- Lee Watkinson
Lee Watkinson (born October 18, 1966) is an American professional poker player, originally from Cheney, Washington. At the 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Watkinson finished 2nd in the $5,000 pot limit Omaha event. He also finished in the money of that year's $10,000 no limit Texas hold 'em main event, finishing 113th. Watkinson made back-to-back World Poker Tour (WPT) final tables during its third season. The first time he finished 2nd to Eli Elezra, …
- Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly (born September 16, 1958) is an Academy Award-nominated American actress and a World Series of Poker bracelet winner.
- Max Pescatori
Massimiliano Pescatori (born 1971? in Milan) is an Italian professional poker player. Pescatori is a regular on the poker tournament scene, often placing high in Card Player Magazine's Player of the Year Race. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1994 and began playing seven card stud at the Luxor Hotel, eventually shifting his focus to hold'em when he found it to be more profitable. In 1998 he was mentored by Valter Farina, …
- Brian Wilson
Brian "Rookie" Wilson (born 1967?) is an American real estate developer and poker player, originally from Rockford, Illinois, now based in Fort Myers, Florida. Wilson won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2005 in the $5,000 pot limit hold'em event, defeating John Gale in the final heads-up confrontation to take home the $370,685 first prize. This was the first pot limit event Wilson had ever played. He has noted that this was event #20 at the WSOP, …
- Cyndy Violette
Cyndy Violette (born 19 August 1959 in Queens, NY) is an American professional poker player. Cyndy often played poker with family members as a child. Her family relocated to Las Vegas when she was 12 years old; Cyndy took to playing casino poker once she reached the legal age. She spent a short time as a casino employee, working as a blackjack and poker dealer.
- Ralph Perry
Rafael Perry is a professional poker player originally from Russia. He has been playing professionally since 1992. In 2006, Perry represented Russia at the inaugural Intercontinental Poker Championship but was eliminated in the semi-finals. He came in 3rd place. July 18, 2006, Perry won his first World Series of Poker bracelet, along with over $200,000, in the $1,500 pot limit Omaha event. He dedicated his bracelet to his wife Merri.
- Blair Rodman
Blair Rodman (born April 5 in Troy, New York) is an American professional poker player, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rodman has been playing poker professionally since 1985 when he quit his job dealing craps. Rodman has had numerous finishes in the money at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in hold'em, seven-card stud and Omaha poker tournaments. In March 2005, Rodman made his first World Poker Tour (WPT) final table, …
- Amir Vahedi
Amir Vahedi is one of the more notably aggressive players in the professional poker circuit. He also distinguishes himself by his multiple successes in different games. His professional resume marks victories in both Texas and Omaha Hold'em, Stud or Hi/Lo 7 Card, and many others. His flexibility and openness has made him an ideal teacher. He once took on Hollywood star Ben Affleck as a student, though Affleck has since been taken in by other mentors.
- Barry Shulman
Barry Shulman is the celebrated publisher of Card Player Magazine, which he and many other professional players consider "the bible in the poker industry." Besides being a behind-the-scenes force in the sector of gaming publication, he is also a strong poker player, having won what he estimates to be around a million dollars in games. However, he focuses his energies on his publication rather than on participating in actual tournaments.
- Russ Hamilton
Ever since he was five years old, Russ Hamilton has been following the gambling money. Introduced to the game by his father, he was making a pretty good living by the time he was in high school playing card games and running football pools. While attending college for a degree in electrical engineering, a conversation with a professor made him realize that he was making more money at cards than he ever would in the real world, …
- Todd Witteles
Todd "Dan Druff" Witteles (born 1972) is an American professional poker player. A former computer scientist, Witteles made poker his full-time pursuit in 2003. Primarily a cash game player, Witteles entered his first tournament at the 2005 World Series of Poker, where he played the $1500 Limit Texas hold 'em event. He finished in third place out of a field of 1,049 entrants, with the final table being shown on ESPN.
- Minh Nguyen
Minh "Pokerhost" Nguyen (born May 15) is a Vietnamese American professional poker player, residing in Bell Gardens, California. Nguyen learned to play poker from his cousin Men Nguyen and has gone on to become a regular on the poker tournament circuit since 1999. Nguyen finished 24th in the $10,000 no limit hold'em main event at the 2002 World Series of Poker (WSOP), earning $40,000.
- Bill Smith
Bill Smith was a renowned professional poker player. Smith was a staple at the World Series of Poker during the 1980s. He was involved in three final tables of the main event. At the 1981 and 1986 WSOP he placed 5th, but at the 1985 World Series of Poker he won the bracelet, and $700,000. Smith died in 1997.
- Dave Ulliott
David A. Ulliott (born 1 April, 1962 in Hull) is an English professional gambler and poker player. Formerly, Ulliott was a minor figure in the Hull underworld, but went on to become a World Series of Poker bracelet-winner, and a mainstay of televised poker. At the poker table, he is known for wearing orange-tinted prescription sunglasses, a sharp suit (or leather jacket) and gold knuckleduster rings reading "Devil" and "Fish", which he made himself.
- Sailor Roberts
Brian "Sailor" Roberts was an American professional poker player. Before becoming a poker professional Roberts was a rounder and traveled the country looking for 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 player. Roberts won the 1975 World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event, gaining his second WSOP bracelet and $210,000.
- John Spadavecchia
John Spadavecchia is an American professional poker player from Lighthouse Point, Florida. Spadavecchia has been a regular on the poker tournament circuit since the 1980s, with his first finish in the money of a World Series of Poker (WSOP) event coming in 1988 World Series of Poker in the $10,000 no limit hold'em main event where he finished 28th. He also finished 3rd in the same event in 1994.
- Bob Stupak
Bob Stupak (born April 6, 1942 in Pittsburgh) is a well-known Las Vegas casino owner and entrepreneur. He is the son of Chester Stupak, a man who operated the longest running floating craps game in Pittsburgh. Once the younger Stupak reached legal age, he moved to Vegas and started a coupon book venture. He sold books full of two-for-ones and other items. Stupak later moved to Australia to pursue a similar business venture, …
- Jack Straus
Jack Straus (1930 - August 1988) was an American professional poker player. Straus began playing in World Series of Poker events in the early 1970s. He won the 1982 World Series of Poker main event, earning $520,000 and a second WSOP bracelet. Famously, Straus's 1982 win was a comeback after being down to a single $500 chip, supposedly the origin of the common tournament poker aphorism: "a chip and a chair." Although accounts vary, …
- Robert Turner
Robert Turner is an American professional poker player based in Downey, California. Turner is known for introducing Omaha hold 'em into poker-playing circles. He introduced the game to Bill Boyd who offered it as a game at the Golden Nugget Casino (calling it "Nugget Hold'em".) Turner began playing in the 1970s and has won a Best All-Around Player Award at least once per decade since.
- Willie Tann
Willie "The Dice Man" Tann is an English professional poker player. Tann was born in Singapore and came to England to study law in the 1960's. Tann has numerous nicknames on the poker circuit. Although usually called "The Dice Man", he also goes by the monikers "'"The Governor" and "Mister Miyagi". Tann made one appearance on the original televised poker show Late Night Poker, …
- Maria Stern
Maria Stern is a professional poker player. Maria Stern began playing poker in 1991 after traveling for years to various poker tournaments with her husband, professional poker player Max Stern. In 1992 she finished 4th in the World Series of Poker in the $1,000 Women's Seven-card Stud event. ln 1997 she won a bracelet in the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event. At the 2007 WSOP Circuit Tournamant at Caesars Palace Las Vegas event No.
- Hemish Shah
Hemish Shah (7 April 1968 - 5 September 2001) was an English stock broker before he became a professional poker player, and the winner of Late Night Poker series 4, where he beat the season 2 champion Simon "Aces" Trumper in the final heads-up confrontation. He won a World Series of Poker bracelet and $312,340 in 2001 for winning the $5,000 Limit Texas Hold-em event. During the event he had to leave the table as he was suffering from stomach cramps.
- Doyle Brunson
Doyle Brunson (born August 10, 1933 in Longworth, Fisher County, Texas) is an American poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time world champion of poker and the author of several poker books. The first player to earn $1 million in poker tournaments, Brunson has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets throughout his career, tied with Johnny Chan for second all-time, one behind Phil Hellmuth's 11.
- Phil Hellmuth
Phillip J. Hellmuth, Jr. (born July 16, 1964 in Madison, Wisconsin) is a professional poker player. He is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame and holds the record for most bracelets won at the World Series of Poker(11)
- Stu Ungar
Stuart Errol Ungar was a professional poker and gin rummy player, considered to be among the best in history at both games. He is the only three-time winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event tournament (Johnny Moss also won three WSOPs but his first win was by vote of the players, not by winning a tournament).
- Daniel Negreanu
Daniel Negreanu (born July 26, 1974 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian professional poker player.
- Dan Harrington
Dan Harrington (born December 6, 1945 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) is a professional poker player. Harrington is a former champion backgammon player, U.S. chess master (he won the 1971 Massachusetts State Chess Championship), and bankruptcy lawyer. During his time at Suffolk University, he was part of an MIT team that gained an advantage over casinos at roulette. Shortly after the MIT team disbanded he was part of different one which specialized in blackjack.
- Scotty Nguyen
Thuan "Scotty" Nguyen (born October 28, 1962 in Nha Trang, Vietnam) <sup> </sup> is a Vietnamese American professional poker player. Nguyen is one of the most active players in professional 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 overall.
- Chris Ferguson
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (born Christopher Philip Ferguson April 11 1963, in Los Angeles, California) is a professional poker player. Ferguson attended UCLA where he earned a Ph.D. in computer science (focusing on virtual network algorithms) in 1999 after five years as an undergraduate and 13 years as a graduate student. His Ph.D. advisor was Leonard Kleinrock. Ferguson's parents have doctoral degrees in mathematics and his father, Thomas Ferguson, …
- Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan, born in Guangzhou (Canton), China in 1957, now living in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a professional poker player.
- Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey (born February 1 1976 in Riverside, California) is an American professional poker player.
- Dewey Tomko
Dewey Tomko (born December 31, 1946 in Glassport, Pennsylvania) <sup></sup> is an American former kindergarten teacher turned professional poker player, based in Winter Haven, Florida.
- Russ Boyd
Russ "Dutch" Boyd (born 1980) is an American professional poker player from Culver City, California (originally from Columbia, Missouri). Boyd claims to have an IQ of 150. He began attending college at age 12 after scoring a 23 on the ACT and graduated from law school at age 18. Despite finishing law school, Boyd opted not to pursue a career in law after experiencing law as an intern.
- John Juanda
Johnson Juanda (born July 8, 1971 in Indonesia) is an American professional poker player based in Marina del Rey, California. Juanda lives in Los Angeles. He was born and raised in Indonesia. John arrived in the U.S. in 1990, when he enrolled at Oklahoma State University. He earned an MBA from Seattle University. John was a high school track star for the 200 meter sprints to 5000 meter races. He had a stint as a door to door salesman selling Bibles.
- Carlos Mortensen
Juan Carlos Mortensen (born April 13, 1972 in Ambato, Ecuador) is a professional poker player, known for his loose play, bluffing tactics, and interesting chip-stacking style. Mortensen moved from Spain to America in the late 1990s to play poker. His biggest win was the 2001 World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event, in which he won $1,500,000. He also won the World Poker Tour (WPT) Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship in 2004 for $1,000,000.
- Allen Cunningham
Allen Cunningham (born March 28 1977 to Dean and Joanne Cunningham in Riverside, California), United States, is a professional poker player. Cunningham studied civil engineering at UCLA before dropping out of school to play poker professionally. He began playing at 18 in Indian casinos. Cunningham plays online poker exclusively at Full Tilt Poker. Previously a Full Tilt sponsored pro, he became a full member of Team Full Tilt in October 2006.
- Amarillo Slim
Amarillo Slim (born Thomas Austin Preston, Jr. December 31, 1928 in Johnson, Arkansas) is a professional gambler, famous for his poker skills and proposition bets. He won the main event at the World Series of Poker in 1972.
- Sam Farha
Ihsan Farha (born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1959) is a professional poker player, based in Houston, Texas.
- Barry Greenstein
Barry Greenstein (born December 30, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois) is a professional poker player. He was exposed to poker at a young age by his father, Jack, who had played poker in the Army. After graduating from Bogan High School, he earned a bachelor degree in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also studied for a PhD in mathematics, but left before completing his dissertation.
- Mel Judah
Mel Judah is an Australian professional poker player, also known as "The Silver Fox" (a nickname he shares with fellow poker player Peter Costa). He learned poker at the age of 14 by watching his father play 5-card draw. He has had several noticeable finishes in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT). He won World Series bracelets in 1989 and 1997 for the $1,500 and $5,000 Seven Card Stud events.