1.
2008 World Series of Poker
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The 2008 World Series of Poker was the 39th annual World Series of Poker. Held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, the series began on May 30,2008, and featured 55 poker championships in several variants. All events but the $10,000 World Championship No Limit Texas hold em Main Event, the most prestigious of the WSOP events, ended by July 15. As has been the WSOP custom since 1976, each of the event winners received a championship bracelet in addition to that events prize money, which ranged from $87,929 to $9,119,517. Highlights of the 2008 series include the selection of Erick Lindgren, nikolay Evdakov led all players with a record 10 money finishes, and Phil Hellmuth set a WSOP record of 41 career final tables. This year was the first in which the Main Event was suspended in this fashion, in a stunning statistical improbability, Justin Phillips knocked out Motoyuki Mabuchi in the Main Event. Phillips held a Royal Flush and Mabuchi held quad aces, one of the broadcasters, Lon McEachern, mentioned on air that the chances of such a showdown occurring were 1,2.7 billion. Ray Romano had just sat down at the table when this hand played itself out, nikolay Evdakov set a WSOP record for most cashes at a single World Series with 10. The previous record of eight was held by five players, Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Humberto Brenes, Michael Binger, evdakovs achievement also represents the most cashes by a player at one WSOP without reaching a single final table. Hellmuth, who made two final tables, established a new WSOP career record of 41 final tables, two more than T. J. Cloutier. Scotty Nguyen became the first player to both a Main Event and a $50,000 H. O. R. S. E World Championship bracelet. Several nationals were the first from their country to win bracelets, brazilian Alexandre Gomes won Event 48 to become the first South American player to win a WSOP bracelet since Ecuadorian-born Carlos Mortensen won the 2001 Main Event. Rob Hollink won Event 30, becoming the first Dutch WSOP bracelet winner, the 2008 Main Event final table took 15 hours and 28 minutes to play, beating the previous record of 14 hours and 2 minutes in 2005. The $10,000 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold em Main Event began on July 3 with the first of four starting days, after reaching the final table of nine players on July 14, the final table was delayed until November 9. This change in schedule was made to allow ESPN to broadcast the final table on November 11, All final table players were paid ninth place prize money in July, with the remaining prize pool distributed in November. Instead of the Amazon Room, aka the Poker Room, where all of the events were held, on November 9, players played down from nine to two and the winner was decided the next night. The final table consisted of 274 hands in total, after a large decrease in Main Event participants in 2007 compared to 2006, the number increased slightly in 2008 but was still far from the 2006 number. As in 2007, the structure is flatter than in 2006 and before, with the lowest payouts at $21,230
2.
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
3.
Nevada
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Nevada is a state in the Western, Mountain West, and Southwestern regions of the United States of America. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 34th most populous, nearly three-quarters of Nevadas people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area where three of the states four largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada is officially known as the Silver State because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the Battle Born State, because it achieved statehood during the Civil War, as the Sage-brush State, for the plant of the same name. Nevada borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid, much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe, about 86% of the states land is managed by various jurisdictions of the U. S. federal government, both civilian and military. Before European contact, Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, the first Europeans to explore the region were Spanish. They called the region Nevada because of the snow covered the mountains in winter. The area formed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the United States annexed the area in 1848 after its victory in the Mexican–American War, and it was incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a boom that became an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31,1864, as the second of two added to the Union during the Civil War. Nevada has a reputation for its libertarian laws, in 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half the population of the next least-populated state. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century, Nevada is the only U. S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in Clark County, Washoe County and Carson City. The tourism industry remains Nevadas largest employer, with mining continuing as a sector of the economy. The name Nevada comes from the Spanish nevada, meaning snow-covered, most Nevadans pronounce the second syllable of their state name using the vowel of trap. Many from outside the Western United States pronounce it with the vowel of father, although the latter pronunciation is closer to the Spanish pronunciation, it is not the pronunciation preferred by most Nevadans. State Assemblyman Harry Mortenson proposed a bill to recognize the alternate pronunciation of Nevada, though the bill was not supported by most legislators, the Nevadan pronunciation is the de facto official one, since it is the one used by the state legislature. Nevada is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province, and is broken up by many mountain ranges
4.
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
5.
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
6.
World Poker Tour
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The World Poker Tour is a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting the final table of each tournament. It was started in 2002 in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who served as CEO of WPT Enterprises, in 2008, the WPT started offering bracelets to its event champions. Players who won a title prior to the release of the WPT Bracelet were given one retroactively, in November 2009, PartyGaming announced its acquisition of the World Poker Tour from WPTE for $12.3 million. In December 2014, World Poker Tour announced an alliance with Ourgame, agreeing to license products, in June 2015, The World Poker Tour announced that it was acquired by Ourgame International Holdings Ltd. for a price of $35 million in cash. The year-round WPT television show, building on the annual broadcast of the World Series of Poker, has contributed to the Poker boom in American homes, in casino poker rooms. The key sponsors of the WPT are casinos and online poker sites, the WPT television show, which is syndicated internationally, features commentary and analysis by World Series of Poker bracelet winner Mike Sexton and actor Vince Van Patten. Interviews and sideline reporting are provided by a female host, shana Hiatt served as the show host and sideline reporter in its first three seasons. Courtney Friel took over the host role for the fourth season, layla Kayleigh and Kimberly Lansing began serving as hostesses in season six. Poker player and reporter Amanda Leatherman was the host for season seven, Kimberly Lansing returned as anchor for seasons nine through eleven. Lynn Gilmartin assumed the role for season twelve and remains the current anchor for season thirteen. Following the November 2009 acquisition of the World Poker Tour by PartyGaming plc and this series has, to date, focused on televising the European stops of the WPT. Mike Sexton continues to provide commentary, though he is partnered with Denmark-based American commentator Jesse May rather than Vince Van Patten, the role of female show host and sideline reporter has been served by a number of personalities, often from the country where the event is held. One exception is Canadian born poker player Kara Scott, who has served as host for a number of the Party Poker branded telecasts of these European WPT events. In 2014, the World Poker Tour launched a high roller tournament series, WPT Alpha8, the series originally featured commentary and analysis by Ali Nejad and Olivier Busquet, with Lynn Gilmartin serving as anchor. In later seasons, Vince Van Patten and Tony Dunst replaced Nejad, the tour had its debut season in the latter part of 2002 and early part of 2003, climaxing with the WPT Championship in April 2003 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first season aired on the Travel Channel on American cable television in the spring of 2003, the show made its network debut on February 1,2004 on NBC with a special Battle of Champions tournament, which aired against CBS coverage of the Super Bowl XXXVIII pre-game show. The Travel Channel aired the first five seasons of the Tour, in April 2007, WPTE announced that the series would move to GSN for its sixth season in the spring of 2008. The first WPT tournament to air on GSN, the Mirage Poker Showdown, in July 2008, WPTE announced that the series would move to Fox Sports Net for its seventh season
7.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
8.
Poker
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Poker is a family of card games that combine gambling, strategy, and skill. Poker games vary in the number of cards dealt, the number of shared or community cards, the number of cards that remain hidden, and the betting procedures. In most modern games, the first round of betting begins with one or more of the players making some form of a forced bet. In standard poker, each player bets according to the rank they believe their hand is worth as compared to the other players. The action then proceeds clockwise as each player in turn must either match, or call, a player who matches a bet may also raise, or increase the bet. The betting round ends when all players have called the last bet or folded. If all but one player folds on any round, the player collects the pot without being required to reveal their hand. If more than one remains in contention after the final betting round, a showdown takes place where the hands are revealed. By the 1990s some gaming historians including David Parlett started to challenge the notion that poker is a derivative of As-Nas. There is evidence that a game called poque, a French game similar to poker, was played around the region where poker is said to have originated. The name of the game likely descended from the Irish Poca or even the French poque, yet it is not clear whether the origins of poker itself lie with the games bearing those names. It is commonly regarded as sharing ancestry with the Renaissance game of primero, the English game brag clearly descended from brelan and incorporated bluffing. It is quite possible that all of these earlier games influenced the development of poker as it exists now, the unique features of poker have to do with the betting, and do not appear in any known older game. In this view poker originated much later, in the early or mid-18th century and it was played in a variety of forms, with 52 cards, and included both straight poker and stud. 20 card poker was a variant for two players, the development of poker is linked to the historical movement that also saw the invention of commercial gambling. English actor Joseph Crowell reported that the game was played in New Orleans in 1829, with a deck of 20 cards, and four players betting on which players hand was the most valuable. As it spread north along the Mississippi River and to the West during the gold rush, soon after this spread, the full 52-card French deck was used and the flush was introduced. The draw was added prior to 1850, during the American Civil War, many additions were made including stud poker, and the straight
9.
Howard Lederer
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Howard Henry Lederer is an American professional poker player. He has won two World Series of Poker bracelets and holds two World Poker Tour titles, Lederer has also contributed to several books on poker strategy and has provided commentary for poker programming. He is known by fans and players as The Professor and is the older brother of professional poker player Annie Duke. Lederer is a founder and board member of Tiltware LLC, the company that launched Full Tilt Poker in 2004, in 2011, the Full Tilt Poker website was shut down by the United States Department of Justice on charges of bank fraud and illegal gambling. In December 2012, Lederer settled a lawsuit with the Department of Justice relating to Full Tilt Poker. Howard Lederer was born in 1963 in Concord, New Hampshire and was introduced to card games at an age by his family. As a child, Lederers father also taught him to play chess, as a teenager, Lederer developed an interest in playing the game competitively. Lederers sister, Annie Duke, is also a poker player. His father, Richard Lederer, is an author, linguist and his other sister, Katy Lederer, is also an author. Though previously overweight, Lederer was able to lose weight as a result of gastric bypass surgery, in an interview in 2006, Lederer stated that he is a vegetarian. Lederer moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1993, where he lives with his wife Suzie, after graduating high school, Lederer began playing chess in New York City before discovering and developing an interest in live poker games and eventually becoming a member of the Mayfair Club. Though he briefly attended Columbia University, Lederer ultimately decided to pursue a career in poker and it was during his time in New York City that Lederer began to mentor his sister Annie Duke, who was playing poker in Billings, Montana at the time. Lederer attempted to qualify for a World Series of Poker event in 1986, the next year he made the final table and finished fifth in $10,000 no limit Hold em. In 1993, Lederer moved to Las Vegas to focus on his poker career, between 1993 and 1999, Lederer made eight final tables at WSOP events, before winning his first WSOP bracelet in 2000, in a $5,000 limit Omaha Hi/Lo tournament. Lederer won his second WSOP bracelet in 2001 in a $5,000 no limit Deuce to Seven tournament. Some of Lederers other notable live poker wins in the early 2000s include World Poker Tour titles in 2002 and 2003, in 2008, Lederer won more than $1 million Australian dollars at the Aussie Millions High-Roller event. Two years later, he won $250,000 and placed second in the WSOPs Tournament of Champions, as of 2013, Lederers total live tournament winnings exceeded $6,500,000. His 44 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,587,702 of those winnings, Lederer is also known as The Professor, a nickname given to him by poker player and commentator Jesse May
10.
Dan Harrington
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Dan Harrington is a professional poker player, best known for winning the Main Event at the 1995 World Series of Poker. He has earned one World Poker Tour title, two WSOP bracelets, and over six million dollars in tournament cashes in his poker career and he is also a member of the Poker Hall of Fame. Harrington chose his own nickname Action Dan even though he is known for being a conservative player. He is a distant cousin to professional golfer Pádraig Harrington and former NFL quarterback Joey Harrington. Harrington was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, currently residing in Santa Monica, California, Harrington is a former champion backgammon player and U. S. chess master. Before becoming a professional and businessman, Harrington worked for many years as a bankruptcy lawyer. He also played poker against Bill Gates while Gates was at Harvard, some of his earlier poker experience came from the Mayfair Club in the mid-1980s, where he played with Howard Lederer, Steve Zolotow, and Erik Seidel. In addition to being a professional poker player, Harrington also works in real estate. He has also stated during interviews about his career, that he is there for the money. Also unlike many professional players, Dan considers himself only a part-time player due to the fact that he spends a large amount of his time on his business interests. He usually only plays a few events at the World Series of Poker each year and plays in occasional World Poker Tour events, Harrington first cashed in the World Series of Poker in 1986. The next year, in only his second WSOP cash, Harrington made the table of the Main Event, he finished in sixth place in the event. Harringtons friend and fellow Mayfair Club member, Howard Lederer was also at this final table, sporting his iconic green Boston Red Sox cap, Dan Harrington is known as a crafty, tight-aggressive player, employing starting hand standards that are stricter than most professionals. When he reached the table at the 1995 Main Event, he set the runner-up, Howard Goldfarb. At the time of his Main event victory, Harrington lived in Downey, also, in 1995, he won a bracelet in the $2,500 No-Limit Holdem event for $249,000 and the Seven-card stud event at European Poker Open in London. He made his first final table at the World Poker Tour in 2005, in 2007, he won the Legends of Poker for a prize of $1,634,865. In 2008, Harrington made his first appearance on the NBC show Poker After Dark in the episode titled Mayfair Club and this tournament brought together poker players who had played at the legendary Mayfair Club in New York City. Harrington busted out first, finishing in sixth place, the tournament was won by Heimowitz, who defeated Lederer in heads-up play
11.
Erik Seidel
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Erik Seidel is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada, who has won eight World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour title. He is married and has two daughters, in 2010, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Seidel was born in New York City and he played professional backgammon in his youth. He eventually became a trader on the stock exchange stock market. In his first major tournament, Seidel was runner-up in the 1988 World Series of Poker Main Event to Johnny Chan and this final hand was featured in the 1998 movie Rounders. Seidel made the WSOP Main Event final table again in 1999 and he won his first WSOP bracelet in 1992 and won his eighth and most recent bracelet in 2007. Seidel has won bracelets in five different games, including Holdem, Omaha, only five players in the history of the WSOP have won more bracelets than Seidel, Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Johnny Moss, and Phil Ivey. During the sixth season of the World Poker Tour, Seidel won the 2008 WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic, in January 2008, Seidel finished in second place in the Aussie Millions $10k main event and won $1,000,000. In March 2010, Seidel finished in place in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Just five days later, Seidel pocketed $2,472,555 when he won the Super High Roller Event at the Aussie Millions, in February 2011, Seidel won the High Roller Event at the LA Poker Classic for $144,570. In March 2011, Seidel won the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, the $750,000 he collected for the win moved him into first place on the all-time tournament money list. In April 2011, Seidel came just short of winning his second WPT title at the Hollywood Open and he finished as the runner-up and won $155,103. In May 2011, Seidel won the $100K Super High Roller event at the WPT World Championship for $1,092,780 and he defeated fellow Team Full Tilt member Erick Lindgren heads up for the title. In August 2011, Seidel finished runner-up to David Rheem in the $20,000 buy-in 6-Max No Limit Holdem tournament at the inaugural Epic Poker League for $604,330 and this brought his earnings for 2011 to over $6.2 million. In May 2015, Seidel won the 2015 European Poker Tour Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller for €2,015,000. As of 2016, his live tournament winnings exceed $31,000,000. His 92 WSOP cashes rank him second all-time, erik has won over $5,000,000 in poker earnings in years 2011,2015 and 2016. As of January 2017, while players have made over $5 million in a year no other player has done this more than once
12.
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♦
13.
Chinese poker
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Chinese poker also known as is a card game based on poker hand rankings. The rules are simple—only a basic knowledge of poker hand rankings is needed to get started, there is a large element of luck involved, therefore a beginner has a good chance of winning in the short term, even against experienced opponents. The game format results in frequent unexpected wins and high-ranking hands, Chinese poker is typically played as a four-person game, though it can also be played with two or three. In Chinese Poker, each receives a 13-card hand from a standard 52-card deck. After all the players have set their hands, each player will announce in turn whether or not they are playing their hand, all players then announce their royalties, before revealing their hands. If a player makes three flushes or three straights they automatically win the hand, regardless of the players hands. As shown in the photo, the player has made all three hands flush and is an automatic winner. The stakes played for in Chinese poker are known as units, basic scoring rules dictate that a player collects one unit from each opponent whose front, middle or back hand is beaten by their own corresponding hand. Thus, unlike most poker games, being second-best at the table is enough to win money. In some variants players are paid an additional unit if they win in two or three of the hands. In other variants players only get an additional unit if they win all three hands, also, due to the head-to-head nature of the comparisons, it is possible for different players to play for different stakes. For example, A and B could play for $100 per unit versus each other, many variations of scoring are in common use, refer to the external links for more information. The two most common scoring systems used in Chinese poker are the 2-4 scoring method, and the 1-6 scoring method, in the event of a tie in one of the hands, no money is exchanged for this particular hand. If one player wins both of the two hands, they collect 3 units. If they each win one hand, no units are exchanged, in the 1-6 method the player receives 1 unit for each of the three hands they win, and 3 bonus units if they win all three hands. In the 1-6 method, Hellmuth would pay Ivey one unit, royalties, or bonuses as they are sometimes called, are extra units that may be awarded to players with particularly strong hands. Royalties must be declared prior to the revealing of the hands, if two players have six pair the player with the highest six pair wins otherwise it is a tie and no bonus is awarded. With flushes and straights the player with the highest back hand wins if that then the middle hand is compared
14.
Doyle Brunson
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Doyle F. Brunson is an American poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time World Series of Poker Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and he is also one of only four players to have won the Main Event at the World Series of Poker multiple times, which he did in 1976 and 1977. He is also one of two players, along with Bill Boyd, to have won WSOP tournaments in four consecutive years. In addition, he is the first of five players to win both the WSOP Main Event and a World Poker Tour title, in January 2006, Bluff Magazine voted Brunson the most influential force in the world of poker. Brunson was born in Longworth, Fisher County, Texas, one of three children and he was part of the All-State Texas basketball team. In the 1950 Texas Interscholastic Track Meet, he won the event with a time of 4,43. Despite receiving offers from colleges, he attended Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene. The Minneapolis Lakers showed interest in Brunson but an injury ended his hopes of becoming a professional basketball player. He still occasionally requires a crutch because of the injury, Brunson earned a bachelors degree in 1954 and a masters degree in administrative education the following year. Brunson had begun playing poker before his injury, playing five-card draw and he played more often after being injured and his winnings paid for his expenses. After graduating, he took a job as a business machines salesman, on his first day, he was invited to play in a seven-card stud game and earned over a months salary. He soon left the company and became a poker player. Brunson started off by playing in games on Exchange Street in Fort Worth with friend Dwayne Hamilton. Eventually, they began traveling around Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, playing in bigger games, the illegal games Brunson played in during this time were usually run by criminals who were often members of organized crime, so rules were not always enforced. Brunson has admitted to having a gun pulled on him several times, Hamilton moved back to Fort Worth, while the others teamed up and travelled around together, gambling on poker, golf and, in Doyles words, just about everything. They pooled their money for gambling and after six years, they made their first serious trip to Las Vegas and lost all of it and they decided to stop playing as partners, but remained friends. Brunson finally settled in Las Vegas and he made some WSOP championship event final tables before his back-to-back wins, but since this was when the event was winner-take-all, they are not counted as cashes. Besides his two wins in 1976 and 1977, Brunsons other main event cashes are,1972,1980,1982,1983,1997,2004 and 2013
15.
John Juanda
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Johnson John Juanda is an Indonesian-born American professional poker player based in Marina del Rey, California. He has won five World Series of Poker bracelets, Juanda arrived in the United States in 1990, when he enrolled at Oklahoma State University. He earned an MBA from Seattle University, Juanda was a high school track star for the 200 meter sprints to 5000 meters races. In both 2001 and 2002, he was Cardplayer Magazines tournament Player of the Year, winning four World Series of Poker titles, in November 2004 he won the inaugural Professional Poker Tour event at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. Net Invitational Live from Monte Carlo. Juanda won the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe £10,000 No Limit Holdem Main Event, although Juanda has made six World Poker Tour final tables, he has never captured a WPT title. He has finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and he has also finished 7th and 8th, just missing two more opportunities at another final table. As of 2014, his live tournament winnings exceed $16,000,000. Juandas 54 cashes at the WSOP account for $4,702,392 of his tournament winnings. In 2015, he was selected to be part of the Poker Hall of Fame, an E following a year denotes bracelet won at the World Series of Poker Europe
16.
Tom McEvoy
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Thomas K. McEvoy is a professional poker player, author and member of the Poker Hall of Fame. He is best known for his win in the 1983 World Series of Poker main event, McEvoy was born and raised in Michigan. He was an accountant, but after he was laid off from his job and he first learned to play poker when he was five years old and would regularly get in trouble for playing it in grade school. McEvoy first cashed in the WSOP in 1982, finishing in 6th place in the $1,000 Razz event. The following year, he won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in the $1,000 Limit Holdem event, McEvoy won the 1983 World Series of Poker Main Event. He was the first winner to earn his buy-in through a satellite tournament. His heads-up matchup with Rod Peate was the longest heads-up battle in WSOP history before being surpassed during the $50,000 H. O. R. S. E event in 2006 by Chip Reese and Andy Bloch. Since his two wins in 1983, McEvoy has gone on to win two more WSOP bracelets. He won the Razz tournament in 1986, defeating Alma McClelland, but his luck in the WSOP Main Event since his championship win has not been so good. McEvoys only other main event cash since 1983 was in the 2006 WSOP, in March 2006, Tom McEvoy won the third ever Professional Poker Tour event beating a field of pros-only at the Bay 101 casino. He defeated a final table included fellow WSOP bracelet winners, Toto Leonidas. McEvoy is staunchly opposed to smoking, in 1998, he helped organize the first tournament where smoking was not allowed. There was much reluctance, but the tournament still attracted a number of players. Also, in 1998, McEvoy won the annual Ventura County poker championship, with fellow accountant, Phil Palmquist, Palmquist began this Omaha tournament with a Royal Flush, which brought him to the final table as Chip Leader, only to be worn down by McEvoy. In 2002, McEvoy convinced Becky Binion Behnen to make the WSOP a non-smoking tournament by agreeing to give Behnen poker lessons. McEvoy has authored or coauthored over a dozen books on poker with other such as T. J. Cloutier, Brad Daugherty, Don Vines, Dag Palovic. He is a columnist for CardPlayer Magazine and a representative of PokerStars. com, on Sunday May 31,2009, Tom McEvoy became the winner of the WSOPs first Champions Invitational, outlasting 19 other former Main Event champions. He defeated 2002 world champion, Robert Varkonyi in the play to win the tournament
17.
Kathy Liebert
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Kathleen H. Liebert is an American professional poker player. Liebert started her poker career as a prop player in Colorado. She would later go on to enter tournaments and she won the first Party Poker Million event in 2002, Liebert went on to tie the record at the 2009 Shooting Stars tournament, placing second to Steve Brecher in the longest final table in WPT history. Her record was broken on March 5,2008, when Van Nguyen became the first woman to win a televised WPT mixed event at the WPT Invitational in Commerce, California. At the 2004 World Series of Poker, Liebert won a bracelet in a $1,500 Limit Texas hold em Shootout event. She was one of three women to win an event in that years WSOP. Liebert also appeared on and won the series 2005 Poker Royale, Battle of the Sexes, after being eliminated from the World Speed Poker Open in London in September 2005, Kathy provided commentary on the final table alongside Gary Jones. On June 1, Liebert made the table of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship at the 2008 World Series of Poker and finished in 3rd place. As of 2016, she has one World Series of Poker bracelet, although Liebert has made a career out of poker, she still uses her financial acumen to invest in the stock market. Liebert now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada and Downey, California
18.
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
19.
Barry Greenstein
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Barry Greenstein is an American professional poker player. He has won a number of events, including three at the World Series of Poker and two on the World Poker Tour. Greenstein donates his profit from tournament winnings to charities, primarily Children, Incorporated and he was elected into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2011. After graduating from Bogan High School, he earned a degree in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He studied for a PhD in mathematics, but never defended his completed dissertation and he left the company in 1991 at age 36. Greenstein has two children and four stepchildren, and he resides in Rancho Palos Verdes, California and his stepson, Joe Sebok, with whom he started PokerRoad, which is a poker strategy and entertainment website, is also a professional poker player. Greenstein has appeared in each of the first three series of Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament and all seven seasons of the GSN series High Stakes Poker and he has also appeared in the first three seasons of the late night series Poker After Dark on NBC. Greenstein has also won two World Poker Tour titles, the Fifth Annual Jack Binion World Poker Open, and 2006 WPT Invitational at the Commerce Casino. He has also won two other WPT titles in events, WPT Father and Sons Tournament,2006 World Poker Finals. As of 2008, he began donating his net winnings to charity, at the 2008 World Series of Poker, Greenstein cashed in six events for a total of $768,461. He also finished second in the 2008 WSOP Player of the Year standings, behind Erick Lindgren. In 2011, Greenstein cashed five times at the World Series of Poker, including a 3rd place in the $10,000 Limit Holdem Championship for $169,512, in 2005, Greenstein wrote a book titled Ace on the River. Tuan Le, a WPT Season 3 champion, claims that book showed him how to succeed on the poker circuit. Greenstein is known for giving away a copy of his book to the player who eliminates him in a tournament, including his autograph. Greenstein taught former girlfriend Mimi Tran how to play poker in exchange for her teaching him how to speak Vietnamese and he also plays online at PokerStars, under the alias barryg1 and is a member of the cardrooms Team PokerStars. He accepted a bet of $10,000 from 2+2 Poker Forums to say lol donkaments on an episode of High Stakes Poker, which he did after winning a hand against professional poker player Erick Lindgren. After the initial $10,000, he received a further $45,000 in donations from other charitable poker players who were amused by the bet. As of 2011, his live tournament winnings exceed $7,500,000
20.
Daniel Negreanu
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Daniel Negreanu is a Canadian professional poker player who has won six World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour championship titles. The independent poker ranking service Global Poker Index recognised Negreanu as the best poker player of the decade in 2014. Since his second place finish in the Big One For One Drop 2014 tournament, he is the biggest live tournament poker winner of all time, having accumulated over $32,600,000 in prize money. He was named the WSOP Player of the Year in 2004 and again in 2013 and he was also the 2004-05 WPT Player of the Year. He is the first player to make a table at each of the three WSOP bracelet-awarding locations and the first to win a bracelet at each. In 2014, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, Negreanu was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1974, seven years after his parents, Annie and Constantin, emigrated from Romania. The Negreanus had hoped to start a new life in the United States, but ended up settling in Toronto, Daniel is five years younger than his brother Mike. Even at an age, Negreanu was extremely ambitious, stating in a 2009 interview From the age of four. I told my mom I’d build an out of Popsicle sticks. He attended Pineway public middle school in North York, where the principal complained to his mother about Daniels poor manners or behavior, while nursing dreams of a career as a professional snooker player, the then 15-year-old learned how to play poker. By 16, he was spending time in pool halls, hustling, sports betting, while in Toronto, he met and began dating Evelyn Ng, who would also become a well-known professional poker player. After building up his bankroll, he left for Las Vegas at the age of 22 to pursue his dream of becoming a poker player. However, The Strip got the better of him and he was forced to back home to Toronto to rebuild his bankroll. In August 2005, he married Lori Lin Weber, they separated in November 2007, Negreanu has a blog at Full Contact Poker where he posts his thoughts and feelings about life, politics, and the poker world. He is also a heavy National Hockey League fan, once claiming on Poker After Dark at the table he was thinking of declining the offer because the tournament was in the middle of hockey season. He is often seen wearing NHL jerseys of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Daniel became a vegetarian in 2000 and has been vegan since 2006. After many years living in the United States, he received his green card on July 15,2009, on November 23,2009, his mother died in her sleep after being ill for many months. Negreanu has a history of philanthropy, the first annual Big Swing event was held on June 25,2009 at the Harrah’s Rio Secco Golf Club
21.
Erick Lindgren
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Erick A. Lindgren is an American professional poker player. He has won two World Poker Tour titles, two World Series of Poker bracelets, and more than nine million dollars in tournament earnings during his poker career, as of August 2014 he is 28th in the All time money list of poker. He won his first major tournament at the Bellagio in 2002, six months later, he won the WPT PartyPoker Million III cruise, where he walked away with the million dollar top prize. In January 2005, he finished 2nd in the World Series of Poker Circuit Event in Atlantic City, in February, he finished 5th in the WPT LA Poker Classic and just a week later, he won the second Professional Poker Tour tournament, also in LA. In January 2006, he made another WPT final table, finishing 3rd at the 2006 Borgata Winter Poker Open. In June 2006, Lindgren won the $600,000 first prize in the FullTiltPoker. net Poker Pro Showdown event, outlasting Mike Matusow, Clonie Gowen, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Chris Ferguson, and Phil Ivey. Lindgrens winning hand came in the first hand of heads-up play when his A♣ K♣ defeated Matusows A♥ J♣ on a board of 6♠ 6♣ 9♦ A♠ 3♠. In January 2007, Lindgren won A$1 million after beating 17 other players in the $100,000 buy-in Holdem event at the Aussie Millions, Lindgren is the author of the book, World Poker Tour, Making the Final Table, which covers strategy for poker tournaments. Both the first name Erick and the family name Lindgren are Swedish names and he is a former member of Team Full Tilt at Full Tilt Poker. In February 2008, Lindgren hosted FTOPS Event #9, part of Full Tilts series of large buy-in tournaments, the tournament had over 5,600 entrants, and had a prize pool of over $1.65 million. Lindgren won the tournament becoming the first Full Tilt pro to win an FTOPS event that they hosted, as of September 2012, according to Howard Lederers interview, Erick has a loan of $4,000,000 to FullTilt. On June 27,2007, Erick won a $350,000 prop bet with Gavin Smith, Phil Ivey, to win the bet, Erick had to play four consecutive rounds of golf at Las Vegas Bears Best golf course between sunrise and sunset. He had to carry his own bags and shoot under 100 in each of the four rounds, temperatures reached 106 degrees and symptoms of heat exhaustion set in, but Erick won the bet. He said on a PokerListings interview that he lost 12 pounds during the bet, in May 2013, Erick finished second in the WPT championship for $700,000 As of August 2014, his total live tournament winnings exceed $9,900,000. His 40 cashes at the WSOP account for $3,120,803 of those winnings, in 2008, he was named WSOP Player of the Year. With five total cashes, he earned $1,348,528 in prize money, on May 29,2011, Erick married fellow poker player Erica Schoenberg. Lindgren and Schoenberg divorced in March 2014, as a sponsored professional, Lindgren had been receiving a monthly paycheck from Full Tilt Poker, but he lost that income when Black Friday struck on April 15,2011. An avid sports bettor, he himself with sizable gambling debts he could not repay
22.
Poker After Dark
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Poker After Dark is an hour-long poker television program on NBC. The show made its debut on January 1,2007, and was cancelled on September 23,2011 following the Black Friday criminal case, for its first two seasons, both of which originally aired in 2007, the show was presented by Shana Hiatt. The host for season 3 was Marianela Pereyra, and Leeann Tweeden took over starting with season 4, all seasons have contained voice-over commentary by Oliver Ali Nejad. The program returned to American television over the NBCSN on March 5,2012 with previously aired repeats, NBCSN schedules the show on weeknights at midnight, although the start time varies due to overruns by sporting events. The Poker After Dark format featured a look at one table as it develops over the week. Blinds start at $100/$200 and slowly escalate, commentator Ali Nejads commentary is limited, allowing viewers to hear much of the table talk among the players, all of whom are miked. The series was originally structured as a series of week-long No Limit Texas hold em mini-tournaments for six top poker professionals, each week the players vied for a $120,000 winner-takes-all prize pool, with each paying a $20,000 buy-in. By the end of the show, a winner is determined. The sixth show was a cut that includes excerpts from the action from the previous five days. Also, Seasons 3,4 and 5 had a Dream Table, pitting an amateur against five pros. Poker After Dark aired six times a week, at 2,05 a. m. ET Tuesday through Saturday, the early Sunday show is a directors cut weekly summary of the previous weeks shows. NBC Sports has since removed their poker section entirely from their webpage, eventually, repeats of the series began to air in late time slots on the NBC Sports Network with that networks January 2012 rebranding. In Canada Poker After Dark aired afternoons and late nights on Rogers Sportsnet and, in France Poker After Dark airs at night on RTL9. In Germany, it airs on SPORT1, with commentary provided by Michael Körner, in Ireland, Poker After Dark airs on Setanta Ireland and Setanta Sports 1 on most weeknights with little change from the US version. In The Netherlands, it airs on Veronica, episodes feature the original English commentary with Dutch subtitles, in Sweden, Poker After Dark airs on afternoons and nights on TV4 Sport and on TV10 weekday nights at 01,30. In Denmark, it airs at night on TV3+, in Italy, Poker After Dark airs at night on POKERItalia24. In Poland, Poker After Dark airs during evenings on Sportklub and Sport Klub+, commentary is provided by Paweł Majewski, in Russia, the show airs on 7TV at 11, 30pm every day until the Febral, and now shows on REN-TV at 3,00 pm. Full Tilt Poker held promotional tournaments that offered a seat on the show as the grand prize, Season 2 was taped in May 2007 at the South Point Casino in Las Vegas
23.
Mickey Appleman
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Mark Mickey Appleman is an American professional poker player, sports bettor, and sports handicapper now living in Fort Lee, New Jersey. His poker accomplishments include winning four WSOP bracelets, all in different variations of poker, Appleman was born on July 15,1945 in Brooklyn, New York to parents of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. He grew up in Long Island, where he was strong in athletics and academics. He received his degree in Mathematics from Ohio State University where he was a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi. He also earned an MBA in statistics from Case Western University, Appleman later moved to Washington, D. C. where he worked as a coordinator in a drug rehabilitation clinic. He also taught math in public schools, Appleman used money he had made from sports betting to fund his early poker career, and he began playing at the World Series of Poker in 1975. He was a player at the Mayfair Club in New York City where he played against some of the now very famous and successful poker players like Dan Harrington, Howard Lederer. In his long career as a poker player, he has won four bracelets and has finished in the money of the $10,000 no limit holdem main event in 1987,1989,1990. In 2008, Appleman appeared on NBCs Poker After Dark show in the episode Mayfair Club, Appleman finished the tournament in third place. As of 2015, his live tournament winnings exceed $1,787,000. His 47 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,185,861 of those winnings, Mickey has a son, Alexander, who was born in 1987. Interview by Nolan Dalla Hendon Mob tournament results The Jesus of Handicapping by Michael Kaplan
24.
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
25.
John Bonetti
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John Joseph Bonetti was an American professional poker player from Houston, Texas. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Bonetti began playing at the age of 54, between May 1987 and February 2003, Bonetti won more than 40 poker tournaments. On June 27,2008, Bonetti died at the age of 80, in his poker career, his total live tournament winnings were $4,188,332. His 32 cashes at the WSOP accounted for $1,743,993 of those winnings
26.
Berry Johnston
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Berry Enfield Johnston is an American professional poker player. He is best known as the 1986 World Champion, but he has won four other bracelets at the World Series of Poker in addition to cashes. Johnston won the 1986 World Series of Poker Main Event, and placed third in 1983 and 1985 and fifth in the 1990 World Series and he has made at least 29 final tables at the WSOP and has finished in the money on at least 66 occasions. He has also cashed ten times in the WSOP Main Event and his most recent cash in the Main Event came in 2007, when he finished in 113th place in a field of over six thousand players, for which Johnston won $58,570. Having cashed in at least one event every year from 1982–2010, Johnston cashed three times in the 2008 World Series of Poker, including tenth place in an Omaha Hi/Lo event, and he is currently 42nd on the WSOP all time money list. He is also ranked in fourth place for the WSOP all-time cashes list with 57 cashes as of the end of the 2009 series. Johnston is still competing at high levels of poker today, Johnston has also played on the NBC Poker After Dark Series, most recently in 2008 among some of his fellow World Series of Poker Main Event Champions. Berry finished fourth in the tournament, which was won by Johnny Chan, the other world champions in the tournament were Phil Hellmuth, Huck Seed, Chris Ferguson, and Jamie Gold. He was inducted into the Seniors Poker Hall of Fame in the early 1990s, Johnston was the only inductee in the 2004 class. As of 2010, his live tournament winnings exceed $3,450,000. His 60 cashes as the WSOP account for $2,075,527 of those winnings, official site pokernews. com – Legends of Poker, Berry Johnston
27.
Amarillo Slim
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Thomas Austin Preston, Jr. known as Amarillo Slim, was an American professional gambler known for his poker skills and proposition bets. Preston won the 1972 World Series of Poker Main Event and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1992, before becoming a well-known tournament player, Preston was a rounder, touring the United States looking for gambling action along with Doyle Brunson and Sailor Roberts. Following his WSOP victory, he appeared on talk shows, including The Tonight Show. He appeared on Ive Got a Secret, where his secret involved losing $190,000 in one night of poker, Preston won four WSOP bracelets including two in Omaha. Prestons final WSOP win was in 1990, in the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha event at the 2000 WSOP, he came in second to Phil Ivey. In January/February 1980, Amarillo Slim hosted the Second Annual Poker Classic and this series eventually came to be called the Super Bowl of Poker and continued until 1991. Gabe Kaplan became the first winner of this tournament series and Stu Ungar won the three times. Prestons lifetime tournament earnings totaled more than $587,000, in 1973, Preston and Bill G. Cox wrote Play Poker to Win which was published by Grosset and Dunlap. A revised edition was published by HarperCollins in 2005 entitled Amarillo Slims Play Poker to Win. In May 2003, Preston published his autobiography Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People, where he wrote of playing poker with Larry Flynt, Lyndon Johnson, in addition to his poker exploits, Preston wrote about his exploits in proposition betting. In April 2007, Preston created a website and released an E-Book called All In, the book was written by Preston along with Joe Brent Riley. Thomas Austin Preston, Jr. was born on December 31,1928, in Johnson, Arkansas, after they divorced, his mother returned to Johnson, while his father moved to Amarillo. Slim is quoted as saying, Its a good thing he did, Preston was divorced, had three children, and lived in Amarillo, Texas. In August 2003, Preston was indicted in Randall County, Texas on charges of indecency with a 12-year-old grandchild. The charges were reduced to misdemeanor assault in a bargain and on February 10,2004, Preston pleaded no contest to the reduced charges. Preston received a $4,000 fine, two years probation and was ordered to undergo counseling, in a 2009 interview, he stated that he was innocent of any wrongdoing, but chose to take the plea bargain in order to spare his family from a court trial. Early on the morning of October 4,2006, Preston was the victim of an armed robbery. The armed robber fired three bullets into Prestons car as he sped away, on January 28,2007, Preston was robbed at gunpoint while in his home
28.
Brad Daugherty (poker player)
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Brad Daugherty is a professional poker player. Daugherty began playing poker in 1969 on a school trip. Following high school he worked in the industry, but after hearing of large prize money for tournament winnings, in 1978 he moved to Reno. In 1987 he won his first tournament and he was awarded the first ever million-dollar first-place prize at the World Series of Poker when he won the bracelet in the 1991 Main Event, and finished in ninth place in 1993. As of 2009, his live tournament winnings exceed $1,700,000. His 19 cashes as the WSOP account for $1,158,574 of those winnings, Daugherty is the co-author with Tom McEvoy of Championship Satellite Strategy and No-Limit Texas Holdem for New Players
