Poker Players Category
Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh
Jennifer’s poker career began online 3 years ago. Her meteoric rise in popularity in just three years is quite remarkable. She is recognized as one of the best female online poker players in the world. Jennifer started out with low limit $5 buyin tournaments. As her game progressed she worked her way up to the high limit $100/$200 tables. Her bank roll has continued to grow. She has established herself as a winning player on the circuit.
Her Poker Stars winnings over the last couple of years are in excess of 100k. Her best outcome was a fourth-place finish (out of 5,699 runners) in a $200 buy-in tournament last September. That earned her nearly 50K.
In live tournament play Jennifer has began to make a splash as well with cashes in the 2006 WSOP as well as the WPT tournament in L.A. The combination of model good looks and a sharp poker mind makes Jennifer a major player in the poker world. The sky is the limit for “Jennicide”.
Gus Hansen was a world class athlete as a young man and loved sports. Like Patrick Antonius, Gus Hansen was a tennis champ as a teenager. He was also one of the best backgammon players in the world. He relocated to New York in 2000 in an attempt to become a professional backgammon player. Unfortunately Gus thought the field and stakes were too small time. Gus is a self professed professional gambler. He is well known in the poker world for his prop bets. Particularly those involving physical and sports challenges.
Hansen picked up the poker bug when he attended school in California back in the early 1990’s. He is notorious for his extremely loose, any two cards (”ATC”)approach. His table image for raising or bluffing with ATC, induces many loose calls or raises when Gus does have the nuts.
Hansen’s greatest poker accomplishment is that he is only player to have won three World Poker Tour (WPT) tournaments. Gus was also the winner of the infamous Bad Boys of Poker World Poker Tour special. In 2004, Gus earned the prestigious honor of being inducted into the World Poker Tour Walk of Fame joining Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson and James “Maverick” Garner.
Gus has not fared as well at the World Series of Poker. His best WSOP finish was in the 2004 WSOP Main Event, where he cashed by ending in 150th place. In 2006 at the WSOP Tournament of Champions, Hansen made his first WSOP final table. He did not end up with much TV time however since he was bounced on the first hand when his Ace King failed to improved againg pocket 9s.
Gus won the very fist Poker After Dark (NBC) with a pay day of 120 grand. He defeated a table 6 top pro’s which included the Poker Brat Phil Hellmuth and Huckleberry Seed. In January of this year Gus outlasted a field of 747 players to win the the Aussie Millions and the first place prize $1,500,000.
Gus Hansen’s poker winnings are approaching 5 Million Dollars
Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren’s poker career kicked into high gear in 2002 when he won his first major poker tournament at the Bellagio. Less than a year later he won his first World Poker Tour Event. He followed that up by winning the World Poker Tour Party Poker Million ruise, where he pocketed a cool one million dollar pay day.
Lindgren had his best month as a pro to start out 2005. EDog finished 2nd at the World Series of Poker Circuit Event in Atlantic City in January of 2005. The following month he made the final table and finished in 5th place at the prestigious World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic. The following week Erick won the Professional Poker Tour event in Los Angeles.
Erick must really love January because in 2006 he started out the year by making another WPT final table at the Borgata Winter Poker Open where he finished 3rd. In June 2006, Lindgren took home the 600k first place prize in the Full Tilt Poker Pro Showdown event where he dueld Mike “the mouth” Matusow, Clonie “Ms. Oklahoma” Gowen, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Erik Seidel, and Chris Ferguson.
As of the beginning of this year EDog’s total winnings exceed $5,500,000.
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#5 Andy Bloch
#4 Phil Gordon
#3 Marcel Luske
Marcel “The Flying Dutchman” Lüske is one of the most recognizable poker pros today. He is best know for his trademark style of wearing his sunglasses upside down and for serenading his fellow players at the table. He also stands out for his dapper suits in an era when most players dress like they are going to the gym.
Despite being both well known and well like Marcel has never fullfilled his dream of winning a WSOP gold bracelet despite great success at the WSOP.
Lüske managed 14th place finish at the 2003 WSOP Main Event. He followed that up the next year with a 10th place finish in the 2004 WSOP Main Event. In 2004 Lüske took home $373,000 for his finish on the bubble of the final table.
His performance those two years are only rivaled by “Action” Dan Harrington who miraculously made the final table at the WSOP Main Event in both ‘03 and ‘04. Marcel has many cashes at the World Series as well. He came closest to a coveted gold bracelet in 2004 where he finished 2nd to Joe Awada in the $5K Seven card stud Event earning Marcel over $120,800.
The Flying Dutchman began 2007 with career tournament earnings in excess of 3 million dollars.
Phil Gordon is best known for being one of the hosts of Celebrity Poker Showdown. Before becoming a poker pro Gordon was one of the many dotcom millionaires. In 2001 Gordon entered his first The World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Call it beginners luck but he brought home 400k for his 4th place finish. He followed that up the next year by making two WSOP final tables. He finished in 6th place in the $2,000 Pot Limit hold ‘em event and he managed a third place finish in the $2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo Split WSOP event.
In 2005 Gordon had his highest WSOP finish by taking home third place in the $1,500 No Limit Shootout event. Despite his numerous final table finishes at the WSOP, he has yet to win a coveted gold bracelet. Gordon’s lifetime WSOP earnings are $641,073.
Phil Gordon has faired far better on the World Poker Tour. He made a final table at the 2002 Ultimate Bet Poker Classic by finishing in fith place. Gordon continued his WPT success in 2004 by winning The Bay 101 Shooting Stars WPT Tournament.
The biggest win of Gordon’s poker career came on Thanksgiving Day in 2006. Phil Gordon won the Full Tilt Championship at Red Rock, by defeating Roland De Wolfe heads-up. Gordon earned the biggest payday of his career by winning the $600,000 first place prize.
As of 2007, Phil Gordon’s has over 1.6 Million dollars in ive tournament winnings.
5 Best Pros Without a WSOP Bracelet: #5 Andy Bloch
The holy grail for any professional poker player is a championship gold bracelet from the World Series of Poker. With the 2007 World Series of Poker less than a couple of weeks away, here are some great players still trying to win their first bracelet.
#5 Andy Bloch: Andy Bloch is perhaps best known for being an a member of the famous MIT Blackjack team which was featured in the book “Bringing Down the House.”
Bloch started on the road to his professional poker career in 1992 when he began entering some small $35 weekly tournaments. By 1993, Bloch earned a World Poker Finals tournaments. Unbelievably it was also the first time he ever played a no limit texas hold ‘em tournament.
In 1997 Bloch was just completing law school but he decided to skip the last week of classes to play in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Fortunately for both his soul and his pocket book Bloch ended up choosing poker over law. Bloch made two separate World Series of Poker Final Tables in 2001. His career launched into the stratosphere in 2002 when he won a seven card stud tournament and wnet on to make 2 WPT Final tables in the inaugural season of the World Poker Tour.
Last year brough Bloch is most impressive WSOP finish. He took second place to cash game pro Chip Reese in the big 50K HORSE tourney. Andy Bloch has lifetime tournament winnings of nearly 3 million dollars.
Erica Schoenberg burst on the scene first as a professional blackjack player. Erica has had a varied career which includes modeling, a stint as a personal trainer, and as a pro volleyball player. Rumour has it that Erica appeared topless in Carmen Electra’s Strip Poker DVD.
Schoenberg received professional blackjack training from a member of the MIT Blackjack Team. She has gone on to compete in the World Series of Blackjack. She is also a professional poker player and placed 16th in the World Poker Tour $ 25,000 Championship - No Limit Hold’em and 69th in the World Series of Poker $ 1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em. She also appeared in the Season 4 WPT Ladies Night Event along with Jennifer Tilly and other high-profile and up-and-coming female pros. She has earned winnings in excess of $160,000 in her poker career. She also competed in the Ultimate Blackjack Tour, a televised 10 week series airing on CBS.
Schoenberg recently signed on with Full Tilt Poker along with her boyfriend David Benyamine.
Actress Jennifer Tilly’s became a household name for her memorable role in The Fabulous Baker Boys. Tilly received a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for her excellent portrayal of a ditzy actress in Bullets Over Broadway (1994). In a recent television interview, Tilly stated that at this point in her career she is more interested in pursuing poker than acting.
A couple of years ago Jennifer won a WSOP gold championship bracelet in the Ladies’ No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em event. She beat out a field of nearly 600 to take home the 150k prize. A month later she won the WPT Ladies Invitational held at the Bike in L.A. Tilly has made numerous televised poker appearance including Celebrity Poker, the GSN Poker Royale series, Fox Sports Net as well her ESPN WSOP appearance. Tilly also appeared in the third season of Poker Superstars but made an early exit.
She is currently dating poker professional Phil “Unabomber” Laak and is nicknamed “The Unabombshell” within the poker circuit.
Toronto native Evelyn Ng used to be a blackjack dealer and a poker dealer in private clubs in Toronto before she became a huge celebrity poker player in her own right. She cemented herself firmly in place as a woman poker player to be respected when she placed 2nd in the Ladies Night World Poker Tour Event.
She’s a big enough name in the industry to be included in the new Stacked video game, along with Daniel Negreanu, too. She’s known to be good friends with Negreanu, and he’s also been called her tutor or mentor as a poker player. She’s not just a poker player either; Eveyln also moonlights as a sports commentator for NBC.
Unlike many of the top pros, Evelyn prefers to play online in limit games, and rarely plays live no-limit cash games, however her no-limit play has increased in frequency and in success lately. Evelyn is a regular 30-60 online player. Evelyn is also one of the best “chip trick” players in the business, pulling off some amazing tricks. Not only that, but she’s ambidextrous too!
This 22 year old Texan is perhaps better known for her recent boob job and erratic love life than her poker skills. McNulty cashed twice in the 2006 WSOP: finishing 23rd in the $2,00 Pot Limit Holdem Tournament and finishing 56th in the Ladies No Limit Holdem Tournament. She prefers limit cash games to tournaments.
Want to know more? Check out her myspace page.
Lacey Jones is a native Texan who is making a splash in the poker world. Born with model good looks she too up poker as a child playing with her family. They would hold marathon poker games while on family vacations.
More than just a stunning beauty Lacey was also blessed with brains. Lacey is a graduate of the University of Arizona. She has a Bachelors Degree in both French and Political Science. Jones has indicated that she wants to go to Law School some day.
Lacey made her first big splash during a televised ESPN poker tournament. Originally hired as mere model eye candy she surprised everyone by her play. The guys at Absolute Poker approached Lacey about hiring her as a spokesmodel. Absolute enlisted the help of Mark Seif to mentor Lacey. With Marks help Lacey’s game has greatly improved. Don’t underestimate this sexy blonde if she ends up at your table. Their is a shark behind that pretty smile.
Vanessa Rousso is a student at the University of Miami and a professional poker player. Born in White Plains, New York, Rousso is a dual-citizen of the United States and France.
Rousso graduated early from Duke University after two and a half years with a major in economics and a minor in political science in December 2003. A poker player since she was five, Rousso began serious poker tournament play during her summer break from law school. In her first year of playing, Rousso has multiple in the money tournament finishes, including seventh place at the 2006 World Poker Tour championship event and eighth place in the 2006 World Series of Poker $5000 no limit hold ‘em shorthanded event. In September 2006 she won $285,450 at the $5000 no limit hold ‘em event at the Borgata Open.
Rousso is sponsored by the PokerStars online poker cardroom as part of their Team PokerStars.
As of 2007, her tournament winnings exceed $675,000.
As we all know from the popular Full Tilt commercial Clonie Gowen was Miss Teen Oklahoma. What most people don’t know about the statuesque beauty is that she was a jock in high school. She played basketball on a state championship team and was of the best high jumpers in Oklahoma.
Clownie began her poker career while living in Texas. She would drive Louisiana on weekends to play poker. She found herself earning a few hundred dollars each week and decided to pursue poker more seriously.
Clownie made her mark on The World Poker Tour. She had a final table finish in 2003 at the World Poker Tour Costa Rica Classic and by winning the 2003 WPT Ladies Night Tournament. She defeated Jen Harman and Annie Duke in her WPT win.
Clonie is one of the Pros on team Full Tilt. In addition to being a top pro Clownie writes regularly for Bluff magazine. Clownie is also a board member of the U.S. Poker Association.
When not on the pro poker circuit the 32 year old Gowen can be found at home in Dallas with her two children.
Shannon Elizabeth is perhaps best known for playing Nadia in the American Pie series. Elizabeth now enjoys playing poker more than acting. Her recent play has raised her status from mere celebrity poker player to serious pro. Shannon treks to Vegas almost every week to play against the best poker competition in the world.
Shannon has been playing in the Main Event of the WSOP since 2005. She has one a few tournaments including a recent charity tournamment at the Playboy Mansion. In 2006 she had 3 cashes at the World Series of Poker.
Elizabeth’s most memorable run was earlier this year when she shocked the poker world by making iit to the semi-finals of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. She defeated many notable pros during the tourney including Barry Greenstein and Humberto Brenes.
Liz Lieu “The Poker Diva”
Known as “The Poker Diva”, Lieu began her poker career as a limit Hold’em cash player.
She began playing tournaments at the 2005 WSOP. Remarkably she cashed in 5th place of the $1,500 no limit event taking home 168k. She also cashed in 2 other events that year. Not bad for a rookie tournament pro.
Later that year Lieu made the final table of the Bellagio’s 2005 Festa Al Lago tourney. She followed that up by making final tables at five other big tournaments on the poker circuit including the prestigious Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
Lieu scored her first tournament championship in 2006 at the Los Angeles Poker Classic held at the Commerce Casino. Lieu won the $1000 limit hold’em event. She repeated as champion of the event later in 2007.
The Poker Diva has lifetime tournament earnings of over half a million dollars.
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