When he was 18 years old, Mark Newhouse began playing poker in home games with his family in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Through some direction from his brother, his interest for the game was sparked enough that he began to read books about it and play online. An engineering student at Appalachian State University at the time, it took only two years of online play before he decided to pursue poker as a full-time job. Newhouse was making a living playing poker on the Internet, but at the young age of 21, in July, 2006, he took on the live tables at the World Series of Poker, coming in fifth in a $3000 Limit Holdem event.
Adding the credit to his poker resume and $56,400 to his earnings, Newhouse went on to enter the 2006 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open in September and secure himself a seat in the $10,000 Main Event. He beat out 540 other entrants to sit at the final table, chip leader, against David Sklansky, Chris McCormack, Blaise Ingoglia, Anthony Argila, and fellow North Carolinian, Chris Bell. There was a struggle for control of the chips between Newhouse and McCormack, but Newhouse managed to double the pot and then finish the game with a full house. He took the $1,519,020 first place prize and became the second youngest player to win a World Poker Tour Championship. Newhouse fully intends to continue the path he has started so successfully. He now has an entry into the $25,000 buy-in WPT Championship and many believe it's the beginning of a lucrative career in live poker. As more and more young players are making marks for themselves in the pro poker events, we should keep our eyes on these rising stars. Despite generally coming from an Internet poker background, these contenders are showing their mettle in the live arena as well.
