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Poker is a very volatile game, but high stakes poker is straight dangerous. Many one time poker stars have long since been busto, whether or not the general public has any clue. Some players have their troubles well documented, while others do their best to keep everything a secret. Take a look at these five famous poker players who are either confirmed busto, near busto, or merely rumored to be broke. The poker community, particularly the online poker community, loves to talk about the financial status of players they don’t know anything about, so don’t take anything you read for absolute fact. Having said that, this list is quite accurate from what information is available, so don’t be surprised if you see one of these guys railing your table the next time you are in Vegas.

#1-T.J. Cloutier

What are the first few automatic suggestions from Google when you search for T.J. Cloutier? Things like “broke” and “craps” are at the very top of the list. These two words effectively tell the long story of Cloutier’s degenerate gambling. Even though it is clearly a losing proposition, Cloutier always comes back to the craps tables to lose, lose, and lose some more. He even sold off one of his WSOP bracelets, probably in an attempt to either pay back a debt or get his fix at the craps table. For as much success as Cloutier has had at the poker tables, it is safe to assume that he hasn’t done nearly as well tossing the dice.

In the continuing saga revolving around the dismissal of Jason “JDN” Newitt from Full Tilt Poker, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has issued a subpoena for the former Full Tilt employee Jason Newitt. Newitt was dismissed from Full Tilt Poker earlier and has a lawsuit pending against Full Tilt Poker, among others, for unfair dismissal and a ceasing of payments. The same law firm that represented Clonie Gowen, Howard and Howard, will represent Newitt in his unfair dismissal case against the web site. Although the Gowen case ended in a dismissal with some defendants being dismissed without prejudice (Gowen can sue them again in the future), Full Tilt Poker was dismissed with prejudice – Gowen will not be allowed to sue the web site again.

The alleged reason behind the Newitt dismissal seems to be the result of a forwarded email from Newitt that not only revealed internal messages about the possible sponsorship of a poker player, but revealed some comments that Howard Lederer had made about the poker player, Jimmy Fricke. Unfortunately, the person to which the email was accidentally forwarded happened to be Fricke himself – who then posted the email on a popular poker forum. One of the most revealing aspects of the email was some information about the exact amount of influence that Lederer had on the daily running of Full Tilt Poker (that must have been one long email).

After last week’s announcement that Mike Mizrachi (otherwise known as The Grinder) was being sued by Deliverance Poker, many poker players were searching for details about the lawsuit – especially why it was being filed. This week, more information has become available about the lawsuit and who the additional defendant in the suit is. It seems that Deliverance Poker is suing both Mizrachi and his new home, Full Tilt Poker. Full Tilt Poker has declined to comment about the lawsuit. However, some web sites have obtained a copy of the formal complaint that describes the reason for the lawsuit.

Deliverance Poker is claiming that Mizrachi was in violation of his contract terms when he failed to wear a Deliverance Poker logo during his run at the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. However, he was sporting the logo during the 2010 World Series of Poker Players Championship – an event that he won. Mizrachi, who was still under contract at the time, did wear his Full Tilt Poker logo during the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Although nominations can continue until August 31st, 181 professional poker players have already received nominations for the 2010 induction into the Poker Hall of Fame. Sponsored by Harrah’s, the company noted this week that the nomination and voting trends are very similar to that of last year in 2009. By September 1st, Harrah’s will announce the top finishers in the nomination race. From there, the committee reviewing the nominees will look over the top 10 and select this year’s Hall of Fame inductee possibilities. Not all top 10 nominations will be considered. In fact, in 2009, this committee turned down the nomination of Tom Dwan because they determined that he had not “stood the tests of time.”

Finally, in the middle of September, the players already in the Poker Hall of Fame and a limited panel will ultimately choose the player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. During this process, the committee can also write in any players that they would like to be considered during 2011. If any do so, that player will automatically be sent to this final process during next year’s proceedings.

Although speculated for a while, Liv Boeree has officially left UB. The first signs of a possible split were at the 2010 World Series of Poker where Liv Boeree was not wearing any UB gear and did not promote the web site in any way. However, UB recently removed her name from their site and, in a surprising move, wiped clean any sign that she was ever a part of the company by going through all forums and pages to make sure that her name is no longer present anywhere. Neither UB or Liv Boeree have commented officially on the break up but it appears that the San Remo winner will not be returning to UB.

Possible reasons for the split include an offer from PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker – who are no strangers to signing players from other web sites. However, Boeree might go to her European heritage and sign with a company like Everest Poker or Party Poker. Finally, some are speculating that an offer from Bodog is likely as they are no stranger to sponsoring professionals of her type – fun, attractive and of the fairer sex. Regardless of the site, it is clear that Liv Boeree will be signed by another online poker site to replace her UB sponsorship.