X-Nico

100 unusual facts about poker


Aaron Kanter

His most recent success was finishing 3rd in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event at the 2008 World Series of Poker which earned him $258,862.

Kanter's first major success in poker came at the 2005 World Series of Poker main event, where he finished in 4th place and earned $2,000,000.

Alex Jacob

Jacob has 4 WSOP Final Tables, including a 3rd in Event 3 in No-Limit hold'em at the 2007 World Series of Poker

Alexandre Gomes

Gomes became the first Brazilian World Series of Poker bracelet winner after defeating a field of 2,317 players in the 2008 World Series of Poker $2000 No-Limit Hold'em event, earning $770,540.

Anna Wroblewski

Wroblewski has cashed four times at the World Series of Poker, making her best result in the 2007 WSOP $2,000 No Limit Hold'em event where she finished fourth, earning $192,876.

Bill Gazes

Although he is without a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet or a World Poker Tour (WPT) title, Gazes has cashed nine times in the WPT and over 25 times at the WSOP.

William G. "Bill" Gazes (born December 25) is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada, who in his career has made over $2.2 Million in live tournament earnings and is a sponsored player on Full Tilt Poker known as a Full Tilt Pro.

Blake Stepp

Upon his retirement from basketball, Stepp became a professional poker player, competing at the 2008, 2009 and 2010 World Series of Poker.

Brandon Riha

Brandon has won the BoDog Sunday Major and final tabled the Cake Poker monthly $250 tournament.

Brian Townsend

Townsend is largely known for his success playing no limit hold 'em and pot-limit omaha at Full Tilt Poker, playing under the nickname 'sbrugby.

Bruce Van Horn

Van Horn biggest online victory is third place in the $1,000 event of the 2002 World Championship of Online Poker.

Carlos Mortensen

Juan Carlos Mortensen (born April 13, 1972 in Ambato, Ecuador) is a Spanish professional poker player of Danish descent and the only Hispanic Main Event winner of the World Series of Poker.

He is considered to be the last big-name poker professional to win the Main Event at the World Series of Poker.

He won his second bracelet at the 2003 World Series of Poker in the $5,000 Limit Hold'em event, earning $251,680.

Charalambos Xanthos

He made numerous appearances in the Late Night Poker television series, and reached the grand final in series 2 (beating Victoria Coren's pocket aces along the way) and the semi-final in series 5.

Chau Giang

He won a second bracelet in the $2,000 Omaha 8 or Better event in 1998, and a third bracelet in the $2,000 Pot Limit Omaha event in 2004, finishing ahead of Robert Williamson III, Dave Colclough and Chris Ferguson.

He first had success at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 1993, where he finished 2nd in the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em event to John Bonetti, and winning his first bracelet in the $1,500 Ace to Five Draw event the same year.

Chip Jett

Later in the same year he made 2 World Series of Poker (WSOP) final tables, and another WPT final table in the Legends of Poker event won by Mel Judah.

Cliff Josephy

At the 2013 World Series of Poker Josephy won the $3000 No limit Hold'em Shootout to win his second bracelet.

Clonie Gowen

Gowen was formerly a member of "Team Full Tilt" at online poker site Full Tilt Poker.

Cole South

Cole South has made an appearance in the World Series of Poker, he finished 162nd in the 2009 WSOP Main Event earning him $40,288.

Crandell Addington

Crandell Addington (born June 2, 1938 in Graham, Texas) is an entrepreneur and poker player who is best known as one of the founders of the World Series of Poker, and is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.

Dag Palovic

He is best known for making two European Poker Tour (EPT) final tables as well as being the only player from Slovakia who has cashed in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, finishing 120th in 2009 and 37th in 2010.

David Benyamine

Benyamine is primarily a cash game player, but due to comments from his friends, he started playing tournaments more regularly during the 2008 World Series of Poker.

David Grey

In addition, Grey made the final table of the 2003 $10,000 No Limit Texas hold 'em Main Event, where he finished eighth, receiving $160,000.

Grey also appeared in the second seasons of both the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament and High Stakes Poker, and came second to Daniel Negreanu on Poker After Dark.

Dee Luong

She made a final table of the World Series of Poker in 2003 and was featured in 2007 on the NBC television program Poker After Dark.

Dewey Tomko

Tomko is chiefly noted as the runner-up in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 no limit Texas hold'em main event in both 1982 (to Jack Straus) and 2001 (to Carlos Mortensen.) Besides his success in the main event, Tomko has won three WSOP bracelets, all in different variations of poker, in addition to various other tournament wins throughout his career.

Tomko took third place in the 2005 WSOP Deuce-to-seven lowball event worth $138,160.

Diego Cordovez

In 2002 Cordovez cashed in another four WSOP events, making the final table in three of them, including a second place in the $2000 SHOE event, losing to Phil Ivey.

Cordovez followed this a couple of months later with another first-place finish at the Legends of Poker no limit hold 'em event.

Don Holt

Holt finished second in a seven card stud eight-or-better event in 1998.

He has won a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and has cashed in various events at the WSOP including the Main Event.

Eddy Scharf

In 2001 and 2003 he won both of his two bracelets in the limit Omaha events at World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Erin Ness

In 2004 she was the third highest placing woman in the main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), finishing in the money in 207th place.

Frank Kassela

At the World Series of Poker (WSOP), Kassela has won two bracelets, cashed twelve times, and made four final tables.

Fred Goldberg

Goldberg's first major success in poker came in the 2006 World Series of Poker main event, where he finished in 10th place winning $1,154,527.

Hasan Habib

As of 2009, he has cashed fourteen times in the World Series of Poker (WSOP), including a 2nd place finish in $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split event in 2000, and a 4th place finish in the $10,000 no limit Texas hold 'em Main Event in the same year, for which he took home $326,000. In September 2005, he won the opening No Limit Hold'em event of PokerStars' fourth annual World Championship of Online Poker, taking home $306,000.

Hilbert Shirey

Shirey has won three bracelets at the World Series of Poker and has also cashed in more than 20 other WSOP events.

Horseshoe Casino Tunica

Under Harrah's, the Tunica "Shoe" became home to a World Series of Poker circuit event; previously, the Horseshoe had partnered with the neighboring Gold Strike to host the Jack Binion World Poker Open, a stop on the World Poker Tour.

Isaac Baron

Playing under the screen names of "westmenloAA" on PokerStars and "Isaac Baron" on Full Tilt Poker, Baron's online winnings exceeded $1,000,000 in 2007, including a win in the PokerStars weekly Sunday Million tournament in January for $254,000.

Ivan Demidov

Demidov is one of the original 'November Nine', having made the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in 2008.

Jeff Shulman

He finished 7th in the 2000 World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 no limit Texas hold'em main event, winning $146,700 after losing two big pots to eventual winner Chris Ferguson.

John Cernuto

In 1988, Cernuto won the $1,000 Seven Card Stud event at Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker tournament series, earning a cash prize of $58,000 in addition to the title.

Cernuto made an impressive three final tables in the 2006 World Series of Poker, two in 7 Card Stud and one in Razz.

During the $2500 Razz tournament of the 2009 WSOP, Cernuto collapsed and was taken to a hospital, where he spent the night after being diagnosed with internal bleeding.

Another five WSOP money finishes followed before he won his first bracelet in the 1996 WSOP $1,500 seven card stud split tournament.

John Kabbaj

In 2000, Kabbaj made his one and only appearance on the popular Late Night Poker television series.

John Racener

John Racener (born December 16, 1985) is an American poker professional from Port Richey, Florida, best known as the runner-up of the Main Event at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Jonathan Duhamel

Jonathan Duhamel (born August 24, 1987) is a Québécois poker professional from Boucherville, Quebec, best known as the winner of the Main Event at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Josh Arieh

Arieh finished 3rd in the 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event and has a World Series of Poker title in Limit Texas hold 'em in 1999 and a 2nd place finish at the 2000 World Series of Poker Pot Limit Omaha event to Johnny Chan.

Kathy Liebert

As of 2013, she has one World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and her total live tournament winnings exceed $5,800,000.

On June 1, Liebert made the final table of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em World Championship at the 2008 World Series of Poker and finished in 3rd place, earning $306,064.

Kenna James

Kenna has 74 final table appearances and 15 overall wins He has two final table appearance at the WSOP including a 4th place in the 2003 $2,500 no limit Texas hold'em event, and a 6th place finish in the 2008 $1500 Razz event.

In August 2005, James finished second to Alex Kahaner at the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker $5,000 No Limit hold 'em tournament, earning $588,210.

Kevin Song

Kevin Song (born in South Korea) is a South Korean professional poker player who started playing poker since 1980 and began playing in poker tournaments since 1994 where he has cashed in many of them throughout his poker career, among them are 29 cashes at the World Series of Poker including winning the 1997 World Series of Poker $2,000 buy-in Limit Hold'em event.

Konstantin Puchkov

Puchkov had gone cashless in three prior World Series of Poker Series, including 21 events in 2009 prior to winning a bracelet in his first in the money finish.

Kristian Kjøndal

He is also an internet player known as "Kris85" on the Prima Poker network or "Pokerkong1" on Full Tilt Poker.

Lucy Rokach

She also commentated on the popular Late Night Poker television series with Jesse May during its fourth season, and had a 3rd place finish in the series 6 grand final (the highest-ever finish for a female player in a Late Night Poker grand final.)

Malcolm Harwood

He later appeared in Channel 4's Late Night Poker, where he reached the Grand Final in seasons 1, 2 and 5.

Marc Karam

He went on to place in the money at the 4th Annual Five Star World Poker Classic and the July 21, 2006 No Limit Holdem event at the 37th Annual World Series of Poker.

Mark Seif

In May 2003, Seif had his first money finish in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the $3,000 no limit Texas hold'em event, where he finished in 9th place.

Matt Keikoan

Matt Keikoan is an American professional poker player who has won two World Series of Poker bracelets; his first was in the 2008 World Series of Poker $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event and his second was in the 2010 World Series of Poker $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship.

Michael Banducci

Banducci has 10 cashes at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) he made the final table in the $2,000 No Limit Hold'em event at the 2007 WSOP won by William Durkee.

Michael Binger

Just two months after receiving his PhD, he outlasted almost 8,800 players in the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 No limit Texas Hold'em Main Event, finishing third and earning $4,123,310.

Mike Sexton

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.

Sexton did finish 10th in a preliminary event at the 2005 World Series of Poker and also in the final 16 of Poker Superstars II.

As of 2010, Sexton has won several tournaments, including one World Series of Poker bracelet, and over $5,400,000 in total tournament winnings.

Mikhail Lakhitov

He has one World Series of Poker bracelet and seven career World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the money finishes, all in the time since he started playing in 2010.

Mitch Schock

He won his first World Series of Poker bracelet at the 2011 World Series of Poker where he made three final tables and has had at least five in the money finishes in each of the last three World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Nick Geber

Nick also hosts the Bluff Magazine show Poker Night Radio on Sirius, and broadcasts from the World Series of Poker.

Nik Persaud

Persaud has also partaken in a number of televised events, including the 2009 series Late Night Poker.

Noli Francisco

At the 1993 World Series of Poker, Francisco finished 2nd in the $2500 no limit hold'em event when he lost to Phil Hellmuth.

O'Neil Longson

Longson eventually won a WSOP bracelet in 1994 World Series of Poker in the $1,500 pot limit Omaha event, defeating a final table including Surinder Sunar and T.J. Cloutier.

Longson was again close to winning a WSOP bracelet in 1992, finishing 2nd to Hoyt Corkins in the $5,000 pot limit Omaha event.

He won a second bracelet in 2003 in the $5,000 no limit deuce to seven draw event, defeating a final table including runner-up Allen Cunningham, Bill Baxter, Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer.

Longson first finished in the money at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 1980, finishing 4th in the $1,000 No Limit Hold'em event.

His third and most recent bracelet came in the 2005 $1,500 Seven-Card Razz event, defeating a final table including runner-up Bruno Fitoussi, Archie Karas, and Mickey Wernick.

Padraig Parkinson

He is chiefly recognised as the grand final winner of Late Night Poker series 5 (where he defeated Korosh Nejad) and as the third-place finisher of the 1999 World Series of Poker, where he lost to fellow countryman Noel Furlong.

Paul Darden

In 2003, he made his first money finish in the $10,000 WSOP main event, finishing in 45th place.

Peter Jacobsen

Jacobsen is also the face of Peter Jacobsen Challenge Keno and Peter Jacobsen Challenge Poker, two video gambling casino games.

Peter Jetten

By 2006, Jetten started to utilize his talents on the tournament circuit, finishing 8th at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $2,500 Short Handed No-Limit Hold ‘em event.

Phi Nguyen

Nguyen has multiple cashes at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) including two bracelets, his first was in the 2003 WSOP $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event, earning $222,800, with a final table made up of fellow professional poker players T.J. Cloutier (9th), David Singer (7th), Steve Zolotow (6th), Tom Jacobs (5th), Kenna James (4th), Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow (3rd) and Jim Miller who Nguyen beat during heads-up play.

Prahlad Friedman

At the 2006 WSOP Main Event, Friedman outlasted over 8,700 other players, finishing 20th and securing $494,797.

He has rapped for ESPN for a "The Nuts" segment at the WSOP circuit event at Harrah's Rincon in 2005, the Main Event in the 2006 World Series of Poker, and also for the poker website RakeBreak.

Rep Porter

On June 5, 2008 Porter won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in the $1,500 Buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed event at the 2008 World Series of Poker, earning $372,843.

Porter has 23 cashes at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) among them was making the Final Table in the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout event at the 2006 WSOP, coming in 4th earning $39,339, and a 39th place in the Main Event at the 2007 WSOP, earning $237,865.

Richard Ashby

However, Richard openly admits that he needs to work on his live game, and is much better known as an online player, in particular on Black Belt Poker where was recently acquired as one of their sponsored pros in September 2010.

Robert Salaburu

Robert Salaburu (born May 9, 1985) is a professional poker player from Texas, who is best known for his 8th place ($971,360) final table finish in the 2012 World Series of Poker.

Rod Peate

Since then, Peate has cashed in the Main Event four times: 1987, 1990, 1997, and 1998.

Sam Stein

Of his nine World Series of Poker (WSOP) cashes, his last five are in pot limit events.

Shawn Buchanan

On September 28, 2007, Buchanan, who uses the name 'buck21' on PokerStars, won event #19 of the 2007 World Championship of Online Poker, a $530 buyin Pot-limit Omaha tournament.

Simon Trumper

At the World Series of Poker he has had a 4th place finish in the 2001 $3,000 No Limit Hold-Em event (which also featured Johnny Chan and Kathy Liebert; and a 5th place finish in the 2005 $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha event (which also featured Todd Brunson, Barry Greenstein (who lost a critical pot to Simon, and then complained about it in his blog.), Erik Seidel and Julian "The Kid" Gardner.

Sorel Mizzi

As of March, 2010, Sorel is sponsored by online poker room Titan Poker as the leader of their Pro Team.

In December 2007, Mizzi admitted taking over from another location the account of his friend, Chris Vaughn, during the middle of a Full Tilt Poker tournament.

Take a Swing at Cancer

As of 2009, they began ramping up their 3rd annual Poker Tournament and they continue to solicit new ideas as the organization continues to grow.

Ted Forrest

Ted also owns one WSOP championship bracelet that formerly belonged to Hamid Dastmalchi, which he purchased from Dastmalchi after the 1992 World Series of Poker champion complained that the bracelet wasn't worth what the Binion family claimed.

The Biggest Game in Town

In 1983, Al Alvarez published, The Biggest Game in Town, a book detailing the 1981 World Series of Poker event.

The Poker Star

It is created and hosted by former World Series of Poker Champion Joe Hachem, who will also act as judge and mentor to the contestants.

Tony Cousineau

Anthony "Tony" Cousineau is an American professional poker player from Daytona Beach, Florida who has cashed 58 times at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), which ranks him 15th in all-time WSOP cashes, and first among players who have never won a WSOP bracelet.


A. W. Vidmer

Vidmer's film chronicled the life and death of Stu Ungar, a famously genius and self-destructive poker player, and starred The Sopranos Michael Imperioli.

Al Alvarez

He has also written on divorce (Life After Marriage), dreams (Night), and the oil industry (Offshore), as well as his hobbies of poker (The Biggest Game In Town) and mountaineering (Feeding the Rat, a profile of his frequent climbing partner Mo Anthoine).

Berry Johnston

Johnston has also played on the NBC Poker After Dark Series, most recently in 2008 among some of his fellow World Series of Poker Main Event Champions.

Canada Bill Jones

In the 1998 poker film Rounders, the main character played by Matt Damon quotes Canada Bill Jones, saying "It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money."

CardRunners

In 2008, CardRunners partnered with Full Tilt Poker and several members of 'Team CardRunners' became Full Tilt Poker 'Red Pro's' including Caby, Townsend, David Benefield, Brian Hastings and Cole South.

Cereus Poker Network

Spokespeople for UltimateBet have included professional poker players Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, as well as actress-turned-poker player Tiffany Michelle.

Chip Reese

He was admitted to Stanford Law School, but decided instead to play poker professionally after winning $60,000 in a tournament in Las Vegas.

Dag Palovic

As of March 2013, he is second leading Slovak all time money list with career earnings of $909,405 and is also an author of first Slovak poker book on poker titled "Ako sa stať poker pro" (How to become a poker pro), co-authored by 1983 World Series Of Poker champion Tom McEvoy.

Dominant Factor Test

Raley started a poker league in Greeley, Colorado, wherein players paid $20 to compete in a tournament.

Doyles Room

Named for Doyle Brunson, the 10-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, the Doyle Brunson Poker Network is licensed and incorporated in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles with the website also stating "Letter of Intent from Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority Received".

Food Poker

Food Poker is a BBC tea-time television programme which fuses traditional culinary skills with poker.

Gary Lambert

Dr Gary Lambert is a rugby footballer, poker player and chiropractor who represented the United States in the 1987 Rugby World Cup.

Harrington on Hold 'em

The level of play in major poker tournaments have gotten significantly tougher and more competitive since the release of the first book in the series, according to several experts on poker tournaments, including poker professional Blair Rodman and Mason Malmuth, the owner of the books' publishing company.

Howard Goldfarb

Howard Goldfarb is a Canadian poker player, chiefly noted as the runner-up of the 1995 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

I Bet You

I Bet You is a show about the lives of best friends and professional poker players Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari as they wandered the streets of America betting and daring each other on anything and everything that inspired them, using their own money.

Jason Lester

Lester was also involved in the film Lucky You, starring Robert Duvall, Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore, in which he played himself, among other poker stars.

Jeff Lisandro

In May 2005, he won the $10,000 no limit hold'em World Series of Poker circuit event at Lake Tahoe, defeating Phil Ivey in the final heads-up confrontation to win the $542,360 prize.

Joe Sebok

Poker Road has been on a reduced schedule over the last year, which Sebok has cited to a lack of sponsorship available in the US market after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

Jonas Žnidaršič

He is also a serious poker player and has appeared on Late Night Poker in Great Britain.

Katy Lederer

After graduating in 1995, Lederer moved to Las Vegas to study poker with her siblings, and was subsequently accepted to the Iowa Writers' Workshop on an Iowa Arts Fellowship.

Kenny Tran

He first began playing poker in 1992 at a bowling alley while working at McDonald's.

Lee Markholt

Markholt's first major win came on the Professional Poker Tour when he won the Five Star World Poker Classic in 2005.

Maria Whittaker

Whittaker was also the star of Maria Whittaker's X-Mas Strip Poker, a computer game released in 1988 for the Commodore 64 and 128.

Matt Perrins

In 2009, Perrins won the PokerStars.com Italian Poker Tour Venice, collecting €851,660 in the process against a field of 438 contestants that included Johnny Lodden, Dario Minieri, and Vanessa Rousso.

Michael Sexton

:For the poker player, see Mike Sexton

Moffitt Royal Commission

It was set up to address public and media concerns about the growing extent of organised crime in NSW and to investigate specific allegations that the Bally poker machine company now Bally Technologies, -- which was allegedly linked to the Mafia in the United States—was seeking to expand its interests in Australia, and that this might act as a conduit for Mafia-style organised crime to develop and diversify in Australia.

Olive Carey

In the story line, Mrs. Martin pushes her sons, particularly the youngest, Jim Martin, Jr. (Joseph Gallison), to take revenge on Marshal Troop for the rightful shooting death of their father, who pulled a gun while involved in a crooked poker game.

Open-face Chinese poker

The game has been popular among poker players such as Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Barry Greenstein, Shaun Deeb, and others.

Philip Glenister

Glenister had a small role (credited as 'Poker Friend') in Woody Allen's You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger in 2010 and plays Charles Forestier in a 2011 feature film of Guy de Maupassant's Bel Ami.

Poker Alice

Tubbs and Ivers did not want their children to be influenced by the world of poker, so they moved to a house just northeast of Sturgis on the Moreau River in South Dakota.

Poker Players Alliance

The Skill Game Protection Act (HR 2610), proposed by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), provides an exemption to UIGEA for games of skill, including poker, mah jong, bridge, and other games.

Pomroy

David Pomroy (born 23 June 1983), professional poker player from London, England

Ryan Amoroso

Amoroso left Marquette after arguing with then coach Tom Crean about the amount of time he spent playing poker online.

South Carolina gubernatorial election, 1998

In addition, the Palmetto League was being financed by video poker to attack Beasley's flip-flopping on the Confederate flag issue.

Steve Billirakis

While not a formal breach of the rules, ESPN commentator Norman Chad opined that such plays "ain't kosher" according to poker etiquette.

The Hendon Mob

Presenters Paul Wilson and Alexis Conran, posing as poker novices filming a documentary, beat the Mob by smuggling in decks stacked to their advantage.

Victor Ramdin

Annand Mahendra "Victor" Ramdin (born May 28, 1968 in Georgetown, Guyana) is a professional poker player, based in The Bronx, New York, who has won a World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship and is a member of Team PokerStars.

Xuyen Pham

Pham has four children and is married to fellow poker professional Steve Vladar.