If you were to sit down at a tournament poker table with Lee Watkinson, you most likely would come away with the impression of him as a quiet and measured opponent who let his play do the talking as he relieved you of your chips. You might remember his piercing stare, which shouts focus and concentration, but otherwise gives nothing away.
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier recently earned $2 million for taking down the 2008 European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). The win was doubly sweet for Grospellier, a member of Team PokerStars and the first team member to win an EPT main event.
David Oppenheim has been a profitable cash-game player since he was 19 years old. He lives in Los Angeles and plays in the biggest cash games he can find, though he tries not to play poker more than four days a week. Oppenheim recently began to play tournament poker, but cash games are still where he makes the most money.
Whether in a high-stakes cash game or vying for a world championship title, Patrik Antonius is a powerful presence at the poker table. He sits very still and soldier straight. Then, like a black panther stalking unwary prey, he eases chips into the pot - always taking the time to decipher each situation, regardless of his card values. Ready to pounce, ready to trap, he revels in the metagame and more often than not takes down elephant-sized pots.
Pam Brunson - yes, she is Doyle's daughter - is quite the poker player. She recently won the $1,000 buy-in ladies event at The Bicycle Casino Legends of Poker tournament, which qualified her to play in the 2007 World Poker Tour Ladies Night. I had the opportunity to play against Pam on Ladies Night, and found her to be charismatic, entertaining, fun, and a serious poker threat. You don't have to wait until this special airs on television to learn more about Pam, as she agreed to do this two-part interview.
Twenty bucks can get you a lot of things: two movie tickets, a good meal, a DVD, a half-full gas tank … you get the idea. Well, Card Player is about to offer something a bit more exciting for that same 20 bucks - access to its new membership poker community that provides opportunities to participate in freeroll tournaments, find new poker friends, earn badges of achievement, and get free content. Oh, and we're also giving away more than $100,000 every month. You read that right. We're not very good with exchange rates.
Bobby Hoff, known as "The Wizard" for his ability to make his opponents' chips disappear, has been playing poker for almost 50 years. The old-school gambler is a fixture in Southern California cardrooms and his game of choice is no-limit hold'em. Hoff is held in the highest regard by his fellow cash-game players due to his consistent results. Dan Harrington's highly anticipated book Harrington on Cash Games: Volume I, due out in early 2008, contains an extensive interview with Hoff, the man Harrington respects as poker's best cash-game player.
Carlos Mortensen couldn't care less about being famous. When I pull up to his Summerlin home just outside Las Vegas on an 85-degree sunny morning, he's tuning up a collection of tough-looking four-wheelers and motorcycles that look like they're fresh out of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Just as soon as we complete this annoying interview, something he usually doesn't do, he'll be roaring through Red Rock Canyon. He won nearly $4 million the day before my visit, and after stacking chips the previous week, he'd rather go get dirty than talk poker.
The second act of the World Series of Poker revealed many things about a lot of familiar players. Players who have spent years on the tournament trail without a WSOP win finally got one, and several added to their collections during the final few weeks.
