Some young poker stars enjoy the limelight and make the most of their new celebrity status appearing in TV shows, computer games and modeling stints. None of that for young Allen Cunningham, who has quietly and unassumingly collected 5 WSOP bracelets and over $10,100,000 in tournament winnings while still managing to keep a low profile on the streets and casinos of the world.

Andy “The Rock” Bloch must really enjoy going to alumni reunions: with two Electrical Engineering Degrees from MIT and a JD from Harvard Law School, he has managed to make a fortune of over $3,700,000 playing poker for a living. He must be quite the hero among his white-collar former classmates.

Annette Obrestad was 18 years old when she won the biggest Hold’em tournament in the history of Europe: on September 17, 2007 at the official age of 18 years and 364 days, the teenage girl from Norway took home the £1,000,000 (a shade over $2,000,000 USD) first prize for the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe $10,000 Buy-In Main Event. It not only marked the youngest victor in World Series of Poker history, but the £1,000,000 first prize also represented the largest victory for any female player in any recorded live poker tournament.

The stereotype of the poker player as an overweight man with a cowboy hat and a cigar is due a revision. The new poker player is a lot more like Annie Duke: attractive, athletic, hip and female. Indeed, it seems that a large percentage of online poker players right now are women, and Annie Duke has been partly responsible for this surge of women’s interest in poker.

Antonio Esfandiari is a member of the most ultra-exclusive of high stakes poker tournament clubs – a winner of both a World Series of Poker and a World Poker Tour title. Not only that: Esfandiari has already made it to a final table in the newly created European Poker Tour and is a common fixture in many of the highest stakes poker games in the world.

Barry Greenstein is a unique and cherished member of the poker community. Not only is he the only poker player to have won at least 3 WSOP bracelets and 3 WPT events, he’s the only player to give all of the money won from those 3 WSOP victories and 3 WPT victories to charity. For more than a decade, Greenstein aka “Robin Hood of Poker” has been donating every penny of his tournament winnings to children’s charities. That would mean that Barry has given away about $8 million.

Whether it’s grinding at the tables for 10 hours a day or constantly having to travel to the next big tournament, many professional poker players get to a point where the game begins to consume their life. Bernard Lee is one professional poker player who’s managed to avoid letting the game control his life though, instead becoming a well-rounded person in the process.

Of the men who have captured the gold bracelet as World Series of Poker Championship Event winner, one of the most mysterious is 1986 victor Berry Johnston. Born in Oklahoma in 1935, very little is known about Berry’s early life.

The 2006 World Series of Poker was historic for several reasons. The Championship
Event drew a record-setting 8,773 players and two men were able to capture two of the coveted WSOP bracelets each in preliminary events. While Jeff Madsen went on to win the Player of the Year award that year, Bill Chen’s story of success was perhaps just as amazing.

Chip Jett and Chris Moneymaker share the odd honor of having the coolest poker names ever. Jett, who was actually christened Charles, was given his nickname by a nurse in the hospital where he was born. Jett is easily recognized by his slick style and looks, and once on the table he has a solid reputation as a fearless player who is constantly improving his already fearsome game.

Before his untimely death, Chip Reese was one of the most feared players on the felt.  For over thirty years Reese was the epitome of the “old school” poker player, always in control of his emotions whatever the game and stakes in play.  These talents at the tables have led many to call Reese one [...]

Chris “Jesus” Ferguson is instantly recognizable, with his long hair and beard, mirrored sunglasses and cowboy hat. The very image of the rugged cowboy, you think. Take away the hat and glasses and you’ll see what Ferguson tried to hide with them: the image of the career academic with a PhD in Computer Science and a deep understanding of mathematics.

As a former Miss Teen Oklahoma, Cycalona “Clonie” Gowen might appear to be out of place at a poker table. Her stunning physique doesn’t fit quite fit with the stereotypical male, out of shape card player.

But part of what makes Clonie Gowen so unique is that she’s always just been one of the guys. Growing up in Kiowa, Oklahoma, Gowen was a regular high school jock. She was a member of a state championship basketball team and starred on her track and field team as a high jumper, where she was ranked seventh in the state of Oklahoma.

Some players get their fifteen minutes of fame at the WSOP Main Event final table and are never seen from or heard from again. 2007 WSOP Main Event champion Jerry Yang is a good example of that.

Everybody loves Daniel Negreanu! Young, good looking, talented and popular, he is the poster boy for poker around the world. He was nicknamed “KidPoker” in 1998 – when he became the youngest WSOP bracelet winner so far at the age of 24 – and to this day he shows no signs of slowing down. With his own books, software, a syndicated column, a blog, an online video diary and an instructional poker video site, Negreanu has brought poker into the 21st century and made it friendly and attractive for everyone

Darus Suharto could be a blast from the past: the former accountant based out of Toronto, Canada gained entry to the WSOP Main Event by first winning an $80 satellite on Poker Stars. He parlayed that victory into another Poker Stars satellite victory; a $640 tournament for a Main Event package. Accountant, satellite entry into the WSOP Main Event paid for by Poker Stars – this could be easily mistaken for Chris Moneymaker’s pre-Main Event victory resume.

Born, raised and still residing in Paris, France, poker professional David Benyamine is living proof that whatever you set your mind to do, you can succeed at.

David Rheem is a successful tournament pro based out of Miami, FL. His trademark sunglasses and hooded sweatshirt disguise an extremely talented up and coming player.

Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott must be one of the most popular and well known poker legends of his time. He has everything: the criminal background, the sexy nickname, the suave look, the iconic jewelry and hundreds upon hundreds of anecdotes. Most importantly, he has the poker skills to put the fear of God into almost any player in the world, and the money to show for it.

It is not easy to accuse one of the hottest, hippest young pros around of being a closet nerd, but we must do it. Behind David Williams’s good looks and sleek style lies an honor student who scored a 4.0 GPA and a 1550 SAT score, was admitted to Princeton and was among the world’s best players of the fantasy game “Magic: The Gathering.”

Dennis Phillips was a truck driver. At 53 years old, the St. Louis native has worked his way up from behind the steering wheel to behind a desk and now serves as an account manager for a trucking company.

It is daunting to attempt to write a short bio of Doyle Brunson, so as a bow to Tex Dolly’s long and epoch-making career this bio will be longer than most bios we offer. A living legend, Brunson is one of the few men who started out playing poker with a gun in their pockets and turned it into the international, multi-million, televised celebrity sport it is nowadays. Over 74 years young, “Texas Dolly” is still one of the best players in the circuits and shows no intention of slowing down.

Eric “Rizen” Lynch is an average looking guy. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife and kids, he is neither a college dropout nor a hustler by trade.

He’s a normal guy who happens to make millions of dollars playing poker online.

After graduating from college in 2000, Eric set out to follow a relatively safe career path as an IT professional.

A member of the new poker generation, Erick Lindgren is young, fit, attractive and successful; he is friends with the likes of Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey and has become famous for his outrageous prop bets involving millions of dollars. E-dog, as he is also known, is a prominent member of Team Full Tilt and also featured in the popular poker video game ‘Stacked’.

While he may not be one of the names called when people discuss the best players in the game today, the highly underrated Erik Seidel is a player that, if not considered one of the best today, certainly should be in the running for that as well as the best of all time.
Born in New [...]

Canada has provided the poker world with several great champions. Daniel Negreanu is recognized as one of the best players in the world and, along with other players like Gavin Smith, has led the charge of players from the Great White North. One person who learned about the game from Negreanu and has carved her own niche in the game today is Bodog pro Evelyn Ng.

Perhaps no one else in the world of poker owes more to the game than professional player Freddy Deeb. Deeb has been able to use his poker skills to amass a fortune and reach that dream that all poker players have - of having never held a “real” job.

Some of the greatest poker players of all time have had cards named after them: the 10-2 is the Doyle Brunson, the A -10 is the Johnny Moss and a pair of eights and a pair of Aces will forever be known as the Dead Man’s Hand in honor of Wild Bill Hickok. While the legends of the game are occasionally enshrined in that peculiar hand that they have each forever branded, Gus Hansen has dozens of hands named after him. Gus Hansen is a viable adjective in the poker community.

Guy Laliberte is not nor ever has been a professional poker player. Guy Laliberte has been a professional fire breather. Guy Laliberte has been on the Time List for the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Born on September 2, 1959, Guy Laliberte has become known to poker audiences over the past 3 years, dipping into his billionaire fortune to play big buy-in tournament and high-stakes cash game poker. But Guy’s first career brought him more acclaim or wealth than any poker player could hope to achieve – Guy is the creator and 95% proprietary owner of Cirque Du Soleil.

Hal Lubarsky’s dream was coming true: at 29 years old, he was on his way to Las Vegas with aspirations of becoming a professional poker player. A regular in the $150-$300 H.O.R.S.E. games around town, Hal found himself mixing it up with some of the best in the world. “I was extremely well-known in cash [...]

Howard Lederer may be the smartest poker player in the world. He is one of four players with multiple WSOP bracelets and multiple WPT victories (Daniel Negreanu, Carlos Mortensen and Barry Greenstein are the others,) he is a world-class chess champion and member of the legendary Mayfair Club, he is credited by his sister, Annie Duke for teaching her how to play poker and he’s developed a four-staged evolutionary chart for the course of a poker master derived from the four stages of enlightenment in Zen Buddhism. But that isn’t what qualifies him as the smartest in the world.

If you’re looking for Huckleberry Seed at a poker tournament he’s not that hard to find. You probably won’t notice him because he’s not an excessive talker at the table or a great self-promoter who draws attention to himself wherever he goes. Rather, you’ll notice the quiet, mild-mannered Huck Seed because of his 6’7” height.
It [...]

Over the 40 or so summer days of each World Series of Poker, there are around 50 different tournaments run depending on the year. In the 2006 WSOP, more than 70% of the 45 tournaments lasted for two or more days – the 2006 Main Event alone took more than 5 days to complete. In 2006, Costa Rica’s favorite son, Humberto Brenes finished in the money in a record 8 different World Series of Poker events. To put that in perspective, only players finishing in the top 10% of the total entrant field take home any winnings to show for their efforts, so you could have played for 3 days in more than a dozen tournaments and earned nothing but experience. This historic 8-cash performance is only one more in a long line of major achievements by the player known as “The Shark.”

Ivan Demidov is the latest in a series of Russian natives finding incredible success at the WSOP. Last year’s WSOP saw Russian pro Alexander Kravchenko win the first bracelet in Russian history to go along with 6 other cashes, while this year saw Nikolay Evdakov obliterate the previous single WSOP record of 8 cashes by making 10 cashes himself.

The story of Jeff Madsen’s rise to poker power is short – really short. In fact, with the possible exceptions of Stu Ungar and Phil Hellmuth, it is the shortest rise to the top in the history of poker.

Two pairs make Jennifer Harman unique in the world of poker: 1, she is the only female player in the history of the World Series of Poker to have won a pair of bracelets in non-gender specific play (she won the 2000 $5,000 NL Deuce to Seven Draw and 2002 $5,000 Limit Hold’em tournaments) and 2, she has a pair of transplanted kidneys.

Jennifer Tilly may be the most visible female poker celebrity in the world. After her 2005 World Series of Poker victory in the Ladies-Only No Limit Texas Hold’em event, the Academy Award nominated actress joined boyfriend and revered poker pro Phil Laak as the only poker couple to combine for a WSOP and WPT victory.

Young poker star Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh is the embodiment of the multi-talented, multi-tasking internet generation: a successful poker player, she is also famous for posing for Playboy, has a reputation as a hacker and a high ranking as a World of Warcraft player, and is releasing a clothing line. On top of all of these achievements, Jennifer Leigh has just signed a deal with Iron Duke Poker.

Don’t confuse Joe Hachem with other recent WSOP Main Event winners: 2007 winner Jerry Yang is a poker hobbyist with no plans to parlay his 2007 Main Even victory into a poker career, 2006 winner Jamie Gold is so bogged down with legal troubles that he’s got no time to play cards, 2004 winner Greg Raymer made another great run at the Main Event the following year (finishing in 26th out of 5612 total entrants) but other than that hasn’t made too much noise in the poker world and 2003 winner Chris Moneymaker made it to a WPT final table but has yet to make waves in any major circuit. But 2005 Main Event champion Joe Hachem is no one-hit wonder.

While poker is gaining moral standing in many religious communities, it is still far from a universally accepted practice; and while there are some notable Christians in the poker world, John Juanda has an especially interesting relationship to religion: prior to becoming a 3-time WSOP bracelet winner, 6-time Final Table WPT contestant and prized member of the elite Full Tilt Poker team, John Juanda was an award winning door to door Bible salesman.

The legend of Johnny Chan began in 1957 in Guangzhou, China, where Johnny was born. Before Johnny’s 16th birthday, his family had migrated to the US and moved from Phoenix, AZ to Houston, TX in the pursuit of growing the family restaurant business. Johnny worked hard for the family business and at the age of [...]

After Josh Arieh took down his first WSOP bracelet in the 1999 $3,000 Limit Hold’em event, he was asked if he had been intimidated by a final table that included Humberto Brenes, Howard Lederer and John Juanda (link all 3). He said that he didn’t know who any of them were so he didn’t even have a reason to be intimidated.

Let’s start by making something clear: this player’s real name is Juan Carlos Mortensen. He explained recently that when he first arrived at the United States he spoke no English, and he must have spoken too quickly when he introduced himself, as he soon found everybody calling him just “Carlos”. Now you know how to greet him if you ever come across him in a tourney!

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Kathy Liebert spent most of her life on Long Island in New York, New York.  When it came time to make a college choice, Kathy decided on Marist College and was able to graduate with a degree in Business and Finance from there.  With her degree in hand, Liebert was fortunate [...]

Kelly Kim will enter the November 9 WSOP Main Event Final Table as a significant short stack with 2,620,000 in chips, about 8,000,000 less than the next shortest stack.

When it comes to style, Marcel Luske is in a class of his own. Always seen dressed in a suit, upside-down sunglasses and a smile, it’s no wonder Luske has become one of the most popular poker players in the world.

Add a proclivity for singing at the table and one might peg Luske as a one-man act. But behind the goofy facade is a brilliant poker mind that has earned the title of European Poker Player of the Year twice (2001 and 2004.)

It’s a good thing for Absolute Poker to have Mark Seif in their stable of pros. Not only is the two time WSOP bracelet winner a world-class poker talent (particularly in NL Hold’em) but he’s a former attorney.

Men “The Master” Nguyen is an unlikely messiah. He is loud, brash and borders on abusive at times at the poker table. He is a smoker and a drinker and has even left a WSOP Final Table in no condition to legally drive. But according to Card Player Magazine Men Nguyen has also been the best card player in the world over the past decade.

When one first hears of Michael Mizrachi’s nickname, “The Grinder”, they don’t really expect him to be one of the richest poker players in the world. After all, most people think of a poker grinder as someone who typically puts a lot of hours into the lower limits of the game in a job-like fashion. [...]

Most poker players gain their fame through playing the game first, and then some branch out into writing books and other materials on the subject. Mike Caro is certainly one exception to this rule though, as he is definitely more noted for his theories and strategic opinions on the game rather than his playing accomplishments.
Mike [...]

When speaking of poker players who have been just as great at making a name for themselves with their words as they’ve been with their play, Mike Matusow would have to rank right at the top of the list.  In fact he has been nicknamed “The Mouth” for his brash talk and questionable antics at [...]

Mike Sexton is best known as the host of the World Poker Tour – but he is so much more. An author, commentator, promoter and player, Sexton is widely regarded as the chief ambassador in the game today.

With the looks of a runway model and the physique of a professional athlete, Patrik Antonius sticks out like a sore thumb at most poker tables. Yet behind the stunning façade hides one of the sharpest poker brains of the new generation – Antonius has been compared to Phil Ivey by Barry Greenstein, who also called him “one of the biggest winners in the history of online poker.”

Young Danish pro Peter Eastgate could make history at this year’s WSOP – at 22 years old, he could beat Phil Hellmuth’s record as the youngest player to win the Main Event (Hellmuth was 24 at the time.) Eastgate looks every bit as young as he is, and a definite advantage of all the publicity stemming from the Final Table is that he probably will not be carded as often when entering a casino.

Phil Gordon is an uncommon professional poker player in that he has the dubious distinction of having made it financially before he ever bet a dime on the felt.

The notorious “Poker Brat” is undeniably a player of great skill – if not great manners – with a love for the limelight. Phil Hellmuth Jr. stormed into the poker world in 1989 when he became the youngest player to win the WSOP Main Event, and almost a decade later he shows no sign of slowing down. 2007 saw him break his tie for most WSOP bracelets (which he shared for years with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan) when he won his 11th bracelet. All of Hellmuth’s bracelets have been won in Hold’em events.

Phil Ivey was born in California in 1976, but his family moved to New Jersey when he was months old. Growing in a city famous for its gambling, Ivey’s family wanted to prevent him from becoming another hustler, so his grandfather famously cheated Phil Ivey while teaching him to play Five-Card Stud at the age of 8. But Ivey was not discouraged, and he was playing for money as early as 16.

Phil “The Unabomber” Laak is certainly to be counted amongst the elite of the poker world. Not only is he one of the very few players to find considerable success in both the highest stakes cash games and biggest tournaments, he is half of perhaps the most visible power couple in the poker world. In fact, he and longtime girlfriend Jennifer Tilly represent the only romantically linked pair to combine for both a WPT and WSOP victory.

Beirut-born Ihsan (Sammy) is famous for his unpredictable poker style, expensive fashion sense and entertaining personality, but mostly for losing to Chris Moneymaker, the poker rookie who made poker an “everyman” game.

The third largest stack in the 2008 November Nine (the WSOP Final Table) is a young Canadian player with the perfect poker pedigree: Scott Montgomery, born in 1981 to a card-playing family in Perth, Ontario, grew up to study mathematics at the University of Waterloo (like other poker legends such as Bill Chen.)

Thuan Nguyen was born a different man than most will know him when he dies. Thuan was born on October 28, 1962 in Nha Trang in the war-torn nation of Vietnam, the first of 13 children born to his parents.

Stu Ungar, the brightest star in poker, blazed his way through circuits and tournaments with a superhuman poker skill till he ended his days as a burnt-out supernova in a haze of drugs and debt. Born in September 8, 1953 in New York, he came from solid gaming stock: his father Ido Ungar was a loan shark who ran a gambling saloon, familiarizing Stu with gambling from an early age. In spite of his parents’ attempts to keep him away from gambling, he won a gin rummy tournament at the age of 10 and by 23 he had earned an excellent reputation as a card player. After his father’s death he took up full-time gin rummy to support his mother and sister, and he turned to alleged mafia boss Victor Romano who became a father figure to him, protecting him in the New York back-alley casinos.

Thomas James Cloutier was born in October 13, 1939 in Albany, California. He attended the University of Berkeley on an athletic scholarship for baseball and football.

Ted Forrest’s fans claim he is not only one of the best poker players in the world, but one of the nicest as well, and he is highly respected by his peers because of his manners and poise. One of his biographers, Michael Craig, writes about buying a car with Ted: when asked what he was looking for, Ted replied, “Good AC.” This from a man who has won 5 WSOP gold bracelets.

Tiffany Michelle has many aces up her sleeve: poker player and commentator, actress, singer and even certified massage therapist – there seems to be nothing she can’t do. Michelle made headlines for being the last woman standing in the 2008 WSOP Main Event (she was knocked out in 17th place) as well as for allegedly ditching her sponsors (Poker News) for Ultimate Bet.

The greatest poker players in the history of the game have nicknames. Texas Dolly, Kid Poker, The Poker Brat… durrrr?

Building on a screen name invented by a 17 year old with a $50 bankroll to inspire tilt in his opponents, Tom Dwan has turned the name “durrrr” into a different sort of tilt inducing moniker than he originally intended. In the realms of ultra-high stakes internet poker, the name “durrrr” has come to signify one of the great legends in the relatively young history of online poker.

Curly-haired New Yorker Ylon Schwartz is a career hustler: he started playing chess on the streets in Manhattan when he was 13 before widening his repertoire to pool and horse betting. A friend suggested that if he wanted to be a real hustler he would have to master several games, so he also took up poker and backgammon.