Online Poker

List of poker players

This is a list of poker players and other people who have had a major influence on poker, as well as otherwise notable people who were known to be avid poker players.

Note: Some people fall into multiple categories, and accordingly may be in multiple lists.

Contents show

1 Poker players by vocation

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B
C
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I
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K
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M
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Q
R
S
T
U
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Poker players by vocation

A

Tom Abdo
Mickey Appleman
Josh Arieh

B

Bobby Baldwin

Bobby Baldwin is a professional poker player and casino executive.

When Baldwin won the 1978 World Series of Poker main event he became the youngest winner in its history, to be superseded by Stu Ungar in 1980. His major wins include four WSOP titles, all won from 1977 to 1979. In 2003 he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

In 1982 he became a consultant for the Golden Nugget casino, and in 1984 was named the president. He was selected to head The Mirage in 1987 and was named as the president of the Bellagio hotel and casino in 1998. In 1999-2000 he was also the Chief Financial Officer of Mirage Resorts under Steve Wynn; in 2000, upon the merger of Mirage Resorts and MGM Grand, he became the Chief Executive Officer of the Mirage Resorts subsidiary of MGM Mirage.

In 2005, after the aquisition of Mandalay Resort Group by MGM Mirage, Baldwin became CEO and President of the announced Project City Center, while continuing his responsibilities as CEO of the Mirage Resorts subsidiary. Baldwin now oversees additional resorts added through the Mandalay Resort Group buyout as well as the previous Wynn properties.

In addition to poker, Baldwin is also known as a world class billiards poker player. Baldwin and his poker playing style are the subject of a poker book entitled Bobby Baldwin's Winning Poker Secrets, written by Mike Caro. Baldwin has written many columns on poker and he authored a section for Doyle Brunson's Super/System. His own poker book Tales Out of Tulsa, a poker guide for novices, was published in 1985.

WSOP Bracelets

1979 $ 10,000 Deuce to Seven Draw $ 90,000

1978 $ 10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship $ 210,000

1977 $ 10,000 Deuce to Seven Draw $ 80,000

1977 $ 5,000 Seven-Poker card Stud $ 44,000

Billy Baxter

Jim Bechtel

Jim Bechtel is a professional poker player.

Bechtel has poker played in the World Series of Poker for many years. In 1986, 1988, and 1989 he finished in the money at the main event, but in 1993 he took the top prize of $1 million and his first and only WSOP bracelet.

Bechtel is known as a quiet poker player, and he doesn't poker play in many tournaments, mainly just the large ones like the WSOP and World Poker Tour events.

Bechtel currently resides in Gilbert, Arizona.

Joe Beevers

Lyle Berman

Lyle Berman (born August 6, 1941 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a professional poker player and business executive.

Businessman

Berman grew up in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota where graduated in 1964 with a degree in business administration. He then went to work for his father's leather business, Berman Buckskin. When the business was sold to W. R. Grace in 1979, he stayed on as president and CEO. The company was then later sold to the Melville Corporation where it became Wilsons Leather. From 1994 to 2000 he was the chairman and CEO of the Rainforest Cafe chain of restaurant and retail stores.

Berman also poker played an important role in gaming companies. In 1990 he was a co-founder of Grand Casinos Inc., a company that sought to create gambling establishments outside of Las Vegas and Atlantic City. When Grand Casinos Native American casino holdings were spun off into a new company, Lakes Entertainment Inc., he became the CEO of it. Additionally, Berman is the chairman of the board of the World Poker Tour.

He won the B'nai B'rith Great American Traditions award in 1995 and the Gaming Executive of the Year award in 1996.

Poker player

As of 2004 Berman's poker accomplishments include winning 3 World Series of Poker gold bracelets. Although he perfers high-stakes cash poker games, he has won over $700,000 in WSOP and World Poker Tour events. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2002.

Berman currently resides in Plymouth, Minnesota and has 4 children.

Joe Bernstein
Andy Bloch
Barny Boatman
Ross Boatman
John Bonetti
Cissy Bottoms

Bill Boyd

Bill Boyd (?-November 21, 1997) was a professional poker player.

Boyd won two World Series of Poker bracelets, both in five-poker card stud. Additionally, Boyd is responsible for the spread of Omaha hold 'em. In 1983 Robert "Chip Burner" Turner, the creator of the poker game, approached Boyd, who was then the director of operations at the Golden Nugget casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The poker game, previously not having a name, was called Nugget hold 'em. Sometime later it was renamed to its current name of Omaha hold 'em.

As a tribute to his long career, he was dealt the first poker hands ever at the Golden Nugget and The Mirage casinos. He was elected to the Poker Hall of Fame in 1981.

Boyd died in Las Vegas on November 21, 1997.

Russ "Dutch" Boyd
Humberto Brenes

Patrick Bruel

Patrick Bruel (born Patrick Benguigui, on May 14, 1959 in Tlemcen, Algeria) is a French singer, actor, and professional poker player .Although Bruel aspired to be a football star as a youth, he decided to pursue singing after seeing Michel Sardou in 1975. However, he would first burst onto the acting scene in 1979's Le Coup de sirocco. He continued acting in films and on television while pursuing his singing career. His first single, Vide ("empty"), released in 1982 was not a success, but the follow-up, Marre de cette nana-l� ("Fed up with that chick"), was a hit. As of 2004 Bruel has been involved with more than 40 different television and film productions, five studio albums, and several live albums. His latest album, Entre Deux, featured Bruel as a chanson singer where he collaborated with numerous stars, including Charles Aznavour. Bruel, in addition to acting and singing, is a world class professional poker player, though this is little known among the general French public. As of 2004 he has one World Series of Poker bracelet, from 1998, and over $650,000 in tournament poker winnings.

In 2003, he had his last name officially changed to Bruel, his stage name, before his partner Amanda Maruani, gave birth to his first child Oscar on August 19. On September 21, 2004, he wed the 24 year-old Amanda; he had never been married before.

Doyle Brunson

Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is an American professional poker player and author of poker books.

From athlete to rounder

Born in Longworth, Texas, Brunson had a promising athletic future. He was part of the All-State Texas basketball team, and he was the state champion in the mile run. Although he got over a hundred offers from various colleges, he decided to attend Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas because it was close to his home. Brunson would later be drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers before a knee injury ended his poker playing days. Sometimes he must still use a crutch to get around because of the injury. Brunson changed focus from athletics to education and obtained a master's degree in administrative education.

Brunson had started gambling in college to support himself, and after seeing the disappointing pay for a teacher he then teamed up with other Texas poker players like Johnny Moss and Amarillo Slim Preston and went on the road looking for action, long before professional poker was as respectable as it is today. He traveled the country as a rounder, with Moss and Preston, looking for illegal poker games before finally settling in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Professional poker player

The first poker player to win a $1 million poker tournament, Brunson has won nine World Series of Poker bracelets throughout his career. His achievements include two WSOP main event titles in 1976 and 1977. Other than his poker success, his greatest achievement is probably the poker book that was once considered to be the bible of poker: Super/System. Although Super/System is now somewhat outdated due to changes in the structure of the poker game, and has since been superseded by later work by writers like David Sklansky, Tom McEvoy and T. J. Cloutier, Super/System was the poker book that transformed poker by giving ordinary poker players an insight into the way that the professionals like Brunson poker played and won, so much so that Brunson believes that having written the poker book cost him a lot of money. An up-to-date sequel to Super/System was published in 2004. Brunson continues to poker play in the biggest poker games in the world and at the World Series of Poker. He won his ninth gold bracelet in a mixed poker games event in 2003, and in 2004 he finished 53rd (in a field of 2567) in the No Limit Texas hold'em Championship event. He won the Legends of Poker World Poker Tour event in 2004 (garnering him a $1.1 Million prize), and finished fourth in the WPT's first championship event. Brunson's nickname, "Texas Dolly", came from the incorrect reading of his name by Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, and it stuck. Brunson has the honor of having a Texas hold'em hand named after him. The hand, a Ten and a Two of any suit, bears his name as he won the No Limit Hold 'Em event at the World Series of Poker two years in a row with them.

C

Mike Caro

Mike "Mad Genius" Caro is a professional poker player and author of poker books.

Prolific author

Caro is a recognized authority on gambling statistics. In 1978 he contributed 50 statistical tables to Doyle Brunson's Super/System, regarded by some as the Bible of poker. He acts as a consultant to many casinos, providing odds, and he helped developed the Poker Probe, a PC program to analyze poker situations.

Caro is the author of a number of poker books about poker, including:

Bobby Baldwin's Winning Poker Secrets
Caro on Gambling - a collection of his columns published in Gambling Times magazine
Caro's Poker book of Poker Tells - regarded as one of the best poker books on tells (physical signs that give clues as to the poker players poker hand)
Caro's Fundamental Secrets of Winning Poker
Gambling Times Official Rules of Poker
Gambling Times Quiz Poker book
Master Hold'em and Omaha Poker
New Poker games - Descriptions and rules of esoteric or newly invented poker variants
Odds Quick and Simple
Professional Hold'em Poker play by Poker play
Poker at the Millennium
Poker for Women: A Course in Destroying Male Opponents at Poker and Beyond
Poker Without Poker cards

Additionally, he has a number of videos, some of which correspond to the poker books he has written. He was formerly editor in chief of Poker player magazine and senior editor of Gambling Times magazine.

Casino executive and poker player

Caro was the chief strategist for the Bicycle Club Casino when it opened in 1984 and was named the general manager of the Huntington Park Casino in 1986. He was a driving force in bringing poker tournaments to the east coast. In 1992 he helped organize the "World Poker Finals" at Foxwoods Resort Casino, the first corporate sponsored tournament.

Aside from his writing and executive work with casinos, Caro is a world class poker player. He is regarded by many top poker players as one of the best draw poker players in the world.

John Cernuto

Johnny Chan

Johnny "Orient(al) Express" Chan (born 1957?) is a professional poker player.

Chan was born in Canton, China but moved with his family in 1962 to Hong Kong, then in 1968 to Phoenix, Arizona and later in 1973 to Houston, Texas where his family owned restaurants. He was going to continue in the family business, but when he was 16 he went on a junket to Las Vegas, Nevada. When he was 21 he dropped out of the University of Houston, where he was majoring in hotel and restaurant management, and moved to Las Vegas to become a professional gambler.

Chan attributes some of his early success to the fact that many poker players had not previously poker played against Asian poker players before. He shot to fame in the late 1980s, winning the championship event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in two consecutive years (1987 and 1988). He almost won a third consecutive title, but finished in 2nd place in 1989 to Phil Hellmuth. Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, promised Chan a NBA championship ring if he could win three in a row. Buss is an avid poker player.

As of 2004 Chan has won 9 World Series of Poker titles. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2002.

Chan is known for keeping a "lucky" orange in front of him on the table, and after the second consecutive WSOP title other poker players began bringing fruit to the table in hopes of increasing their luck. Chan says he only had an orange with him because of the pleasant scent, as smoking, which was allowed in many tournaments then, bothers him. Chan was once a smoker, but now he neither smokes nor drinks alcohol.

In addition to poker playing poker, Chan owns a fast-food franchise in the Las Vegas Stratosphere Hotel and is a consultant for various casinos and poker game makers. He has aspirations of opening his own casino. Chan has also written for Poker card Poker player Magazine.

A videotape of the 1988 WSOP final heads up match is featured in the movie Rounders, in which Johnny Chan makes a cameo appearance.

Chan has six children.

T. J. Cloutier

T.J. Cloutier (born October 13, 1939 in Albany, California) is a professional poker player.

Cloutier attended the University of California at Berkeley on an athletic scholarship for football and baseball and poker played in the Rose Bowl in 1959. However, he later dropped out because of family financial hardship. He was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he learned to poker play poker. After the Army, he poker played football in the Canadian Football League, but an injury cut his career short. He then started a food company, but it was not successful, so he moved to Texas to work on oil rigs. On his off days he began to poker play poker, and quit his job in after realizing that he was winning more money poker playing poker than working.

Despite winning dozens of tournaments, he has never won the main event of the World Series of Poker, although he has placed four times in the top 5, including two 2nd place finishes.

Cloutier is the co-author of four poker books: Championship Tournament Practice Hands, Championship Holdem, Championship Omaha, and Championship No-Limit and Pot Limit Hold'em. He also writes for Poker card Poker player Magazine.

The starting hand Jack-9 of clubs is named the "T.J. Cloutier" in his honor because of flopping three flushes in one year with the hand.

Cloutier is married, has six children, and resides in Richardson, Texas.

Hoyt Corkins

D

Paul Darden

Hamid Dastmalchi

Hamid Dastmalchi is a professional poker player.

Dastmalchi's biggest win came in the 1992 World Series of Poker main event, where he won $1 million. As of 2004 he has over $1.6 million in winnings from tournament poker as well as 3 WSOP bracelets.

Dastmalchi was involved in a legal dispute in 1999 with Binion's Horseshoe after the new management would not let him cash in over $800,000 in chips he had won prior to a legal battle in which Becky Binion Behnen replaced Jack Binion as the head of the casino. A gaming commission ultimately ruled the chips should be cashed.

Dastmalchi rarely poker plays in tournaments anymore.

Brad Daugherty

Brad Daugherty (born July 5, 1951 in Mountain Grove, Missouri) is a professional poker player.

Daugherty began poker playing poker in 1969 on a high school trip. Following high school he worked in the construction industry, but after hearing of large prize money for tournament winnings, in 1978 he moved to Reno, Nevada. In 1987 he won his first tournament.

Daugherty was awarded the first ever World Series of Poker $1 million prize when he won the 1991 main event. As of 2004 he has over $1.15 million in tournament winnings, and one WSOP bracelet.

Daugherty is the author of Championship Satellite Strategy and he teamed up with Tom McEvoy, the 1983 WSOP main event winner, to write the poker book No-Limit Texas Hold'em for New Poker players.

Although Daugherty no longer travels much to poker play poker, he still poker plays at the larger tournaments as well as online. He has one son and currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Freddy Deeb
Nani Dollson

Annie Duke

Annie Duke (born September 13, 1965 in Concord, New Hampshire) is a professional poker player and sister of poker pro Howard Lederer.

Academia

Duke came from an academic background. Her father, Richard Lederer, was a writer and linguist who taught at Saint Paul's Prep School in New Hampshire. She went to Columbia University where she double majored in English and psychology.

Duke was awarded a NSF Fellowship to attend graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania to study cognitive psychology, specifically psycholinguistics. Her intention was to become a professor but she left school in 1992, after five years of graduate school and one month before defending her Ph.D. work. She left academia to pursue family life with her husband, Ben Duke, and moved to Billings, Montana.

Poker pro

Duke began poker playing poker in local poker card rooms while living in Montana. In 1994, she and her husband moved to Las Vegas in support of her decision to start poker playing poker full time. Prior to 2004, her main claim to poker fame was her 10th place finish in the 2000 World Series of Poker main event (one position short of the final table) while eight months pregnant with her third child.

In early 2004, Duke received considerable publicity because she tutored actor Ben Affleck in poker, who went on to win the 2004 California State Poker Championship. Most recently, in September 2004 Duke won $2 million in the inaugural World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, a 10-poker player, winner-take-all invitational event.

Today Duke is regarded as one of the most famous female poker players, along with Kathy Liebert and Jennifer Harman. As of 2004, Duke has won one World Series of Poker bracelet and more than $2.8 million in tournament poker play.

Other ventures

Duke has been a spokesperson for UltimateBet since 2000 and has written many articles for them, mainly on Omaha hold'em. She has several nicknames including "Annie Legend", "The Duke", and "The Duchess of Poker". Her sister, Katy Lederer, wrote a poker book about the Lederer family, titled Poker Face: A Girlhood among Gamblers.

In 2003 she moved to Portland, Oregon to work for ieLogic, a company that produces software for online real time casino gaming. Although ieLogic has since moved to Canada, she still resides in Portland with her husband and four children.

In 2005 Duke helped her brother Howard Lederer promote a line of poker video poker games which featured both siblings as virtual characters.

E

Barbara Enright
Wendy Eolis

Antonio Esfandiari

Antonio Esfandiari (born Amir Esfandiari, December 8, 1978 in Tehran, Iran) is a professional poker player.

He moved to the San Jose, California when he was 9 years old, along with his family. Because of teasing at school, he changed his name to Anthony.

At 19 years old, he changed his name again to Antonio, and became a professional magician. While he was performing magic, he was invited to a poker game of Texas Hold 'em and started to poker play poker. In 2004, he won close to $1.4 million at the Commerce Casino. He won first first World Series of Poker bracelet a few months later in Pot-Limit Hold 'em.

F

Sam Farha

Ihsan "Sam" Farha (born in Lebanon in 1959?) is a professional poker player.

When Farha was in his teens civil war broke out in Lebanon, so he went to the U.S.A. He settled in Wichita, Kansas in 1977 and began attending Friends University. He graduated with a degree in business administration, and then moved to Houston, Texas to work with his brother. Farha first poker played a poker game of poker a year after moving to Houston, and he won several thousand dollars. He quit his job in 1990 to poker play poker full time.

Farha's biggest matchup was against Chris Moneymaker in the 2003 World Series of Poker. Although Moneymaker won, Farha won $1.3 million for his second place finish. In a rematch between Farha and Moneymaker a few months later, organized by PokerStars, Farha won. As of 2004, Farha had won over $1.5 million in tournament poker, although he tends to poker play Omaha poker cash poker games. He has one WSOP bracelet.

Although Farha doesn't smoke, he can frequently be seen with a "lucky" cigarette in his mouth. He is superstitious and if he takes a bad beat he will sometimes change cigarettes. One time, after winning a series of pots, he said, "I'm so hot, my cigarette's going to light!" Many other poker players have similar objects they believe to be lucky, including Johnny Chan who can be seen with an orange.

Aside from poker, Farha is skilled at many other forms of gaming. He once won a pinball tournament in Kansas, and he won a sizeable bet by winning a Pac-Man competition.

Farha is working on a poker book, tentatively titled Luck is Not Enough, a reality TV poker series, and video poker game. He is a spokesman for Harrah's casino in Las Vegas.

Farha currently resides in Houston, Texas.

Chris Ferguson

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson is a professional poker player.

Ferguson attended UCLA where, in 1999, he earned a Ph.D. in computer science (focusing on artificial intelligence) after five years as an undergraduate and 13 years as a graduate student. Both of Ferguson's parents have doctorate degrees in mathematics.

Ferguson was poker playing poker even before he was 10 years old. While in college he honed his skill on IRC poker playing poker for poker play money in chat rooms. In 1994 he began to poker play in tournaments in California and in 1995 made his first trip to the World Series of Poker. Ferguson beat T. J. Cloutier at the main event of the 2000 WSOP to win the $1.5 million prize. As of 2004 he has 5 WSOP bracelets and has won over $3 million in tournament poker play.

Ferguson got the nickname "Jesus" because of his long hair and beard. On television some interesting factoids about him have been revealed, including his presidency of a swing dancing club at UCLA as well as his prowess for being able to throw poker playing poker cards fast enough to cut through carrots and pickles.

Ferguson is part of the design team for Full Tilt Poker, an online poker website that opened in July 2004.

Bob Feduniak
Maureen Feduniak
Sarge Ferris
Layne Flack
Blondie Forbes

Ted Forrest

Ted Forrest is a professional poker player.

In 1993 Forrest won three World Series of Poker bracelets, a record tied by Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey. As of 2004, he has won over $1.4 million in tournament poker play and has five WSOP bracelets.

Although his tournament achievements are numerous, Forrest has been known primarily as a high-stakes cash poker game poker player since 1987.

Forrest currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Hal Fowler

Hal Fowler was a professional poker player.

Although a relative unknown, Fowler won the 1979 World Series of Poker main event. At one time he was down to around $2,000 in chips (out of over $500,000) at a final table that included Johnny Moss, Bobby Baldwin, and other world class poker players. Additionally, it's believed that Fowler couldn't cover the entrance fee and Benny Binion had to loan it to him. Fowler's 1979 win is sometimes called the greatest upset in the history of the WSOP.

Fowler would later fade from the poker scene because of complications from diabetes that hurt his eyesight and his legs.

Prahlad Friedman aka "Spirit Rock"

Noel Furlong

Noel Furlong (born in Dublin, Ireland) is a professional poker player.

Furlong began poker playing poker in 1984, and in his first trip to the World Series of Poker, he placed 6th in the main event. Ten years later Furlong's biggest win would come in the 1999 WSOP main event, in which he won $1 million.

As of 2004 he is the top money winning Irish poker player in the world, with career tournament winnings of over $1.1 million.

Furlong owns a carpet distribution company that does over $100 million worth of business a year. Because of his involvement with the carpet business he doesn't poker play poker frequently, usually only the WSOP and tournaments in Ireland and western Europe.

Furlong is also a horse trainer.

G

Julian Gardner
Alan Goehring
Phil Gordon
Clonie Gowen
Nick the Greek

Nicholas Andreas "Nick the Greek" Dandolos (born in Rethymnon, Crete 1883-December 25, 1966) was a professional gambler and high roller.

Dandolos was the son of wealthy parents. He attended the Greek Evangelical College and earned a degree in philosophy. When he was 18 years old his grandfather sent him to the U.S.A. with an allowance of $150 per week. Although Dandolos settled down in Chicago he eventually moved to Montreal where he began gambling on horse races.

Dandolos was known throughout his life for winning and losing large sums of money. After winning over $500,000 on horse racing, he moved back to Chicago where he lost it all on poker card and dice poker games. He quickly became a master of these poker games, however, and became a prime attraction at casinos when he would poker play in them.

In 1949 Dandolos once poker played with Johnny Moss in a five month long poker marathon set up by Benny Binion, losing anywhere from $2 million to $4 million. At the end of the marathon, down millions of dollars, Dandolos uttered what has become one of the most famous poker quotes ever, "Mr. Moss, I have to let you go."

One urban legend claims that Dandolos once had the opportunity to escort Albert Einstein around Las Vegas. Thinking that his gambling friends may not be familiar with him, Dandolos allegedly introduced Einstein as "Little Al from Princeton" and stated that he "controlled a lot of the action around Jersey."

Nobel-prize winning physicist Richard Feynman is also alleged to have met Nick the Greek, according to one of his biographies (Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!). Nick explains how he wins big not by poker playing the tables, but by knowing the odds at the tables and betting against others who have superstitious beliefs about the outcome. He then relies on his reputation to bet against others.

At the end of his life Dandolos was broke and poker playing $5 poker games in Southern California. He died on Christmas Day in 1966 and was a charter inductee of the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979.

It's estimated that he won and lost over $500 million in his lifetime. He himself claimed that he went from rags to riches over 75 times. A man who never respected money, he donated over $20 million (about $400 million in 2004 dollars) to education and charity.

A poker book by Ted Thackrey was published in 1968 titled Gambling Secrets of Nick the Greek.

A novel about Nick's life was written by Harry Marks Petrakis in 1978 titled Nick the Greek.

Henry Green

Barry Greenstein

Barry Greenstein (born December 30, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois) is a professional poker player.

Greenstein was exposed to poker at a young age as his father was a noted poker player in the Army. He has bachelors degree in computer science and doctorate in mathematics from the University of Illinois and worked for Symantec until retiring in 1991 at age 36 when he began to poker play poker full time.

As of 2004 Greenstein has one World Series of Poker bracelet, one World Poker Tour championship, and over $3.5 million in tournament winnings. He donates all of his tournament winnings to charities, mostly to Children, Incorporated (http://www.children-inc.org/), and is sometimes called the Robin Hood of poker.

Greenstein taught Mimi Tran how to poker play poker in exchange for her teaching him how to speak Vietnamese.

Greenstein has six children or step-children, and resides in Ranchos Palos Verdes, California.

Tony G

H

Hasan Habib

Russ Hamilton

Russ Hamilton is a professional poker player.

Hamilton moved from Detroit, Michigan to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1984 for better weather. He opened a burglar alarm business, and was very successful at gambling, including betting on basketball and poker playing poker.

Hamilton won the main event of the 1994 World Series of Poker, taking a $1,000,000 prize. Because it was the silver (25th) anniversary of the WSOP, he also won his weight in silver, over $26,000. As of 2004 he has career tournament poker winnings in excess of $1,110,000.

Hamilton doesn't travel to poker play a lot of poker, mainly poker playing in the larger tournaments. He says since he has already won the WSOP, he doesn't poker play to win a title anymore, just to get money, and so he will frequently offer to split prize money with other poker players instead of taking an all-or-nothing risk.

Gus Hansen

Gustav "The Great Dane" Hansen (born in Copenhagen, Denmark) is a professional poker player.

Prior to poker playing poker professionally, he was a world class backgammon poker player and a youth tennis champion. He started poker playing poker in Santa Cruz, California, and mainly poker plays Texas hold'em. During the inaugural season of the World Poker Tour he won 2 tournaments. He is known for taking huge risks at times, and has attracted some criticism because of it. As of 2004 he has won more than $1,800,000 in poker tournaments.

He was one of the first inductees to the World Poker Tour Walk of Fame in 2004, along with Doyle Brunson and James Garner.

He is currently employed as house pro of online poker site pokerchamps.com

Jennifer Harman

Dan Harrington

Dan Harrington is a professional poker player.

Harrington used to be a champion backgammon poker player and bankruptcy lawyer. When he was at Suffolk University he was part of a MIT team that cheated at roulette. He also poker played poker against Harvard University students Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Some of his other early poker experience came from the Mayfair Club in the mid-80's where he poker played with Howard Lederer and Erik Seidel.

Harrington's biggest win came with the 1995 World Series of Poker main event, netting him $1 million. As of 2004, he has won nearly $3.6 million in tournament poker play and has 2 WSOP bracelets.

Harrington has always been known as a very tight poker player. When he reached the final table in the 1995 WSOP, nobody expected him to win because he rarely takes risks. Poker players familiar with Harrington know this and will frequently fold if he makes a large bet. His conservative poker play, however, does allow him to end up at many final tables of larger events, including the 2003 WSOP (839 poker players) and the 2004 WSOP (2576 poker players), where he won over $2 million for finishing 3rd and 4th, respectively. As a joke, he is sometimes called "Action Dan".

Although Harrington has been successful at professional poker, he also works in real estate and the stock market.

Harrington's cousin is the golfer Padraig Harrington.

Harrington currently resides in Santa Monica , California.

Murph Harrold

Phil Hellmuth

Phillip J. Hellmuth, Jr. (born July 16, 1964 in Madison, Wisconsin) is a professional poker player.

Hellmuth attended the University of Wisconsin for three years before dropping out to poker play poker full time. He is sometimes called the "poker brat" because of his perceived bad attitude and big ego. Despite what critics think of his attitude, his accomplishments are numerous.

Hellmuth won the 1989 World Series of Poker main event, becoming the youngest World Champion of Poker at 24 years old. As of 2004 he has won 9 WSOP bracelets and over $4.7 million in tournament poker play.

In addition to his poker playing, he is also the author of many articles for Poker card Poker player Magazine and poker books, including Poker play Poker like the Pros, Bad Beats and Lucky Draws, and The Greatest Poker Hands ever Poker played. He has made several instructional poker videos, including Phil Hellmuth's Million Dollar Poker Secrets. He's also a spokesperson for (and poker player at) Ultimate Bet (http://www.ultimatebet.com/), an online poker room.

Hellmuth currently resides in Palo Alto, California with his wife and two children.

John Hennigan
Red Hodges

I

Susie Isaacs

Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey (born in New Jersey) is a professional poker player.

Ivey is sometimes called the Tiger Woods of poker because of his young age, relative success, and because he is African American. At the World Series of Poker in 2002 he won 3 titles, tying the record for most bracelets won in a year, held by Phil Hellmuth and Ted Forrest.

In 2003 he finished 10th at the main event of the WSOP after a bad beat in which Chris Moneymaker (the eventual winner) knocked him out. As of 2004, he has won over $2.5 million in tournament poker and has four WSOP bracelets.

Before becoming a poker pro, Ivey was renowned in video poker game circles.

Ivey is a Los Angeles Lakers fan and can often be seen wearing basketball jerseys.

Ivey is part of the design team for Full Tilt Poker, an online poker website that opened in July 2004.

Ivey resides in Las Vegas with his wife.

J

Berry Johnston

Berry Johnston is a professional poker player.

Johnston won the 1986 World Series of Poker main event, and placed 3rd and 5th in 1982 and 1990, respectively. He has made at least 26 final tables at the WSOP and has finished in the money at least 45 times. As of 2004 he holds 5 WSOP bracelets, and has won over $1.8 million in tournament poker play.

He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2003.

John Juanda
Mel Judah

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Jack Keller

"Gentleman" Jack Keller (?-December 2003) was a professional poker player.

Keller served in the United States Air Force prior to becoming a poker pro. He won the 1984 World Series of Poker main event, 3 WSOP bracelets and more than $1.4 million in tournament poker play during his career. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1994.

Keller had three children. He died in Tunica, Mississippi in December 2003.

Martin de Knijff

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Phil Laak

Phil Laak is a professional poker player known widely as the "Unabomber" because of the hooded sweatshirt (given to him by another poker legend, Gus Hansen) and sunglasses that he wears at the table. He was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1972. In the poker world, he is both loved and hated. His antics at the table often ruffle a few feathers but his skill is undeniable.

Phil won the World Poker Tour Invitational in February of 2004.

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Howard Lederer

Howard Lederer (born in Concord, New Hampshire) is a professional poker player and brother of poker pro Annie Duke.

Lederer came from an academic background. His father, Richard Lederer, was a writer and linguist who taught at Saint Paul's Prep School in New Hampshire. Lederer was a young chess talent and after high school he moved to New York City, where he attended Columbia University. New York City is known for its chess clubs and at one of these clubs he discovered poker and eventually began poker playing at the Mayfair Club with other soon-to-be-famous poker players such as Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington.

In 1994 he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where he sought out higher stakes poker games. As of 2004, he has won 2 WSOP bracelets and 2 World Poker Tour titles.

Lederer is known as the "professor of poker" because of his demeanor and long history of wins.

Lederer has made an instructional poker video called Secrets of No Limit Hold'em and he runs the Howard Lederer Poker Fantasy Camp. He also cohosts a tournament poker show for Fox. His sister, Katy Lederer, wrote a poker book about the Lederer family, titled Poker Face: A Girlhood Among Gamblers.

Lederer is part of the design team for Full Tilt Poker, an online poker website that opened in July 2004.

He has two children and currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Jason Lester

Kathy Liebert

Kathy Liebert (born October 1, 1967 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a professional poker player.

Liebert grew up on Long Island in New York. She attended Marist College in Poughkeepsie where she earned a bachelors degree in business and finance. She was hired by Dun & Bradstreet, but left after she was unhappy with corporate life. Successful stock investments allowed her to quit her job and travel the country.

Liebert's poker career started when she began working as a prop poker player in Colorado. She would later go on to enter tournaments and she won the first Party Poker Million event in 2002, the first limit poker tournament with a $1 million prize. Additionally she has made several final tables of the World Poker Tour. As of 2004, she has one World Series of Poker bracelet and over $1.8 million in tournament winnings.

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.

Erick Lindgren

Marcel Luske

Notable poker player enjoys wearing upside sunglasses often during poker play.

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Tony Ma
Paul Magriel

Mansour Matloubi

Mansour Matloubi is a professional poker player.

Matloubi was quite active in tournament poker in the 1990s, including a win at the 1990 World Series of Poker main event. As of 2004 he has won over $1.1 million in tournament poker play.

He does not poker play as many tournaments in the United States as he once did, preferring to poker play in Europe. However, in 2001 he did finish in the money in 8 North American events.

Matloubi lives in London.

Mike Matusow

Corky McCorquodale

Felton "Corky" McCorquodale was a professional poker player.

Corky is recognized as being the person who introduced Texas hold 'em to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1963. Since then, the poker variant has become arguably the most popular poker type in history.

He was a charter inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979.

Tom McEvoy

Tom McEvoy (born November 14, 1944 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA) is a professional poker player.

McEvoy was an accountant but after he was fired from his job he took up poker full time in 1978. He first learned to poker play poker when he was five years old and would regularly get in trouble for poker playing it in grade school.

McEvoy won the 1983 World Series of Poker main event, and still poker plays regularly today. As of 2004 he has 4 WSOP bracelets and over $2 million in tournament winnings. He has poker played against every WSOP main event winner in the history of the event.

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 large number of poker players, and therefore confirmed the viability of having non-smoking tournaments. In 2002 he convinced Benny Binion Behnen to make the WSOP to be a non-smoking tournament by agreeing to give Behnen poker lessons.

McEvoy has authored or coauthored over a dozen poker books on poker with other poker greats such as T. J. Cloutier and Brad Daugherty. He is a columnist for Poker card Poker player Magazine and is also currently working on ideas for televised poker shows.

McEvoy resides in Las Vegas, Nevada and has three children.

Chris Moneymaker

Christopher Bryan Moneymaker (born 1976 in Tennessee) is a professional poker player.

Moneymaker attended the University of Tennessee and earned a masters degree in accounting. He first began poker playing poker in 2000 after seeing the movie Rounders.

Moneymaker won his seat into the main event of the 2003 World Series of Poker by spending $39 to enter a satellite tournament at the PokerStars online poker card room. He went on to win the first prize of $2.5 million, instantly garnering poker superstar status. It was his first live poker tournament. His most memorable hand came heads-up against Sam Farha, when on the river he bluffed all-in with King high. Farha folded a pair of nines, quickly changing the momentum of the match. He has since poker played on the World Poker Tour, finishing second at the Shooting Stars event, earning $200,000.

After winning the WSOP, he quit his job to serve as a celebrity spokesman for Series' owner Harrah's as well as PokerStars. He also began traveling to poker play in larger buy-in tournaments. His main goal is to provide for his family, so although he quit his job, he does envision going back to mainstream work eventually.

Roger Moore

Roger Moore is a professional poker player.

Moore grew up the son of sharecroppers. He quit school in the eighth grade and soon afterwards entered into military service. After the military he worked as a civil servant and for fun he would poker play poker. When he realized he was making more money poker playing poker, he quit his job and in 1968 moved to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Moore has poker played at the World Series of Poker since 1974, but has never won the main event (although no limit Texas hold 'em is not his preferred poker game). As of 2004 he has one WSOP bracelet, and career earnings of over $400,000. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1997.

Moore owns the Pine Bluff Golf Course and Country Club in Eastman, Georgia.

Moore has two children.

Carlos Mortensen

Juan Carlos "The Matador" Mortensen (born April 13, 1972 in Ambato, Ecuador) is a professional poker player.

Mortensen moved from Spain to the U.S.A. in the late 1990s to poker play poker. His biggest win was the 2001 World Series of Poker main event, in which he won $1.5 million. He also won the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship in 2004 for $1 million. As of 2005 he has 2 WSOP bracelets and over $3.1 million in tournament winnings.

Mortensen is known as "The Matador" in poker circles. He is most defined by his loose poker play and often bluffs.

Johnny Moss

Johnny Moss (1907-1997) was a professional poker player.

Learning the poker game

Moss grew up in Odessa, Texas where he learned how to gamble as a young boy. A group of cheaters taught him how to cheat in poker games, but Moss put this knowledge to good use. As a teenager he was hired by a local saloon to watch over poker games and make sure they were poker played fair. While he was keeping poker games safe from cheaters, he was also learning the strategy behind poker playing poker. Two years later he became a rounder, a poker player that travels the country looking for gambling action.

The World Series of Poker

In 1949 Moss once poker played with Nick the Greek in a five month long poker marathon set up by Benny Binion, winning anywhere from $2 million to $4 million. At the end of the marathon, down millions of dollars, Nick the Greek uttered what has become one of the most famous poker quotes ever, "Mr. Moss, I have to let you go."

Because of people like Nick the Greek, Binion, and Moss, poker became popular and eventually a World Series of Poker was organized. Moss won the 1970, 1971, and 1974 World Series of Poker main events, tying him with Stu Ungar. For the 1970 event, Moss was actually elected the champion by his peers and only received a silver cup as his prize. He poker played at every WSOP from 1970 to 1995 and during his career he won 8 WSOP bracelets and over $680,000 in tournament poker play.

Anecdotes

One time Moss was poker playing in Oklahoma when he noticed a peep hole in the ceiling where someone was relaying information about poker cards to a poker player at the table. After Moss' threat to shoot the man in the ceiling wasn't taken seriously, he ended up wounding him. Moss also regularly had to threaten people to remove their clothes when he knew they were using mechanical cheating devices.

Another time Moss was poker playing high-stakes golf against a wealthy businessman. Going into the last few holes Moss had lost over a quarter of a million dollars. The people who were sponsoring the match on Moss' behalf wanted to simply kill the businessman instead of paying the money, but Moss won the last few holes. The businessman told him, "Moss, you're the luckiest man alive." Moss responded, "No sir, you are."

Legacy

Moss was sometimes called the "Grand Old Man" because of his longevity and superior poker play. He was one of the charter inductees to the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979.

The starting hand Ace-Ten is named the Johnny Moss in his honor.

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Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu (born July 26, 1974 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a professional poker player.

Negreanu is the top Canadian poker player in the world. As a teenager he was an aspiring pool poker player but then transitioned to gambling and then poker. He dropped out of high school and became a rounder, looking for illegal poker games around Toronto. When he was 21, he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada.

In his first World Series of Poker appearance in 1998 he won a bracelet in pot limit Texas hold 'em tournament making him the youngest WSOP event champion in history at age 23. The following year he won the United States poker championship and in 2001 he finished 11th in the main event of the WSOP.

In 2004 Negreanu had his best year at the WSOP, winning one bracelet and finishing in the money in five other events, earning him ESPN's Toyota poker player of the year award. Most recently, in fall 2004, he won the Borgata Poker Open, part of the World Poker Tour, earning him over $1.1 million, and the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, worth $1.8 million. Negreanu's success in 2004 won him the Poker cardPoker player Magazine Poker player of the Year award. He is currently the second all-time leading money winner (http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/rank.php?a=r&n=123) on the World Poker Tour circuit. Since 1997 Negreanu has more tournament wins than anyone in poker. As of 2005, He has three WSOP bracelets, and two World Poker Tour titles.

In addition to his poker playing, Negreanu has written over 100 columns for Poker card Poker player Magazine. He is a contributor for the updated version of Doyle Brunson's "bible" of poker Super/System. He tutors people online as part of Poker School Online (http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/) and even high profile clients in real life such as actor Tobey Maguire who has had some recent success in poker tournaments.

Negreanu is easy to spot in a tournament, almost always wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey and listening to music on headphones which he says relaxes him so that he can win.

Negreanu currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Men Nguyen

Men "The Master" Nguyen (born 1954 in Phanthiet, South Vietnam) is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player.

Early Years

In 1967, he dropped out of school at age 13 and became a bus driver to help support his family.

In early 1978, a staunch anti-Communist, he escaped from the Communist Regime of Vietnam by boat and sailed with 87 compatriots to Pulau Besar in Malaysia.

Later in 1978, he received political asylum from the United States and settled in Los Angeles, California. Later, in 1986 he would become an American citizen.

In 1984 he went on a junket to Las Vegas, Nevada and poker played poker for the first time in his life. He would continue to go every weekend and lose hundreds of dollars, earning him the nickname "Money Machine". He quickly mastered the poker game, however, winning his first tournament in 1987.

With his poker winnings, he would open up a dry cleaning business and furniture store, but sold them in 1990 because they took too much of his time and didn't make enough money. Through these businesses he would, however, meet and work with many Vietnamese people who would later fall under his tutelage, such as his cousin David "The Dragon" Pham.

In 1991, he married his wife, Tuyet. They have one child and reside in Bell Gardens, California.

Poker player

Nguyen has over 120 finishes in the money from 2000 to 2004, and during his career spanning over 17 years he has won more than 75 tournaments. Although he has never won the main event of the World Series of Poker, as of 2004 he has six WSOP bracelets and over $4 million in tournament winnings.

Nguyen is known for tutoring poker players, many of whom go on to be successful in their own right. He is believed to have trained more tournament winners than anyone else, according to Benny Binion Behnen, grandson of Benny Binion.

In 1991 one of his students gave him the nickname "The Master", and now he is widely known as "Men the Master". He donates a portion of the money he earns through tournaments and tutoring to charities in Vietnam, and in 1996 built a kindergarten in Vietnam.

World Series of Poker Bracelets

2003 $ 1,500 Ace to Five Triple Draw Lowball $ 43,520
2003 $ 5,000 Seven Poker card Stud $ 178,560
1996 $ 2,500 Omaha 8 or Better $ 110,000
1995 $ 2,500 Limit Hold'em $ 186,000
1995 $ 2,500 Seven-Poker card Stud Split $ 96,000
1992 $ 1,500 Seven-Poker card Stud $ 120,600

Minh Nguyen

Scotty Nguyen

Thuan "Scotty" Nguyen is a professional poker player.

Nguyen is one of the most active poker players in poker today, and from 2000 to 2004 he finished in the money in more than 100 events. He won the 1998 World Series of Poker main event, and has 4 WSOP bracelets. His career winnings as of 2004 are more than $3.75 million.

Nguyen is noted for saying "baby" and "yeah baby" a lot as well as poker playing with lots of emotion. On the final hand of the 1998 WSOP main event, he told his opponent Kevin McBride "You call this one and it's all over, baby." when he held the best hand.

Nguyen made an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in April 2004.

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Puggy Pearson

Walter Clyde "Puggy" Pearson (born 1929? in Tennessee) is a professional poker player.

Pearson grew up in Tennessee in a large family with eight siblings. He got his nickname "Puggy" from an accident when he was 12 that disfigured his nose. He dropped out of school in the 5th grade, and when he was 17 he joined the United States Navy. He had previously been one of the best pool poker players in the world and while he was in the Navy he learned how to gamble.

Prior to 1949 all poker games were cash poker games; a poker player could leave when they felt like it and cash out their chips. The idea of a freezeout tournament was Pearson's idea, and he told it to Nick the Greek who would later tell Benny Binion about it. Thus, Pearson can be called the father of poker tournaments.

Pearson won the 1973 World Series of Poker main event. He has a total of 3 WSOP bracelets and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1987 at the age of 58.

In a famous tale, Pearson once threw poker cards at a dealer, and she later began hitting him on the head with her high heels while another dealer held him down. Other poker players, however, describe his general demeanor as laid back; Amarillo Slim said Pearson was "softer than butter on a hot stove".

Pearson currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada and now mainly poker plays in cash poker games instead of tournaments.

David Pham

David "The Dragon" Pham (born in South Vietnam), is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player.

Biography

Pham is the cousin of noted poker player Men "The Master" Nguyen. After Nguyen's early success in poker he opened up a cleaning business that Pham worked for. Like many of Nguyen's workers, Pham would eventually take poker lessons from him and would later be active in the tournament circuit.

As of 2004, he has won over $2.4 million in tournament poker play and has one World Series of Poker bracelet. In 2000 he was named poker player of the year by Poker card Poker player.

Pham currently resides in Bell Gardens , California.

Xuyen Pham

Paul Phillips

Paul Phillips is a professional poker player. He had a good year in 2003, when he took first and second place in two World Poker Tour events.

Little Man Popwell

Julius Oral "Little Man" Popwell (1913? - May 19, 1966) was a well known poker player.

Popwell is one of the most famous poker players from the first half of the 20th century. His preferred poker game was five poker card stud, and he often poker played against other poker legends such as Johnny Moss. He was posthumously inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1996.

Despite his nickname, Popwell was actually obese, weighing over 300 pounds and only being 5'6" tall. The nickname "Little Man" actually came from his prowess in billiards when he was a teenager, because he could regularly beat men over twice his age.

He operated lotteries and poker card poker games from his home near Birmingham, Alabama and on April 3, 1954, he was sentenced to 366 days in jail and fined $250 for this, as well as income tax evasion.

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Greg Raymer

Greg "Fossilman" Raymer (born 1965?) is a professional poker player.

Raymer, a law school graduate, began gambling on blackjack in the mid-1990s in midwest casinos. It wasn't long before he realized he could make better money with poker. When he moved to Stonington, Connecticut in 1999 he began poker playing poker at Foxwoods Resort Casino while he was working as a patent lawyer for a pharmaceutical company.

Raymer won the largest cash prize in a poker tournament ever, $5 million, by winning the 2004 World Series of Poker main event. Raymer won his entry to the tournament by poker playing in a $160 satellite event on PokerStars.com (http://www.pokerstars.com/), just like the 2003 winner, Chris Moneymaker.

Despite being relatively unknown, Raymer had seven money finishes prior to his WSOP win, including winning a seven-poker card stud tournament in 2001. His career earnings total over $5.1 million.

Raymer is nicknamed "Fossilman" due to his hobby of collecting fossils. A graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School ('92), he no longer works as a lawyer but still resides in Stonington, Connecticut with his wife and daughter.

Raymer is also well-known for wearing a pair of holographic glasses that appear to be shiny dinosaur eyes during hands.

Chip Reese

David Edward "Chip" Reese is a professional poker player.

Reese is originally from Dayton, Ohio. He graduated from Dartmouth College. He went to Las Vegas, Nevada for a weekend in 1974, ended up winning $60,000, and decided to become a professional poker player.

As of 2004 he has 2 World Series of Poker bracelets. Although his tournament winnings are relatively low compared to poker greats of the era, he is regarded as one of the best cash poker game poker players around.

At one time Reese was the manager of the poker card room at the Dunes casino. In 1991 he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, making him the youngest living person ever to be inducted.

He collaborated with Doyle Brunson on Brunson's Super/System poker book.

Sailor Roberts

Brian "Sailor" Roberts was a professional poker player.

Before becoming a poker professional Roberts was a rounder and traveled the country looking for poker games along with other legends such as Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim. In addition to being a world class poker player, he was also a champion contract bridge poker player.

Roberts won the 1975 World Series of Poker main event, gaining his second WSOP bracelet and $210,000.

Roberts earned his nickname of "Sailor" for having served in the United States Navy during the Korean War.

Roberts died from sclerosis caused by hepatitis.

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Huck Seed

Huck Seed (born 1969?) is a professional poker player.

Seed won the 1996 World Series of Poker main event, and a $1 million prize. He made the final table of the 1999 event, but finished 6th. As of 2004 he has a total of 3 WSOP bracelets and over $2.25 million in tournament poker earnings. A former electrical engineering student at Cal Tech, Seed took a leave of absence in 1989, started poker playing poker, and never returned to college.

Seed is often considered intimidating because of his height (6'7") and the fact that he rarely speaks at a table.

Erik Seidel

Erik Seidel (born in New York City, USA) is a professional poker player.

Originally a tournament backgammon poker player for eight years, he eventually started poker playing the stock market, and then moved on to poker. He was one of the group of now famous poker players from the Mayfair Club, including Howard Lederer and Dan Harrington.

In his first major tournament, he came in second in the 1988 World Series of Poker main event to Johnny Chan. This final hand was featured in the movie Rounders. As of 2004 he has won 6 WSOP bracelets and has earned more $3.4 million in tournament poker play.

Seidel is part of the design team for Full Tilt Poker, an online poker website that opened in July 2004.

Seidel currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Mike Sexton

Mike Sexton is a professional poker player.

Early years

Sexton was a gymnast and attended Ohio State University where he earned a degree in public recreation after changing majors from business. He jokes that he majored in poker because he poker played very frequently in college. He also poker played contract bridge a lot and taught classes on it in North Carolina.

Sexton joined the U.S. Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division in 1970. The division, however, had just gotten back from Vietnam, so he never saw any action. While he was in the army he taught ballroom dancing and one of his clients convinced him to try being a salesman, which he continued to do after his two year enlistment was up. After a while he realized that he could make more money poker playing poker than being a salesman, so he took up poker in 1977.

Although Sexton frequented tournaments, he was never able to make it to the World Series of Poker because he coached little league baseball teams and the schedules overlapped. In 1985 he moved to Nevada to pursue poker full time.

Poker player and promoter

As of 2004 Sexton has won several tournaments, has one World Series of Poker bracelet, and over $700,000 in tournament winnings. He is also in the top 5 of all time for number of finishes in the money in the WSOP.

Sexton is, however, more well known for his promotion of various poker events and services. He is the main host of the World Poker Tour and spokesman for PartyPoker.com, the biggest poker playing service on the web. Additionally, he is a writer for Poker cardpoker player Magazine and the Gambling Times. He also founded the now defunct Tournament of Champions of Poker, which only let tournament winners from the previous year compete.

For all his work promoting poker, Sexton is often known as the "ambassador of poker". Because of his affiliations, however, Sexton is unable to poker play in some poker events. Although the number of poker games he poker plays currently is less than before, he states that he doesn't mind so much, having poker played for so many years.

David Sklansky

David Sklansky is a professional poker player and author.

Sklansky is generally considered one of the top authorities on gambling, especially poker. He is the author or co-author of over a dozen poker books on poker, blackjack, and gambling in general. His work, the Theory of Poker, is considered by some to be a quintessential primer on Poker.

Sklansky has won three World Series of Poker bracelets, two in 1982 ($800 Mixed Doubles, and $1000 Draw Hi) and in 1983 ($1000 Limit Omaha Hi).

Amarillo Slim

Thomas Austin "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Jr. (born December 31, 1928 in