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January2010USA $5.00

POKER BETTING LIFESTYLE

THE ROAD TOTHE SUPER BOWL

How the NFL’s best will make the journey to Dallas

POKER A countdown of the top 10 players of 2011

STRATEGY The best and worst ways of playing AK

SPORT 11 Guarantees in the world of sport for 2011

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January 2011

first up06 editorial

10 Poker news

poker16 the best in the

business Poker’s Players of the

Year: 2010

24 living the dream Liv Boeree exclusive interview

28 wPt tour schedule

30 to straddle, or not to straddle?

A costly leson in televised poker etiquette

36 good things come to great Players who wait

GX interviews Team PokerStars Pro David Williams

42 the road to aussie glory

Ali Masterman takes us back to his 2007 Aussie Millions victory

strategy46 the beauty &

the beast The perils of playing Hold’em

with Anna Kournikova

48 the Psychology of downswings

sports betting52 following the

road to glory The NFL playoffs preview

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contents

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46 58 making a racket down under

GX previews the Australian Open tennis

62 bet to the future 11 sporting guarantees for

2011

72 the stars that shine brighest on the ice

A look ahead to the NHL All-Star Game

74 big fight Preview Tim Bradley vs Devon

Alexander

lifestyle76 driving in the

fast lane The Venturi Fetish

80 the month ahead The best sports events this

month

82 the Poker files The month’s upcoming poker

schedule

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January

C ollege maths tutor and amateur poker player David Fishman made a name for himself last month after winning

big on the PokerStar.net sponsored televised cash game program “The Big Game”. Fishman, who was the show’s Loose Cannon, crushed a table which included pros Phill Hellmuth, Phil Laak, David Williams, Joe Cada and Jason Mercier.

The turning point of the 150 hand session came when Fishman won an enormous pot worth over $200,000 against 11 time bracelet winner and former WSOP Main Event champion Phil Hellmuth. After picking up a flush and gut shot straight draws on the turn Fishman paid to see the river and duly binked the straight to top Hellmuth’s two pair. After some histrionics

AmAteur Crushes the Big gAme

Fishman shoved and Hellmuth paid him off.The pot put the Cannon up over $150,000,

instantly vaulting him to the top of the Big Game leaderboard and primed to also claim the $50,000 tournament entry package prize to be awarded at the end of season to the Loose Cannon with the most profit won.

From that point on the Loose Cannon shut his stack down, announced to the table that he wouldn’t be playing any of the final 40 hands of the night, and was good to his word, folding Aces and Kings pre-flop. The hand when he had Aces, Phil Laak held pocket sixes and flopped quads against Jason Mercier. After blinding out the final hands, Fishman finished the game with slightly under $130,000 in profits.

The rules of the Big Game are simple; the loose cannon is staked $100,000 to play but only takes home any profit they make over the $100,000. The usual result of this is that the Cannon is forced to increasingly gamble as the week goes on, but after making such a large protfit, reportedly three times his annual salary, few can blame Fishman for refusing to play what was effectively his own money against such a high profile cash game table with such high stakes.

t om “durrrr” Dwan was able to cut

Dan “jungleman12” Cates’ lead to $582,788 as the pair battled it

out in the latest installment of the second Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge.

The two high stakes stars met online after a period of inactivity and played a sizeable session, recording more than 1,400 hands of $200/$400 No Limit Hold’em, moving them past 11,000 hands of the required 50,000-hands for the Challenge to be completed.

Dwan, managed to cut his opponent’s lead by $172,000 despite losing the biggest pots of the game.

Cates won the largest pot of the day, flopping middle set with pocket 8s and managing to get

DwAn sliCes CAtes’ leAD in the Durrrr ChAllenge

all the money in against Durrrr’s flopped two pair. Cates faded Dwan’s outs to take down the pot, which was worth over $170,000.

Dwan’s biggest pot came later in the action, helped him maintain momentum and enabled him to battle back to finish the session in the black. With a 7s-7c-2s flop, Cates led out for $4,400 and Dwan raised to $11,900. Cates moved all-in, having Dwan covered, and Dwan called off his remaining $35,500 with Ts-Th to win the $103,600 pot.

Dwan and Cates have played nearly 20 hours over the course of 11 sessions, with Cates currently leading by $582,788. Indications are that the Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge actually begin to heat up again, optimists had speculated the Challenge might be finished by Christmas after a frantic start but that now seems unlikely.

in the news

F ull Tilt introduced the highest stakes online tables ever this month, but they took them

down almost as quickly as they had appeared after claims that collusion was occurring on the tables.German high stakes online pro IHateJuice had personally petitioned Phil Ivey to have the tables installed on the site, claiming that he had asked several times for a limit table with bigger blinds but that to date his request had fallen on deaf ears. Unsurprisingly, after Ivey had agreed to see what he could do, the $3,000 - $6,000 tables appeared shortly afterwards. However, only weeks later it was IHateJuice himself who asked for the tables to be taken back down, admitting that it was an error on his part to ask for higher limit games.Posting under the nickname “hasu” on the twoplustwo forums, IHateJuice explained his sudden u-turn on the tables, saying “Really sad and frustrating things are happening at this table. I don’t want this kind of publicity for the game, so I asked FTP to delete it again. As I said, I didn’t expect things to turn out like this. It seems like some people forget about everything including their morals and respect for other players when it comes to those stakes.” “I highly doubt there is any collusion going on, but the bumhunting and angleshooting really kills the game.”Full Tilt have yet to explain their stance on the debate, and there is no word as to whether the tables will return at any point in the future.

$3,000 - $6,000 lhe tABles Come AnD go on Full tilt

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A ntonio Esfandiari took down his second World Poker Tour title last month with victory in the WPT Five

Diamond Classic for a massive $870,124 payday. Esfandiari defeated Andrew Robl heads-up, who collected $549,003 for his efforts.

The ‘Magician’ led the tournament throughout, but slipped as play approached the final table. Esfandiari rode the short stack well to make it to heads-up even in chips with Robl, the duo then battled it out into the early hours with an expectant crowd watching on. Robl fell behind in the stack count and eventually decided to take a stand, shoving with Qd-Tc, and was called quickly behind by Esfandiari who held Kc-Jd. The flop came Ad-Kd-6d, giving Esfandiari a diamond sweat, but the turn and river bricked to send Robl crashing out and leave Esfandiari as the winner.

Ted Lawson began the televised final table in sixth place and was first to be eliminated, shoving his short stack into Vanessa Rousso’s Queens. His wired pair of nines were in bad shape until a nine came on the flop, catapulting him into the lead. Unfortunately a Queen came on the turn to

give Rousso a higher set.Rousso began to use her big stack effectively

to apply pressure to her remaining three opponents, but took a hit from Robl. The young American had raised the cut off with Ad-8d and Rousso called from the blinds with 9-9. She then open shoved the Ten high flop, but Robl had picked up the nut flush draw and duly turned the flush after putting his tournament life at stake, denting Rousso’s stack significantly.

Kirk Morrison was eliminated in fifth a short time later, running into a Robl set to leave four runners standing. WSOP Main Event runner up John Racener was next to hit the rail after he shoved 10 big blinds with Q-8o, only to be called by Antonio Estfandiari’s K-Qo. The magician paired his King to send Racener home once again within touching distance of a tournament title.

The chip lead continued to swing back and forth between the three remaining players, after an extended period of play Rousso was eliminated by Esfandiari, who managed to keep the momentum going to defeat Robl heads up.

esFAnDiAri CAptures wpt Five DiAmonD ClAssiC

t he APPT Grand Final trophy will be staying on home soil for a 4th consecutive year after

Australian Jonathan “MONSTER_DONG” Karamalikis took down the tournament for a AUD $459,510 payday. Karamalikis led Australians into the top four spots in the tournament, eventually defeating qualifier Ben McLean to the title. McClean earned AUD $294,780 for his efforts.

The APPT Grand Final attracted a total of 289 runners to Sydney, generating a prize pool of AUD $1,734,000.

It was another case of being so near but yet so far for Daniel Negreanu as the Canadian superstar finished 9th for AUD $36,415. Negreanu also final tabled the EPT Vienna in October but couldn’t find his way over the finish line as a winner, busting in 4th.

Kid Poker had been eliminated by triple crown winner Roland de Wolfe after shoving with top pair, only for the Englishman to show flopped trips. However, the extra chips did little to help de Wolfe move through the field, and he was eliminated in 8th shortly afterwards.

After Manuel Hansimikali, Eddy Sabat, Antoine Amourette, Peco Stojanovski and Tom Rafferty had been sent to the rail the quest for the title became a straight shootout between Karamalikis and McClean, however it was the Adelaide native’s experience that proved to be the telling difference between the players.

Karamalikis established a 7-1 chip lead beforeMcClean felt obliged to shove the last of his chips holding A-6, and was insta-called by Karamalikis’ pocket fives. McClean couldn’t find any piece of the board, meaning that it was Karamalikis who was left as the last man standing to celebrate the biggest victory of his career.

Speaking after collecting the trophy and winner’s money, Karamalikis said “This is obviously the biggest (tournament) I’ve ever won, by far. It’s quite a prestigious title, so I’m really glad to have it under my belt.”

KArAmAliKis wins Appt grAnD FinAl on home soil

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t he new series of High Stakes Poker is currently being filmed at the Bellagio, but it appears as though Full Tilt will be

conspicuous by its absence when season 7 goes to air later in the year.

Lineups for season 7 are yet to be revealed, but rumors have been circulating for weeks that Full Tilt had decided to withdraw their players from taking part in the program after the show format was bought by rival online site PokerStars.

The original rumor was that PokerStars would not let the Full Tilt pros play unless they agreed to wear superimposed computer generated PokerStars logos, prompting PokerStars.net sponsored pro Barry Greenstein to attempt to

Full tilt withDrAws its plAyers From high stAKes poKer

some of the other characters we have had in previous seasons. If they don’t play, they’ll be replaced by some new young stars of the game, some affiliated and some not.”

The divide between PokerStars and Full Tilt appears to be growing ever wider by the day, with Late Night Poker being perhaps the last arena upon which pros from the two factions could do televised battle, MTT final tables notwithstanding. Poker After Dark does not invite PokerStars players to their tables, whilst the Big Game is a Full Tilt free show.

So it isn’t confirmed yet whether we will see Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius sitting down with Daniel Negreanu, Lex Velduis and Jason Mercier on season 7 of High Stakes Poker, or indeed ever again. However, if one positive can be taken from the breakdown between PokerStars and Full Tilt it’s that a new generation of pros will get the chance to step in for Ivey and Dwan and show what they can do on the felt. Justin Bonomo and Scott Seiver are just two pros who have tasted success on the Big Game recently, expect them to be back at the tables for High Stakes Poker should a number of seats suddenly become available.

us plAyers roBBeD At the ept BArCelonA

p rofessional poker players Carter Phillips and William Reynolds, were allegedly robbed during their stay in

Barcelona for the recent EPT.According to rumors flying on poker

forum TwoPlusTwo, the duo were traveling around the Spanish city when they ran into trouble. A robbery occurred, with a machete used to threaten the pair into giving up their money. The incident left both players shaken.

Phillips wrote on his Facebook status the night of the attack: “I’d like to make this announcement that I am 95% sure that I am officially done with poker. More details to come. In the process of writing out a lengthy explanation to release to the poker community shortly.”

The episode seems entirely different from the attempted heist at EPT Berlin last year, when armed robbers tried to seize the prize pool from the tournament floor. The robbery looked to have taken place a long way outside of the walls of a casino,

clarify the issue on the TwoPlusTwo forums.Greenstein wrote on the site “I talked to

Howard Lederer and Mori…there is also no issue about superimposed logos on players as the OP said. However, Full Tilt has two major concerns. First is they don’t like their players playing when PokerStars is the sponsor of the show. (I assume Full Tilt can buy ad time but I didn’t check this out with GSN or PokerStars.) Secondly, they were unhappy that PokerStars bought the HSP archives. In the early seasons of HSP, the players didn’t wear logos, so FTP is concerned that viewers will be able to go to pokerstars.tv and see the FTP players without logos and be confused by their affiliation.

I was told that PokerStars will not have their name on the table felt, which I could see would have been an issue for FTP. At this time, the Nevada Gaming Commission is carefully limiting the presence of online sites in shows filmed there.

Neither Howard nor Mori were placing blame on anyone. The sentiment was that PokerStars, FTP, and GSN all make business decisions. As a poker player, I don’t like restrictions and I wish everyone could play. Most of us would like to see the three top FTP cash game players on the show along with

although it is yet unknown as to whether the two were targeted whist at the EPT event.

The thread on TwoPlusTwo ballooned to over 15 pages in length, prompting Phillips to clear the matter up.

“Everyone should understand there were several drinks involved in the night and the quitting poker thing was obviously right when I got back. I can honestly say that I have never been to any places in the U.S. where any of this stuff could have happened to me the way it did. Not to say there aren’t, because clearly people are bad all over the world. But I do think Europe is less safe and, therefore, when I mentioned quitting poker, I was more talking about the traveling abroad. I am tired of being in situations where my safety is at risk or where it is unfamiliar because of being in a new place.”

Luckily it appears the two online whizkids are unhurt and Phillips has reconsidered his poker retirement.

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r umors are abound that Real Madrid soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has been seen playing cash games at various

stakes on the Full Tilt Poker tables. The highest paid soccer player in the world has been mixing it up against high stakes pros Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates and Patrik Antonius under the name ‘CR7sete’.

Ronaldo has trademarked the motif CR7 and opened two fashion boutiques in Portugal under the same name, leading many to believe he followed suit with his poker alias.

‘Jungleman12’ (Daniel Cates) posted on his twitter during a staggeringly low stakes $1/2 PLO session; “Playing on full tilt vs Cristiano Ronaldo...I’m winning lol, fortunately not playing football.”

A few days later and ‘CR7sete’ had moved to $25/$50 NL Hold’em Heads-Up, this time against Patrik Antonius.

Railbirds knew that something was up, as there was no reasonable explanation as to why

the two pros were playing at buy-ins so far beneath their usual nosebleed stakes. Observers began asking why Antonius was perceivably wasting his time playing so low, when CR7sete set the record straight.

“(Patrik) didn’t move down in levels...we are friends,” the online player said.

When their session had finished, ‘CR7sete’ had won a small amount of money from the Finnish pro with the conversation finishing:Patrik Antonius: wp champCR7sete: Thanks...Patrik Antonius: footbol and poker goodPatrik Antonius: tennis is so so...Patrik Antonius: ciaoCR7sete: I go the car now...CR7sete: Good game...play tomorowCR7sete: o text my mobile....Patrik Antonius: okPatrik Antonius: ciaoCR7sete: adeus

The conversation that occurred between the two players, together with the nature of the high profile players CR7sete is sitting at the virtual tables with, is all but concrete evidence that it is Ronaldo who is now attempting to forge a poker legacy on Full Tilt. While it seems unlikely that Ronaldo will ever match his $400,000 a week soccer wages in the poker world, just having another high profile celebrity in the online poker world is surely good for the game.

ChristiAno ronAlDo spotteD plAying on Full tilt

g us Hansen has won the Full Tilt sponsored Poker

Million final, scooping the winner take all $1m first prize for his efforts.

After coming through a heat to make it to the final table, Hansen defeated a lineup that included fellow 2010 WSOPE bracelet winner James Bord, Barny Boatman, Gary Peniket, Seth Webber, Tony Bloom, and fellow Team Full Filt members Howard Lederer and Patrik Antonius.

After some intense play Hansen found himself heads up with Bloom and managed to get all the chips in the middle holding Ad-8d to crush the soccer team chairman’s Ac-6d. Bloom bricked the board, meaning that the title and the $1m first prize would be leaving London and

hAnsen wins poKer million seAson iX

heading to Denmark. The second half on 2010 has

proven extremely successful for Hansen, after being the biggest loser in online cash games across the first six months of the year Hansen has been on a tear both live and online. His two biggest scores have come in the form of his first WSOP bracelet in the £10,000 Heads Up Event at the WSOPE in London this past September as well as now taking down the Poker Millon.

On a seemingly incivincible roll, Gus will now be looking forward to 2011 seeking to continue his form, beginning with the PCA this month. With Full Tilt’s flagship television show, Poker After Dark, airing a new season this month, Hansen, Antonius and co. will be seen regularly on the box in the first half of 2011.

o nline poker phenomenon Isildur1 has joined the world’s largest poker site as a Team

PokerStars Pro. The player is yet to publicly reveal his identity but shot to fame in the poker world in 2009 when he took on some of the biggest heads-up players in the game, first winning big from the likes of Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan before losing it all back with interest.

With a place on Team PokerStars Pro now confirmed, Isildur1’s real identity is set to be unveiled in the near future as he will be representing the site in live events across the world.

The news will come as a blow to Full Tilt Poker, where Isuldur1 played the majority of his high stakes action.

“I chose to join PokerStars because it’s the biggest site and it will be an exciting challenge. It means a great deal to be playing in a team alongside players such as Daniel Negreanu, Dario Minieri and Johnny Lodden.”

“My goals now are to improve my live game for some upcoming events, continue to focus on heads-up no-limit Hold’em, but also try to develop my pot-limit Omaha game,” he added.

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu is understandably thrilled at PokerStars latest coup.

“It’s not every day that a player like Isildur1 comes along. If you look up the definition of the term ‘phenom’ you’ll see a picture of his face!” (that’s of course assuming we knew what his face looked looked like, Daniel...)

Negreanu continued to shower the Scandinavian pro with compliments, saying “hate to overuse the poker term ‘sick’ but Isildur’s no-limit Hold’em game is just that - sick! Few people step up to the plate against him, but the ones who have, universally have respect for his raw talent.”

As part of his new sponsorship the mysterious high roller will be playing in a sponsored series dubbed the “High stakes heads-up SuperStar Showdown matches”.

poKerstArs trump Full tilt, sign isilDur1

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picture of the month

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picture of the month

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Classic The Bellagio, Las VegasDecember 8th 2010 A star studded final table get ready for action at the WPT Five Diamond Classic Picture Courtesy of WPT Images

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The Best in the BusinessPoker’s Players of the Year: 2010

The books are closed on 2010, and what a year it has been. We’ve seen breakthrough performances, sensational

victories, a resurgence of the some of the old guard and some of biggest online cash games the world has ever seen.

Many players have had good years, but only a few have had exceptional ones. And with that in mind, we bring you a countdown of the players who have stood head and shoulders above the rest in 2010.

Of course, there are a number of players who came close to making it, but couldn’t survive the final cut. Those unlucky to miss out included Sorel Mizzi, Tyson “POTTERPOKER” Marks, James Bord and Harrison Gimbel, but with only ten spots to fill it was inevitable that there would be players worthy of recognition who wouldn’t quite make it.

But anyway, enough with the also-rans. After much debate, here are the ten players who did make it to the promised land.

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Phil Laak2010 Tournament Earnings: $640,4242010 Notable Cashes: 32010 Tournament Wins: 1Notable Wins: WSOPE £2,500 Six Max Tournament

2010 has been an incredible year for Phil Laak, who finally managed to capture his first World Series of Poker

bracelet in the WSOPE £2,500 Six Max NL Hold’em event in London. In addition to bagging a bracelet, the Unabomber also broke the endurance record for poker when he completed a 115 hours cash game session in the summer.

But perhaps Laak’s greatest victory this year came away from the tables. A horrific ATV crash prior to the WSOPE left Laak hospitalized with a broken arm, broken ribs and orbital bone and eye damage, Just surviving the accident intact was a miracle in itself, to show the determination and spirit to come back and win your first WSOP bracelet just week afterwards is an even bigger testament to the man.

9Frank Kassela2010 Tournament Earnings: $1,256,1362010 Notable Cashes: 72010 Tournament Wins: 2Notable Wins: WSOP $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 Championships, WSOP $2,000 7 Card Stud

The WSOP is the place where names are made and legacies are established in the world of poker, and

no-one was more successful on the biggest stage the game has to offer this year than Frank Kassela.

Kassela was the only man the win multiple WSOP bracelets in 2010, taking down the $10,000 Seven Card Stud and $2,000 Razz events. He came within a whisker of equaling Jeff Lisandro’s three bracelet performance in 2009 by final tabling the $25,000 NL Hold’em Six Max event, but busted out in 3rd.

Still, Kassela’s WSOP run was good enough for him to be awarded the coveted Player of the Year award.

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Dwyte Pilgrim2010 Tournament Earnings: $1,168,2222010 Notable Cashes: 192010 Tournament Wins: 7Notable Wins: WPT Borgata Open

Dwyte Pilgrim has thrust himself from obscurity into the media spotlight through a string of fantastic results over the past 12

months. A self-professed grinder, Pilgrim’s incredible 19 tournament cashes in 2010 leads the statistical category by a distance. In addition, his conversion rate of tournament wins to cashes is a phenomenal achievement that hasn’t even been nearly matched this year.

Criticism leveled at Pilgrim in the past was that, despite the number of results he had accrued, he’d failed to record a really big tournament win. All that changed in September when he steamrollered his way to victory in the WPT Borgata Open to cement his place in the top ten Players of 2010.

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David Williams2010 Tournament Earnings: $1,583,2742010 Notable Cashes: 62010 Tournament Wins: 1Notable Wins: WPT World Championship

2 010 was a year of redemption for David Williams. For so long the nearly man, dating back to his 2nd place finish at

the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2004, Williams finally wrenched the monkey off his back by winning the WPT World Championship in April this year.

To find out more about David’s excellent year, check out this month’s feature interview on page 36.

6Jake Cody2010 Tournament Earnings: $1,712,9462010 Notable Cashes: 82010 Tournament Wins: 2Notable Wins: EPT Deauville, WPT London Poker Open

Never heard of Jake Cody? Well, if you’re one of the few people who haven’t then

that’s all about to change in 2011.British pro Cody took down the EPT Deauville and WPT London Poker Classic in 2010, making the 22 year old the only man to capture an EPT and WPT title this year. Cody will be attempting to become the youngest winner of the triple crown when he heads to his second World Series this summer.

Onlookers, including poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton, described Cody’s WPT London final table performance, in which he eliminated six of his seven opponents, as one of the most impressive performances they had ever seen. With that kind of praise it really isn’t difficult to predict that even bigger things await Jake in the future.

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Tom Marchese2010 Tournament Earnings: $2,114,4912010 Notable Cashes: 162010 Tournament Wins: 2Notable Wins: NAPT Venetian Main Event

Look up the results of any major tournament from this year, and it is more than likely that somewhere on the list of high finishers youll be looking at the name

of Tom Marchese. Marchese has been everywhere in 2010, dominating the world of live poker in both Europe and the USA.

Marchese’s biggest score in 2010 came when he took down the NAPT Venetian Main Event for $827,648 in February. However, his accumulation of final tables is even more impressive, deep runs at the EPT London, the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals, the EPT Grand Finale High Roller in Monte Carlo and WSOP $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em Championship have seen Marchese overtake Dwyte Pilgrim in the race for Card Player Player of the Year honors, a title he now looks sure to win.

Michael Mizrachi2010 Tournament Earnings: $4,048,5082010 Notable Cashes: 72010 Tournament Wins: 1Notable Wins: WSOP $50,000 Player’s Championship

If your way of measuring a successful year is a mix of big event cashes, praise, notoriety and dollars earned, then there’s no arguing

that Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi has had one of the best 12 months of any poker player’s career in 2010.

Mizrachi began the World Series with some well documented financial issues, but if the Grinder ever needed to string a number of results together then he could not have wished for a better Series than he had. Four final table appearances were highlighted by victory in the Series’ most prestigious event, the $50,000 Player’s Championship, and by making the November Nine. Mizrachi couldn’t take down the Main Event to tie Frank Kassela for the WSOP Player of the Year award, eventually finishing 5th, but still managed to haul in over $4m for the year.

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Daniel Cates2010 Tournament Earnings: $9,0852010 Notable Cashes: 12010 Tournament Wins: 0Notable Wins: N/A

I f you’ve checked out Daniel Cates’ live tournament cashes you could be forgiven

for thinking that he doesn’t belong in the 500 players of the year, let alone the top three. However, if instead you look up the online statistics of nosebleed cash game specialist Jungleman12, you’ll understand why Cates is more than worthy of his place in our top ten.

Jungleman12 is the biggest winner in online poker in 2010. With $5,097,400 profit from the nosebleed cash game tables, Cates has been tearing it up online at both NL Hold’em and PLO. The major players in high stakes poker community including Isildur1, Patrik Antonius and especially Tom Dwan have all felt the force of Cates’ extended run.

Cates and Durrrr are currently squaring off in the second Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge, meaning that the two biggest online pros will surely be clashing well into 2011. Cates is currently over $580,000 up in the 50,000 NL Hold’em matchup and has showns signs that he may just have Dwan’s number. If he does, expect 2011 to be as profitable for Cates as 2010.

2Vanessa Selbst2010 Tournament Earnings: $2,866,1902010 Notable Cashes: 72010 Tournament Wins: 2Notable Wins: NAPT Mohegan Suns Main Event, Partouche Poker Tour Main Event

Coming so close to the top spot but falling short at the last hurdle is the 2010 First Lady of Poker,

Vanessa Selbst.After winning a WSOP bracelet in 2008, 2009 was

somewhat of a down year for Selbst. All that changed, however, in 2010. Wins either side of the Atlantic at the NAPT Mohegan Suns and Partouche Poker Tour Main Event are the highlights of Selbst’s stellar year. She is one of the most feared tournament pros on the circuit, a fact that was proved further when Selbst was signed up to be a member of Team PokerStars Pro.

David Williams summed it up best when asked about his fellow Team PokerStar Pro. “If it was the end of the world and we had to pick one person to play against the aliens, and Phil Ivey was busy, I think it would have to be Vanessa. She’s incredible.”

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Jonathan Duhamel2010 Tournament Earnings: $8,987,3102010 Notable Cashes: 32010 Tournament Wins: 1Notable Wins: 2010 WSOP Main Event

No surprises on who’s coming in at No.1 on the Player of the Year list for 2010. Despite only

registering a handful of cashes Jonathan Duhamel’s near $9m payday on November 9th for taking down the 2010 WSOP Main Event has him as by far and a way the biggest winner of the year.

The WSOP Main Champion is now a household name thanks to the win, and will spend 2011 representing the poker as it’s new king. Whether he can replicate anything near his 2010 performance in 2011 is irrelevant, for now Duhamel is on top of the world.

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