The confidence, the competitive spirit, the egos; that’s what we love to see at the poker tables. But it is also essential to show intelligence and good manners at the poker table, or anywhere else for that matter, though not all poker professionals act professionally. Here are a some guys that will forever go down in poker history not for their good manners, big wins, and bracelets, but for their attitudes and reputations on and off the felt.
#1 “THE MOUTH” Mike Matusow. Does he have any friends? It doesn’t take too much time in his presence to realize why he is called “The Mouth.” Who else would walk right up to the WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollach and tell him he was running the illustrious tournament into the ground? He talks incessantly at the tables and berates his opponents. Mike does have talent as a poker player, it’s just so lame that we have had to witness “Matusow Meltdowns” in which he seems to be playing great and at the top of his game, and in a matter of a few hands, he has lost all his chips and his cool at the same time. Anyone who can win $1,000,000 (2005 WSOP Main Event) and lose it all 3 days later, needs therapy and a financial adviser. Mike has said that he has had his meds checked and after winning his WSOP bracelet in 2008 seems to be leveling out. We’ll see.
#2 “TONY G” Antanas Gouga is a very talented poker player. In his own words, he says “Some people find me interesting, some people find me obnoxious.” I’m pretty sure Ralph Perry “The Russian” finds him obnoxious. After beating Perry at the Grand Final of the 2006 Intercontinental Poker Championship, Guoga let out a yell, leapt to his feet, and started to berate Perry by pointing to his cards and shouting “Look how ugly this is! You’re a terrible player, this is disgraceful!” And before sitting back down, Guoga ranted “Feel the power, baby!” Tony G’s biography says that he was born in Lithuania. I read recently that Lithuania has officially made poker a sport. I wonder how many of his fellow poker pros would chip in to buy him a one-way ticket back home.
JRR Tolkein’s character Isildur was a king of Middle Earth. In a battle with the Dark Lord he cuts off the finger of his opponent and claims the Ring as his prize. Isildur was later described as being over 7 feet tall.
Anyone who follows online poker probably knows the name “Isildur1.” Like the Tolkein character, this online poker super player’s true identity remains a mystery. He has lorded over his competition at the highest stakes available anywhere, and there has been story after story published about him in the online poker community since he first came on the scene in October of 2009. All we really know for sure, though there are many theories about this guy, is that the Isildur1 account is registered to a Swedish player.
Isildur1 made a big splash when he dropped a staggering $989,484.75 in online poker bets, right off the bat, with $686,983 of that coming from just 4,509 hands of No Limit Hold ‘em. In November of 2009, he squared off heads-up against players like World Series of Poker November Nine member Phil Ivey, Tom ‘durrrr” Dwan, and Durrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius, to become the next big name in online high-stakes poker. Isildur1 has challenged the very best that the Full Tilt Poker stable has to offer.
It took over three and a half years to play the highest staked game in poker history, and sadly, it started before the game of poker became the hugely popular pastime it is today. Back in the beginning of the new millennium, the first big series events to take place were, for the most part, private affairs—no television crews to document all the action that the fans today would have clamored to watch.
And that was just fine for Andy Beal, a reserved self-made billionaire banker from Texas. It was in the beginning of 2001 that he visited the Bellagio’s poker room. He promptly found his way to the $80/$160 Texas Hold ‘em tables. He soon tired of those and moved to the $400/$800 tables.
He began to feel confident and started looking for more of a challenge. Beal got his first chance to play with the big boys in a heads-up match with Todd Brunson. He did great during the first session and suggested they play higher. The next day Beal played against some of the best players in the world at stakes starting at $1000/$2000. He won more than $100,000 that day.
Blackjack Basic Strategy Chart Courtesy of CasinoGames.org
Andy ‘The Rock” Bloch is a well known poker player. He has earned over $4.1 million in career tournament earnings, but did you know that he was also a member of the infamous MIT Blackjack Team? He had already graduated from MIT (in l992) but had been accepted to Harvard Law School, and it was the Blackjack Team that funded his tuition (a hefty $41,500 a year), and all his living expenses, as well.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
In 1979 there was an Independent Activities Program offered to the MIT students called “How to Gamble if You Must.” It was just an informal club held on campus where students could apply their high IQs and beat each other at a variety of card games. It did not take these bright students long before they realized they could have fun and make some money doing it.
They did not have to be geniuses to realize that Blackjack was the game to play! In order to win at casino blackjack your cards must add up to 21 or be as close to 21 as possible without going over. If the house has a lower hand (total score) than you, or goes over 21, YOU WIN. If it’s a tie, then nobody wins. If the house gets 21, YOU LOSE.
The students at MIT just happened to be exceptionally intelligent students with a gift for mathematics and science. When they put this all together with cards, they quickly figured out that they could count cards with ease and that card counting techniques came naturally to them.
UPDATE: 100+ Online Poker Pros on Twitter.
Tiffany Michelle in Aspen; recently posted on Twitpic.
Tiffany Michelle – @TiffnyMichelle
Tiffany Michelle is an avid Twitterer, most recently tweeting about her trip to Aspen, complete with pics. This actress, poker player, singer/songwriter is a very “busy girl who’s tryin’ to live and love…and possibly take over the world,” according to her profile. She pretty much tweets about once a day on whatever she’s got going on, whether it be a vacation, an appearance on an awards show, or a Ultimate Bet campaign. She recently filmed some videos for UB, her online poker sponsor, which she heavily promotes on Twitter with posts like, “Come play a special UB tourney on Sunday, check it out!” Michelle’s Tweets aren’t all that interesting, though, but if you are a fan of her, she does keep you updated on her life and online poker activity, as well as non-poker related appearances. Michelle has about 5,500 followers.
Maria Ho – @MariaHo
Maria Ho’s tweets are a bit more amusing and will actually have you laughing out loud. She recently posted, “I guess the valet guy wasn’t kidding when he said he was going to test out my car and then burned rubber right in front of me parking it.” She doesn’t really seem to tweet about poker a lot, at least not lately, but she does post about four or five times a day on average. She’ll let you know when she’s in a poker tourney and how she’s doing or when she’s lost. Recently, she played in the “3K Harrah’s event in New Orleans for Hit Me Shots Energy Drink and Relaxation Beverage. See! I still play poker! 
” she posted. In her Twitter bio, she calls herself a “Pro poker player, full-time knowledge seeker, part-time singer/performer, and budding entrepreneur.” Ho has about 4,300 followers.
Comments Off - Click Here to Speak Up