Thanks to @phil_hellmuth who tweeted this segment of the Bellagio 25K Championship.  Place your cursur on the video and move it around the table. AWESOME!

Epic Hellmuth Action

So last night I was listening to old podcasts (late 2008 – early 2009) from Two Plus Two . The hosts Mike and Adam were talking about how one of them had started watching Gus TV. He said it was fun and so addictive and warned listeners to not start watching unless you have a lot of time before you need to do something.

So, naturally, I had to try it out.  I surfed over to GusHansenTV.com, created an account, and downloaded Microsoft® Silverlight™ in order to give a look.

There’s Gus, right on my computer screen, talking directly to me about his thoughts as he plays two games of Omaha. (The two games are dispayed below Gus.) He’s talking about what he thinks the other player has, how he thinks the other player will react, how he thinks his hand will stand up, shoulda’s and coulda’s, and so on.

It is pretty facinating to have this up-close and personal look at what is going on in his mind right as he is playing. For someone who plays Omaha, I think it would be a good learning tool.

One example of the kinds of things that poker pros that we come to know through no limit hold’em tournaments  do in their spare time.

Two Plus Two Podcast Archives

Mike Johnson and Adam Schwartz

Looking to face off against your favorite poker pro?  Think they play at Ultimate Bet?  Here’s a list of the Ultimate Bet Team.

1. Eric Baldwin – “ERIC_BALDWIN“ on Ultimate Bet
2. Michael Binger – “MICHAELBINGER“ on Ultimate Bet
3. Liv Boeree -
4. Brandon Cantu – “BRANDONCANTU“ on Ultimate Bet
5. Gary Debernardi - “DEBO34“ on Ultimate Bet
6. Bryan Devonshire – “BRYAN_DEVO” on Ultimate Bet
7. Annie Duke – “AnnieDuke” on Ultimate Bet
8. Matt Graham – “MattGraham” and “mattg1983” on Ultimate Bet
9. Phil Hellmuth – “PHILHELLMUTH” on Ultimate Bet
10. Scott Ian -
11. Billy Kopp – “Ace10Clubz” on Ultimate Bet
12. Mark Kroon – “P0ker H0” on Ultimate Bet
13. Adam Levy – “Roothlus” on Ultimate Bet
14. Tiffany Michelle – “TIFFANY M” on Ultimate Bet
15. Shawn Rice – “Shawn Rice” on Ultimate Bet
16. Joe Sebok -
17. Dave Stann (Hollywood Dave) – “HollywoodDave“ on Ultimate Bet

Congrats to neighbor and poker pro, Bernard Lee of Wayland, Massachusetts who was named official spokesperson for Foxwoods Resort Casino today!

Bernard Lee will wear the Foxwoods logo at all official poker events and his radio show, The Bernard Lee Poker Show, which has been running since 2007 will now  be “Presented by Foxwoods Resort Casino”.  Mr. Lee’s radio show is aired on 1120am in the Boston area and at 7:00 pm on Tuesdays at www.roundersradio.com.

Lee and Foxwoods have history. Bernard started playing at Foxwoods way back in 1992 when it first opened. He played in his first poker tournament at Foxwoods, and during 2006 – 2008 won 3 tournament titles there.

From the press release…

A Wayland, Massachusetts resident, Lee has won more than $1.35 million and three titles on the tournament
circuit since becoming a professional poker player three years ago. The Harvard University and Babson College graduate worked as a senior marketing/new business development manager at a Fortune 500 company before finishing 13th — New England’s top finisher — in the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

…

Bernard Lee is co-host of ESPN.com’s weekly online poker show, “ESPN Inside Deal,” and is a poker columnist for the Boston Herald, ESPN.com, PokerNewsDaily.com, and other media outlets. He has released two books, The Final Table, Volume I and Volume II, which are compilations of his Sunday Herald poker columns. He is also an instructor for the WSOP Academy and a poker commentator for the WSOP and New England’s Eastern Poker Tour.

Foxwoods is the first major casino to sponsor a poker pro. More about Foxwoods Resort Casino

More about Bernard Lee

Looking to face off against your favorite poker pro online? Here’s a list of the poker pros playing at Full Tilt Poker.

The Pros’ names (on the left) link to their bio pages on Full Tilt Poker. Their screen names are listed on the right. I will continue to research those that are missing.

1. Brandon Adams – “Brandon Adams” on Full Tilt Poker
2. James Akenhead – “James Akenhead” on Full Tilt Poker
3. Patrik Antonius – “Patrik Antonius” on Full Tilt Poker
4. Billy Argyros -
5. Josh Arieh – “Josh Arieh” on Full Tilt Poker
6. Richard Ashby -
7. Amanda Baker – “Mandy B” on Full Tilt Poker
8. Praz Bansi -
9. Joao Barbosa – “Joao Barbosa” on Full Tilt Poker
10. Aaron Bartley – “Aaron Bartley” on Full Tilt Poker
11. Steven Begleiter -
12. David Benyamine -
13. Thomas Bihl – “Thomas Bihl” on Full Tilt Poker
14. Sascha Biorac -
15. Andy Black – “Andrew Black” on Full Tilt Poker
16. Andy Bloch – “Andy Bloch” on Full Tilt Poker
17. Farzad Bonyadi -
18. Brad Booth – “Brad Booth” on Full Tilt Poker
19. Alan Boston – “Alan Boston” on Full Tilt Poker
20. David Bradley -
21. Steve Brecher – “Steve Brecher” on Full Tilt Poker
22. Richard Brodie – “Quiet Lion” on Full Tilt Poker
23. Erik Cajelais -
24. John Cernuto -
25. Lynette Chan – “Lynette Chan” on Full Tilt Poker
26. David Chiu – “David Chiu” on Full Tilt Poker
27. Scott Clements – “Scott Clements” on Full Tilt Poker
28. Artie Cobb – “Artie Cobb” on Full Tilt Poker
29. David Colclough – “Dave Colclough” on Full Tilt Poker
30. Diego Cordovez – “Diego Codovez” on Full Tilt Poker
31. Allen Cunningham – “AllenCunningham” on Full Tilt Poker (no space btwn. names)
32. John D’Agostino – “John DAgostino” on Full Tilt Poker
33. Roland de Wolfe – “Roland de Wolfe” on Full Tilt Poker
34. Ryan Dreyer -
35. Tom Dwan – “durrrr” on Full Tilt Poker
36. Bill Edler – “Bill Edler” on Full Tilt Poker
37. Trond Eidsvig -
38. Eli Elezra -
39. Nikolay Evdakov -
40. Andrew Feldman – “Andrew Feldman” on Full Tilt Poker
41. Peter Feldman – “Nordberg” on Full Tilt Poker
42. Chris Ferguson – “Chris Ferguson” on Full Tilt Poker
43. Scott Fischman – “Scott Fischman” on Full Tilt Poker
44. Perry Friedman – “Perry Friedman” on Full Tilt Poker
45. Eric Froehlich – “Eric Froehlich” on Full Tilt Poker
46. Rafe Furst – “Rafe Furst” on Full Tilt Poker
47. Julian Gardner -
48. Bill Gazes – “Bill Gazes” on Full Tilt Poker
49. Kristy Gazes – “Kristy Gazes” on Full Tilt Poker
50. Markus Golser – “Markus Golser” on Full Tilt Poker
51. Phil Gordon – “Phil Gordon” on Full Tilt Poker
52. Michael Gracz -
53. David Grey – “David Grey” on Full Tilt Poker
54. Jared Hamby – “TheWacoKidd” on Full Tilt Poker
55. Gus Hansen – “Gus Hansen” on Full Tilt Poker
56. Jennifer Harman – “Jennifer Harman” on Full Tilt Poker
57. Matt Hawrilenko – “Matt Hawrilenko” on Full Tilt Poker
58. Rob Hollink – “rob hollink” on Full Tilt Poker (all small letters)
59. Soraya Homam – “Soraya Homam” on Full Tilt Poker
60. Alessio Isaia -
61. Phil Ivey – “Phil Ivey” on Full Tilt Poker
62. Niki Jedlicka – “Niki Jedlicka” on Full Tilt Poker
63. Chip Jett – “Chip Jett” on Full Tilt Poker
64. Karina Jett – “Karina Jett” on Full Tilt Poker
65. Berry Johnston -
66. John Juanda – “John Juanda” on Full Tilt Poker
67. Kelly Kim -
68. Martin Kläser – “Martin Klaeser” on Full Tilt Poker
69. Christiane Klecz – “Chris Klecz” on Full Tilt Poker
70. Erich Kollman – “Erich Kollman” on Full Tilt Poker
71. Søren Kongsgaard – “SorenKongsgaard” on Full Tilt Poker
72. Christian Kruel – “Christian Kruel” on Full Tilt Poker
73. Howard Lederer – “Howard Lederer” on Full Tilt Poker
74. Markus Lehman -
75. Alfredo Leonidas -
76. Marco Liesy – “Marco Liesy” on Full Tilt Poker
77. Erick Lindgren – “Erick Lindgren” on Full Tilt Poker
78. Hal Lubarsky -
79. Vitaly Lunkin – “Vitaly Lunkin” on Full Tilt Poker
80. Jeff Madsen – “Jeff Madsen” on Full Tilt Poker
81. Lee Markholt -
82. Craig Marquis – “Craig Marquis” on Full Tilt Poker
83. Greg Mascio -
84. Mike Matusow – “Mike Matusow” on Full Tilt Poker
85. Danielle Mazzia – “Danielle Mazzia” on Full Tilt Poker
86. Dag Mikkelsen – “dmmikkel” on Full Tilt Poker
87. Scott Montgomery – “ScottMontgomery” on Full Tilt Poker
88. Jordan Morgan – “Jordan Morgan” on Full Tilt Poker
89. Greg Mueller – “GregFBTMueller” on Full Tilt Poker
90. Adam Noone – “Adam Noone” on Full Tilt Poker
91. Raul Oliveira -
92. David Oppenheim – “David Oppenheim” on Full Tilt Poker
93. Raul Paez -
94. Stuart Paterson – “Stuart Paterson” on Full Tilt Poker
95. David Pham – “David Pham” on Full Tilt Poker
96. John Phan -
97. Leandro Pimentel -
98. Vivek Rajkumar -
99. Stefan Rapp -
100. Claudio Rinaldi – “Claudio Rinaldi” on Full Tilt Poker
101. Ben Roberts – “Ben Roberts” on Full Tilt Poker
102. Roberto Romanello – “R Romanello” on Full Tilt Poker
103. Esther Rossi – “Esther Rossi” on Full Tilt Poker
104. Damian Salas -
105. Ali Sarkeshik -
106. Eddy Scharf – “Eddy Scharf” on Full Tilt Poker
107. Erica Schoenberg – “EricaSchoenberg” on Full Tilt Poker
108. Adam Schoenfeld – “Adam Schoenfeld” on Full Tilt Poker
109. Nick Schulman – “Nick Schulman” on Full Tilt Poker
110. Alexander Schwab -
111. Huckleberry Seed – “HuckleberrySeed” on Full Tilt Poker
112. Erik Seidel – “Erik Seidel” on Full Tilt Poker
113. Keith Sexton – “Keith Sexton” on Full Tilt Poker
114. Matt Sexton -
115. Paul Sexton – “Paul Sexton” on Full Tilt Poker
116. Beth Shak -
117. Bruno Stefanelli – “BrunoStefanelli” on Full Tilt Poker
118. Johan Storakers – “Johan Storakers” on Full Tilt Poker
119. David Singer – “David Singer” on Full Tilt Poker
120. Gavin Smith – “Gavin Smith” on Full Tilt Poker
121. Justin Smith -
122. Roland Specht -
123. Sigi Stockinger – “Sigi Stockinger” on Full Tilt Poker
124. Frank Thompson -
125. Kenny Tran -
126. Marco Traniello – “Marco Traniello” on Full Tilt Poker
127. Michael Tureniec – “MichaelTureniec” on Full Tilt Poker
128. Jon Turner – “PearlJammed” on Full Tilt Poker
129. Jose Luis Velador -
130. Jani Vilmunen -
131. Cyndy Violette -
132. Jens Voertmann -
133. Hans Martin Vogl – “Hans Vogl” on Full Tilt Poker
134. Mark Vos – “Mark Vos” on Full Tilt Poker
135. Lee Watkinson – “Lee Watkinson” on Full Tilt Poker
136. Robert Williamson III – “R WilliamsonIII” on Full Tilt Poker
137. Roy Winston – “Roy Winston” on Full Tilt Poker
138. Paul Wolfe – “Paul Wolfe” on Full Tilt Poker
139. Christoph Wolters -
140. Steve Wong – “Steve Wong” on Full Tilt Poker
141. Steve Yea -
142. Steve Zolotow – “Steve Zolotow” on Full Tilt Poker

You’re jazzed about poker and you want to know where you can face off against your favorite poker pro online…I know the feeling. Here’s a list of poker pros who play at PokerStars and their screen names.

Remember that PokerStars Find a Player… is case sensitive! PokerStars Find a Team PokerStars Player displays a drop-down list. You can see who is online and select from the list.

1. Jude Ainsworth – “j.thaddeus” on PokerStars
2. Andre Akkari – “AAkkari” on PokerStars
3. Anton Allemann – “A.Allemann” on PokerStars
4. Juan Carlos Alvarado – “JC Alvarado” on PokerStars (space before last name)
5. Eric Assadourian – “assadourian” on PokerStars
6. Jose Ignacio Barbero – “nachobarbero” on PokerStars
7. Noah Boeken – “Exclusive” on PokerStars
8. Humberto Brenes – “HumbertoB” on PokerStars
9. Chad Brown – “ChadBrownPRO” on PokerStars
10. Joe Cada – “jcada99” on PokerStars
11. Nuno Coelho – “nuno coelho” on PokerStars (space before last name)
12. Victoria Coren – “Vicky Coren” on PokerStars (space before last name)
13. Veronica Dabul – “princesa” on PokerStars
14. Ivan Demidov – “Ivan Demidov” on PokerStars (space before last name)
15. John Duthie – “JohnDuthie” on PokerStars
16. Peter Eastgate – “PeteEastgate” on PokerStars
17. Pier Paolo Fabretti – “P.Fabretti” on PokerStars
18. Nicola Fedeli – “N.Fedeli” on PokerStars
19. Leo Fernandez – “LeoFernandez” on PokerStars
20. Alexandre Gomes – “Allingomes” on PokerStars
21. Barry Greenstein – “barryg1” on PokerStars
22. Gavin Griffin – “GavinGriffin” on PokerStars
23. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – “ElkY” on PokerStars
24. Angel Guillén – “angelguillen” on PokerStars
25. Joe Hachem – “JoeHachem” on PokerStars
26. Tony Hachem – “tony hachem” on PokerStars (space before last name)
27. Marcin Horecki – “Goral” on PokerStars
28. Elena Ichim – “E.Ichim” on PokerStars
29. JP Kelly – “jp Kelly” on PokerStars (space before last name)
30. Hevad Khan – “RaiNKhaN” on PokerStars
31. Pieter De Korver – “PeteDeKorver” on PokerStars
32. Alexander Kravchenko – “Kravchenko” on PokerStars
33. Grant Levy – “Grant Levy” on PokerStars (space before last name)
34. Johnny Lodden – “johnnylodden” on PokerStars
35. Marcel Luske – “Marcel Luske” on PokerStars (space before last name)
36. Juan Macieras – “juanmaceiras” on PokerStars
37. Rino Mathis – “Rino Mathis” on PokerStars (space before last name)
38. Arnaud Mattern – “FrenchKiss” on PokerStars
39. Maridu Mayrinck – “Maridu” on PokerStars
40. Tom McEvoy – “TomMcEvoy” on PokerStars
41. Luis Medina – “luismedina” on PokerStars
42. Jason Mercier – “JasonMercier” on PokerStars
43. Dario Minieri – “Dariominieri” on PokerStars
44. Chris Moneymaker – “Money800” on PokerStars
45. Daniel Negreanu – “KidPoker” on PokerStars
46. Lee Nelson – “LeeNelsonP*” on PokerStars
47. Luca Pagano – “LucaPagano” on PokerStars
48. Juan Manuel Pastor – “Juan Manuel” on PokerStars
49. Steve Paul-Ambrose – “Stevejpa” on PokerStars
50. Dennis Phillips – “D. Phillips” on PokerStars (space before last name)
51. Henrique Pinho – “Henrique.P” on PokerStars
52. Victor Ramdin – “VictorRamdin” on PokerStars
53. Greg Raymer – “fossilMan” on PokerStars
54. Vanessa Rousso – “LadyMaverick” on PokerStars
55. Simone Ruggeri – “S.Ruggeri” on PokerStars
56. Gualter Salles – “stockcar99” on PokerStars
57. Johannes Steindl – “J. Steindl” on PokerStars (space before last name)
58. Emad Tahtouh – “Emad Tahtouh” on PokerStars (space before last name)
59. William Thorson – “William” on PokerStars
60. Joep van den Bijgaart – “Pappe_ruk” on PokerStars
61. Lex Veldhuis – “Raszi” on PokerStars
62. Ruben Visser – “rubenrtv” on PokerStars
63. Vlad Zguba – “Vlad Zguba” on PokerStars (space before last name)

Sad news to report today… Phil Ivey and his wife Luciaetta were granted a divorce today, Tuesday, December 29. The two filed a joint petition in a Nevada court three days before Christmas.  They were high school sweethearts and married since 2002.

Best of luck to Phil and Luciaetta as they start the New Year on their new journeys.

Winding down after a busy Christmas day, I watched TV last night and saw an interesting story on Poker2Nite. The story revolved around 23 year old Thuy Doan, an up-and-coming cash poker player. Thuy announced in September that she had cancer. Since then she has lost her hair as a result of the treatment.

The story was about the Poker Pros and other well-known poker-world-related figures (like poker tournament reporter/photographer BJ Nemeth) who stepped forward to show solidarity by shaving their heads. December 15, 2009, supporters met at Phil Ivey’s home. In all, 16 shaved their heads. Among them Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Joe Sebok, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

How it went down…

The 3 of Spades was drawn

To add some “gamble” and fun to the event, they decided to split into two teams; the Red team and the Black team. Then Thuy drew a card from a deck. The team whose color was on the card had to get their heads shaved and the other team’s members did not.

So what happened?
Poker Pros have big hearts…In the end, they all shaved their heads.

Thuy wrote about the head-shaving event in her blog on PokerRoad:

“It started a few weeks ago when Barry Greenstein called and asked me to come to Vegas. He was holding a head shaving as a show of support for my battle against cancer and resulting baldness. It sounded like a fun event, which it was, but I didn’t know what to expect. Never did I imagine the incredible turnout, outpouring of love, and level of compassion displayed by everyone there. It was a truly memorable night. A huge thank you goes out to Barry for organizing the event, Phil for letting us use his palace, the barbers from Presidential Shave, everyone who showed up, and all the positive messages in the forums.”

Watch the Thuy Doan Story on Poker2Nite. (On left, choose Episode 6, Part 3. It is the last story in that snippet.)

Watch Barry Greenstein being interviewed about the head-shaving event on CardPlayer.

• Follow Thuy Doan on Twitter @RealThuyDoan
• Follow Thuy’s progress on her blog
• Poker2Nite can be seen Wednesday nights on FSN
• Follow Poker2Nite on Twitter @Poker2Nite

Dec. 3 Andrew Feldman (ESPN Poker Editor) and Lance Bradley (Bluff Magazine’s editor-in-chief) published a list of The Top Ten Poker Players in a blog post entitled, Ivey at the Top. The Dec. 3rd list is the first of what will be a new monthly feature called The Nuts. Their intention is to compile a list of the top ten poker players each month based on current results, not on lifetime achievements.  Since this will be a monthly feature, I assume that the Dec. 3rd list includes the top ten poker players for the month of November.

Feldman and Bradley openly admit that it was difficult to come up with a list. Poker players play in multiple tours and they don’t all play in the same tours. Plus the mix of live cash games and online cash games, and live tournament play and online tournament play complicate matters. Here’s what they say about the new feature and the process:

In association with our good friends at Bluff magazine, Lance Bradley and I set out to discover today’s poker top 10 for a new monthly feature. We wanted the best of the best at the current moment and didn’t want the all-time rankings, which of course would include players like Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar and Chip Reese. These rankings are all about what is going on here and now. To come up with our rankings we asked a panel of poker insiders to weigh in with their thoughts. That panel includes the poker trio at ESPN.com (myself, Gary Wise and Bernard Lee), Bluff magazine’s editor-in-chief Lance Bradley and writer Michael Friedman, Poker News Daily’s Dan Cypra, and Poker Road’s and Pocket Fives’ tournament reporter Court Harrington.

We asked our panel to take into consideration online and live play as well as cash games and tournaments. Here’s a look at December 2009’s version of what we’re going to be calling “The Nuts.”

Later on in the post, they say…

These guys are the best of the best in our eyes, but of course, we’re interested in what we got right and what we didn’t and feel free to leave that information in the comments section.

And feedback is what they got. When I read the piece, 29 poker fans had left comments.  Some argued that one or two players didn’t belong on the list. Others were indignant because stellar players (in their humble opinion) had been ignored. General consensus was that there is Too much Ivey love, and the same burning question kept arising: 

“Is this list meant to be the ten best poker players in the world at the moment or who is running particularly hot at the moment?“

Frankly, I thought for a first attempt, it was a good list. It takes time to develop a solid formula for ranking, especially given the myriad of variations in play for poker. Also, I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to the online action, so, I wasn’t feeling that any online fav had been left out. I look forward to the upcoming top ten poker player lists.

In the meantime; the post is short and worth the read. The comments are here.

Enjoy!

What do you think? Did they get it wrong?  Use comments to let us know.

Thursday, October 1, 2009, Barry Shulman, father of 2009 WSOP November Niner Jeff Shulman, won the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event. He took down Daniel Negreanu after five hours of heads-up play. [Read about the action WSOP Europe: Shulman Beats Negreanu for Main Event Bracelet] at Bluff Magazine.]

Contemplating the adage, “like father, like son“, I wonder if Jeff Shulman is following in his father’s footsteps and ask myself, “Is Jeff Shulman destined to win the 2009 WSOP Main Event in Vegas?”  What’s fueling this father-son duo to burst into the limelight with such poker prowess in 2009? Is it the dis from the WSOP? Is this a case of … “Don’t get angry…Get even!” 

I don’t know, but I do know that Jeff Shulman has hired Phil Hellmuth to coach him…and, it is fun to think about… a father and son winning majors in the same year!   Sure adds to the excitement and anticipation.

Tell me what you think. Who’s got the best chances of winning? Take a moment to cast your vote –>

Other November Niners contending at the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event final table were James Akenhead and Antoine Saout. Good to know that they are keeping in competitive shape.