also working on her first book.

The Rock In Poker World

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:59:00 +0000

One of the best poker player regardless of no World Series of Poker or World Poker Tour victory who has amassed over $4,000,000 in live tournament earnings. Although Andy Bloch extremely blackjack card counter, but he pursue poker as his profession. As a member of MIT Blackjack team Andy Bloch was banned from over 360 casinos worldwide for counting cards in blackjack.

As a poker player with 2 degrees from MIT and a JD from Harvard Law School, it comes as no surprise that Andy's approach to poker is mathematical and analytical. Although he successfully passed the bar exam, Bloch found himself more drawn to playing poker professionally than practicing law. “I haven’t found a law-related job that would keep my interest,” he says, “although I tell my parents I’m still looking.” Andy Bloch said.

Poker pro Andy Bloch is an expert in poker "Game Theory" which has a psychological approach to poker. Andy Bloch also has a history in analyzing and applying methods to not only poker, but blackjack as well. He managed to write a computer program that would present a 6% advantage to players playing Hicock 6-Card Poker at Foxwoods, so he and some other students from MIT began to play at the casino and, more importantly, began to consistently win.

In the 1996 World Series of Poker, Andy Bloch made his first cash in a major poker event, finishing in Event #3 Limit 7 Card Stud to pocket $5,558. It wasn’t until May of 2000 that Andy, after putting his law career on hold, skillfully made his way back into a cashing position in the WSOP, this time taking 12th place in Event #8 No-Limit Hold'em for a $9,505 purse.

Although Andy Bloch graduated from law school, but unable to find a job he enjoyed, continued to play poker for living. To date, the only time Andy Bloch has ever practiced law was when defending himself after being arrested at an anti-war protest in 2003.

Andy Bloch made a great poker skill at the poker table has allowed him to avoid more serious work. Bloch made two WSOP final tables in 2001, and had two third place finishes in the first season of the World Poker Tour.

Top poker player Andy Bloch won the second Ultimate Poker Challenge and helped set a new record when he and Chip Reese went heads-up for a record 286 hands at the 2006 $50,000 HORSE event. Chip Reese ended up winning this extremely long battle. Final tables are frequently finished faster than this heads-up battle was. Andy Bloch won the Pro-Am Poker Equalizer in 2006, defeating Phil “The Unabomber” Laak to win half a million dollars.

Currently, Andy Bloch is a member of the Full Tilt Poker team of poker pros, playing online poker at Full Tilt Poker. When he's not playing poker, he dabbles as a stock trader. The Tacoma Park, Maryland resident created a popular World Poker Tour fan site on the Internet, where he offers poker strategy and advice and answers questions about the sport.

Sexy Female Poker Playmate Profile

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 11:10:00 +0000

Name it, she have it! From a successful poker player, a sexy model of PlayBoy magazine, a hacker and the master in an online game of World Of Warcraft and a businesswoman who owns a clothing line. And on top of all of her career, poker pro Jennifer Leigh is one of the top female poker players in the poker history.

Jennifer Leigh is a self-proclaimed nerd with knowledge of the Linux operating system and the C Sharp programming language. She started gaming with her father at a very young age, and was very active on IRC from a very young age – this is where she chose her nickname of “Jennicide.”

She started playing poker through her gaming activities, in her interview in PokerNewsDaily she stated that: “I was introduced to poker from a former computer hacking group I belonged to. I was just a little girl. When I started IRC, I was only 11. I’m not playing at World Series of Poker right now, but I have campaign managers there.” It is said that her start in poker was propitiated by Robert Boyd, brother of the notorious Russ “Dutch” Boyd.” Jennifer Leigh revealed.

Poker pro Jennifer Leigh has been passionate into poker as she was able to read 6 books all about poker in just a week. With her dedication and sheer hard work, Jennifer Leigh became the highest ranked female in tournaments at one of the largest online poker sites.

As a result, Jennifer was invited in July 2005 by GSN to play Poker Royales' Battle of the Ages along with such poker pros as Dan Harrington, Barbara Enright and T.J. Cloutier. She played four televised tournaments, which culminated in her beating Harrington, as well as Miami John Cernuto in a heads up match to pocket $16,000. She also made the money on the World Poker Tour’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

At the age of 21, Jennifer Leigh started playing the highest stakes online at the 100/200 level. Jennifer continued sharpening her poker skills on the tournament circuit. In September 2005, she placed 9th in the World Championship of online poker earning $10,000 in the $1,000.00 limit hold'em event. At the World PokerTour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January 2006, she placed 42nd out of 724 players for $13,500. To date, Jennifer has won over $100,000.00 in tournament winnings online.

According to her website, Jennicide.com, within a year she was the top ranked female tournament player at one online poker room. She now plays in very high stakes online poker games, especially the $100/$200 Limit Holdem games. At the 2005 World Championship of Online Poker Jennifer finished 9th in the $1000 Limit Holdem Event, winning $10,000.

Apart from poker, Jennifer Leigh has also a blog about her life experiences, including her exploits in poker and on World of Warcraft. Apparently, Jennifer Leigh has reached 70th level on WOW which she has only the the highest level a player can reach and a sign of crazy amounts of dedication to the game. EverQuest is another game Jennifer Leigh has played extensively.

Sam “Tricky” Trickett Poker Profile

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:23:00 +0000

Making a history in his authority on live poker tournaments around the world, is British poker player, Sam “Tricky” Trickett. His break-out year includes six in-the-money finishes at the 2010 WSOP, awarding him almost $700,000, a prize total that would make any player happy.

The poker pro from Nottingham has accumulated $1,071,356 in winnings over the past year, including an award for “Best Newcomer” by the British Poker Awards ceremony at London’s Kensington Close Hotel on September 13.

Sam Trickett’s dominance of the European poker circuit has become very apparent with his recent first place finish at PartyPoker’s World Open and a fourth place finish at the EPT Vilamoura in Portugal.

Sam Trickett was introduced to the game of poker in 2005 when he was invited to a regular game held at a friends bar. Early in 2007 he took a shot at a GCBPT qualifier in Nottingham and took first place, winning over £3,500 and a seat in the main event, which he finished in 11th, just outside of the big money.

Sam Trickett recently enjoyed huge success at the 2010 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, cashing out in at a number of the events. He finished in second place in the $5,000 NL Hold’em Event #17, for a prize of $505,725. With five other cash-outs, he left Vegas with a grand total of $693,827 in prizes.

Sam Trickett also was fresh off a 4th place finish at the EPT Vilamoura event, worth over $175k, in addition to winning $500k for a runner-up finish in the $5,000 NLHE tournament at the 2020 WSOP. Trickett’s career earnings now exceed $1.7 million according to the Hendon Mob’s website.

Recently, UK poker pro Sam Trickett has already made a big splash in 2011 by capturing the Aussie Millions $100k Challenge tournament, and pocketing an impressive $1,525,000 in the process. Sam Trickett is part of a new wave of top poker players to come out of the UK in recent years, where he joins players like Jake Cody, Toby Lewis and James Bord, as the next generation of UK poker talent.

Sam Trickett's Banroll Trick

According to Sam Trickett's interview, he discussed his technique about his bankroll and how he maintain his stack not to go broke:

When you’re running good and you’re winning you should always take shots. I don’t think you should ever just stay at a level until you’re super bankrolled for it – you might be missing value all the time!

If you’re good enough to crush the level you’re at, take a chance and find out if you’re good enough to beat the higher games. It depends what you want from poker – if you want to pay the rent and have a wage then it’s good to grind away at the same stakes, but I don’t want that from poker – I want to win lots of money!

Sam Trickett has now won over $3.2 million at poker tournaments around the globe for his career.

Kirill Gerasimov: Russia's Pride In Poker

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:10:00 +0000

At a young age of 35, Kirill Gerasimov has reached a level of popularity that many aspiring poker players have dreamed of. This young poker player was born in Moscow and used to be an insurance salesman. Whether or not that day job had any bearings on his poker skills, it is clear that this top poker player is one of the more well known members of the poker world.

Kirill Gerasimov’s success as a poker player is nothing short of phenomenal. In his own country, poker is not the popular game it is in the US. However, he became interested in poker and is now probably the only “real” professional poker player in all of Russia.

Perhaps the most instrumental thing to have influenced his interest and success in poker was when he read Super/System by Doyle Brunson. I am sure that this poker hall of famer would be glad to know how he influenced another to become one of the most famous young poker players of today.

After reading this classic poker book, the young poker enthusiast’s skill just shone. Whether it was because of the book or he was simply talented, Kirill Gerasimov showed that he had what it takes to be a successful poker player.

He claims that his greatest strength as a poker player lies in his ability to read people. Indeed, this is one of the best talents that any poker player can possess. As one poker great once said, poker is a game of people played using cards. If you have the ability to read people and how they will behave, then you have a definite advantage over the other players sitting around the table.

However, poker pro Kirill Gerasimov continues to say that though he has this edge, it means nothing when he plays online. True enough, the dynamics of the game changes totally when you play online. Though there are still ways in which you can read players, the interaction is just so different that one simply cannot apply the same principles online as those one uses when playing face to face poker.

Poker player Kirill Gerasimov acknowledges this and in fact praises online poker as it has helped improve his other skills. For those who prefer to play only one form of the game and not the other, you might want to ponder on Gerasimov’s statement that poker has helped him develop his game to produce a more robust all around game.

Kirill Gerasimov started playing in poker tournaments all over Europe in 2001. It wasn’t till 2003 when he made his first final table at the World Series of Poker. In the following years, 2004 and 2005, he made final tables and won money as well.

However, he has yet to win a WSOP bracelet. He has also made final tables and money finished in the World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour though he does not have titles in either. Being at the young age he is at present, it would not be far from reality for him to earn a bracelet or a title in the near future.

The 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event Champion

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 11:03:00 +0000

A San Fransisco student and part-time online poker pro Galen Hall came back from an almost 4:1 chip deficit heads up to win the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event early Sunday morning. Galen Hall has won the 2011 PCA Main Event, after defeating a record field of 1,560 players over six days to lift the trophy, as well as collect the $2.3 million first place prize.

Poker pro Galen Hall is ranked in the top 50 online poker players on Pocket Fives and cashed for over $1 million playing poker last year. The 24-year-old US poker pro is no stranger to online success and has managed to amass $878,897 at PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker since May 28th, 2008. However, Galen Hall’s live tournament record has been less than stellar up until now, with only two cashes worth $6,355.

"I'm very excited,My focus all week, 12-hours a day, has been on playing poker as well as I can and playing every hand as well as I can. It was a very long and gruelling final table and it was also a long, gruelling heads-up match. Now that it's all over, it's kind of hard to just turn it off and shift gears a little, but I'm sure when it hits me it'll be pretty surreal." the poker pro Galen Hall said in an interview.

However, the $2.3 million first prize at the PCA represents just his third live cash and by far his biggest. Although he said the win might mean he'll play a few more live events on the poker circuit, the 24-year old has plans to attend business school at Stanford University in the coming year.

"I could go the rest of my life and never get another score this big," he said. "It's hard to top this, so there's going to have to be an evaluation process before I decide what I really want to do.I know for sure I won't become a full time live circuit pro, but I'm not really sure right now what I want to do."

The eight-man final began Saturday at 4 p.m. ET with Chris Oliver holding a massive chip lead. As Canadian poker player Philippe Plouffe, American Max Weinberg, Panamanian Bolivar Palacios and the two most experienced players at the table, WPT and WSOP finalist Mike Sowers and NAPT and WPT finalist Sam Stein, all fell by the wayside, Oliver maintained a clear advantage.

Once Romanian businessman Anton Ionel stepped out of the way third, he took a 3:1 chip lead into the heads-up match with Hall and had it up close to 4:1 at one point. The tide turned quickly, however, when both players flopped two pair and Hall's aces up were better doubling him up.

Minutes later he got it in with kings against a weak ace from Oliver, held and took a commanding lead himself. But even before that, when he used a four to make a one-card wheel on a river that also gave Oliver twos full of aces, Hall made a heady fold facing an all-in check-raise from Oliver that kept him in the match and may have been the key to the win.

"When he check raises me it really polarizes his range to four-six straights or better," he explained. "The only reason he's betting that much is for value.So when you think about it it's a pretty trivial fold. It's just the absolute value of my hand that makes it look hard."

After losing the lead for the first time at the final table, a clearly frustrated Oliver looked defeated and soon was. In the final hand, he got it in with queens versus ace-eight, but poker pro Galen Hall flopped two pair to secure the victory.

Here's how the final table finished up:

Galen Hall with $2,300,000
Chris Oliver with $1,800,000
Anton Ionel with $1,350,000
Sam Stein with $1,000,000
Mike Showers with Mike Sowers $700,000
Bolivar Palacios with $450,000
Max Weinberg with $300,000
Philippe Plouffe with 202,000

The 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Advednture drew a record 1,560 players to the Atlantis Hotel & Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas creating a $15,132,000 prize pool.

The Card Throwing Jesus Of Poker

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:02:00 +0000

With a hat and sunglasses- he's known for came about in the early days as a way to disguise the fact that he was a college student when he was playing in card rooms and casinos. And though he's never been known to walk on water, poker player Chris Ferguson has been known to perform miracles sitting at a poker table.

With a background in game theory and a Ph.D. in computer science, Chris Ferguson made the decision to really apply himself and concentrate only on tournament play. He started off playing in the small tournaments in and around Los Angeles. In 1996 he won a satellite World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament, placing him in the main event.

Chris Ferguson is one of the most recognizable top poker players around. Given the nickname “Jesus” for his long hair and beard, he also has the ability to cut up vegetables just by throwing cards at them. He won several major poker tournaments, including the World Series of Poker Main Event, and is currently a member of the Full Tilt Poker team of professionals.

Chris Ferguson has played poker all of his life. He once lost all of his money playing in fourth grade. He hasn't been broke since, devoting time to becoming a better poker player, and now he is one of the best players in the world. When he was studying computer science at UCLA, the college decided that it would be best for him to leave, and kicked him out of college after 18 years, giving him a Ph.d. in the process.

During college, Chris Ferguson continued to play poker, frequently heading to Las Vegas and participating in the games there. He started playing in small poker tournaments in 1994, and in 1995 he participated in his first World Series of Poker. While he was still in school he didn’t play in a lot of tournaments, but he did quite well.

All of his work paid off, as in the year 2000 he beat T.J. Cloutier to become the champion of the 2000 World Series of Poker Main Event, and earn a spot on the wall of fame. He had won a bracelet in Seven Card Stud earlier in the year, and followed his strong 2000 with a bracelet in Omaha Hi/Lo the following year. Chris has won two more WSOP events since, and now has a jewelry collection of 5 bracelets.

Poker pro Chris Ferguson racked up a record of seven WSOP final tables and finished in the money in 12 events. His first WSOP bracelet came in 2000 in the $2.5K Seven-Card Stud event and that same year he took down the Main Event for $1.5 million. Another WSOP bracelet followed in 2001 in the $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo Split event. In 2003, he earned 2 more in the $2K Omaha Hi/Lo Split event, followed by the $2K Limit Hold ‘em & Seven-Card Stud event.

Chris Ferguson works alongside several other poker pros on Full Tilt Poker’s professional team, and is constantly giving advice to Full Tilt Poker members. You can play against him at Full Tilt Poker, you just need to look for his red name, as all professionals have red names at Full Tilt Poker.

Viktor Blom Is The Real Isildur1

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 08:32:00 +0000

A press conference has been announced for 7PM on Saturday evening at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure tournament series taking place in the Bahamas. At the press conference PokerStars will officially reveal the identity of their newest team member, Isildur1.

Although it is all but certainly the young Swedish poker pro Viktor Blom who just happens to be taking part in the $100,000 Super-High-Roller tournament at the PCA today—Isildur1, and Viktor Blom, have done an excellent job of sowing just enough doubt to keep other theories alive. And keeping a secret like that in the poker world for well over a year is a feat in itself!

If Isildur1 is somehow not Viktor Blom than having him play in the PCA Super-High-Roller tourney, while keeping Isildur1 out of the tournament, would be the greatest level in poker history, and my hat’s off to PokerStars if this is the case.

PokerStars have just revealed the true identity of Isildur1 as top poker player Viktor Blom.

Isildur1- the once Full Tilt nosebleed level player with enough mystery to keep him interesting, while having swings that only a crazy teen could explain, is now the PokerStars pro who grinds mid to high-stakes and everyone know who he is.

Although Isildur1 has been great for online poker over the last year, and with PokerNewsBoy.com leaking Isildur1 to be Viktor Blom way back in November 2009. The mystery of Isildur1 somehow managed to engulf the imagination of his followers and followers of the high stakes action at Full Tilt for over a year now.

When it was first revealed that Isildur1 had signed with PokerStars, I thought it was a massive coop on PokerStars part. But now after them revealing who Isildur1 is, and the fact Isildur1 no longer has the ability, and by the looks of it the funds, to get involved in $1m pots anymore. PokerStars could be left with a player that is above average at PLO and great at NLH. But not much else. As now the mystery and everything that made Isildur1, Isildur1 is slowly slipping away.

After PokerStars revealed isildur1’s identity at the PCA tournament last night, the young Swedish poker pro now confirmed as Viktor Blom took on Bertrand “ElkY” Grosspelier and an online qualifier in two short heads-up battles before he answered five questions from the assembled media.

Here are Viktor “isildur1” Blom’s answers from the press conference:

Is it a relief to finally reveal your identity?

Viktor Blom: I think a lot of people have known for a long time who I really am, so it doesn’t make a big difference to me. But when I signed for PokerStars I felt like it was the right time to reveal my identity.

What unique qualities will you bring to Team PokerStars Pro?

Viktor Blom:I think I am the best online heads-up no-limit hold’em player in the world but I’m looking forward to learning a lot from the other Team Pros and helping them with their games too.

How will this unveiling affect your future action?

Viktor Blom:I will now be playing lots of EPT events and I really want to focus and win one in 2011. I also think I’ll have some great SuperStar Showdown matches at PokerStars.com now that people know who I really am.

Who do you respect the most on Team PS Pro?

Viktor Blom: Daniel Negreanu and Johnny Lodden.

What did you do to improve your game?

Viktor Blom: Nothing — I just lose a lot and that helps me learn [laughing].

Viktor Blom's image has now replaced that of Daniel Negreanu on the homepage of PokerStars.com; how long it stays will likely depend on his success!

The New Young Gun In Poker Scene

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 10:54:00 +0000

Jason Mercier is one of the premier top poker players currently. He has had several big wins and strong cash finishes in live and online poker tournaments alike. But aside from that, he is also a very good cash game player. Jason Mercier undoubtedly is emerging as one of the hottest young stars in recent times.

Originally from Fort Lauderdale in Florida, Jason Mercier, like so many of his peers, was first turned on to poker by Chris Moneymaker and his big score at the 2003 World Series. Jason Mercier originally wanted to be a Math teacher, but thanks to Moneymaker and the opportunity to rack up the hours online at college, he decided to make a living through poker.

While studying to become a math teacher in college, the Fort Lauderdale native discovered the world of online poker. His inspiration was Chris Moneymaker's 2003 World Series of Poker victory. (Moneymaker revolutionized the game by being the first world champion to qualify on an online poker site.) Jason followed in Moneymaker's money making footsteps and spent the next few years mastering the game online.

When Jason Mercier arrived at college, he got his first glimpse of online poker. He then started to study the intricacies of the game, and it wasn't long before he started making improvement by leagues and bounds. He started to get consistently good results in tournaments, and also started to get very good results in his cash game play. It did not take long before he grinded his way to Supernova Elite, becoming only the 16th player ever to achieve the distinction.

2008 was the year of Jason Mercier’s coming out party at the live tournament scene. To put it in perspective, you have to realize that there are scores of players out there who make steady, consistent cashes in tournaments, but keep waiting in vain for that big score. Some, numbering in the thousands, never make it.

But poker pro Jason Mercier took down the first ever live tourney he played in. The first one. Ever. He came out of nowhere and beat the whole field of hopefuls about 700 something strong to take down the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo event in April 2008, earning him $1,372,893 for his efforts that day.

Things took off for Jason during Season 4 of the European Poker Tour, with his first major win coming at the San Remo event in April 2008. He beat a field of 700 of the world’s best poker players, including two other Team PokerStars Pros at the final table, to win the title and take down $1,372,893 in first place prize money.

Next up was the 2009 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. He joined the elite group of players who have won both EPT titles and World Series bracelets when he won Event 5, the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha, good for $237,462. And he wasn’t done there, making three further cashes, including a fourth place at the 2009 WSOPE Main Event, taking his career winnings ever upwards and putting him in the top 100 money earners of all time. Not bad for a guy that had only been playing the circuit a year.

Away from poker, Jason loves sports – he coached high school basketball and shoots hoops with friends whenever he can find the time. He also likes going to the beach and relaxing with family.

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Jungleman12: The 2010 High-Stakes Poker Winner

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 10:16:00 +0000

High-stakes online poker pro Daniel “jungleman12” Cates took the top spot on the earnings list for online poker pros in 2010. poker player Dan Cates brought in over US$5 million from the virtual tables at Full Tilt Poker. Dan Cates won over $500,000 in one marathon session of $300/$600 half no-limit Texas Hold'em/half pot-limit Omaha cash games.

Early in this session, Daniel Cates lost about US$250,000 to his opponents, including the top poker player in the world Patrik Antonius. Dan Cates quickly rebounded and finished the session with double that amount in profits, closing off a career year for the online poker sensation.

Poker pro Daniel Cates also earned over US$500,000 in the “Durrr Challenge”, a series of heads-up no-limit Texas Hold’em matches with young online poker wizard Tom “durrr” Dwan. Daniel Cates and TomDwan have played just over thirteen thousand hands against each other, with the winner of the matches to be determined after fifty thousand hands.

Tom Dwan is also among this year's big winners, with profits of just over US$3.6 million. Dwan sits behind Daniel Cates and Andreas “skjervoy” Torbergsen (US$3.7 million) on the 2010 online cash game leaderboard. Poker superstar Phil Ivey is also among the top five in online poker earnings with just over US$3 million.

The 21-year old Cardrunners instructor burst onto the scene and destroyed all who took a seat against him and he finished the year with a profit of $5.5million! On his way to topping the 2010 leaderboard, top poker pro Daniel Cates had two seven-figure results in both August and May, only had one month where he won less than $100,000 and became the second player to accept the Durrrr Challenge.

Their challenge is still ongoing however Daniel Cates is currently in the lead and strong favorite to win the $1.5million side bet from Tom Dwan when the match comes to a conclusion in 2011. Dan Cates also had a popular poker student this year – Cristiano Ronaldo, who is rumoured to have been paying Cates $2,000 per hour for his coaching lessons.

His fellow Cardrunners instructor Andreas “skjervoy” Torbergson finished the year with profits of $3.7million and he was closely followed by Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan who finished the year with a profit of $3.6million. Meanwhile Phil Ivey continued being consistent and posted a yearly profit of $3million.

It was Brian Townsend who has the unfortunate honor of being top of the biggest losses leaderboard, finding himself dropping $2.5million at the Full Tilt Poker tables. He was closely followed by PowerPoker professional Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies who finished the year with losses of $2million.

They were followed by the best poker poker player Gus Hansen who finished the year down $1.6million – however it could have been a lot worse for the Full Tilt Pro if he didn’t play as well as he did in the final two months of the year.

Although Daniel Cates has had a phenomenal year by 2010 standards, his profits for this year are much less than the top money winners in years past. Last Year, poker pro Patrik Antonius earned around $8.9 million at the online poker tables. In 2008, Phil Ivey took the money list crown when he earned US$7.3 million.

The Iron Maiden Of Poker

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 08:15:00 +0000

Liv Boeree is one of the most top poker players in the business. She is not only a successful professional poker player but a TV presenter, journalist, model, and skilled guitarist.

Originally from Kent in England, Liv Boeree is one of the most successful female poker players of all time, with close to $2,000,000 in live tournament earnings. She previously studied at the University of Manchester, achieving a first-class degree in Astrophysics, before going on to find fame as a model and TV presenter on a range of different shows.

She was first introduced to poker when she was selected as one of five contestants for the reality show, "Ultimatepoker.com Showdown" in 2005. During the show, she was coached by some of the top poker pros in the industry including Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke and Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott. It was during that time she fell in love with the game and began studying it intensely.

In 2006 she jumped at the chance to serve as one of the presenters and journalists for Gutshot TV's coverage of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. She did amazing and soon found herself flooded with job offers. Since that time she has served as the host to several events including the European Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker Europe.

She currently has a regular column on industry magazine “Bluff Europe” and has had front cover features on such popular magazines as "Gambling Online", "World Poker Tour" and "Online Gambler.”

Despite Liv Boeree's poker success off the felt it wasn't until 2008 that she would claim her first title. It was that year that she took down the Ladbrokes European Ladies Championship to the tune of $30,000.

It would be another two years before she won another major tournament event but when she did it was a major one. In 2010 she claimed her first European Poker Tour (EPT) title at EPT San Remo winning €1,250,000 in the No Limit Hold'em Championship event.

Then came the moment that would change Liv Boeree’s life forever, and make the poker world give her the credit her game deserves. Liv travelled to Italy to play at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 6 San Remo event in 2010 - a tournament that proved to be one of the biggest ever, with a packed field of 1,240 runners.

After days of intense action, Liv Boeree found herself on the final table, and duly went on to crush the remaining players to take the title and a massive $1,698,300 payday. It was one of the best performances ever witnessed on the EPT, and confirmed Liv’s status as one of the finest top poker players the UK has ever produced.

Wanna get some Liv Boeree's poker profiles? According to PokerStars Blog, here are some of the snippets of Live Boeree's interview:

Tell us about your background before you became a poker player?

"I went to the University of Manchester and got a first class degree in physics with astrophysics. At school I got 'A' grades in my physics, maths, geography and biology A Levels.

"I loved school - I went to Ashford Girls School where I was one of those weird people that hated homework but loved exams! I loved all the sciences, maths, geography, PE, but wasn't so much a fan of English or history."

What's your game now?

“Mainly No Limit Hold'em, which is definitely my best game. I also play Pot Limit Omaha to a reasonable standard but have a lot of room for improvement there! I've also started learning the other games but I'm not very good yet - however, I have fallen in love with Razz so expect to see me playing that a lot!"

So what's it like to join Team PokerStars Pro?

"It's more of an honour than I can really describe. It's something I've been aspiring towards ever since I learned about the world of poker, and I am over the moon to be achieving such a huge personal goal!"

What do you hope to achieve as part of Team PokerStars Pro?

"I hope to grow my game as far as possible by studying and playing as much as I can. I'll also hopefully get to use the wonderful resource of the other Team Pros - some of the greatest poker minds in the game! Hopefully I'll use this to produce further results and make the Team proud!"loved exams! I loved all the sciences, maths, geography, PE, but wasn't so much a fan of English or history."

The Duchess Of Poker: Annie Duke

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 06:48:00 +0000

When it comes to women making money in the game of poker, Annie Duke is one of the best in the business. Having grown up in a card-playing household in New Hampshire, Duke learned to play poker with her family and followed her brother Howard Lederer into a pro poker career after giving up her doctorate research at the University of Pennsylvania to get married and move to Montana.

Pretty, smart and popular, Annie Duke completed a major in English and Psychology at Columbia University intending to follow in the footsteps of her parents and becoming a teacher. Instead, she enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania for Cognitive Psychology.

In 1991, while Annie Duke was knee deep in doctorate research, she proposed marriage to an old friend, Ben Duke, packed up her life and research and left academia behind for Billings, CO.Living in romantic poverty with her husband, Duke began to play poker in local pokers rooms to pay the mortgage on their first home.

In 1994, at the suggestion of her brother, Howard Lederer- one of the top poker players in the world, Annie Duke tried her hand at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. She ended up placing 13th in her first tournament, knocking her brother out of play. After winning 70K in her first month of competition, Annie Duke and her husband made the move to Las Vegas so she could pursue poker professionally.

Over the course of the next decade, poker pro Annie Duke established herself as one of the best poker players in the world. In 2004, Annie Duke beat out an assembly of 234 players in the WSOP $2000 buy-in Omaha Hi/Lo Split and won her first WSOP bracelet.

In August of the same year, the duchess of poker knocked out 8 of the worlds’ greatest poker legends and won $2 million in the No-Limit Texas Hold’em winner-take-all, invitation-only WSOP Tournament of Champions, established by ESPN and Harrah’s Entertainment.

Since then she's accumulated millions of dollars in tournament cashes, a WSOP bracelet win 2004 along with winning the WSOP Tournament of Champions event that same year, and several World Poker Tour cashes.

Duke uses her poker expertise and experience to teach others the game as well. She is an instructor for the WSOP Academy and for the poker training site ProPlayLive.com.

Annie Duke now serves as a consultant for the online poker site UB.com to ensure that their rules of poker and tournament structure match those you would find in the famous poker rooms of the Las Vegas strip. Furthermore, she is sought after for her vast poker skills and knowledge, coaching the likes of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon on their poker game.

As one of the top female players in the game, Duke's public profile has grown quite a bit outside of the poker realm as well.

In 2009, Annie Duke starred on Celebrity Apprentice alongside stars such as Dennis Rodman, Joan and Melissa Rivers, Clint Black and more. She played the boardroom game well enough to make it into the final against Joan Rivers but fell just short of winning.

During the show she raised more than $700,000 for Refugees International. She uses her celebrity to raise money for that and other organizations that help aid humanitarian efforts in Darfur as well with her Ante Up for Africa Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament in Las Vegas during the WSOP each year. She co-created the tournament with Don Cheadle. Top poker pro Annie Duke has also helped with fundraising efforts for Children's Hospital and other charities.

In September 2005, Annie Duke's long awaited autobiography hit the shelves “Annie Duke: How I raised, folded, bluffed, flirted, cursed and won millions at the World Series of Poker”. Written in conjunction with David Diamond, the autobiography highlights the obstacles in Annie’s personal life, with her path to achieve her first WSOP bracelet.

Duke has released a series of DVD’s, which include “Annie Duke’s Advanced Texas Hold’em Secrets: How to Beat the Big Boys” in October 2005, “Annie Duke’s Beginner’s Guide To Texas Hold ‘em” and “Annie Duke’s Girl’s Guide To Texas Hold ‘em” both released in January 2006, and the February 2006 release of “Masters of Poker: Annie Duke’s Conquering Online Poker”.

Annie Duke has also filmed a pilot called “Annie Duke Takes on the World” which premieres May 1 on GSN. Her production company Ten Dimes Productions, which she started with Joe Reitman, is currently developing a horror film script.

The Great Dane Of Poker

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 07:16:00 +0000

Poker pro Gus Hansen, or “The Great Dane”, as he has been nicknamed by his poker fans, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1974, as Gustav Hansen. He was an all-round sportsman, with his main talent being in tennis, and started his professional career as a backgammon player. He quickly became one of the best backgammon players in the world, and moved to New York to try and make his living there.

Due to limited opportunities in his field he quit and discovered poker as an exchange student at the University of California in 1993, with Texas Holdem being his specialty. It didn't take him long to master the game and discover his own unique approach to playing it, and he became widely known for his wild method of betting.

In 1995, Gus Hansen had to return to Denmark to fulfill his public service obligations, but he returned to the States just in time for the country's new enthusiasm for poker, and dedicated himself to the game.

He came to the attention of the public by becoming the premier winner of the inaugural World Poker Tour event, he paid the buy-in fee, and it was his first professional tournament, but that didn't stop him beating 146 players and winning thousand of dollars.

As well as “The Great Dane”, Gus has other nicknames such as “Trashman”, and “The Poker Tramp” both of which come from non-fans – envious, awed judgements of Gus's style of play, which, does not seem to be any style at all.

Fellow poker players tend to be amazed at the way he plays – Gus is known as a loose, aggressive player who can take any two cards and play a hand. He just doesn't seem to follow conventional poker rules. So, playing with trash hands and being willing to play with anything earned him those two names, but the uncomfortable fact for other poker players is that he can actually win with any two cards!

As the top poker player Gus Hansen says: “I play the players, not the cards, and he does indeed prey on other players weaknesses, keeping them off balance by making wild, contradictory, hard to track bets. Not many other players could do this consistently, but Gus does so in such a way that makes it look like he isn’t actually making decisions, but is randomly betting, raising and folding hands.”

Poker pro Gus Hansen is the only poker player to ever win three World Poker Tour open tournaments the Commerce Casino, the Bellagio Casino and the PokerStars Caribbean adventure, and he continues to dominate in WPT events, these days he only joins the larger buy-in events to play for biggest prizes.

Gus Hansen has had 5 money finishes in various WSOP events, and his highest ever WSOP Main Event finish was a 61st place, obtained in 2007. He's also cashed in 9 WPT events and 2 EPT ones. He has 4 WPT titles.

Top poker pro Gus Hansen's card risk-taking playing technique, his huge million dollar fortune, bad boy personality and looks that got him voted as one of the sexiest people in the world in People Magazine, have ensured that he has plenty of fans, and away from the table has plenty of time for the ladies!

His rebellious nature and huge talent ensure that he will keep his fans for quite some time to come!

Daniel Negreanu: The Kid Poker In History

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 07:26:00 +0000

Daniel Negreanu is one of the most recognized famous poker players in the world, despite his youth. Nicknamed “KidPoker” Daniel has managed to become one of the best poker players in the world.

Born on July 26, 1974 in Toronto, Canada, Daniel Negreanu discovered that he had some very good poker skills, and thanks to his parents, immigrants from Romania, who encouraged him to chase his dreams, he decided that he could become a professional poker player.

At the age of 18, Daniel Negreanu had dropped out of high school - one credit short of graduation - to focus on poker. He started supplementing his play at illegal games around town with trips to charity casinos. Ever charming, he met and started dating a local dealer by the name of Evelyn Ng. For a more traditional lifestyle, he tried one day as a telemarketer and a month working at a Subway, but his path clearly led elsewhere.

Daniel Negreanu learned how to play to play poker in Toronto and at the age of 21, Daniel Negreanu moved to Las Vegas, but soon after was forced to move back home to Toronto in order to rebuild his bankroll. Daniel Negreanu came back in 1997 in a big way, winning two events at the World Poker Finals at the Foxwoods Casino, earning the title of the tournament’s “best all-around player.”

Daniel Negreanu became the youngest person to win a World Series of Poker bracelet, winning the 1998 World Series of Poker $2000 Pot Limit Holdem event. Daniel would not be dethroned from his reign as youngest WSOP winner until 2004. Daniel has won more than $50,000 in tournaments 25 separate times, his winning totaling nearly $4.4 million in 2006 alone.

In 2004, Daniel Negreanu won the World Series of Poker Player of the Year Award for his consistently outstanding play that year. In 2005, Daniel Negreanu launched his own poker room on his website FullContactPoker.com where he plays under the screenname “KidPoker”. He has since come to a deal with Pokerstars to play there on a more frequent basis.

Poker pro Daniel Negreanu is a regular contributor to CardPlayer Magazine, offering helpful advice to the magazine’s readers. He has also contributed to Doyle Brunson’s Super System II. He has appeared on numerous poker TV shows, including Late Night Poker, High Stakes Poker, and Poker After Dark. Daniel Negreanu also has his own video game, “Stacked with Daniel Negreanu,” which was released in 2006 and is one of the better poker video games on the market.

Daniel Negreanu also plays at PokerStars using the screenname DoubleSuited. PokerStars is one of the best online poker rooms, especially when it comes to tournament play. You are able to play with Daniel Negreanu by signing up a new account at Pokerstars. Bring a big bankroll though, as the poker pros typically play high stakes poker games.

The popularity of the top poker pro Daniel Negreanu has skyrocketed and that is why he recruited as the Poker Ambassador in 2005. The next year he was awarded the title "Favorite Poker Player" and he has tutored for Poker School Online and given personal lessons to celebrities like Tobey Maguire.

WPT Title Grabs By The Magician

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:07:00 +0000

One of poker's most interesting top poker players, Antonio Esfandiari, formerly a profession magician, is a bona fide superstar in the card-playing community. Poker pro Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari was able to comeback from a short-stack to beat out a tough field of poker pros at the final table and win the coveted title – his second WPT win.

The Magician entered the final day in fifth out of 6^th place with nearly a third of the chips possessed by chip-leader Vanessa Rousso. However, Esfandiari was able to regain the form that had him near the top of the leader-board since Day 1 of the tournament, before nearly being eliminated with about 10 players remaining.

The final table for the WPT Five Diamonds will likely go down as one of the strongest in poker history featuring six talented professional players. In the end it was Esfandiari who would hold his hands up in victory, and pocket the $870,000 that was awarded to the winner of the tournament.

For the best poker player Antonio Esfandiari this was his first big win in tournament poker since way back in 2004 when he burst onto the poker scene by winning the WPT LA Poker Classic. Since then Antonio Esfandiari has added a WSOP bracelet to his resume, but all-in-all he has experienced little success in poker tournaments over the years –he is one of poker's top cash-game players though.

During the final day of the tournament it looked as if Andrew Robl would roll to the title as he was well over 9 million in chips when play was 4-handed. But as the day wore on Esfandiari was able to whittle away at Andrew Robl's chip-lead, and eventually wore the young poker pro down and busting him in 2nd place. For Andrew Robl , the $550k marks the biggest cash of his career and sends him well over the $1 million mark in career tournament earnings.

Here is look at how the final table finished in the 2010 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamonds Poker Classic:

1. Antonio Esfandiari ($870,124)

2. Andrew Robl ($549,003)

3. Vanessa Rousso ($358,964)

4. John Racener ($232,271)

5. Kirk Morrison ($168,924)

6. Ted Lawson ($126,693)

After the tournament Esfandiari –who calls himself the best Day 1 tournament poker player on the tour– told reporters, “It was legendary…It was tough. It was fun. It was exciting. It was all of the above and I’m so glad to come out ahead.” The win gives Antonio a career total of around $4.5 million in tournament winnings.

About Antonio Esfandiari: Originally from Tehran, Iran, Esfandiari moved to the United States with his parents in 1988. Esfandiari knew very little English when he started school in his new home but learned the language in less than six months.

One of poker's most interesting players, Antonio Esfandiari, formerly a profession magician, is a bona fide superstar in the card-playing community. It was while Esfandiari was waiting tables that he got his first taste of magic. Between tables Esfandiari saw the bartender perform a magic trick. He was so impressed he went straight to the nearest magic shop and asked how the trick was done.

The store owner quickly showed Esfandiari the method behind the trick. Esfandiari began throwing magic into his waitering gig, performing for tips, and eventually dropped the waitering part altogether. "Magic Antonio" was able to pull in $300 to $400 an hour just doing magic.

At that time Antonio Esfandiari had a roommate who was a professional poker player. One day, at his roommate's suggestion, Antonio Esfandiari tried his hand at poker. Despite technically being too young to play he found a way to win money in the first tournament he entered. Esfandiari was hooked and soon, in addition to making rabbits disappear as a magician, he was making other people's money disappear as a poker player.

In 2002, a poker pro Antonio Esfandiar made a name for himself at the WPT 49'er Gold Rush Bonanza by getting under Phil Hellmuth's skin and eventually placing third for $44,000. It was the first major tournament win for Esfandiari, but more were soon to come. A year later he made the final table of the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em tournament at the 2003 WSOP.

The Notorious Poker Brat: Phil Hellmuth Jr.

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 07:59:00 +0000

Phil Hellmuth joined Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson in 2006 as one of only three best poker players in history with 10 WSOP bracelets to their names. But what separates Phil Hellmuth from even this legendary pack is that all of his WSOP wins have come in Texas Hold'em events - that and a record 11^th bracelet in No-Limit Hold'em won by the poker brat himself at the 2007 WSOP.

Phil Hellmuth also holds the distinction of being the youngest poker player to win the WSOP Main Event after beating two-time defending champion Johnny Chan in 1989 at just 24 years old. He learned the game of poker while he was a student at the University of Wisconsin, moving up from cash games at the student union to higher stakes poker with the professors and eventually dropping out of school to play professionally, much to the chagrin of his academic father.

After the win at the 1989 WSOP, poker pro Phil Hellmuth spent the next decade and a half accumulating more tournament victories than any other professional poker player before him. In addition to the 10 WSOP bracelets, he has more than 50 poker tournament titles, 5 World Poker Tour top 10 finishes and has amassed tournament winnings over a whopping $8.8 million.

But it is for his offensive table monkey tricks for which he is best known. Constant chatter and insults directed to fellow poker players are common, as well as bragging remarks such as his famous boast that if it weren't for luck he'd win every game. He is fond of commenting on opponent’s lack of brainpower, often calling players idiots, and once came to blows with fellow poker player Sam Grizzle, who knocked the poker brat to the pavement outside Binion’s Horseshoe.

During the WSOP 2008, Phil Hellmuth's verbal abuse of fellow poker pro Cristian Dragomir got so bad he was issued a warning and then finally received a one-round penalty that was to be carried out at the beginning of the next day's play. Overnight, Phil Hellmuth appealed to the then WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack who overruled the decision. Phil Hellmuth finished the tournament in 45th place, while Cristian Dragomir came in 29th.

Despite his smashing success at the World Series Of Poker, Phil Hellmuth still has no won a World Poker Tour title although he has had 3 final table placings and cashed a total of 10 times. At current he has over 800, 000 in winnings from the WPT.

Phil Hellmuth's other notable performances include being the season 3 champion of Late Night Poker and winning the first annual National Heads Up Poker Championship. He defeated a horde of fellow top poker pros including Men Ngyuen, Huck Seed, Lyle Berman on his way to the final showdown against Chris Jesus Ferguson. He ended up besting Ferguson in two out of three games, despite catching a bad beat to lose one. He has also been a regular on NBC's Poker After Dark and played in 2 seasons of High Stakes Poker.

Phil Hellmuth has made instructional poker videos, written numerous articles, authored books such as Play Poker Like the Pros, the autobiographical-themed Poker Brat, The Greatest Poker Hands Ever Played and Bad Beats and Lucky Draws.

His newest book called Deal Me In is a collection highlighting the top 20 poker players in the world and contains first-person biographies of Hellmuth himself, as well as Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen, among others.

Isildur1 Signs Deal With PokerStars And Not With Full Tilt Poker

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 07:28:00 +0000

Despite setting Full Tilt Poker a buzz in late 2009 and early 2010, the celebrated poker maniac known as Isildur1 has now joined rival poker site PokerStars as one of their sponsored pros. Isildur1 originally gained notoriety as a player after appearing on Full Tilt almost from nowhere before then relieving Tom “Durrrr” Dwan and other top poker pros there of around $3 million of their bankrolls.

Isildur1 first came to notoriety in late 2009, when he began playing top professional players on Full Tilt Poker in games at nosebleed stakes. His swings soon became legendary, with weeks where the player won or lost millions of dollars seemingly becoming commonplace.

One of the most interesting facets of the Isildur1 story is the mystery of his identity. As it is known that Isildur1 is a Swedish player, much speculation has centered around poker pro Viktor Blom, a young player from Sweden who seems to have fit the profile of Isildur1. However, as of yet, there has been no confirmation that Viktor Blom is indeed the high-stakes player behind the screen name.

However, an allegedly Swedish poker pro Isildur1 then proceeded to lose back his winnings and then some, helped least by a five hour session of heads-up Pot Limit Omaha action, which saw Brian Hastings walk away with $4.2 million of the mystery Swede’s money. Isildur1 complained that something felt odd at the time, which later led to data mining allegations and a Full Tilt suspension of Hasting’s fellow Cardrunners friend Brian Townsend.

The mysterious high-stakes best poker player, Isildur1 is considered to be played with the largest pots in online poker history, has signed a deal to become a Team PokerStars Pro and not with Full Tilt Poker in which he usually plays poker online. The deal follows weeks of speculation about what site Isildur1 would ultimately sign with.

As part of their promotion, PokerStars have arranged a once a week challenge for Isildur1 called the SuperStar Showdown which, as PokerStars explains:

“Is a head-up cash game match that takes place over a single session of 2,500 hands. The hands will be split evenly across four tables of No Limit Hold’Em and Pot Limit Omaha, at stakes no lower than $50/$100. The winner of the match will be the player that shows a profit after all 2,500 hands have been played.”

“In addition to money won during the 2,500 hands, the players will be competing for a prize purse of at least 300 big blinds ($30,000). The purse will be funded from the players’ bankrolls and will be held by PokerStars in escrow (to be transferred to the winner after the match).”

While PokerStars has not announced any players who have stepped up to challenge Isildur1, they have stated that any interested parties can make themselves available by emailing showdown@pokerstars.com. However, only serious online poker players will be considered for the showdowns.

The first of these showdowns will take place on December 19, with weekly matches to follow later. In addition, qualifying tournaments will allow at least one lucky player to play Isildur1 in a $5/$10 match with similar rules.

Isildur1’s progress at PokerStars can now be followed by fans via a Twitter account from @RealIsildur1.

Phil Ivey: Top Poker Player In The World

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 07:41:00 +0000

Known as the “Tiger Woods of Poker” or “No Home Jerome”, Phil Ivey is lately hyped as the online poker industry’s best hope for legalization in the US. He began to play poker at the telemarketing company where he worked, mainly against his co-workers.

As he began working as a telemarketing salesman, he took theory to practice and began exploring poker- and beat his comrades. In order to get into the Atlantic City casinos, he crafted a fake ID, a practice which eventually landed him another nickname: No Home Jerome.

If you sit down at a table with Phil Ivey, you are most likely going to notice his aggressive style. Most people will agree that it is very difficult to read Phil Ivey's face. He looks almost a bit sad even in jackpot situations and if you try to get to him, you may have to scream sometimes, as he sticks firmly to his iPod. Besides the Apple wear, he is a Los Angeles NBA fan, so don't be surprised if you see a team jersey on his body.

Considered the best poker player in the world by most experts, Ivey is a regular at the nosebleed cash game tables on Full Tilt poker, where it’s estimated that a big parf of his revenue comes from. Despite his affinity for cash games, he’s certainly no push over when in comes to tournaments.

Phil Ivey won his very first WSOP bracelet when he was 23 and was able to beat old school poker legend Amarillo Slim in the pot-limit Omaha poker event of 2000. Only 2 years later, in 2002, he won 3 WSOP bracelets in one year. In 2005, Phil Ivey won another Bracelet (his 5th) in a $5,000 Omaha event and made a cool $1 million when he won the Monte Carlo Millions tournament. This wasn't enough for Phil Ivey, so the next day he played a Full Tilt Invitational Tournament in Monte Carlo and won another $600,000.

He has no fewer than 8 WSOP bracelets and 35 WSOP money finishes. He won an impressive number of 3 bracelets in 2002, and secured PL Omaha bracelets in 2000 and 2005. In 2009 he added a further 2 bracelets to his collection and he’s set to play for all the marbles on Nov 9th at the Main Event’s final table. Main Event-wise he has been wildly successful too. He finished in the top 25 four times, from 2002 to 2009. Totaling over 13 million dollar in tournament prize money.

Besides being at the tables, poker pro Phil Ivey promotes his favorite online poker site Full Tilt Poker. Luckily, he sometimes plays in low stake tournaments as well, to give everyone an honest chance to beat the professional.

Nowadays, Phil Ivey prefers regular cash games with very high stakes. He is without a doubt a fierce tournament player, but his thirst is usually quenched outside of WSOP and WPT. Despite this, you are often likely to find him at the largest tournaments. After all, that's where you can score a dollar or so.

Transcending the world of poker, Ivey routinely hangs out with the likes of Jay-Z, P. Diddy and Michael Phelps. His lifestyle is as high-tone as that of any movie, pop or sports star. Via televised tournaments, a handful of well-known poker shows, and commercials promoting Full Tilt, Phil Ivey gets as much TV exposure as many an actor.

Nevertheless, he wears his prominence as casually as other players wear their logoed baseball caps. “I’ve never been too interested in fame; I didn’t see the point and I figured I might as well stay under the radar, Even now, I’m not really famous. I’m just a poker player and pretty comfortable”. Says poker pro Phil Ivey.

Intentionally or not, Phil Ivey stokes the public's fascination by maintaining a quiet mystique that the more vociferous Phil Hellmuths and Mike Matusows of the world can’t even imagine. And Ivey backs it up like nobody else. His skills as an online poker player are incontestable – according to website highstakesdb.com, Phil Ivey won more than $6.5m playing online poker in 2009 – he happily antes up in the biggest cash games available, and, even though he usually buys into only the richest tournaments.

Poker Hall Of Fame: Tom “Durrrr” Dwan

noreply@blogger.com (Arkin McNicholson) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 08:53:00 +0000

Tom Dwan, online poker name “durrrr”, is deemed one of the best poker players. A college dropout originally from New Jersey who has become one of the biggest cash game players in a very short amount of time.

He has said to have made over $2,000,000 playing high stakes poker online. He makes a session out of sitting down with the top poker pros such as Phil Ivey, Patrick Antonius, John Juanda and others at limits as high as $300/$600 NLH.

Tom Dwan got his start in online poker back when he was 17 years old, his first deposit was $50 and according to him he hasn't had to invest any additional money to poker after that initial first deposit. At first Durrrr was playing $5 Sit N Go tournaments, but soon he realized that he could make even more money from cash games poker.

According to him he slowly grinded up from the small limits without getting much attention from the online poker community until he reached $10/$20 no limit games.

At the time when he got up to $10/$20 no limit it was the biggest no limit holdem game at a renowned online poker site PokerStars and due to that lot of Railbirds were interested about this game and began writing and gossiping about who was this guy who was always winning big amounts of money under PokerStars nick Holdem_NL.

However $10/$20 was just a start for Tom Dwan on his way to the biggest online poker games in the world, soon he had build enough roll from these games that he began looking for a bigger games to play, and he found those from Prima Poker ( these days known as Microgaming) where he was able to play highstakes nl holdem up to $200/$400 headsup.

According to the statics Tom was also a big winner at Prima Poker before the games dried up in that network and Tom Dwan had to be looking for a new games again. Luckily for him FullTiltPoker online poker room had started hosting the biggest online poker games you can find from internet and Tom Dwan was soon playing them under his FTP “nick durrr”.

While durrrr had made quite the name for himself playing online poker, it was time for Tom Dwan to do the same in the world of live poker. His first tournament cash came abroad, as 19-year-old Dwan took 12th place at the 2005 European Poker Tour London Main Event.

Two years later, Tom "Durrrr" Dwan made his first score on American soil, finishing 4th at the 2007 World Poker Tour Main Event in Foxwoods Casino for better than $300K. This cash stands as the largest of his career. In 2008, He made another big score in the $5K No-Limit Hold ‘em event at the Borgata Winter Open, adding more than $225K to his bankroll.

When the World Series of Poker rolled around that summer, Tom Dwan was finally able to make a name for himself on poker’s biggest stage. He cashed in two events during his inaugural WSOP, including a 7th place finish in the $10K World Championship Mixed Event for over $65K.

Tom Dwan was also a part of the biggest pot in the history of online poker, but this time on the wrong side of the outcome. Playing at one of Full Tilt Poker’s $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em tables, durrrr ran his pocket Kings into the pocket Aces of his opponent in a pot worth nearly $724K. Altogether, durrrr has been a part of four of the seven biggest pots in online poker history.

In January of 2009, Tom Dwan issued a challenge to the poker world. He offered to put up $1.5 million to any opponent’s $500K, playing heads-up online at four tables simultaneously for 50,000 hands.

After the last hand is finished, the player who has earned more money – even if it’s only $1– wins the challenge. If durrrr wins, he keeps any money he won during challenge play, along with the challenger’s $500K. If his opponent wins, they keep their winnings and the $1.5 million that durrrr put up.

First to accept the Durrrr Challenge was Team Full Tilt’s Patrik Antonius. When these two titans of high-stakes poker finish their 50,000 hands, both Phil Ivey and David Benyamine are in line to accept the challenge and take on Tom Dwan.