1.
World Series of Poker bracelet
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The World Series of Poker bracelet is considered the most coveted non-monetary prize a poker player can win. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP, even if the victory occurred before 1976, WSOP championships are now counted as bracelets. During the first years of the WSOP only a handful of bracelets were awarded each year, in 1990, there were only 14 bracelet events. By 2000, that increased to 24. As the popularity of poker has increased during the 2000s, the number of events has likewise increased, in 2011,58 bracelets were awarded at the WSOP, seven at the World Series of Poker Europe, and one to the WSOP National Circuit Champion. This brought the number of bracelets awarded up to 959. Five additional bracelets were awarded for the first time in April 2013 at the inaugural World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific in Melbourne, Australia. Since Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 Main Event, only two players have won and followed it up with a win in another event, Jonathan Duhamel. The 1976 bracelet looked like gold nuggets kind of hammered flat, the bracelet in 1976 cost approximately $500. In the 1980s, Las Vegas jeweler Mordechai Yerushalmi became the manufacturer of WSOP bracelets until Harrahs Entertainment bought the rights to the WSOP in 2004. According to 2003 WSOP Champion Chris Moneymaker, the design of the bracelet remained relatively unchanged under Yerushalmi, in 2005, Gold and Diamond International based in Memphis, TN won the bid from Harrahs Entertainment to manufacture the 2005 World Series of Poker bracelets. The company also manufactures the WSOP circuit rings, in 2006, Frederick Goldman, Inc. made the WSOP bracelets while luxury watch maker Corum introduced some commemorative watches as part of the prize package. In 2006, the Champions bracelet had 259 stones including 7.2 carats of diamonds,120 grams of white and it also used rubies to represent the heart and diamond suits, a sapphire to represent the spade and three black diamonds to represent the clubs. In 2007, Corum became the official bracelet manufacturer for the WSOP, some of the 2007 World Series of Poker champions received both a watch and a bracelet from Corum. Corum designed four variations for the 2007 World Series of Poker Bracelets, the standard version that is presented to 53 winners features 53 diamonds. The Ladies World Champion receives a bracelet that is adorned with four black diamonds, the $50,000 HORSE Champion Bracelet has 91 black diamonds and two rubies. The World Series of Poker Main Event Bracelet has 120 diamonds on 136 grams of 18 carat white gold, the value of the 2007 bracelets have not been released, but the typical price of a Corum watch ranges from $1, 500–$30, 000+. In 2008, the Main Event Bracelet had 291 diamonds, totalling 2.81 carats set in 168 grams of 18kt white gold, the other 54 event bracelets consisted of 55 diamonds, totalling 0.25 carats set in 80 grams of 14kt yellow gold
2.
World Series of Poker
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The World Series of Poker is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment Corporation. The winner of each event receives a World Series of Poker bracelet, over the years, the tournament has grown in both the number of events and in the number of participants. Each year, the WSOP culminates with the $10,000 no-limit holdem Main Event, the victor receives a multi-million dollar cash prize and a bracelet, which has become the most coveted award a poker player can win. The winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event is considered to be the World Champion of Poker, as of 2014, the WSOP consists of 65 events, with most major poker variants featured. However, in recent years, over half of the events have been variants of Texas hold em, Events traditionally take place during one day or over several consecutive days during the series in June and July. However, starting in 2008, the Main Event final table was delayed until November, the 2012 Main Event final table commenced in October because of the United States presidential election. Since 1971, all WSOP events have been tournaments with cash prizes, in 1973, a five-card stud event was added. Since then, new events have added and removed. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP, later on, the tournament grew slowly for over a decade, reaching 52 participants in 1982. In the early 1980s, satellite tournaments were introduced, allowing people to win their way into the various events, by 1987, there were over 2,100 entrants in the entire series. At the 2006 World Series of Poker, there were 45 events, participation in the Main Event peaked that year, with 8,773 players. Currently, Texas hold em, Omaha hold em and Seven-card stud, H. O. R. S. E. has been played in the past and returned in 2006. Also, S. H. O. E. has been played in the past, other events played in the past include Chinese poker, Five card stud, and many others. Like most tournaments, the sponsoring casino takes a fee and distributes the rest. In the 2005 Main Event, US$52,818,610 in prize money was distributed among 560 players, with US$7.5 million as the first prize. The 2006 Main Event, won by Jamie Gold, is the largest single poker tournament by prize pool or by entrant numbers in history, in July 2010, it was announced that the winner of the 2010 Main Event would receive just under US$9 million. 11% of the went to Lalibertés charity, the One Drop Foundation. At the time of the announcement,15 of the maximum 48 seats had been taken
3.
Omaha hold 'em
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Omaha uses a 52-card French deck. Limit Omaha hold em 8-or-better is the O game featured in H. O. R. S. E, both limit Omaha/8 and pot limit Omaha high are featured in the 8-Game. Omaha Holdem gets its name from two types of games, in the original Omaha poker game, players were only dealt two hole cards and had to use both to make a hand combined with community cards. This version of Omaha is defined in the glossary of Super/System as being interchangeable with Tight Holdem, across all the variations of the game, the requirement of using exactly two hole cards is the only consistent rule. The Omaha part of the name represents this aspect of the game, Holdem refers to a game using community cards that are shared by all players. In North American casinos, the term Omaha can refer to several poker games, the original game is also commonly known as Omaha high. A high-low split version called Omaha Hi-Lo, or sometimes Omaha eight-or-better or Omaha/8, is also played, in Europe, Omaha still typically refers to the high version of the game, usually played pot-limit. Pot-limit Omaha is often abbreviated as PLO, Pot-limit and no-limit Omaha eight-or-better can be found in some casinos and online, though no-limit is rarer. It is often said that Omaha is a game of the nuts, i. e. the best possible high or low hand, because it frequently takes the nuts to win a showdown. It is also a game where between the cards in his hand and the community cards a player may have drawing possibilities to multiple different types of holdings, for example, a player may have both a draw to a flush and a full house using different combinations of cards. At times, even seasoned players may need time to figure what draws are possible for their hand. The basic differences between Omaha and Texas hold em are these, first, each player is dealt four cards instead of two. The betting rounds and layout of community cards are identical, at showdown, each players hand is the best five-card hand made from exactly three of the five cards on the board, plus exactly two of the players own cards. Unlike Texas hold em, a player cannot play four or five of the cards on the board with fewer than two of his own, nor can a player use three or four cards to disguise a strong hand. A player with 2♠ 3♠ K♦ J♦ can play the spade flush, the same thing applies to straights. In Omaha, a player use only one hole card. For example, with a board of 5♠ 6♥ 7♦ 8♥ A♠, a player with J♦ J♠ 4♦ 9♠ or J♦ J♠ 9♦ 9♠ cannot play a straight. But a player with J♦ J♠ 4♦ 3♠ can play a straight from 3 to 7, a player with J♣ 2♣ 9♠ 10♠ can use his J-9 to play the full house J♠ J♦ J♣ 9♠ 9♦
4.
Texas hold 'em
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Texas hold em is a variation of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as the cards, are dealt face down to each player. The stages consist of a series of three cards, later a single card and a final card. Each player seeks the best five card poker hand from the combination of the community cards, if a players best five card poker hand consists only of the five community cards and none of the players hole cards, it is called playing the board. Players have betting options to check, call, raise or fold, rounds of betting take place before the flop is dealt, and after each subsequent deal. Texas hold em is the H game featured in H. O. R. S. E, in Texas hold em, as in all variants of poker, individuals compete for an amount of money or chips contributed by the players themselves. The game is divided into a series of hands, at the conclusion of each hand, the objective of winning players is not to win every individual hand, but rather to make mathematically and psychologically better decisions regarding when and how much to bet, raise, call—or fold. Ones pattern of betting may encourage opponents to bet or to fold, the winning poker players know how to enhance their opponents betting and maximize their own expected gain on each round of betting, to thereby increase their long-term winnings. Although little is known about the invention of Texas hold em, after the game spread throughout Texas, hold em was introduced to Las Vegas in 1967 by a group of Texan gamblers and card players, including Crandell Addington, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim. This is when ace high was changed from the form in which aces were low. Addington said the first time he saw the game was in 1959 and they didnt call it Texas hold em at the time, they just called it hold em. … I thought then that if it were to catch on, it would become the game. Draw poker, you bet only twice, hold em, you bet four times and that meant you could play strategically. This was more of a mans game. For several years the Golden Nugget Casino in Downtown Las Vegas was the only casino in Las Vegas to offer the game, at that time, the Golden Nuggets poker room was truly a sawdust joint, with…oiled sawdust covering the floors. Because of its location and decor, this room did not receive many rich drop-in clients. In 1969, the Las Vegas professionals were invited to play Texas hold em at the entrance of the now-demolished Dunes Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. This prominent location, and the inexperience of poker players with Texas hold em. After a failed attempt to establish a Gambling Fraternity Convention, Tom Moore added the first ever poker tournament to the Second Annual Gambling Fraternity Convention held in 1969 and this tournament featured several games including Texas hold em
5.
Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino
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The Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino is located near the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corporation, the Rio was the first all suite resort in the Las Vegas area. It was named after the city of Rio de Janeiro, and is influenced by Brazilian culture, the Rio is the host casino for the World Series of Poker. The hotel towers are covered in blue and red glass, the Rio hotels 2,522 suites range in size from 600 to 13,000 sq ft and have floor to ceiling windows. There are several private villas on the property for high-rollers, the complex includes a wine cellar that has more than 50,000 bottles. The Rio Pavilion convention center has a total of 160,000 sq ft of space, a Race and Sports Book is also available. The Rio opened on January 15,1990 as a locals casino, the opening acts were the Brazilian Group Sérgio Mendes 99 and Henrietta Alves of New Orleans, bringing the first two-piano act to Las Vegas, with various co-performers. A 20-story expansion tower was added to the current Ipanema Tower in 1993, Masquerade Village, a hotel tower and casino expansion including the Masquerade Show in the Sky, opened in 1997, at a cost of over $200 million. The Rio was purchased by Harrahs Entertainment in 1999 for $888 million, after the purchase, the Culinary Workers Union organized the Rio employees through card check recognition by enforcing the neutrality clause of the existing Harrahs contract on the new acquisition. Danny Gans, after moving from the Stratosphere Las Vegas, opened as the headliner in 1998 and he later moved to The Mirage in 2000. Penn & Teller have been the resident headline entertainers since 2001, the hotel hosted the World Series of Poker in 2005, the first time this event was not held at Binions. Binions was used for the three tables and the last two days of the competition as part of the celebration of Las Vegas centennial. Since 2005, the Rio has been the home for the tournament, on May 30,2008, the Rio opened the Sapphire Pool in conjunction with a local club. The daylight-hour, adults-only club surrounded one of the outdoor pools. It opened with an admission price. The request was a part of the effort to show good faith to the Gaming Control Board. The July 25 visit resulted in eleven arrests, upon finding out the results of the investigation, the Rio immediately shut down the pool. The DEF CON hacker convention took place at the Rio All Suite Hotel, the Computer Measurement Group annual conference took place at the Rio by December 2012
6.
Las Vegas
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The city anchors the Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area and is the largest city within the greater Mojave Desert. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment and it is the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World and it is a top three destination in the United States for business conventions and a global leader in the hospitality industry, claiming more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any city in the world. Today, Las Vegas annually ranks as one of the worlds most visited tourist destinations. The citys tolerance for numerous forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and has made Las Vegas a popular setting for literature, films, television programs, Las Vegas was settled in 1905 and officially incorporated in 1911. At the close of the 20th century, it was the most populated American city founded within that century, population growth has accelerated since the 1960s, and between 1990 and 2000 the population nearly doubled, increasing by 85. 2%. Rapid growth has continued into the 21st century, and according to a 2013 estimate, perhaps the earliest visitors to the Las Vegas area were nomadic Paleo-Indians, who traveled there 10,000 years ago, leaving behind petroglyphs. Anasazi and Paiute tribes followed at least 2,000 years ago, a young Mexican scout named Rafael Rivera is credited as the first non-Native American to encounter the valley, in 1829. Trader Antonio Armijo led a 60-man party along the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles, the area was named Las Vegas, which is Spanish for the meadows, as it featured abundant wild grasses, as well as desert spring waters for westward travelers. The year 1844 marked the arrival of John C, frémont, whose writings helped lure pioneers to the area. Downtown Las Vegas Fremont Street is named after him, eleven years later members of the LDS Church chose Las Vegas as the site to build a fort halfway between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, where they would travel to gather supplies. The fort was abandoned several years afterward, the remainder of this Old Mormon Fort can still be seen at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington Avenue. Las Vegas was founded as a city in 1905, when 110 acres of adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks were auctioned in what would become the downtown area. In 1911, Las Vegas was incorporated as a city,1931 was a pivotal year for Las Vegas. At that time, Nevada legalized casino gambling and reduced residency requirements for divorce to six weeks and this year also witnessed the beginning of construction on nearby Hoover Dam. The influx of workers and their families helped Las Vegas avoid economic calamity during the Great Depression. The construction work was completed in 1935, in 1941, the Las Vegas Army Air Corps Gunnery School was established. Currently known as Nellis Air Force Base, it is home to the team called the Thunderbirds
7.
Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel
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Binions Gambling Hall & Hotel, formerly Binions Horseshoe, is a casino on the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned by TLC Casino Enterprises, the casino is named for its founder, Benny Binion, whose family ran it from its founding in 1951 until 2004. The hotel, which had 366 rooms, closed in 2009, Benny Binion bought the Eldorado Club and Apache Hotel in 1951, re-opening them as Binions Horseshoe. The casinos interior had a flavor, like an old-style riverboat, with low ceilings. It was the first casino in downtown Las Vegas to replace sawdust-covered floors with carpeting, Binion also instituted high table limits. When Binion first opened the Horseshoe, he set the table limit at $500—ten times higher than any other casino in Las Vegas at the time. Ultimately, Binions raised the limit to $10,000 and even eliminated table limits completely at times. Unlike other casinos, the emphasis at Binions was on gambling, the casino was also very egalitarian, there were no private pits for high rollers. Other members of Binions family were involved in the casino and his sons, Jack and Ted, supervised the games, while his wife, Teddy Jane, kept the books until her death in 1994. Benny served time in Leavenworth Penitentiary from 1953 to 1957 for tax evasion and he sold a majority share of the casino to fellow gambler and New Orleans oilman Joe W. Brown to cover back taxes and legal costs. It was generally understood, however, that Brown was only a caretaker and he did not regain full control, however, until 1964. While Brown operated the casino, he installed the famous $1 million display on the casino floor and he sold the display in 1959 and it was later recreated using 100 $10,000 bills by Benny in 1964. The display became one of the casinos attractions, as a convicted felon, Benny was no longer allowed to hold a gaming license, so his sons took over day-to-day control when the family bought out Brown. Jack became president while Ted became casino manager, Benny assumed the title of Director of Public Relations. In 1970, Jack began hosting the World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe, eventually, the WSOP became the largest set of poker tournaments in the world. In 1988, the Horseshoe expanded by acquiring The Mint, a hotel on the west side of the casino. The expansion of the casino from this purchase provided room for Binions first poker room, Ted was under constant scrutiny from the Nevada Gaming Commission from 1986 onward for drug problems and associating with known mob figure Fat Herbie Blitzstein. He would ultimately be banned from entering his familys casino
8.
Caesars Entertainment Corporation
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Caesars Entertainment Corporation, is an American gaming corporation based in Paradise, Nevada that owns and operates over 50 casinos and hotels, and seven golf courses under several brands. It is the fourth-largest gaming company in the world, with revenues of $8.6 billion. Caesars is a company, majority-owned by a group of private equity firms led by Apollo Global Management. Caesarss largest operating unit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2015, the companys background can be traced to October 29,1937, when Bill Harrah opened a small bingo parlor in Reno, Nevada, a predecessor to Harrahs Reno. In 1955, he expanded to Stateline, Nevada, on the shore of Lake Tahoe. Harrahs Inc. made its public offering in 1971. Following that in 1972, it was listed on the American Stock Exchange and in 1973, Bill Harrah died on June 30,1978 of complications from aortic aneurysm and cardiac surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. In February 1980, Holiday Inns acquired Harrahs, Inc. for $300 million, liquidation of Harrahs collection of almost 7,000 antique automobiles reportedly returned the full purchase price of the company to Holiday Inn. In July 1987, Bills Casino Lake Tahoe opened, Harrahs Laughlin opened in August 1988. The company now known as Caesars Entertainment was formed in 1990 as The Promus Companies, which retained only the Holiday Inn assets. The next year, the headquarters moved from Reno to Memphis, Tennessee In April 1992. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw an increase in gambling markets with the growth of Indian gaming. In 1993 and 1994, the company opened Harrahs Joliet, Harrahs Vicksburg, Harrahs Tunica, Harrahs Black Hawk, Harrahs Central City, Harrahs Shreveport, Harrahs North Kansas City, and Harrahs Ak-Chin. In 1995, Promus decided to spin off its non-gaming hotel businesses, Promus Hotel Corp. was established, holding Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, and Homewood Suites, while the parent company, holding 16 casinos, was renamed as Harrahs Entertainment. In 1997, Harrahs launched its Total Gold loyalty program, developed at a cost of $20 million. It was the first gaming company to offer a systemwide comps program, allowing points earned at one casino to be redeemed for goods, the system would be credited as a major driver of Harrahs growth over the coming years. Harvard Business School professor Gary Loveman joined Harrahs as chief operating officer in 1998, in 1999, the company moved its headquarters from Memphis to Las Vegas. Harrahs made its largest single expansion in 2005, when it acquired Caesars Entertainment, negotiations were spurred on by news of a merger agreement between MGM Mirage and Mandalay Resort Group
9.
Antonio Esfandiari
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Antonio The Magician Esfandiari, born Amir Esfandiary, is a professional poker player and former professional magician, known for his elaborate chip tricks. Esfandiari was the face of the United States first legal and regulated online poker site, Ultimate Poker, however since Monday, in 2012, he authored The Magicians Secrets for Winning Tournaments on Insta Poker, a poker strategy game available for iOS. Esfandiari was born in Tehran, Iran, when he was nine years old, his family moved to San Jose, California. He graduated from Del Mar High School in 1997, at the age of 19, he changed his name to Antonio, which was adopted from a desire to be a magician. Antonio the magician sounded more mystical than Amir the magician, while he was performing magic, he was invited to a game of Texas Hold em and started to play poker. He has a brother, Pasha, who also plays poker. Esfandiari is married to Amal Bounahra, daughter of poker pro Badih Bob Bounahra, Esfandiari and his wife had a son on January 7,2015. In 2004, he won close to $1.4 million and he won his first World Series of Poker bracelet a few months later in pot-limit Texas Hold em. Esfandiari appeared in the second and third seasons of the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament, after finishing last the previous year, Antonio was able to redeem himself with a second-place finish the third season. He was also in season of GSN series High Stakes Poker. On April 17,2008, Esfandiari made the table at the 2008 PokerStars. com EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo finishing in eighth place. On July 14,2009, Esfandiari made his deepest finish to date in the World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing 24th on day 8 of the tournament, earning $352,832. In 2010, he won his second World Poker Tour title by winning the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World for over $870,000. On July 3,2012, he won the largest buy-in tournament in history, the Big One for One Drop, after beating 47 other players, he earned $18,346,673, the biggest cash prize in poker history. The same year at the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe, Esfandiari won his bracelet in the €1,100 No Limit Holdem event. In the 2013 World Series of Poker, he placed fourth in the One Drop High Roller tournament, the successor to the Big One that he had won a year earlier, as of 2016, his total live tournament winnings exceed $27,300,000. Esfandiari has been ranked as high as #14 on the Global Poker Index, on January 10,2016, Esfandiari was disqualified from the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $5,300 Main Event, after apparently urinating in a bottle as a result of a prop bet with Bill Perkins. An E following a year denotes bracelet won at the World Series of Poker Europe Esfandiari co-starred in the TV show I Bet You, on MOJO HD and he is the face of World Poker Tours Poker-Made Millionaire
10.
Humberto Brenes
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Humberto Brenes is a Costa Rican professional poker player. Brenes currently resides in Miami Lakes, Florida with his wife, Brenes began his gambling career playing baccarat, but later made his way into poker. He started to play tournaments in 1974 and became a tournament player in 1988. In 1988, he made the table of the World Series of Poker main event, finishing in fourth place. He has collected two WSOP bracelets, cashed 72 times at the WSOP and made three World Poker Tour final tables, breness two bracelets came at the 1993 World Series of Poker in limit Texas hold em and pot limit Omaha. He tied with Phil Hellmuth, Jr. for highest number of finishes in the 2006 WSOP. He also finished first, winning $502,460 at the Jack Binion 2002 World Poker Open, beating Erik Seidel heads up. Breness unique dress makes him easy to spot at tournaments, as he tends to wear bright tracksuits and he uses a toy shark as a card protector, the origin of his nickname. He is also known for singing during hands and he also is a member of Team PokerStars. Brenes plays under the screen name HumbertoB, two of his brothers, Alex Brenes and Eric Brenes, have won World Poker Tour titles. Brenes was eliminated by Hevad Khan, the board came 3♠ 5♠ K♠ 4♦ 10♠ giving Khan the ace high flush. However, with the 83rd-place finish, Brenes made WSOP history with the largest number of Main Event players outlasted in a span with 15,012. As of 2013, his live tournament winnings exceed $6,000,000. His 72 cashes in the WSOP account for $2,264,333 of those winnings, humberto Brenes has been selected among the 10 finalists to enter the hall of fame of poker 2013
11.
Phil Hellmuth
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Phillip Jerome Hellmuth, Jr. is an American professional poker player who has won a record fourteen World Series of Poker bracelets. He is the winner of the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker and the Main Event of the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe, Hellmuth is also known for his temperamental poker brat personality. Since 1992, he has lived in Palo Alto, California with his wife Katherine Sanborn, who is a psychiatrist at Stanford University, as of 2016, his total live tournament winnings exceed $20,900,000. He is ranked seventh on the money list. Hellmuth is known for taking his seat at poker tournaments long after they begin. On October 18,2015, Hellmuth is ranked #119 on the Global Poker Index, Hellmuth holds the records for most WSOP cashes and most WSOP final tables, overtaking T. J. Cloutier. As of March 2015, Hellmuth has won over $12,000,000 at the WSOP and ranks fourth on the WSOP All Time Money List, behind Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Colman, and Daniel Negreanu. Hellmuth also is tied for all time in number of times cashed in the WSOP Main Event. He has eight Main Event cashes, placing him behind Berry Johnston, and Humberto Brenes, Doyle Brunson, of those 22 events, Hellmuth has finished runner-up six times. At the 1993 World Series of Poker, Hellmuth became the player in WSOP history to win three bracelets in one WSOP. At the 1997 World Series of Poker, Hellmuth won his 5th bracelet of the decade, at the conclusion of the 1999 World Series of Poker, his five bracelets would stand to lead the decade for most WSOP bracelets won by one player in the 1990s. At the 2006 World Series of Poker, Hellmuth captured his 10th World Series of Poker bracelet in the $1,000 No Limit Holdem with rebuys event, at the time, it tied him with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan for most bracelets. At the 2007 World Series of Poker, Hellmuth won his record-breaking 11th bracelet in the $1,500 No Limit Holdem Event, Hellmuths sponsor arranged for him to arrive at the 2007 WSOP Main Event in a race car. Hellmuth lost control of the car in the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino parking lot and he gave up the car for a limo, arriving at the Main Event two hours late. At the 2008 WSOP Main Event, Hellmuth verbally abused another player, after a private meeting with WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack the penalty was overruled and Hellmuth finished the tournament in 45th place. On June 11,2012, Hellmuth won his 12th World Series of Poker bracelet in the $2,500 Seven-Card Razz event, defeating Don Zewin, Zewin had finished third to Chan and Hellmuth when Hellmuth won his first bracelet in 1989. Hellmuth also collected $2,645,333 for his finish in the $1,000,000 buy-in Big One for One Drop tournament. This win also made Hellmuth the first player in WSOP history to win multiple bracelets in three different years, also, Hellmuth finished runner-up in the WSOP Player of the Year race for a record third time
12.
Chris Ferguson
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Christopher Philip Chris Ferguson is an American professional poker player. He has won five World Series of Poker events, including the 2000 WSOP Main Event, on September 20,2011, the U. S. Ferguson was born in Los Angeles, California. Both Fergusons parents have doctoral degrees in mathematics and his father, Thomas Ferguson, teaches game theory, Ferguson attended UCLA, where he earned a Ph. D. in computer science in 1999 after five years as an undergraduate and 13 years as a graduate student. His Ph. D. advisor was Leonard Kleinrock, Ferguson began playing poker at the age 10. In college, he honed his skill on IRC poker playing online for money in chat rooms. In 1994, he began playing in tournaments in California and in 1995, Ferguson beat T. J. Cloutier heads-up at the Main Event of the 2000 WSOP to win the $1.5 million prize. In 2004, he entered the WSOP Main Event, earning $120,000 for his 26th-place finish, also in 2004, Ferguson helped launch the online poker site Full Tilt Poker. Ferguson finished runner-up to Phil Hellmuth in the 2005 National Heads-Up Poker Championship and he made the finals again in 2006, but again finished second, this time to Ted Forrest. In 2008, he made the finals for the third time, at one time he had the most event wins, but he is now second to Huck Seed. In 2008, Ferguson cashed for US$677,905 at the WSOP, as of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $8,000,000. His 63 WSOP cashes account for $4,051,104 of those winnings and put him third for most cashes at the WSOP, behind Phil Hellmuth and he claims to have turned $1 into more than $20,000 playing online poker over six months as a personal challenge. He talked about this as a guest on Poker Night Live, similarly, to show that it could be done, he turned $0 into $10,000 on Full Tilt by first winning freeroll tournaments. Despite achieving his goal, Ferguson has continued the challenge and was at one point over $20,000 and he is a relatively quiet player who often adopts a characteristic motionless pose to avoid providing information to his opponents. He adopted his trademark wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses consciously, to point towards a table image that does not display outright the fact that he was a college student. His style is highly mathematical, using a knowledge of game theory. Ferguson is nicknamed Jesus because of his trademark long brown hair, in addition to his five bracelets, Ferguson was the first player to have won three World Series of Poker Circuit rings. On September 20,2011, the United States Department of Justice amended an existing civil complaint against Full Tilt Poker, the case was dismissed February 19,2013 yielding insofar that money be paid out by Ferguson and limitations placed on his website and the legality of online poker. His interests include his presidency of a dancing club at UCLA, as well as his ability to throw playing cards fast enough to cut through bananas, carrots
13.
Alex Jacob
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Alex Jacob is a former professional poker player and game show contestant. Jacob is perhaps best known in poker for winning the 2006 main event at the United States Poker Championship and he has also appeared at televised final tables at the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour. In 2015, after leaving professional poker, Jacob became a contestant on Jeopardy, where he won six games and the shows Tournament of Champions. Jacob secured his biggest paycheck to date by winning the 2006 U. S, Poker Championship with a first-place prize of $878,500. Jacob has 4 WSOP Final Tables, including a 3rd in Event 3 in No-Limit holdem at the 2007 World Series of Poker, in 2002, Jacob was the valedictorian of Deerfield Beach High School, and was in the International Baccalaureate program. He then graduated in May 2006 from Yale University with a degree in Economics and Mathematics and his talent was spotted there as early as 2004 by James McManus, when he sat down to play at Yale one night and mentioned Alex in an article about the experience months later. Additionally, he is known for his graciousness and sportsmanship in tournament play. As of 2012, his live tournament winnings exceed $2,600,000. His 25 cashes at the WSOP account for $832,559 of those winnings, Jacob has also appeared on the game show Jeopardy. He won in his first appearance on the show on April 10,2015, Jacob won a grand total of $151,802 in seven appearances. His victories qualified him for the 2015 Tournament of Champions, which he won, Alex Jacob in the CardPlayer. com Player Database
14.
Jeff Madsen
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Jeff Madsen is the third-youngest winner of a World Series of Poker event and the 2006 World Series of Poker Player of the Year. Madsen was raised in Los Angeles and lived in the house until going to college at the University of California. He now lives in Las Vegas, Madsen began playing poker at college and won a no limit Texas hold em event at the 2006 World Series of Poker. At the age of 21 years and five weeks, he was six weeks younger than the previous record holder, Eric Froehlich. At that time he was the youngest World Series of Poker winner in history until Steve Billirakis became the youngest at the age of 21 years 11 days the following year. Later in 2007, Annette Obrestad broke that record with her win in the Main Event of the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe on the day before her 19th birthday. Obrestads record cannot be broken in the Las Vegas WSOP because Nevada gaming law mandates a minimum age of 21, less than two weeks prior to his victory, Madsen finished third in the $2,000 Omaha high-low split event, winning $97,552. Just six days after his first victory, Madsen won his second WSOP title and his showing prompted Full Tilt Poker to bring him in as a sponsored pro. In 2007, Madsen cashed in his first WPT event, finishing eighth at the Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship, Madsen began playing casino poker three years before his WSOP victory at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California, where the minimum age to play is 18. On February 5,2010 Madsen won the $3,500 buy-in Championship Event at the Borgata Winter Open 2010 in Atlantic City, as of 2015, Madsens tournament winnings exceed $5,100,000. His 44 cashes at the WSOP account for $2,798,043 of those winnings, sports Illustrated feature story PokerListings. com profile
15.
Betting in poker
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In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing. Players in a poker game act in turn, in clockwise rotation, until the first bet is made each player in turn may check, which is to not place a bet, or open, which is to make the first bet. A player may fold by surrendering her cards, a player may check by tapping the table or making any similar motion. All other bets are made by placing chips in front of the player, in general, the person to the left of the dealer acts first and action proceeds in a clockwise fashion. If any player has folded earlier, action proceeds to next player, in games with blinds, the first round of betting begins with the player to the left of the blinds. In stud games action begins with the showing the strongest cards and proceeds clockwise. If there is a bring-in, the first round of betting begins with the player obliged to post the bring-in. If no one has yet opened the round, a player may pass or check. In games played with blinds, players may not check on the round because the blinds are live bets. A player who has posted the big blind has the right to raise on the first round, called the option, if no player has raised. If all players check, the round is over with no additional money placed in the pot. A common way to signify checking is to tap the table, either with a fist, knuckles, some poker variations have special rules about opening a round that may not apply to other bets. For example, a game may have a structure that specifies different allowable amounts for opening than for other bets. Normally, a player makes a bet by placing the chips they wish to wager into the pot, to raise is to increase the size of an existing bet in the same betting round. A player making the second or subsequent raise of a round is said to re-raise. A player making a raise after previously checking in the betting round is said to check-raise. A bluff is when a player bets or raises when it is likely they do not have the best hand, it is often done in hopes that opponent will fold mediocre yet stronger hands. When a player bets or raises with a hand that has a chance of improvement on a later betting round
16.
Brandon Cantu
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Brandon M. Cantu is an American professional poker player. Upon winning a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2006, Cantu relocated to Las Vegas, on March 14,2007, Cantu became one of only 27 players to ever win both a World Series of Poker bracelet and a World Poker Tour championship. At the $1,500 No-Limit hold’em event in June 2006, Cantu won his first WSOP bracelet in a $1,500 No Limit Holdem event, the event was the largest live poker tournament outside of the main event, with 2,775 players. At the Main Event of 2008, Cantu finished in 20th place out of 6844 entries, at the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe, Cantu took second in the 10K Mix Max losing to J. C. Aguilar. Tran who just missed the six person final table in 7th and Jennifer Harman who finished 3rd, also making the table were non-designated pros John Phan, Noah Jefferson. As of 2010, his live tournament winnings exceed $3,400,000. His 10 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,693,509 of those winnings, pokerlistings. com interview The PokerNews interview, Brandon Cantu PokerSourceOnline. com article
17.
Eric Buchman
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Eric Buchman is an American professional poker player from Valley Stream, New York, who finished in fourth place at the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. The following year, at the 2010 World Series of Poker, Buchman won his first bracelet in the $2,000 Limit Holdem event, Buchman finished in fourth place in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event on November 7 of that year. He part of the group of players known as the November Nine. Buchman has nine previous WSOP cashes, including a 2nd-place finish in the Limit Holdem event in 2006 and he also had a runner-up finish at the WSOP Circuit event in December 2007. As of 2010, Buchman has finished in the three times on the World Poker Tour and ten times in the World Series of Poker. His total live tournament earnings have exceeded $3,700,000
18.
Dutch Boyd
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Russell Aaron Boyd, commonly known as Dutch Boyd, is an American professional poker player from Culver City, California. Inspired by the 1998 movie Rounders, Boyd began playing online poker day, after graduating law school, Dutch moved to California and began playing poker during the day and working for a department store at night. During this time, Boyd and his brother decided to begin an online casino specializing in poker and he raised $50,000 from family and friends and began the PokerSpot website, which would eventually fail and spark controversy. After the failure of PokerSpot, Boyd suffered from a series of self-alleged mental problems, Boyd received substantial media attention during his deep run on the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event, where he finished in 12th place. He was involved in a key hand late in the tournament with Chris Moneymaker, Boyd held KQ and Moneymaker had pocket 3s. After the 925 flop had missed Boyd, Moneymaker bet $100,000, Moneymaker thought for a while about calling, but eventually did put his tournament life on the line. Boyd did not improve on his cards and was left with a very small stack. Boyd would go down in 12th place not long after the hand, shortly after this, he founded a group of young poker players called The Crew that achieved notable success. In addition to playing professionally, Boyd attempted to establish another online poker room which charged players a monthly membership fee rather than rake in order to play. Boyds new endeavor would not materialize, Boyd has won three WSOP bracelets in his career. His first came in the 2006 World Series of Poker, where he won a $2,500 buy-in No-Limit Holdem Six Max event for $475,712, his largest tournament win to date. He won his second in 2010 in a $2,500 Limit Holdem/Six Handed event, in 2007, Boyd won a $1,000 buy-in event at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic for a $237,685 prize. As of 2016, Boyds total live tournament winnings exceed $2,530,000 and his 40 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,731,187 of those winnings. Prior to his poker career, Boyd was the president and co-founder of the PokerSpot online poker cardroom. PokerSpot was based out of Antigua, but Boyd never obtained an Antiguan gaming license for the cardroom, when PokerSpot ceased operations, the cardroom did not refund $400,000 of player funds. A substantial controversy has arisen from actions taken by Boyd and the staff of PokerSpot during this time, according to Boyd, in January 2001, PokerSpots credit card processor was late in transferring player funds to PokerSpot. As a result, PokerSpot did not have all the funds that were being used at their site. Eventually this resulted in PokerSpot being shorted six weeks of credit card deposits, players were unable to cash out, and eventually the site shut down
19.
Joe Hachem
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Joseph Hachem is a Lebanese Australian professional poker player known for winning the Main Event of the 2005 World Series of Poker. He was the first Australian to win the Main Event, which earned him $7.5 million, the next year, Hachem won his first World Poker Tour title at the Bellagio Casinos Five Diamonds Poker Classic, earning him $2.2 million. He is one of only five players to win both a World Series of Poker main event and a World Poker Tour championship. Including his WSOP Main Event victory, Hachem has finished in the money in thirteen World Series events, as of July 2014, Hachems tournament winnings exceed $11,800,000, making him the fourteenth highest ranked player in live tournament career earnings. Joseph Hachem was born in Lebanon on 11 March 1966, in 1972, at age six, Hachem and his family moved to Melbourne, Australia. He worked as a chiropractor for 13 years before giving up the career after developing a blood disorder that affected the blood vessels in his hands. Around 1995, while taking time off to consider his future, Hachem started to play poker with greater frequency, mostly in casinos and he also ran a small brokerage business in Pascoe Vale, Victoria. Hachem said he was too temperamental when he first started playing poker and had to learn to control his temper. Around 2000, after years of playing, Hachem started playing regularly in tournaments at the Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex in Melbourne. Hachem spent another five years playing regularly on the Melbourne tournament circuit before setting his sights on the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Nevada. Just prior to entering the 2005 World Series of Poker, Hachem visited the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, one of the players made a joke that Hachem was stopping in before being crowned the new Australian champion. Hachem entered the World Series of Poker as a relatively unknown poker player, two weeks prior to the main event, Hachem finished 10th in the $1,000 buy-in No Limit Holdem World Series event, winning $25,850. Hachem won the 2005 World Series of Poker $10,000 no limit Texas hold em Main Event and he won $7,500,000 for the first-place finish, then a record for all-time largest poker tournament prize. He entered the tournament by paying the $10,000 entrance fee in cash, Hachem ended the first day of the tournament with 67,000 in chips, about twice the average, and he said the strong start gave him confidence going into the rest of the tournament. Hachems chip stack stayed at the tournament average for most of the tournament until he reached the final table, a number of fellow Australians provided moral support from the audience, chanting Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi. Hachem was short-stacked for much of the table, and was constantly being re-raised by professional player Aaron Kanter. With four players left in the hand, Hachem was rejuvenated when he went all in with Q♦ 7♦ against Kanter, Hachem caught a queen on the flop and doubled his chips. In a later interview, Hachem said he knew the hand was a point for him
20.
Mark Vos
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Mark Vos, also known as pokerbok, is a professional poker player from Australia. Vos was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and attended Waldorf High School in Constantia and he excelled at mathematics olympiads while in high school, and represented his province in the interprovincial olympiad. Vos permanently deferred his studies at Macquarie University, to play poker full-time. When not travelling the world playing poker, Vos plans to divide his time between Australia and South Africa, in January 2006, Vos finished 8th in the main event of the Crown Australian Poker Championship, winning A$83,600. As of May 2006, Vos represents the Full Tilt Poker online poker cardroom as a friend of Full Tilt Poker and his name is reflected in red on Full Tilt tables. In July 2006, Vos won Event 6 at the 2006 World Series of Poker, outlasting a field of 1,919 players, Vos entered heads up action with Nam Le an almost 3,1 chip underdog. On the final hand, Vos raised to $90,000 preflop, the flop came Q♠ 8♠ 3♥ and Le check-called a $150,000 bet by Vos. The turn was the 2♦ and Le check-called for $250,000, the river brought the Q♦ to which Le checked and Vos moved all in. After his victory, Vos said, does not really change things, but I still plan to play poker, then Ill relax, settle down and decide what I want to do with the rest of my life. Vos cashed four times at the 2008 World Series of Poker including finishing in 80th place out of 6,844 entries in the $10,000 buy-in Main Event, as of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,200,000. His 9 cashes at the WSOP account for $977,728 of those winnings. com interview Ace High Wine - The Notorious BOK Hendon Mob tournament results
21.
Nam Le (poker player)
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Nam Thien Le is an American professional poker player from Huntington Beach, California. On March 3,2006, Le won the World Poker Tour fourth season Bay 101 Shooting Star event and it was his first major poker win. In 2008 he took down the HK$150,000 No Limit Holdem – High Rollers Event of APPT – Macau for HK$3,700,000, as of August 2014, his total live tournament winnings exceed $6,800,000. His 24 cashes at the WSOP account for $854,337 of those winnings
22.
Bill Chen
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William Bill Chen is an American quantitative analyst, poker player, and software designer. Chen holds a Ph. D. in mathematics from the University of California and he was an undergraduate at Washington University in St. He heads the Statistical Arbitrage department at Susquehanna International Group. At the 2006 World Series of Poker Chen won two events, a $3,000 limit Texas Hold em event with a prize of $343,618, and a $2,500 no limit hold em short-handed event with a prize of $442,511. Prior to these events Chens largest tournament win was for $41,600 at a no limit hold em event at the Bicycle Casinos Legends of Poker in 2000. Chen has been a participant in the rec. gambling. poker newsgroup. He is also a member of Team PokerStars, with Jerrod Ankenman, Chen coauthored The Mathematics of Poker, an introduction to quantitative techniques and game theory as applied to poker. In February 2009, he appeared on Poker After Darks Brilliant Minds week, as of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,000,000. His 14 cashes at the WSOP account for $882,744 of those winnings and he is currently the Honorary Chairman of the Churchill Regular Association for Poker, a poker club at Churchill College which has 21 Nobel Laureates as members
23.
Jack Zwerner
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Jack Action Zwerner is an American professional poker player and business entrepreneur. He is most known for founding land based casinos, gaming in international waters and he is also known for winning the 2006 World Series of Poker Event 8, Omaha Hi-Lo. T. J. Cloutier regards hims as the best heads-up Omaha player ever, Zwerner was born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Miami, Florida. He attended the University of Miami and, later, Miami Dade College and he left college to move to Shaker Heights, Ohio and entered in the world of business and insurance. As an executive of 10 years with the New England Mutual Life Company, Zwerner conducted business with some of the firm’s largest clients and laid strong foundations for his future career. At the end of his tenure in the industry, Zwerner relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada, to launch his career in casino management. His players brought hundreds of millions to the casinos over the years and his brilliance was even played out on the big screen in the movie Casino. He was the founder and owner of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Hotel Casino in San Bernardino, California and co-founder of Treasure Bay Casino, located in Biloxi, in 1987, he was licensed as Honorary Deputy Sheriff of Clark County by Sheriff John Moran. He currently owns a licensed real estate company in the states of Nevada, Florida. He was the Senior Vice President of the Dunes Casino & Hotel from 1982 to 1983 and again in 1988 to 1989. In 1983 he left the Dunes and worked as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Casino at the Las Vegas Hilton Casino with Barron Hilton and Dennis Gomes, where he worked until 1990. While working at the Las Vegas Hilton, he was licensed with the Nevada Gaming Commission as a key employee with a Liquor Gaming License. In 1990, he held Senior Vice President positions at the Sands Hotel Casino, the Frontier Hotel & Casino, in 1992, he co-founded the $200 million Treasure Bay Hotel & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi and Tunica, Mississippi. Until his win at the WSOP, Jack Zwerner was known as a big game player. It came as little surprise though that Zwerner would do well in the tournament, on what turned out to be the last hand of the tournament, Mandap had high hopes for his A♠ A♣ 10♦ 3♠. Instead, the big pair and low-draw was crushed and counterfeited when the board showed 6♥ 5♣ 3♥ 7♥ 2♦. Zwerner showed A♥ 8♦ 7♣ 4♥ with two hearts to match the three hearts on board, zwerners heart flush and better low trounced Mandaps hand, thus ending the event. With the final hand won, he received his first World Series of Poker bracelet, Jack Zwerner Back After 6 Year Vacation
24.
Sam Farha
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Ihsan Sam Farha is a professional poker player. He is best known for finishing as runner up in the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003 and he has won three bracelets at the WSOP in his career. Farha moved to the United States after the Lebanese Civil War broke out when he was a teenager, after settling in Wichita, Kansas in 1977, he attended the University of Kansas. He graduated with a degree in administration and moved to Houston. Farha first played a game of poker a year moving to Houston. He quit his job in 1990 to focus on playing poker full-time, Farhas biggest tournament finish was in the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event, where he finished second to Chris Moneymaker for $1,300,000. On the second day of play, Farha lost a pot to Barry Greenstein leaving him with only 10% of the average stack. He was considering leaving at this point and was talked into staying in the tournament by Greenstein, in a rematch between Farha and Moneymaker a few months later, organized by PokerStars, Farha won. They played against each other again in a grudge match during 2011 World Series of Poker. Farha also finished in the money in the 2005 WSOP Main Event, Farha, after winning the $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo event in 2006, skipped playing the event the next three years. He played it again in 2010, after it was increased to a $10,000 buy-in event. He went on to win his third bracelet in the tournament, so while not winning the event consecutively. In 2012, Farha finished 11th in the 2012 World Series of Poker $10,000 Omaha event, all of Farhas WSOP bracelets have come in Omaha events. Farha has also finished in the money in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, once for $75,000 and he also has three cashes in World Poker Tour events, for a little over $100,000. Farha co-authored a book Farha on Omaha, a guide on Omaha poker strategy. Farha intersperses basic strategies with his own personal strategies, so players can not only the game. Farha is working on a book, tentatively titled Luck is Not Enough, a reality TV poker series, and he is a spokesman for Harrahs casino in Las Vegas. He has appeared on the GSN series High Stakes Poker, in seasons 1-4, Farha also made a cameo appearance in the 2007 film, Lucky You
25.
Phil Ivey
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Ivey has been regarded by numerous poker observers and contemporaries as the best all-around player in the world. Ivey first began to develop his skills by playing against co-workers at a New Brunswick, New Jersey. One of his nicknames, No Home Jerome, stems from the ID card he secured to play poker in Atlantic City, New Jersey and he was given the nickname The Phenom after winning three World Series of Poker bracelets in 2002. His other nickname is the Tiger Woods of Poker, Ivey also has bracelets in Pot Limit Omaha from 2000 and 2005. In 2000, he was the first person to defeat Amarillo Slim heads-up at a WSOP final table and his victory over Amarillo Slim was for his first career bracelet. In addition to his ten World Series bracelets, Ivey has had success in the WSOP Main Event. He placed in the top 25 four times between the 2002 World Series of Poker and the 2009 World Series of Poker, Ivey finished 23rd in 2002, 10th in 2003, 20th in 2005, and 7th in 2009. In 2009, Ivey won his 6th bracelet in the $2,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Event of the 2009 WSOP and he defeated a field of 147 players to catch his bracelet. He won a very long battle against John Monette. He then proceeded to win another bracelet in the $2,500 1/2 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 1/2 Omaha Hi/Lo event besting a field of 376 people, in the 2010 World Series of Poker, Ivey received the most votes for the Tournament of Champions. At the 2010 WSOP, Ivey won his bracelet in the $3,000 H. O. R. S. E. Event in a table made up of other notable players. Between 2002 and 2009, Ivey finished among the top 25 players in the Main Event four times, Ivey finished 10th in the 2003 WSOP Main Event, and 7th in 2009. In 2009, his A♣ K♠ lost to Darvin Moons A♦ Q♠ when a queen paired Moon on the flop, with 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, Ivey is currently tied with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan for the second most all-time. Also, at age 38, he is the youngest player to win ten bracelets. In addition, no player has accumulated ten bracelets more quickly. He is also the record holder for most bracelets won in non-Holdem events. His 2010 win gave him the lead over Billy Baxter and he is also the WSOP record holder for most mixed-game bracelets having won five in his career
26.
Max Pescatori
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Massimiliano Pescatori is an Italian professional poker player. His first tournament win was in the limit holdem event in the 2003 World Poker Challenge in Reno, Nevada. Three days later he won the Omaha High Low event, in 2004, he had two cashes at the WSOP, won the $200 limit holdem event of the Legends of Poker and made eight final table finishes in the Ultimate Poker Challenges first season. In 2005, he had six cashes at the WSOP, three cashes at Festa Al Lago and five cashes at the National Championships of Poker. At the 2006 WSOP, Pescatori won the $2,500 no limit hold em event when his J♣ 8♣ defeated Anthony Reateguis Q♣ T♦ on a board of T♣ 7♦ 6♥ K♥ 9♦. At the 2008 World Series of Poker he won the pot limit half Texas hold em, half Omaha hold em event, allen Cunningham and Minh Ly were at his final table. At the 2015 WSOP, Pescatori won two bracelets in the $1,500 Seven Card Razz and the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better events, Pescatori has also finished in the money in six World Poker Tour events. As of 2015, his live tournament winnings exceed $4,075,000. His 50 cashes as the WSOP account for $2,174,892 of those winnings, max Pescatori has co-authored two of the only books on poker originally written in Italian Official site
27.
Allen Cunningham
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Allen Cunningham is an American professional poker player who has won five World Series of Poker bracelets. Cunningham studied civil engineering at UCLA before dropping out of school to play poker professionally, at the age of 18, he began playing at Indian casinos. Previously a Full Tilt sponsored pro, he became a member of Team Full Tilt in October 2006. Cunningham earned the title 2005 ESPN/Toyota Player of the Year and came close to winning it again in 2006 and he was also voted by fellow professional poker players the Best All Around Player under 35. Cunninghams single largest tournament payout occurred at the 2006 World Series of Poker when he finished in place in the Main Event. Frequently during the tournament, when players tried to take on Cunningham, ESPNs Norman Chad would respond with comments such as. Cunningham joined a short list of players who have won a World Series of Poker Bracelet in three years after winning his fifth bracelet in 2007. Others to accomplish this include Johnny Moss, Bill Boyd, Doyle Brunson, Gary Berland, Cunningham won the $300,000 Mega Match on Poker After Dark that aired the week of October 8,2007. On December 7,2007, Cunningham won the $15,000 buy-in inaugural National Poker League Vegas Open Championship Main Event after defeating David Singer during heads-up play, winning over $325,000. On May 1,2008, Cunningham won the 2008 World Series of Poker Circuit event at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, earning $499,162. In the 2008 World Series of Poker Cunningham made another run in the Main Event, finishing 117th place out of 6844 players. As of 2014, his live tournament winnings exceed $11,500,000. As of August 2014, his 55 cashes including his five bracelets have netted him $7,097,407 in WSOP earnings and he resides in Las Vegas with girlfriend Melissa Hayden and their dog. ALL IN Magazine 2006 Poker Player of the Year Official website PokerListings. com interview
28.
David Rheem
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Chino Rheem is a poker player from Los Angeles, California. In November 2008, Rheem finished in place at the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. He went out of this event on A♠ K♣ to Peter Eastgates A♥ Q♦ with Eastgate flopping a pair of queens on a board of Q♠ 5♠ 7♦ 9♦ 4♥. He is also the winner of the World Poker Tours Season VII Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, earning $1,538,730. Rheem had five previous WSOP cashes, his best result being a runner-up finish to Allen Cunningham in a $1,000 no limit Texas hold em with rebuys event in 2006 and he cashed in the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing 193rd place. He also made a final table earlier in 2008, finishing in place in the $5,000 Mixed Holdem event. In August 2011, Rheem won the $20,000 buy-in 6-Max No Limit Holdem tournament at the inaugural Epic Poker League earning $1,000,000, one week later his membership in the league was placed on probation. Admittingly owing several fellow poker pros considerable debts, he has made payments on said debts. He won the 2013 World Poker Tour Championship event, beating Erick Lindgren heads up, Rheem won his third WPT title in April 2016 at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Finale, tying Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, and Anthony Zinno for the record. As of 2013, his total live poker tournament winnings exceed $7,100,000
29.
Lee Watkinson
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Lee Watkinson is an American professional poker player, originally from Longbranch, Washington. At the 2004 World Series of Poker, Watkinson finished 2nd in the $5,000 pot limit Omaha event and he also finished in the money of that years $10,000 no limit Texas hold em main event, finishing 113th. Watkinson made back-to-back World Poker Tour final tables during its third season, the first time he finished 2nd to Eli Elezra, and the second time he finished 2nd again, this time to Doyle Brunson. Watkinson made back-to-back WSOP main event cashes at the 2005 World Series of Poker and he also made the final table of a WSOP circuit event in November 2005, finishing 3rd. In 2008, Watkinson final tabled 2 consecutive tournaments, taking 5th in the WPT Borgata Winter Open and 7th in the WSOP Circuit Main Event at Harrahs Rincon in San Diego, in 2009, Watkinson cashed twice at the World Series of Poker. He took 36th in the $1000 No-Limit Holdem event and just missed winning his 2nd bracelet when he took 2nd in the $1500 Pot-Limit Omaha High/Low event for $141,873, as of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $4,100,000. His 16 cashes at the WSOP account for $2,306,264 of those winnings, Watkinson is the top all-time money winner in Pot Limit Omaha. He is a graduate and quotes wrestling and surfing as his main interests outside poker. He wrestled at 142 pounds in college and 187 pounds the last time that he wrestled in 2001, lee is a humanitarian, working with the Cortland Brandenburg Foundation to rescue retired chimpanzee test subjects. Watkinson attended college at Eastern Washington University, official website World Poker Tour profile CardPlayer profile IPF profile PokerListings. com interview
30.
John Phan
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At the 2006 WSOP, Phan finished second in the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event when his Q♠ 5♠ failed to improve against Jon Friedbergs A♥ 7♥ on a board of 10♥ 9♦ 3♠ 2♥ 7♠. He later won the $3,000 No Limit Holdem event at the Festa al Lago II in 2004, as of January 29,2014, his total live tournament winnings amount to $5,493,415. His 16 cashes as the WSOP account for $1,346,839 of those winnings and he was the Cardplayer Magazine 2008 Player of the Year with 6,704 points as well as 2008 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year
31.
Chip Reese
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David Edward Reese, more commonly known as Chip Reese, was an American professional poker player and gambler from Centerville, Ohio. He is widely regarded as having been the greatest cash game poker player, Reese suffered from rheumatic fever during his years at elementary school and had to stay at home for almost a year. During this time, his mother taught him how to play several board and card games, Reese later described himself as a product of that year. By the age of six, he was regularly beating fifth-graders at poker, in high school, he was a football player and was on the debate team, winning an Ohio State Championship and going to the National Finals. He attended Dartmouth College after turning down an offer from Harvard University, at Dartmouth, he became a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, played freshman football briefly, participated in debate, and majored in economics. He also had success in poker games against students and some of his professors. He taught his fraternity brothers to play a variety of card games and he played bridge at the Grafton County Grange. His fraternity later named their chapter card room, the David E. Reese Memorial Card Room in his honor and he was admitted to Stanford Law School, but decided instead to play poker professionally after winning $60,000 in a tournament in Las Vegas. By the time he would have started at Stanford, he had made $100,000 and his first visit to Las Vegas was so financially rewarding and so much fun, that he never left. He called his day job in Arizona several days later to quit and hired someone to fly to Arizona to clean out his apartment, shortly afterwards, Reese collaborated on the seven-card stud section for Doyle Brunsons Super/System, the best-selling poker book of all time. In it, Brunson describes Reese as one of the two finest young … poker players in the world and the best seven-card stud player he had ever played. He won the $1,000 Seven Card Stud Split event at the World Series of Poker in 1978, Reese decided to concentrate his efforts on cash games, however. He later became the card room manager at the Dunes casino, in 1991, Reese became the youngest living player to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. By 2006, he was playing poker, also betting on sports. At the 2006 World Series of Poker, Reese won the inaugural $50,000 H. O. R. S. E. Event, taking home the $1,716,000 first prize when his A♣ Q♣ held up against Andy Blochs 9♣ 8♠ in the final hand, on a board of J♠ 7♣ 7♠ 4♥ 4♠. This event was notable for having the largest buy-in in WSOP history, as well as the longest heads-up battle with Reese, by comparison, the final table of the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event lasted for a total of 232 hands. As a tribute, the David Chip Reese Memorial Trophy was inaugurated in 2008 as a prize for the winner of the $50,000 H. O. R. S. E
32.
Andy Bloch
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Andrew Elliot Bloch is a professional poker player. He holds two electrical engineering degrees from MIT and a JD from Harvard Law School, while studying at MIT, Bloch became part of the MIT blackjack team, featured in the book Bringing Down the House. Bloch said he has made up to $100,000 in one session while playing blackjack and he was one of the members of the team to play in Monte Carlo as detailed in Ben Mezrichs Busting Vegas. Bloch was featured in the blackjack documentary The Hot Shoe, as well as starring in his own instructional blackjack DVD, Beating Blackjack, Bloch started playing poker seriously in 1992, entering some small $35 weekly tournaments once a month. By the end of the year, he had won one of the World Poker Finals tournaments and that was the first time he ever played no-limit Texas hold em. In 1997, he skipped the last week of law school classes to play in the World Series of Poker Main Event and he was the guinea pig in a low-tech hole card cam trial. Tom Sims was looking for a volunteer to sweat and record all his hole cards and his records turned into a 2-part CardPlayer Magazine article. After passing the bar exam in 1999, he decided to delay his law career, in 2005 Bloch chose to boycott the WPT in protest to its player release process. Bloch returned to the WPT after a lawsuit initiated by seven high-profile poker players, including Chris Ferguson, Bloch was the second season winner of the Ultimate Poker Challenge. He was a member of Team Full Tilt at Full Tilt Poker prior to the closing down. At the 2006 World Series of Poker, Bloch finished 2nd in the $50,000 H. O. R. S. E. Event when his 9♣ 8♠ failed to improve against David Chip Reeses A♣ Q♣ in the final hand, the heads-up battle lasted 286 hands and was the longest recorded in WSOP history. In 2006, he defeated Phil Laak heads up to win the Pro-Am Poker Equalizer taking in the prize of $500,000. The tournament was broadcast in early 2007 on ESPN, in March 2008, Andy Bloch finished runner-up to Chris Ferguson in the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. He would defeat Ferguson later that year in Season 5 of Poker After Dark, Bloch finished runner-up to Nenad Medić in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship at the 2008 World Series of Poker, earning $488,048. As of 2009, his live tournament winnings exceed $4,200,000. His 24 cashes as the WSOP account for $2,149,821 of those winnings, Bloch won his first WSOP bracelet on June 2,2012 in a $1,500 Seven Card Stud event. The event started with 367 players and ended with a table that included David Williams
33.
Thor Hansen
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Thor Harald Hansen is a professional poker player. He was recruited by Larry Flynt to play poker for him after Hansen played against him in Las Vegas in the mid-1990s and he has two WSOP bracelets, one from the 1988 WSOP in Seven-card stud, and then later in Deuce to Seven Lowball in the 2002 WSOP. He finished in the four times during the 2006 WSOP. He is part owner of the company Poker Blue and was awarded the first Norwegian Poker Player of the Year award in 2005 and he is considered by many Norwegian poker players as their Godfather. O. R. S. E event, earning an additional $188,256. As of 2009, his live tournament winnings exceed $2,600,000. His 46 WSOP cashes account for $1,165,960 of his total winnings, in 1999, Thor married Marcella Braswell on Catalina Island, California. The couple divide their time between California and Las Vegas, Nevada, Thor Hansen was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and is currently going through chemotherapy treatment
34.
David Pham
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David Pham, is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player from Bell Gardens, California with two World Series of Poker bracelets who has made seven final tables at the World Poker Tour. Pham was born in South Vietnam and fled to the United States at the age of 17 in a boat carrying 145 people of which only 46 survived the journey, once in the United States, Pham gained employment at his cousins laundry business. In both 2000 and 2007 Pham was named Player of the Year by Card Player, as of August 2014, his total live tournament winnings exceed $8,800,000. His 36 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,375,519 of those winnings, Pham won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2001 for the $2.000 S. H. O. E. Event, defeating a final table including Tom McEvoy, John Cernuto, Cyndy Violette, in 2001 he finished in the money for the $10,000 no limit holdem main event, where he finished in 44th place. In 2006, Pham won his second WSOP bracelet in the $2,000 No Limit Holdem Shootout event. In February 2003, Pham won the $5,000 limit holdem event of the L. A. Poker Classic, outlasting such players as John Phan, Jennifer Harman and Erick Lindgren to take home the $457,320 first prize. Later, in December 2004, he defeated Alan Goehring heads-up to win the $3,000 no limit holdem event at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, earning a payday of $414,419. On March 28,2008, Pham made his sixth WPT final table at the 2008 World Poker Challenge, on November 11,2008, Pham finished in fourth place at the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals, earning $240,344. Since the inception of the World Poker Tour, Pham has made seven final tables, worldPokerTour. com - David Pham CardPlayer. com - David Pham Poker-Player-Profiles. com - David Pham Poker-King. com - David Pham Profile
Jamie Gold
Erik Friberg