Archive for December, 2009

Hello pokerworld,

I hope you have a splendid holiday with hopefully some more snow to come. It’s not only romantic and nice to watch, but it gave you a reason more to stay inside and enjoy the hearth and Christmas sphere inside your house. And what’s even more fun to combine with that? Yes, you know it. Log on to your favourite online pokersite and play poker online.  I’m still running superbly on PokerStars with a massive run the last comple of months. I hope you could also avoid the beats and I wish you all the good luck you need. But for now, let’s rejoin the action with the next 5 players….

(45)   =>   TONY   G

> Antanas Guoga

> born 17/12/1973, Kaunas (LIT).

> resides now in Melbourne, Australia.

> Nickname :  ‘ The Australian Airbag ‘

> won the Asian Poker Tour event in Singapore.

> made two final tables on WPT circuit and has 15 cashes in WSOP.

> plays online at Full Tilt Poker

> won almost $ 4,000,000 in Life Tournament Play (until 2009).

When he was younger, Tony G was the Rubik’s Cube champion of his country before moving to Australia when he was 11. He’s a real businessman nowadays, he’s the owner of different high poker information sites, such as Pokernews.com. But he also has his own poker play site online at tonygpoker.com. He received the Shining World Leadership Award in January 2008. Tony G is very well-known as a trashtalker at the table, by using some very agressive play combined with intimidation and verbal assaults against his opponents. But he’s known outside the table as a true gentleman which he showed when he donates plenty of his winnings to different charities in Asia, Australia and Russia after winning several big unknown tournaments throughout the world. He also won the WPT Bad Boys of Poker Two event after beating Mike Matusow with his favourite hand, 10-8, in heads-up play. Tony G was wearing a kimono throughout that event to promote poker in Japan.

(44)   =>   SHAWN   SHEIKHAN

> Shahram ” Shawn” Sheikhan

> born in 1969 in Iran.

> lives now in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA) with his wife and daughter.

> Nickname :  ‘ Sheiky ‘  or  ‘ The Iron Sheik ‘

> was 11th in the WSOP Main Event in 2005

> won 1 Poker After Dark title.

> has Live Tournament Winnings around $ 1,500,000 (until 2008).

Shawn owns several tattoo and tobacco stores in the USA. He’s well-known for his trashtalk and frustration explodes at the table which has resulting in a lot of famous incidents, e.g. with Phil Hellmuth on Poker After Dark. Shawn is a bad winner but a worse loser. But he has proved that he can be a good player too, when he made the final four in NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2006. In addition to that he played several seasons on High Stakes Poker, as he’s being a fan of the big cash games. Sheiky did also break one pair of Matusow’s sunglasses during High Stakes Poker. But he was also two times in the news in a negative way. First in 1999 whe he lost control over his car in the rain and caused an accident with one deadly victim. Besides that he was arrested in 2007 and faced deportation because of sexual handlings in 1995 with a 17-year-old girl while he was in immigration status.

(43)   =>   VANESSA   ROUSSO

> Vanessa Ashley Rousso

> born 05/02/1983, White Plains, New York (USA).

> lives now in Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada.

> married to poker pro Chad Brown

> Nickname :  ‘ Lady Maverick ‘ or  ‘ Pokerness ‘

> has several finishes in WSOP, WPT and EPT.

> won the 2006 WPT Borgata Open.

> plays online at PokerStars as a member of TeamPokerStars.

> won almost $2,400,000 in Live Tournament Play (until 2009).

Vanessa has two nationalities, the French and the American. She studied Law at the University of Miami and did softball, basketball, swimming, lacrosse and chess on high school. Nowadays she still keeps her physical fitness, which she showed by appearing in the 2009 Sports Illustrated. Besides that she does have some excellent poker results. She became the youngest woman ever to reach the final table at a WSOP circuit event when she was 22. She finished 2nd in the 2007 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) on PokerStars. She appeared on several episodes of Poker After Dark and won one. She was 2nd in the 2009 NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker, after losing to Huck Seed in the final. She ranked 4th on the Women’s All Time Money List.

(42)   =>   JASON   MERCIER

> born 11/12/1986 in USA

> is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

> Nickname :  ‘ treysfull21 ‘

> won 1 Bracelet (’09 Pot Limit Omaha)

> won 1 EPT-title (’08 San Remo)

> was 4th in the WSOPE Main Event in 2009

> plays online at PokerStars as a member of  TeamPokerStars.

> has Live Tournament Earnings of over $4,000,000 (until 2009).

Besides playing poker online and live, Jason likes to play basketball and he hangs out a lot on the beach when he want some fun and entertainment. He only plays for two years at the high level and he has already very exceptional results. He showed that in 2008 when he won the EPT 1 Million High Roller Showdown event in London after beating John Juanda in heads-up play.

(41)   =>   PHIL   GORDON

> Philip Stewart Gordon

> born 06/07/1970 in El Paso, Texas (USA).

> resides now in Las Vegas, Nevada and has one son.

> Nickname :  ‘ Tiltboy ‘

> became 4th in the WSOP Main Event in 2001.

> won 1 WPT title (’04 Bay 101 Shooting Stars)

> plays online at Full Tilt Poker as a member of Team Full Tilt.

> won around $2,200,000 in Live Tournament Play (until 2009).

Phil graduated from Georgia Tech in 1991 with a degree in computer science. He was already a millionaire before he started to play poker because of his jobs as a software engineer. He was a former referee on the World Championship of Rock Paper Scissors. He’s 1,98m tall and is a former bridge champion. He’s wildly considered as a very kind, warm person which he’ve showed for several years now by supporting the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation with his winnings. Phil have been very successful in poker. He made several final tables on the WSOP circuit, but hasn’t yet a magical bracelet. He did win the Full Tilt Poker Poker Championship at Red Rock in 2006, after beating Roland De Wolfe in heads-up play. Phil also likes several random activities besides playing poker. He’s a poker commentator for many years now for the Celebrity Poker Showdown episodes. In addition to that, he’s also a writer of columns for poker magazines and he’s the author of three books on poker. His Dvd about ‘Final Table Play’ has also been rewarded.

That was it people, we’re getting closer to the top ten. I’m hoping you’re still as curious as at the beginning. See you again for the next five players and some more poker news .

Cheers,

J.M.

Hi Pokeraddicts !

It’s time for the sequel of my Most Famous Poker Player top 100 list. I hope you were all waiting for it, because from now on I’m going directly to Number One and the players will only get bigger and greater. Smallball-poker is getting bigger and wildly spread with new viewers every day so I’m going to start right now with number fifty…

(50)   =>   DANIEL   ALAEI

> Daniel Christopher Alaei

> born in 1983, from Sante Fe Springs, California (USA)

> resides now in Los Angeles, California

> Nickname :  ‘ Daniel ‘

> won 2 Bracelets (’06 NL 2-7 Draw Lowball / ‘09 WC Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-better)

> plays online at PokerStars.

> won over $ 2,300,000 in Live Tournament Play (until 2009).

In spite of his two Bracelets and his 25th place in the WSOP Main Event in 2007, the year Jerry Yang won, Mister Alaei likes the big cash games even more. He enjoys the action which he showed in the first three seasons of High Stakes Poker. Daniel is someone who always behave properly at the table, a real gentleman who doesn’t like the theatrics around the table and the lack of poker etiquette of the young online wizards irritates him a lot.

(49)   =>   JOHNNY   MOSS

> born 14/05/1907 in Marshall, Texas (USA)

> died peacefully at 16/12/1995.

> Nickname :  ‘ The Grand Old Man of Poker ‘

> won 3 times the WSOP Main Event (’70, ‘71, ‘74), a record next to Stu Ungar.

> won 9 Bracelets in total (’71 Limit A-5 draw, ‘75 ‘76 ‘79 seven card stud, ‘81 seven card stud Hi-Lo, ‘88 A-5 draw)

> has WSOP Tournament Earnings of $ 850,000.

Johnny won the very first WSOP Main Event in 1970 and didn’t miss a single one until he died. He won in 1970 when his peers voted for him as the best player and he took the trophy back home without any prize money. Mister Moss became a member of the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979. Johnny learned the game when he was very young and soon he decided to cross the whole country and he became a road gambler. In that time, the years ‘30-’60, he always had a gun in his pocket because it was very dangerous with all the gambling and the unfair sharpers. Another very remarkable story about Johnny Moss appeared in 1951 when he met Benny Binion. He arranged a marathon heads-up pokergame between Johnny Moss and Nick The Greek Dandalos that lasted for five months ! Johnny won around $4 million (which is now worth around $50 million) before Nick The Greek said the following famous words: ‘ Mr.Moss, I have to let you go’. The Texas Hold’em starting hand A10 is nicknamed ‘The Johnny Moss’.

(48)   =>   TODD   BRUNSON

> Todd Alan Brunson

> born 07/08/1969, El Paso, Texas (USA)

> resides now in Las Vegas, Nevada.

> Nickname :  ‘  Darkhorse ‘

> won 1 Bracelet (’05 Omaha Hi-Lo Split)

> became 13th at the WSOP Main Event in 1992

> plays online at Doylesroom and PokerStars

> has Live Tournament Winnings over $ 3,300,000 (until 2009).

In spite of his famous father Doyle ‘TexasDolly’ Brunson , Todd learned the game of poker on his own when he studied Law at Texas Tech University. Todd is very well-known as a big cash game player, playing regurlarly in the big games at the Bellagio or in the famous televised pokershow High Stakes Poker. Although he’s focussing more on the tournaments the last years, which he showed when he won the Poker Superstars 3 Grand Final after beating Antonio Esfandiari heads-up. Todd also wrote the chapter about 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or better in his fathers book ‘ Super System 2‘.

(47)   =>   ANDY   BLOCH

> Andrew Elliot Bloch

> born 01/06/1969 in New Haven, Connecticut (USA)

> resides now in Tacoma Park, California.

> Nickname : ‘ The Rock ‘

> was the second season winner of the Ultimate Poker Challenge

> plays online at Full Tilt Poker as a member of TeamFullTilt

> won over $ 4,200,000 in Live Tournament Play (until 2009)

Andy made two final tables at the World Poker Tour in his first season playing, which was very exceptional. He also played in the longest recorded heads-up beattle in the WSOP history when he lost the H.O.R.S.E. event in 2006 against Chip Reese after playing 286 hands. Bloch was also the runner-up to Chris Ferguson in the 2008 NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Andy prefers the mathematical vision when he plays poker, probably because of his education and his 2 electrical engineering degrees from the Harvard Law School. He’s a good, wise man because he donates all his online winnings to various charities around the world. Before playing poker, Bloch was a member of the MIT Blackjack Team , being a good player calculating the cards. He also wrote a book about blackjack and he was a former world champion in ‘ Paper-Scissors-Stone ‘.

(46)   =>   CHRIS   MONEYMAKER

> Christopher Bryan Moneymaker

> born 21/11/1975 in Atlanta, Georgia (USA)

> lives now in Nashville, Tennessee.

> married and has one daughter Ashley.

> Nickname : ‘ Money ‘

> was the 2003 WSOP Main Event winner after beating Sam Farha heads-up.

> plays online at PokerStars as a member of TeamPokerStars.

> has Live Tournament Earnings of almost $ 3,000,000 (until 2009)

There was a massive change in the poker world after Chris’ win in the WSOP Main Event in 2003. The Moneymaker Effect was born. A poker boom in the whole world appeared after his win because an amateur had won the biggest tournament alive playing his first live tourney and of course, now everybody believed they could achieve the same. But Chris played very well and he proved later that he wasn’t just a one hit wonder when he became second in the 2004 Shooting Stars event of the WPT. Later he wrote an autobiography about his great WSOP victory. Chris holds a master degree in accounting from the University of Tennessee. Many people think that his last name ‘Moneymaker’ is just an imaginary nickname but it’s his real last name given by his ancestors.

So people, we’ve just started the second half of my list. I hope you still enjoy it and can’t wait for more. Please don’t bother at all to shout your opinion. I’m glad to hear from you.

See you soon,

J.M.