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Poker Pros |
 On July 26, 1974, Daniel Negreanu was born to Romanian parents Constantin and Annie in Toronto, Canada. By age sixteen Daniel satiated his competitive spirit with pool hustling and poker. As a young adult he embarked on hours of playing poker and studied the game tirelessly until he grew both his confidence and skills. |
 Phil already has a decade of professional poker experience. He started playing poker at age 16 and at 17 he began sneaking into casinos. He had a fake ID, which he was using for about 4 years. |
 “First I heard of Ted Forrest was as a freak. Ted Forrest, poker player, the freak. As in, "You know what that freak Ted Forrest did? Listen to this hand he played…" says the famous gambling author Jesse May. |
 Sam Farha just oozes a classic gambler style. Dangling a "lucky" never-smoked cigarette from his lips and piercing his opponents with dark, mysterious eyes - Farha commands respect. Farha is always polished, well-dressed, and confident. |
 Gustav Hansen is a European player living in Copenhagen, Denmark. And though speaking of poker in his homeland Gus states that “it is nonexistent” and “government taxes make poker prohibitive” he is a very skillful player with a remarkable playing style. |
 David ‘Chip’ Reese is mostly known for his contribution to Doyle Brunson’s “Super System.” But he is also one of the most successful poker player in the world and the acknowledged best Seven Card Stud player in the world. |
 On April 30, 1968 in Los Angeles, California the world greeted Mike "The Mouth" Matusow. He grew up competitive - building race cars, bowling, and playing pool. His mouth often landed him black-eyed as a youngster. Now Mike’s got a big reputation, big lifetime earnings that exceed $5,352,400, and a very big mouth that still gets him in trouble. |
 Marcel Luske aka The Flying Dutchman likes epatage. He is considered one of the most entertaining poker players in the world. “The European version of Scotty Nguyen,” as he was once called. But Luske is not only an entertainer but a very skillful and aggressive player. |
 He calls himself a daydreamer - pondering the fact that he could actually be considered an upcoming face on the poker scene. |
 When he was 11, he skipped a couple of grades and soon after started taking college classes. He then graduated with his Associates degree at 13 and his Bachelor’s degree soon there after. His IQ has always been about 150. |
 If you haven’t heard of this rising poker star, chances are good that you will hear of him soon. Allen Cunningham, recently voted one of the best poker players under the age of 35, started playing poker at age 18 in Southern California casinos. Opting for a full-time career as a pro poker player, Cunningham dropped out of his engineering program at UCLA to pursue playing cards. He is a recognized seven-card stud champion and has a proven ability to play with the best of them. |
 Layne Flack was born in Rapid City, South Dakota in 1969. He grew up in Montana where his interest in cards developed early. Flack’s work as a dealer and cardroom manager led him to play poker for himself. Friendships with Johnny Chan and Huck Seed helped launch Layne Flack to where he is today. |
 There were a lot of people at the Horseshoe and no-one of them knew the stranger from the United Kingdom. “On The Master!” the audience was chanting.
“On The Devilfish!” suddenly cried somebody in the back row. |
 What is the possibility of becoming a professional poker player for a person who was born in the country where – not even gambling – holding cards is prohibited by the law? The possibility is a tiny one. However, Antonio Esfandiari managed to overcome all the obstacles and now is a real poker pro. |
 What do you do when you’re a professional athlete who finds himself in early retirement due to an injury? Well in most cases you retire to the golf links and talk about how every athlete who followed you wasn’t in your class. In the case of David Benyamine, when his career as a pro tennis player was cut short he simply rechanneled his competitive juices to less physical sports. |
 John Juanda has such a great personality that everybody who communicate with him can’t say anything bad about this player. He is always calm and friendly. It seems that no-one can put him on tilt. The reason is simple: he knows he is lucky at everything he does. |
 So Lederer began playing poker seventy or eighty hours a week. He worked by day and played by night and was a constant… loser. |
 Anyone who follows poker diligently will probably remember Mr. Amit from the 2005 WSOP, where he was given a ten-minute penalty for using the "f-word" during the final PLO table. More incredible was the fact that Amit still continued to cause trouble even during his absence from the game, mocking the other players and trash talking his opponents from the sidelines. Even after a ten minute absence, during which time almost $200K worth of chips had gone from Amit to his competitors, at the time 25-year old Rafi Amit managed to come back and take the lead, winning the game and taking home $511, 835. |
 Before the “World Poker Tour” hit America by storm, the game of poker attracted a motley bunch of individuals to its tables. Vagrants, drifters, shiftless traveling men, and general outcasts were drawn to poker for its appeal of chance and fast money. |
 David Williams actually has never won the World Series of Poker. He finished second in 2004. However, he is one of the best-known poker celebrities. |
 Phil Laak, a self-dubbed “Semi-Professional” poker player, quickly stood out as a character with his antics and signature attire. Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1972, Laak has been a sports bet broker, a market speculator and a Real Estate investor: in other words, no stranger to gambling. |
 Barry Greenstein has become a well-known person approximately in 2003. However he has been playing poker since 70’s. More than that – he has been participating in the biggest Vegas game and has won more money than any other player in last decade. |
 Online poker players are a force to be contended with in the poker world. If there are any non-believers left in the world at this point, all they have to do is look at the winners of the World Series of Poker main event in the last three years. The main trait that all three winners share is the fact that they are all avid online poker players. However, the main event isn’t the only place that the online players come into the real world to play. A prime example of an online player who made a name for himself both online and offline would be Cliff Josephy, known also as "JohnnyBax." |
 But everything led him to poker table. Like Doyle Brunson he got a knee injure and began to play poker...again. |
 During a spring day in Brooklyn, NY the Kaplan family welcomed their son Gabe into the world. Like any proud parents, soon after his birth they began to fantasize and plot their child’s future. In all the parental scheming we doubt the words "professional actor" or "professional poker player" were part of the equation. In fact, these professions were not even part of Gabe’s dreams as he grew older. As a youth, the young Kaplan wanted to be hitting home runs instead of winning hands with an unlikely card on the river. Genetics were not in his corner on the baseball dream though, and after failing to qualify for a minor league roster Gabe turned his back on the dream of playing ball and looked for greener pastures. |
 When asked by the officials of the World Series of Poker, prior to his appearance at the final table of the Main Event in 2006, what he would like the rest of the world to know about him, Paul Wasicka gave an answer guaranteed to make him look like a good guy to his friends and family even if he refused to lend him any of the $6 million that he won when he took second place. He said that he had the best friends and family anyone can ask for, something certainly to be grateful for - and now as a multimillionaire, he is a few more things to be grateful for. |
 Patrik Antonius, whom you’ve seen on the World Poker Tour, used to be a male model. Not surprising - this good looking man knows how to greet the camera. |
 Whether you have heard it from the commentators on poker television shows such as the World Poker Tour, Celebrity Poker Showdown, or the World Series of Poker or if you’ve read it in books by Sklansky, Brunson, or Hellmuth - you know that No Limit Texas Holdem is a game that rewards the aggressive player. For 22-year-old Justin Scott, the concept that aggression will win was carried on consistently. |
 Andrew Black, one of Ireland’s best known poker players, is now becoming well known in the U.S. and across the world as well. Black began playing poker regularly in 1986 while he was studying for his law degree at Trinity College in Dublin. During that time, he was a member of the Junior Common Room, a group that famed Irish poker players (Padraig Parkinson) had belonged to. |
 Isaac Haxton is a Boston native who now calls Syracuse home. He began playing poker at home games during his high school years. At the age of 21, he’s earned nearly $1.3 million playing poker. |
 John D’agostino is one of the new generation of young players who are making the brunsons and prestons of the world contemplate the benefits of retirement. As we all know, nobody likes to lose. It is even more grating to a seasoned veteran when they find themselves being knocked out of a tournament by a player who was not alive when the Michael Jackson album "Thriller" was released. As it has turned out, a lot of very good players have found themselves being knocked out of tournaments as John waves to them on his way to the final table. |
 Hailing from Mays Landing, NJ, Nikolaos "Nick" Frangos has had a pretty successful run at both the cash games and the tournaments. He first garnered the attention of the poker elites by taking 5th place in Limit Hold’em at the Fourth Annual Jack Binion World Poker Open. He took home a total of $10,563, but what he mostly got out of that event was respect. There were bigger paydays in the young man’s future as well. |
 Richard Lee loves his hometown of San Antonio, Texas - you can guess so because he says it and because he wore a "San Antonio" T-shirt at the final table of the Main Event of the 37th annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Nevada. Possibly the only player at the table who did not sport some form of online poker room paraphernalia, Richard started the day off third in the chip count, a little behind poker pro Allen Cunningham and worlds behind the chip leader Jamie Gold. |
 When the name "Brian Wilson" is spoken, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Well, that would probably be the famous Beach Boy. What’s the second thing that comes to mind, however? That would be up-and-coming poker star Brian Wilson. With a mixture of dogged determination and a surprising good nature, Brian Wilson is becoming a well-known name in the world of professional poker. |
 In 1992 the Texas native played in his first World Series of Poker Championship. Todd finished a respectable 13th in this "No Limit Hold’em" competition. Since this WSOP baptism, Brunson has gone on to win ten major poker events and place in the top twenty in a score of others. A WSOP Championship bracelet had always been just out of his reach though. This frustration ended on June 21st, 2005. |
 There is a vision most people have of a good poker player. In general, they picture somebody who is middle-aged, perhaps a little paunchy and weathered looking with the tale of their life written into the expression on their face. Most folks don’t think of guys born in the eighties who should have spent their formative years playing "Dance Dance Revolution" instead of Texas Hold’em. Michael Mizrachi shatters the picture in most folk’s minds of what a world class poker player should be. |
 Not to be confused with the Oakland Raider’s football player by the same name - Kirk Morrison the poker professional is a much slighter framed man - certainly not having the appearance of a football brute. But he is a poker brute. |
 He had two mantras going in to the tournament: “Nothing to lose” and “Have fun.” Despite his staying power, Dannenmann said he became bored with the process of trying to outwit the other players at the table towards the end of the tournament. |
 Hamby enjoys a typical 25 year old’s life complete with partying, listening to rap music, and chasing women. While he may present a classic example of modern single life - there is much more to this young man. |
 Being only 23 years old when he appeared under the bright lights and cameras of the ESPN camera crew while filming the final table of the Main Event of the 37th annual World Series of Poker, Erik Friberg must have been thinking about how different this world was from the world of online poker that he was accustomed to. A professional online poker player hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, Erik played well. Erik did not take very many gambles at all at the final table, he played tight, and he played well, but the victory wasn’t to be his. He busted out in eighth place but it is impossible to feel badly for the young Swedish Poker professional, considering he won nearly $2 million for his efforts. |
 What does it mean, to "achieve maximum evolutionary potential?" It probably means one thing to an amoeba and something else to a man, so you will likely have to ask Daniel Alaei himself what he means when he says that it is his goal to achieve maximum evolutionary potential. Beyond that, Daniel doesn’t seem too mysterious - just incredibly successful in the realm of Poker. With total tournament winnings over $1 million, thanks to cashing in 28 different events, Daniel had five money finishes in the 37th annual World Series of Poker. |
 When Chris Moneymaker won at the World Series of Poker, it had a ripple effect throughout the ecosystem that is poker, and launched a storm of new players who all believed they had legitimate chances to win in high profile tournaments. |
 The airbag, the mouth from Down Under, the smack talker, the heckler - one man who is not offended to take on these nicknames is none other than professional poker player Tony G. |
 Try to imagine being in the shoes of Pat Poels for just a moment or two: you’ve quit your job to focus on being a professional poker player, you have a wife and three children at home; there are 699 people you have to beat to win the Omaha High Low event in the World Series of Poker. You would think that a situation such as that would make a person mean, stressed out and quite possibly a poor player. If that is the guess, you haven’t walked in Pat Poels’ shoes long enough. |
 If you had to pick two physical sports that might provide you with some experience useful for playing poker, surfing and wrestling might be good choices. For Lee Watkinson, from Washington state in the northwest U.S., those three activities are what he does. Named Player of the Year in 2004 by Card Player magazine, Watkinson is known for his aggressive play and low profile. |
 Usually if you live in California and have the nickname of "Magic" it’s a pretty safe bet that you have a number of NBA Championship rings stashed somewhere in your home. Those who meet Scott "Magic" Lazar will probably be disappointed if they were expecting well sculpted athlete. Scott is a walking dichotomy, his skill in the game of poker is undeniable, but to date the only thing that has stood in way of being wildly successful has been his own self-destructive tendencies. |
 Some players approach a poker tournament as if they were standing behind the famed Maginot Line that protected France from Germany before World War II. They play conservative, thoughtful poker with the attitude that the best offense is a good defense. Tuan Le plays as if he is of the opinion that the best defense is pummeling his opponents with aggressive play until he has taken all their chips. This is a poker pro that is noted for his forceful, daredevil style of play. |
 In the world of sports, a 22-year-old person is practically middle-aged, and having a 22-year-old competing in a world championship event is not such an unusual thing. 10 years ago, having a 22-year-old at the final table of the World Series of Poker would’ve been considered unusual, and 20 years ago downright unheard of. During the 37th annual World Series of Poker, however, young poker players made up the majority of the people in the seats. Douglas Kim was one of those people, a recent graduate from Duke University putting his degree in economics to the test in ways his professors likely never thought of. |
 His first major win dates back to 1989. In 1992 he won the WSOP golden bracelet for the first place in Pot Limit Omaha event and… quit gambling for eleven years. |
 In 2005 Mark won his first World Series of Poker bracelet playing “No Limit Hold’em”. Seeing as his one bracelet is one more than most players will ever win, you would think he would have sat back and enjoyed the accomplishment. Instead of humming “We are the Champions” everywhere he went though, and jingling his new jewelry in the face of anyone who did not have one, but that is not Mark’s style. |
 There is a saying about an apple and exactly where it falls in relation to the tree. The gist of cliche is that a child is likely to be similar to their parents. Much of this is, of course, complete rubbish. The road of life is littered with the failed careers of kids who tried to follow in the footsteps of their more successful parents. There are those occasional folks who not only reach the level that their parents attained, but manage to eclipse the accomplishments of their gene pool. |
 The rags to riches story of Men “The Master” Nguyen could be a good basis for a movie. In sum he had nothing but has been always trying to improve his life and now has everything. |
 ;"Mr. Moss, I have to let you go." These words uttered by Nicholas Dandolos are unfortunetly the lasting impression most people have of this legend of the game. A generation of players have grown up only knowing that “Nick the Greek” was victimized by Johnny Moss in the most famous card game ever played. There is so much more to the man, and his game, though, than five bad months in 1949. |
 Usually if someone has a name like Surinder, it is naturally expected that they will be French in origin. With Surinder Sunar, this is not the case. Surinder is an English resident who was born in Dhinpur Punjab, India. This poker professional first garnered the attention of the pros and fans alike when he appeared on the British television show Late Night Poker. His Hold’em skills were on display for the entire viewing audience to see. He was a two time finalist on this popular show. |
 To watch JC Tran play poker always enjoyable. Tran’s intense gaze mirrors his confidence and finely tuned ability to read his opponents. |
 Hans “Tuna” Lund is one of the most respected players. He started playing in 1977 and since then he participated in almost every tournament. |
 Ram Vaswani started his poker career earlier than most. In the days before he was able to enter a casino legally or even shave, he was beating his schoolmates at the game of poker. Winning candy from his fellow students at the game of cards eventually got boring, and as he grew older this young man’s fancy turned to thoughts of snooker. Using a stick to push little balls into pockets just didn’t bring the money in fast enough, and Ram eventually went back to where he won the most candy: poker. |
 Some players would use the word “hubris” in relation to competitor who refers to large cash games as an investment. The very word implies that a return is not just desired, but expected. If you look at the results of Kassam “Freddy” Deeb’s “investments” though, you would have to admit he has a point. |
 All a person has to do is turn on Fox News for a few hours and you will learn about a number of things that Beirut, Lebanon is famous for. The words you will seldom, if ever hear in relation to this part of the worlds fame is “Texas Hold’em”. This is a shame, because Beirut was the cradle of one of the sports most promising young Hold’em players. |
 People can talk about his skill, his money totals, his patience and a score of other traits that make him one of the world’s best. Perhaps what is most telling about this player though, is he is a man that no other competitor wants to see sit down at their table. |
 Kosta "Gus" Sengos wears a big smile and a big ring. The smile comes from winning nearly $230,000 dollars and a trip to the WSOP. The money and the ring were recently won at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa at a Circuit event. |
 As a native of the frozen state of Minnesota, Tony Hartmann presumably has very little to do but stay inside and play poker. After a while of this he became very, very good at the game. |
 What is about Vietnam that seems to produce poker pros? Chau Giang, David Pham, Men Nguyen and Young Phan, to name a few of the poker champs that hail from that country. Add Minh Ly to that growing list. A 50-year-old former welder who now lives in Las Vegas, he has played his way to money finishes in a number of tournaments. |
 Hailing from St. Louis, Missouri, Dan Nassif is a 33-year-old sales executive who really didn’t expect to be sitting at the final table of the Main Event in the Amazon Room at the Rio Hotel during the 37th annual World Series of Poker, taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada. He certainly intended to be participating in the World Series in general, taking time off from work in order to do so. Last year his participation ended on the first day when his opponent’s big slick found another ace and took out Dan Nassif and his pocket tens. This year it was a different story. |
 There are a lot of movie stars who boast playing poker during their free time nowadays. But the situation with Erik Seidel is quite opposite: he is a professional poker player who became famous after he played in a movie. |
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