Huck Seed
March 25, 2008
Huckleberry Seed (born November 30, 1968) is an American professional poker player.Seed grew up in Corvallis, Montana, where he attended Corvallis High School. He was a member of the 1987 Montana All-State basketball team. Huck Seed was an electrical engineering student at Caltech and a member of Fleming House. He took a leave of absence in 1989, started playing poker, and never returned to college. Seed was a star player on Caltech’s basketball team and is featured in the 2006 documentary Quantum Hoops.
Seed won the 1996 World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event, and the $1,000,000 first prize. He made the final table of the 1999 WSOP event, but finished 6th (eventual champion Noel Furlong eliminated him). In the 2007 Main Event, Seed finished 71st out of 6358 players.
Seed is often considered intimidating because of his height at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) and the fact that he rarely speaks at the table. An avid proposition gambler, he once lost $50,000 on a proposition bet with Phil Hellmuth, that he could stand in the ocean with water up to his shoulders for eighteen hours. He lasted only three hours. He then went on to win $24,000 back from Hellmuth by playing 9 Ball at $2,000 a game.
Seed recently played in NBC’s Poker After Dark series, where he finished second to Gus Hansen in the season’s first tournament.
As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $3,500,000. He has four WSOP bracelets.
Antonio Esfandiari
March 14, 2008
Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari (born Amir Esfandiari, December 8, 1978 in Tehran, Iran) is a professional poker player.
He moved to San Jose, California when he was 9 years old, along with his family.
At the age of 19, he changed his name to Antonio, and became a professional magician. While he was performing magic, he was invited to a game of Texas Hold ‘em and started to play poker. In 2004, he won close to $1.4 million at the Commerce Casino. He won his first World Series of Poker bracelet a few months later in Pot-Limit Texas Hold ‘em.
Esfandiari appeared in the second and third seasons of the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament. After finishing dead last the previous year, Antonio was able to redeem himself with an impressive 2nd place finish the third season. He was also in the first four seasons of GSN series High Stakes Poker and each season of NBC Poker After Dark.
While touring the poker circuit, he often shares a room with Phil Laak. He is also known for his chip trick techniques.
As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,700,000.
Phil Ivey
February 29, 2008
Phil Ivey (born February 1, 1976 in Riverside, California) is an American professional poker player.Ivey was born in Riverside, California and moved with his family across the country to Roselle, New Jersey as a three-month old. He crafted his game playing skills amongst his co-workers at a New Brunswick, New Jersey telemarketing firm in the late 1990s. One of his nicknames, “No Home Jerome”, stems from the ID card he secured to practice in Atlantic City in his teenage years.
Despite now focusing more on cash games than tournaments, his tournament accomplishments include winning three bracelets at the 2002 World Series of Poker, tying Phil Hellmuth Jr and Ted Forrest for the most wins in a single year.
Ivey also has bracelets in Pot Limit Omaha from 2000 and 2005. In 2000, he was the first player to beat Amarillo Slim heads-up. In addition to his five World Series Bracelets, Ivey has shown great success in the WSOP Main Event. He placed in the top 25 three times from 2002 to 2005, with the fields growing exponentially each year. Ivey finished 23rd in 2002, 10th in 2003, and 20th in 2005.
Ivey has also reached numerous final tables on the World Poker Tour, but has yet to win an event. Coincidentally, he has lost several of these WPT events by being eliminated while holding the same starting hand each time, an ace-queen. Phil has made seven WPT final tables, his best finish being 2nd at the World Poker Open, in Season One of the World Poker Tour. He has won nearly 1.3 million dollars from those final table appearances.
Ivey made his debut on the European Poker Tour in Barcelona, September 2006. He came to the final table of nine as the chipleader, but he eventually came in second to Bjørn-Erik Glenne from Norway.
In 2006, Ivey was enticed to London to participate in The London All Star Challenge of the inaugural European Poker Masters. Not only Europe’s first ever independent poker tour, the EPM boasted the best line-up of players ever seen in Europe. As one of the favorites, Ivey made it to the final table to finish 7th, and collected just shy of $15,000.
On 20 November 2005, Ivey won the $1,000,000 first prize at the Monte Carlo Millions tournament. Just one day after winning $1 Million, Ivey took home another $600,000 for finishing first at “The FullTiltPoker.Net Invitational Live from Monte Carlo”. The other six men consisted of (in reverse finishing order) Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, Chris Ferguson, Dave Ulliott, and John Juanda.
As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $8,000,000.
Ex-MLB pitcher goes from mound to poker table
January 24, 2008
NBC recently released its list of invitees for this year’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship in Las Vegas.
Plenty of players you’d expect to see — Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, etc. — are set to compete.
One of the surprise inclusions: Former major league baseball pitcher Orel Hershiser, who’s most famous for his performance in the 1988 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
That year, he won the Cy Young award as the National League’s best pitcher, had a scoreless innings streak of 59 and helped L.A. win the World Series.
UK Legends of Poker: ‘Mad’ Marty Wilson
January 23, 2008
Mad Marty Wilson is one of those people that you meet once and never forget. His nickname reportedly came from an incident where he jumped into a polar bear pit in order to escape some rival football fans. The incident really was the catalyst for his nickname, rather than the only reason, because he really is mad!
Marty is one of the UKs old guard, a regular on Late Night Poker he is one of the only players to appear on every series. The Mad one has travelled the World and has notched up some big results on all the corners of the globe, including two titles in the Crown Australia Poker Championships in Australia and the Carnivale of Poker in Las Vegas.
Warnie sends SMS during poker game
January 18, 2008
The former Test cricketer was banned from playing for five minutes for his sin during the Aussie Millions Poker Tournament event at Melbourne’s Crown Casino. Warne is contracted to internet poker giant 888.com to play tournaments around the world, including the prestigious World Series of Poker, which was won by Aussie Joe Hachem in 2005.
But the deal has caught his English county team Hampshire off guard, with the side forced to start next season without their inspirational captain.
Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove said: “We’re confident he will be back, but we’ll have to start the season with someone different. I’ll chat with Shane and work out a sensible cricket program for both of us.”
Warne and Hachem are among a crowd of big names playing in the Aussie Millions tournament at Crown Casino, including Alias actor Michael Vartan, actress Jennifer Tilly, American Pie star Shannon Elizabeth and injured tennis player Mark Philippoussis.
Shane Warne Joins Pacific Poker
January 18, 2008
Barry Carter Aussie test cricketer Shane Warne is the latest non poker player celebrity to announce they are a sponsored poker professional. The legendary Australian bowler has reportedly been snapped up by Pacific Poker to play in a series of events now that he has retired from cricket.
By all accounts he is no mug either, having been coached by 2005 WSOP Champion Joe Hachem. Warne also previously set up a very successful charity poker tournament which raised over $500,000 last year.
Local Pro Will Spend 30 Days in a Bellagio Hotel Bathroom
January 16, 2008
Jay Kwik leans out from the doorway, peering out of the room that will be his home for the next 30 days. He straightens up with a grin, clearly excited about the prospect of human interaction. It’s only been three days since Kwik moved into Bellagio, and his appetite for conversation is apparent.
Everyone that has met Kwik can tell you that he is an outgoing and, more importantly, outspoken guy, but in the tight corridor of his hotel room it is tough not to notice the desperation in his voice, the need to fill a short amount of time with as many words as possible. He plays it cool the best he can, trying to give the impression that his current predicament doesn’t faze him in the slightest, but his obvious distress begs the question …
Why is Jay Kwik spending the next month in his hotel bathroom?
It all started following a Kanye West concert on New Year’s Eve. Kwik, who is known as “Bellagio Jay” for having spent a majority of the past 10 years on the hotel’s premises, mentioned that he believed he could live in a bathroom for 30 days without a problem. Andrew “Good2CU” Robl and Alec “traheho” Torelli quickly jumped all over the errant comment and challenged him to put his money where his mouth is. The three wasted no time moving on to the negotiation phase, and the terms were eventually set.
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