Archive for September, 2009

Good Evening Pokerworld !

It’s time for the next episode of my marvellous list: The Most Famous Poker Players top 100 ! As we move forward to the last fifty players you’ll hopefully recognize them some what quicker than the first pro’s that I showed you. But we still have fifteen players to go before getting to the top-50, so I’m not going to waste anymore time as I hope that you become more and more curious about the future as we are getting closer to Numero Uno :

(65)  =>   KRISTY   GAZES

> born 28/10/1967, Torrance, California (USA).

> lives now in Hollywood, California.

> was formerly married to poker player Bill Gazes.

> Nickname :  ‘ Mixed Games ‘

> won the Full Tilt Poker Championship in 2005.

> plays online at Full Tilt Poker.

> won almost one million dollar in Live Tournament play (until 2009).

She began her pokercareer as a high stakes cash game player, but preferring the mixed games more like Horse or Hose. Kirsty made 2 final tables in the 2007 Aussie Millions, namely at the Main Event and at the Pot Limit Omaha Event. She recently went more from playing poker to the stock market and she became a very successful business woman.

(64)  =>   KENNY   TRAN

> Phuong ” Kenny ” Tran

> born in 1974, Vietnam.

> lives now in Arcadia, California (USA).

> married and has 3 children.

> Nickname :  ‘ The Kid ‘  or  ‘ Sick Call Kenny ‘ .

> won 1 Bracelet (2008 Heads-Up NL Hold’em World Championship).

> plays online at Full Tilt Poker as a sponsored pro.

> has Live Tournament winnings over $ 2,100,000 (until 2009).

Besides several cashes at the WSOP and World Poker Tour, he’s well-known as a high stakes cash game specialist, which he showed on several episodes of the famous show Poker After Dark. Kenny discovered the game of poker in a bar in 1992, while working at McDonalds that time. He also donates 10% of his winnings to his family and relatives in Vietnam.

(63)  =>   DAVID   GREY

> David F. Grey

> is married and from Henderson, Nevada (USA).

> Nickname :  ‘ Vegas Stud ‘ .

> won 2 Bracelets (1999 – 7 Card Stud / 2005 – NL 2-7 Draw Lowball).

> plays online at Full Tilt Poker as a sponsored Pro.

> won over $ 1,500,000 in Live Tournament play (until 2009).

He’s best known for his cash game play, but he has also some good tournament results like his 8th place at the 2003 WSOP Main Event where later winner Chris Moneymaker busted him out. Nevertheless David only plays tournaments around Vegas. David appeared as a high stakes cash game specialist on the most famous pokershow High Stakes Poker and on a few occasions at Poker After Dark. His other passion besides Poker is to play golf, like many other pro’s such as Daniel Negreanu and Doyle Brunson.

(62)  =>   MICHAEL   MIZRACHI

> Michael David Mizrachi

> born 05/01/1981, Miami, Florida (USA).

> lives now in Hollywood, California.

> married to poker pro Aidiliy and they got 2 children.

> Nickname :  ‘ The Grinder ‘

> won 2 WPT titles (2005 / 2006).

> plays online at Full Tilt Poker.

> has almost $ 7,000,000 in live tournament earnings (until 2009).

He has an Iraqi, Jewish origin and he’s probably the most famous of the brothers Mizrachi (with Robert and Eric as fellow poker players). Michael’s first dream was to become a doctor. In 2006 he was nominated by Card Player Magazine as Player of the Year. Michael likes the big cash game play which he showed on the second season of High Stakes Poker.

(61)  =>   CARLOS   MORTENSEN

> Juan Carlos Mortensen

> born 13/04/1972, Ambato (ECU).

> lives now in Madrid, Spain.

> Nickname :  ‘ El Matador ‘

> was the 2001 WSOP Main Event winner beating Dewey Tomko heads-up.

> won 1 other Bracelet (2003 – Limit Hold’em).

> won 2 WPT titles (2004 / 2007 WPT Championship Event).

> plays online at Full Tilt Poker.

> has over $ 8,700,000 in Live Tournament cashes (until 2009).

He was the first player ever to win the world championship events at both World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT). Carlos is wildly considered as the last real poker pro who have won the Main Event and upon now still the only Hispanic one. Mortensen is well-known for his loose play, bluffing tactics and for his original style to stack his chips.

Well, that was it for today.Have you noticed that all the 5 players today actually play online at Full Tilt Poker? Maybe I should give it a try there !

See you soon,

J.M.

Hi Pokerplanet,

First I just want to inform you that I’m extremely steaming at the moment, getting some pretty ugly beats in a row because of some horrible calls by donkaments who then finally river their gutshot straightdraw or second pair. They really don’t have any clue about outs & odds and are just hoping to get their 8% of luck. Well nowadays I can clearly feel those bad beats against me while I’m running very bad last month on Pokerstars with a loss of around the half of my bankroll from before the summer. Anyway I’m still up enough since the start of my online career and I’m still doing great in live poker.

Now for gaining some morale and pleasure again in poker, I’m going to concentrate me on my Most Famous top-100 list and show you the next five players. You see at the title that between them are two of the last three runner-ups of the World Series of Poker Main Event. Paul and Ivan are accompanied by three other different players, like you can see now, …

(70)  =>   IVAN   DEMIDOV

> born in 1981, Moscow (RUS).

> still lives there

> Nickname :  ‘ Soul ‘

> became 2nd on the WSOP Main Event in 2008, losing heads-up to Peter Eastgate

> plays at PokerStars as a member of TeamPokerStars.

> has live tournament winnings over $ 6,500,000 (until 2009).

Ivan was one of the ‘November Nine’, the first time that the final table of the Main Event was postponed for a few weeks. He became that same year 3th on the WSOP Main Event of Europe, which was an exceptional achievement and the first player ever to accomplish that. He’s the absolute number one on the Russian all time tournament winnings list after those results. Ivan is a very cool, silent and sober player at the table and he likes watersports and skiing. He holds a maths degree from the university and he got his insights in poker by playing Starcraft first, like a lot of other pokerplayers.

(69)  =>   KATHY   LIEBERT

> Kathleen H. Liebert

> born 01/10/1967, Nashville, Tennessee (USA).

> lives now in Las Vegas, Nevada.

> Nickname :  ‘ PokerKat ‘

> won 1 Bracelet (2004 – Limit Hold’em Shootout).

> made 5 WPT final tables, with a 2th place as highest.

> won over $ 5,500,000 in live tournament play (until 2009).

She ranks the top of the table of all women with her live tournament winnings, which is remarkable achievement. Kathy won also several other big tournaments and she was the first woman ever to win a first price of more than 1 million $. PokerKat holds a bachelors degree in Business and Finance and she likes to invest in stock market. It attracts probably more attention to know that she even holds a blue belt in karate.

(68)  =>   TUAN   LE

> born 15/02/1978, Paris (FRA).

> has Vietnamese-American roots

> was raised in the USA

> lives now in Los Angeles, California.

> won 2 WPT-titles (2004 – 2005).

> has live tournament winnings over $ 4,500,000 (until 2009).

He ranks 3th on the World Poker Tour all time cashlist after Daniel Negreanu and Carlos Mortensen. Tuan was mentored by Poker Legend Barry Greenstein, based on his book ‘Ace on the River’. Tuan is a very agressive player, who fears no risks. He likes Tennis, Badminton and rap music.

(67)  =>   BRAD   BOOTH

> Bradley Booth

> born 20/09/1976, Vancouver (CAN).

> still lives there

> Nickname :  ‘ Yukon Brad ‘ .

> made 1 WPT final table.

> plays at Full Tilt Poker.

> won almost $ 750,000 in live tournament play (until 2009).

Brad is without a doubt one of the most successful high limit cash games players nowadays or like Phil Hellmuth once said : ” the best unknown player in the world “. That’s why he ranked so low on my list of course, never contradict The Poker Brat. You could known Brad from his visit on Poker After Dark, where he lost to Patrik Antonius heads-up, or from his appearance on High Stakes Poker where he buyed in for ‘ a cool million ‘. Funny detail is that he worked before as a Pizza delivery boy.

(66)  =>   PAUL   WASICKA

> Paul James Wasicka

> born 17/02/1981, Dallas, Texas (USA).

> lives now in Las Vegas, Nevada.

> Nickname :  ‘ Kwickfish ‘.

> was the 2006 WSOP Main Event Runner-up after losing to Jamie Gold, but still cashed 6M $.

> won the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship after beating Chad Brown.

> plays at Full Tilt Poker as a sponsored Pro.

> has live tournament winnings over $ 7,500,000 (until 2009).

Paul had also several other big tournament cashes, e.g. Aussie Millions or at the World Poker Tour. Before playing poker he worked as a bartender and restaurant manager.

See you next time for more of the same ,

J.M.

Good evening dearest friends of Poker !

I’m here to present you the next five Players, starting with number 75 and ending with number 71. They are very different again this time with an old skool rock, an online gun and some agressive, trashtalking players. While I’m a little bit tilting again online because of some bad luck during cash games, I’ll present them quick in order to play my A-game again on the multi-table tournaments of PokerStars, which are still the best suited for my play. Let’s meet them:

(75)  =>   JEAN – ROBERT   BELLANDE

> Jean-Robert F. Bellande

> born 17/09/1970 in Long Island, New York (USA).

> lives now in Las Vegas, Nevada.

> Nickname :   ‘Action Bob’ or ‘ Bobby’

> earned several cashes in WSOP and WPT.

> won around $ 1 million in live tournament play( until 2009).

Jean-Robert owns a nightclub, is a promoter and has a background Bachelor of Arts in Marketing. He’s very famous for his fast play and his trashtalking at the table with which he enjoys putting players on tilt. He showed his manners on several occasions in Poker After Dark.

(74)  =>   JEFF   MADSEN

> born 07/06/1985 in Santa Monica, California (USA).

> lives now in Las Vegas, Nevada.

> won 2 Bracelets (2006 – NL Hold’em / 2006 – NL Hold’em 6 handed)

> was the 2006 WSOP Player of the Year.

> plays at Full Tilt Poker as a sponsored Pro.

> has live tournament winnings of over $ 2.250.000 ( until 2009).

Jeff is the third-youngest winner of a WSOP event after Annette Obrestad and Steve Billirakis when he won his first bracelet at the age of 21. He studied Film Theory at the university of California and he’s a big fan of rap music, which he shows from time to time in his selfmade videoclips.

(73)  =>   BILLY   BAXTER

> William E. Baxter Jr.

> born 1940 in Augusta, Georgia (USA).

> won 7 Bracelets, all in lowball games ( 2-7 draw in ‘75,’78,’82,’87,’93/ A-5 draw in ‘82/ Razz in 2002)

> became a member of the Poker Hall of Fame in 2006.

> has live tournament earnings of over $ 2.100.000 ( until 2009).

He started to gamble when he was very young, at the age of 14. Billy was a close friend of Stu Ungar and staked him for many years. Besides his lowball and gamble skills, he is also very well-known for his lawsuit against the American inland revenue where he had proved that playing Poker was his living and work so that the poker professionals did need to pay less income taxes than before his lawsuit.

(72)  =>   ANNETTE   OBRESTAD

> born 18/09/1988 in Sandnes (NOR).

> still lives there.

> Nickname :   ‘Annette_15‘

> won 1 Bracelet (2007- NL Hold’em in Europe).

> plays at Betfair as a member of the Poker Pro Team.

> won around $ 2.750.000 in live tournament play (until 2009) with which she ranked 3th on the all time earnings list of female poker players.

Annette is a very big online Poker phenomenon and probably one the best online female players nowadays. She started to play online poker at the age of 15, hence her screen name. She made her starting bankroll by playing freerolls on different sites, but have never deposit any money on an online poker site. Annette won already several big online multi-table tournaments with which she proved her huge skills. She also claims that she won an online 180 players-4$ Sit&Go without looking at her cards, only when faced an all-in, by which she proved the importance of positioning and player image. She is also the youngest person ever to win a Bracelet on the last day of her 18th year during the WSOP event in Europe. She can not play in the big WSOP yet because of the minimum age limit of 21 in the state of Nevada.

(71)  =>   VICTOR   RAMDIN

> Annand Mahendra ‘Victor’ Ramdin

> born 28/05/1968 in Georgetown (GUYANA).

> lives now in The Bronx, New York.

> Nickname :   Computer Man

> won 1 WPT title (2006 – Foxwoods Poker Classic) and has several WSOP cashes.

> plays at PokerStars as a member of  TeamPokerStars.

> has live tournament winnings of over $ 2.500.000 (until 2009).

Victor began to play poker in 2002 when he saw the game in a bar and immediately fell in love with it. He was being mentored at the beginning by the great Phil Ivey. He always plays with no fear and can be very agressive, even in the big cash games like High Stakes Poker where he appeared. He donates a fourth of his earnings to charity. Victor also owns several stores and likes to invest in real estate.

That was it for now boys and girls, we’ll dive into the top-70 next time and I’ll hope to see you again than, but beware of the River !

J.M.

Hello Poker people,

It’s time for another episode of my famous list. First I just want to say that I’m halfly recovered of my dreadful July pokermonth where I lost a lot online but I’m playing very good last weeks, especially in tournaments where I cashed several times and made a few final tables, even won one. So I think I’ll stay at PokerStars for now and defend my league standings. My live game was also very nice in August with a very positive result on my bankaccount;). Here are the five players in the spotlight for this time:

(80)  =>   BOB   SAFAI

> lives in Los Angeles, California.

> is a well-known businessman and closes every day million dollar deals like it’s peanuts.

> likes to play high stakes cash games and is an amateur with especially passive play.

> appeared on the 4th season of High Stakes Poker and on several episodes of Poker after dark.

> likes to gamble at the table and makes a lot of loose and steaming calls with rags, e.g. against Hellmuth and Dwan on Poker after dark, but that’s why he’s so funny to watch.

(79)  =>   STEVE   ZOLOTOW

> lives now in Las Vegas, Nevada.

> has 1 kid, not married.

> Nickname :  (Stevie) Z or  The Bold Eagle

> won 2 Bracelets (1995-Chinese Poker/ 2001-PL Hold’em)

> plays at Full Tilt Poker .

> has live tournament winnings of almost 2 million$ ( until 2009).

Steve is one of the old skool players and he likes to bring a theoretical vision to the table, especially by his backgrounds in statistics and economy. He also owns several bars, likes to travel a lot and to read books.

(78)  =>  MARCO   TRANIELLO

> born in 1974, Rome (ITA).

> lives now in Reno, Nevada.

> married to poker pro Jennifer Harman and they got twins together.

> plays on Full Tilt Poker and is sponsored by them.

> won over $500.000 in live tournament play (until 2009).

Marco learned the game by his wife Jen. They met each other in 1999 in the parking garage of The Bellagio with their cars standing side by side, when he was travelling through the States during a vacation. Marco is also a professional hairdresser and was a former captain of an oil ship and a real estate agent.

(77)  =>   FREDDY   DEEB

> Kassem Ibrahim “Freddy” Deeb

> born 27/11/1955, Beirut (LEB).

> lives now in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife and 4 kids.

> Nickname :  Fast Freddy

> won 2 Bracelets (1996- 2-7 Draw/ 2007 H.O.R.S.E.)

> won 2 WPT titles

> has live tournament winnings of more than 6 million $ (until 2009).

He emigrated to the United States when he was 19, studying Mechanical Engineering at the university of Utah. But he had to stop studying later because he didn’t get any more fundings from his parents in Lebanon due to the civil war there so he started gambling for his living. Freddy appeared in the first season of High Stakes Poker where he was accused of Going South (= taking chips of the table while still playing).

(76)  =>  BERRY   JOHNSTON

> Berry Enfield Johnston

> born 1935, USA

> lives now in Bethany, Oklahoma.

> Nickname :  Numbers

> was the 1986 WSOP MAIN EVENT world champion.

> won 4 other Bracelets (1983 Match Play/1990 Limit Hold’em/1995 Limit Omaha/ 2001 Razz)

> plays at Full Tilt Poker.

> won around $3.300.000 in live tournament play (until 2009).

Berry made also two other final tables on the Main Event (1982-1990) and he cashed already 10 times there which’s a record. Until now he made 57 cashes in the World Series of Poker which ranks him 4th on the all time list. Berry was in 2004 introduced to the Poker Hall of Fame.

There were several Full Tilt pro’s in the picture today so that’s fun for a change. I can already tell you right now that’s going to be different next time. I hope to see you again,

J.M.

Good Morning Pokerpeople !

I’m still learning for my exams so I’m just going to present you the next five players out of the list very quick. This time they’re quite divergent and different, here they are :

(85)  =>  NOAH   BOEKEN

> born 06/01/1981, Amsterdam (NED).

> still lives there

> Nickname :  Exclusive

> won 1 EPT-title (2005- Copenhagen)

> has several WSOP cashes

> plays at PokerStars as a member of  TeamPokerStars.

> won over one million $ in live tournament play     ( until 2009).

He is being tutored and companied by Marcel Luske, and become a good friend of him. They made several poker shows together on the Dutch television. Noah is also well-known for his PokerStars commercial spot, watched in the Benelux.

(84)  =>  DAVID   PHAM

> born 10/02/1967, South Vietnam.

> lives now with his wife in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

> Nickname :  The Dragon

> won 2 Bracelets (2001- S.H.O.E. / 2006 – NL Hold’em Shootout)

> made 7 (!)  WPT final tables but still yet to win one.

> plays online at Full Tilt Poker

> has live tournament winnings of over 8 million $ (until 2009)

He came to the United States on a boat when he was just seventeen, together with 145 other people, but only 46 people actually survived the trip. He learned the game from his famous cousin, Men ‘ The Master’ Nguyen. David was also named two times Player of the Year by Card Player.

(83)  =>   CHAD   BROWN

> born in 1961, Manhattan, New York (USA).

> lives now in Los Angeles, California.

> married to Poker Pro Vanessa Rousso (the lucky bastard).

> Nickname :  Downtown

> made several final tables at WPT and WSOP.

> plays at PokerStars as a member of TeamPokerStars.

> won over $2.500.000 in live tournament play (until 2009).

He began as an actor in Hollywood with some small roles in Tv series and films, like Miami Hustle. He’s well-known as the presenter of the Ultimate Poker Challenge television series and became second in the 2006 National Heads-up Poker Championship on NBC losing to Paul Wasicka in the final.

(82)  =>  DARIO   MINIERI

> born in 1985, Rome (ITA)

> still lives there.

> Nickname :  Supernova

> won 1 Bracelet (2008- NL Hold’em Six handed)

> made 3 final tables on the EPT circuit.

> plays at PokerStars as a member of  TeamPokerStars.

> has live tournament winnings of $1.600.000 (until 2009).

He is one of the most famous online guns in the poker world, proved in 2007 when he was the first person ever to earn a Porsche Cayman S at PokerStars with his Frequent Player Points (FPP of over 3.000.000). Dario is also known at the table as a big fan of the famous footballteam AS Roma, which he express a lot by wearing his scarf.

(81)  =>  ISABELLE   MERCIER

> born 05/08/1975, Québec ( CAN).

> still lives there

> Nickname :  No Mercy

> won 1 WPT title (2004- Ladies Night Tournament)

> plays at PokerStars as a member of  TeamPokerStars.

> won over $800.000 in live tournament play.

She holds a law degree from the University of Montreal. Isabelle was first introduced in the poker world when she worked as a Poker room manager in a French Cardhouse when she moved to Paris. She’s well-known for her intense stare at the table and she was being tutored by David Benyamine and Dave ‘ The Devilfish’ Ulliott.

So now you know the first 20 players out of my list , I hope you recognize the most of them but that will improve when we move to the top of the list.

See you next time guys,

J.M.