Poker News

In newsstands now is the February issue of Bluff Magazine. The new cycle of the periodical features the Power 20, the most influential entities in the world of poker. Leading the list are two online poker sites, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

Full Tilt recently debuted Rush Poker, which flipped the cash game world upside down. Allowing players to change tables immediately following their action in a hand ending, Rush Poker has seen its competitors logging between 200 and 300 hands per hour. Up to four Rush Poker tables can be opened at once and poker tracking software like Holdem Manager and PokerTracker allows players to see critical stats on opponents. Other innovations from Full Tilt have included Matrix Sit and Gos and the quarterly Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), whose 15th cycle kicks off on Wednesday.

PokerStars and Full Tilt sit at #1 and #2, respectively, on the Power 20 list. PokerStars is the world’s largest online poker site and features a stable of pros that includes recent World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champions Chris Moneymaker (2003), Greg Raymer (2004), Joe Hachem (2005), Peter Eastgate (2008), and Joe Cada (2009). Eastgate and Cada, in back-to-back years, became the youngest winners ever of the $10,000 buy-in tournament. PokerStars has a well-established media presence, sponsoring ESPN’s “Inside Deal” and purportedly the sixth season of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker.”

Cada sits at #10 on the list and experienced a media circus following his Main Event win in November. Cada appeared on the “Late Show with David Letterman” and ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” among other high-profile series, bringing the PokerStars brand name and youthful nature of the game to the mass media. He has been linked romantically to everyone from Detroit disc jockeys to former Playboy Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole and brought much-needed enthusiasm to a downtrodden Michigan economy.

Two personalities fighting for the rights of online poker players in the United States on Capitol Hill also appear on the Power 20. Sitting at #7 is Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), online poker’s leading proponent on the legislative front. Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, HR 2267, is up to 65 co-sponsors on both sides of the political spectrum and may be marked up before the month of February comes to an end.

Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director John Pappas owns the #12 spot. Pappas was instrumental in moving the PPA from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. and bringing former three-term Senator Alfonse D’Amato (R-NY) into the PPA’s ranks. D’Amato did not make the top 20, but Poker News Daily has learned that he barely missed the cut.

Bluff asked a bevy of media outlets, including Poker News Daily, to contribute names for the Power 20 in December. Only PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker represent companies; the other 18 list members are individuals. The purveyor of the list, Bluff Magazine, has its own Lance Bradley at #16.

A handful of individuals nominated by Poker News Daily did not make the top 20, including the team at CardRunners, Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) Chairman Joe Brennan, Party Gaming CEO Jim Ryan, UB.com’s Annie Duke, Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, Eric “sheets” Haber, Raymer, Go Daddy Girl Vanessa Rousso, and European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie.

Here is a look at the Bluff Power 20, which you can read more about by heading to your local bookstore or newsstand:

1. PokerStars
2. Full Tilt Poker
3. Mitch Garber
4. Howard Lederer
5. Ty Stewart
6. Doyle Brunson
7. Barney Frank
8. Daniel Negreanu
9. Tony G
10. Joe Cada
11. Phil Ivey
12. John Pappas
13. Mike Sexton
14. Mori Eskandani
15. Brian Balsbaugh
16. Lance Bradley
17. Joe Sebok
18. Barry Shulman
19. Matt Savage
20. Per Hagen

We’d like to thank Bluff Magazine for letting us be a part of the voting process in 2010.

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