The Down Town Man: Chad Brown

World's best poker player Chad Brown is one of the hosts of the Ultimate Poker Challenge television series. He has finished in the money at several events in the World Series of Poker (WSOP), including 3rd in the 2002 $1,500 Omaha hi-lo split event, 2nd to Ted Forrest in the 2004 $1,500 seven-card stud event and 2nd in the 2005 $2,000 seven-card stud hi-lo event.

Chad Brown made back to back final tables at 2005 World Series of Poker circuit events, including a third place finish behind Chris Ferguson and Prahlad Friedman.

With one of the best nicknames in poker, “Down Town” Chad Brown was born and raised in New York City, before making his way west to the bright lights of Hollywood to pursue a career as an actor in TV and film. Brown, who received his schooling on the Bronx poker scene, became involved in the Californian circuit when in Los Angeles, and from there has built a solid poker career.

With over $2 million in live tournament winnings, Chad Brown is a heavy-hitting all-game player with excellent performances dating back 15 years to the 1993 World Series of Poker. His first World Series cash came with an 11th place finish in a $1,500 Limit Hold’em event, and Chad Brown has gone on to record a total of 24 money finishes in his WSOP career, ranking him 63rd on the all-time list.

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Magic – The Gathering: David Williams

Coming from a college background including Princeton and Southern Methodist University, David Williams an active World Poker Tour Professional, Professional Poker Tour Participant, and Card Player Magazine cover story.

Before becoming a professional poker player, David, now 25 years old, was an avid "Magic" player, a game that is only played one-on-one.

Within the last year, David Williams has truly established himself as an important part of the professional poker tour landscape. With Two Second Place finishes in key tournaments, the Borgata Poker Open and the World Series of Poker No Limit Hold'em Poker Championship, David Williams proves his tournament mettle. David Williams is one of the World Poker Tour's "Young Guns" and has been featured in Playboy and ALL IN Magazines as the Future of Poker.

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J.C. Tran: The Dangerous Poker Players

Whether playing online poker or at live poker tournament, J.C Tran is considered to be the dangerous poker players and always a threat to win in any poker tournaments he is playing in. J.C Tran’s biggest accomplishments include two World Series of Poker bracelets, a WCOOP Main Event victory, and five WPT final tables.

His biggest cash is actually a 2nd place finish in the 2007 L.A. Poker Classic for $1.1 million, but he would later claim victory and $683K in the World Poker Challenge that same year. J.C. Tran’s live poker winnings are in excess of $8 million, and include 28 WSOP cashes for $1.6 million.

With an incredibly balanced mix of live and online success, Tran is an absolute monster at the tables and always a force to be reckoned with.

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Liv “The Scientist” Boree Wins At EPT San Remo

Astrophysics grad turned poker pro, TV presenter and model Liv Boeree won the biggest PokerStars European Poker Tour event ever in San Remo, Italy today. With 1,240 entrants the PokerStars EPT San Remo tournament bested its own record –set last year—for the largest major poker tournament in European history.

In the span of a few weeks a woman has won the North American Poker Tour event at Mohegan Sun, and now the European Poker Tour San Remo event! Liv Boeree, a UB sponsored poker pro, earned her way into the PokerStars sponsored EPT San Remo event through a $500 qualifier, and now has €1.25 million to show for it, along with her first major victory.

Liv Boeree came into the final table in fifth chip-position and played a strong game to take over the chip lead from Jakob Carlsson during three-handed play when she eliminated Toni Pettersson. She then defeated Carlsson in the heads-up final to claim a landmark victory.

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The Baby Face Poker Assassin: Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond

In the past couple of years, the face of poker has drastically changed as baby-faced assassins have infiltrated the poker world at break-neck speed. OMGClayAiken is the online moniker of feared poker pro Phil Galfond, a not-so-crazed American Idol fan caught up in the euphoria of having just taken down his first WSOP gold bracelet.

For those poker enthusiasts who've been eagerly following the career of Phil Galfond, his take down of Event 28 at the 2008 WSOP came as no surprise. An accomplished high-stakes online poker pro who regularly beats the $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha game at Full Tilt Poker, Phil Galfond has come a long way since his days at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied philosophy and dabbled in poker.

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Shawn Buchanan Leads At 2010 World Poker Tour Championship

A total of 161 poker players took part for the day 1 of the 2010 World Poker Tour Championship. Each player began the day with 100,000 in chips, good for 500 big blinds. Players who decide to register on day 2 will still start the poker tournament with a respectable 125 big blinds, more than enough to make a run at the title despite missing an entire day of the tournament.

With so many chips in play, eliminations were few and far between and the day ended with just 23 casualties. Among those that hit the rail were Antonio Esfandiari, Kevin Saul, McLean Karr, Justin Smith, Annette Obrestad and Card Player's owner Jeff Shulman. Other notables who finished the day near the top of the leader board include Shawn Buchanan, David Benyamine, Phil Ivey and Christian Harder.

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Allen “Clever Piggy” Cunningham

World's best poker player Allen Cunningham is one of the top players in a new generation of multi-millionaire poker professionals. Ranked amongst the top five money winners of all time, Allen Cunningham has averaged almost one WSOP bracelet a year since 2000. Allen Cunningham was set for a career as a civil engineer when he discovered poker while studying at UCLA.

The Clever Piggy became a regular at local Indian casinos, improving his game as he slowly started to derive a good income from cash poker games.

At the table, Allen Cunningham's engineering background has led him toward an analytical approach to the game of poker. Allen remains quiet, controlled, and focused no matter what happens around him. This style has paid off for him, beginning around 1999 when he enjoyed his first professional success at the Bicycle Casino's Legends of Poker. That year, he was named "Best All Around Player" after reaching the final table in five events, including victories in the $300 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo tournament and the $1,000 No-Limit Hold 'em tournament.

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Jamie Gold: The Golden Boy Of Poker

The history of poker hasn't seen a whole lot of Jamie Gold since he took down the biggest cash prize in the game's history, catapulting himself to the top of the all-time winner's list, but after taking a bit of time off he's back and ready to do some damage.

From a Celebrity talent agent turned celebrity poker player, Jamie Gold is the world’s top earning poker player, with over $12 million in prize money banked thus far in his short career.

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Chris Moneymaker: The Moneymaker Effect

The poker world owes a great deal of gratitude to Chris Moneymaker. It is a funny thing that the 29 year-old accountant from Tennessee, who had never played a live tournament before the 2003 World Series Of Poker (WSOP), would go on to win the Main Event, and in the process become one of the most influential figures of the the modern poker age.

But there Chris Moneymaker is, walking proud and standing tall, and serving as an inspiration to all the people who sit down at their home games and dream of bigger things.

Before Chris Moneymaker's career was a skyrocket, he was a travelling accountant who spent many lonely hours on the road. Many a night he sat in his crummy hotel room trying to pass the time. He enjoyed playing poker but he found it difficult to find a game, so he turned to the internet. He started playing on PokerStars whenever he had free time which he still does under the same name, “Money800”.

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Scotty Nguyen: The Prince Of Poker

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His persona as a cigarette smoking, hard-drinking, lovable loudmouth proceeds him every where he goes, from the poker table to the liqour store. Scotty Nguyen or "Thuan Nguyen" is easily one of the top ten tournament spros active in the world today, a millionaire many times over and amongst the most cherished members of the poker community.

Yet beneath it all, he is a boy named Thuan who survived civil war, hard labor and worse only to reject the metropolis of Chicago because the weather wasn’t right. Thuan “Scotty” Nguyen is truly the Prince of Poker.

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