Freddy Deeb was born in Beirut, Lebanon on November 27, 1955. After spending his childhood in Lebanon, he moved to the United States at the age of 19. Freddy, whose real name is Kassem, picked up his nickname because people had trouble spelling his first name so a friend said that Deeb’s name was Freddy and he has been known as such ever since. While the vast majority of poker pros had a career before becoming a professional poker player, Deeb is proud to say that he has never had a regular job in his entire life.

At 19, Freddy was sent to the United States to study mechanical engineering in Los Angeles. After spending some time in Los Angeles, Freddy decided that the city was too large for his tastes and decided to transfer to Utah State University instead.  During his years in college, the war in Lebanon broke out which completely cut Freddy off from the rest of his family for two years. Because he was separated from his family, he had no way to get money to pay for school and because he was on a student visa, he was not allowed to work in the U.S. With no other option for money, Freddy would travel to Las Vegas to make his money playing poker.

After a while, Freddy started to make decent amount of money playing poker. For a while, he was playing cash games almost exclusively but as tournament poker became more popular, he started to play tournament poker as well. Freddy’s first money finish, according to gaming records, was in 1986 and Deeb has been well known on the tournament poker scene ever since. Freddy is known for being extremely adept at almost every form of poker.

Freddy won his very first World Series of Poker bracelet in 1996 by beating an extremely talented final table that included the likes of Doyle Brunson and Gabe Kaplan in the $5000 Deuce to Seven Lowball event. Despite the fact that Deeb has never won the WSOP Main event, he has come close twice finishing 13^th in 2003 and 17^th in 1995, he has won the most difficult World Series of Poker bracelet. In 2007, Freddy outlasted the likes of Barry Greenstein and Thor Hansen to take home the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E WSOP bracelet.  Along with his two bracelets, he has 28 money finishes at the WSOP.

In addition to his success at the WSOP, Deeb has also been immensely successful on the World Poker Tour. He has five final tables under his belt, three wins, and twelve money finishes. In total, Deeb has taken home more than $7.2 million in live winnings and is one of the most successful players on the World Poker Tour. As a player, Deeb is a rather conservative player and he is always looking for the best opportunity to “invest” his chips that will result in the best return. Freddy Deeb currently lives in Las Vegas with his wife and four children.

Jerry Yang was born on June 11, 1968 in Laos, Cambodia. After the start of the communist revolution in the 1970s the Yang family fled to neighboring Thailand where they lived in a refugee camp for four years. In 1979, the Yang family finally relocated to the United States. Jerry Yang attended Loma Linda University in Los Angeles where he got degrees in health psychology and social work. For years Yang was a practicing psychologist and he did not retire to switch to poker full time until he won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2007. This was Yang’s first tournament win and he took home $8.25 million for his troubles. Yang qualified for the main event through a $225 satellite tournament that he played in at a casino in Temecula, California.

As a result of his background in psychology, Yang is extremely good at the psychological aspect of poker. Being able to read opponents and project the kind of image that you want is extremely important in poker and Jerry Yang is excellent at the psychological play involved in poker. Because he can see through the clouds that players put up, Yang can sniff out weak hands and punish players who play them.

Peter Eastgate is a 24 year old poker pro from Denmark.  Peter broke onto the international poker scene when at the ripe old age of 22, he captured the World Series of Poker Main Event title in 2008. He became the youngest player to win the WSOP Main Event beating the record set by Phil Hellmuth at 24 in 1988. Eastgate’s record was subsequently broken by Joe Cada. In addition to capturing the WSOP Main Event title, Eastgate also walked away with an astonishing $9.15 million dollars.

Though Eastgate is a well known online poker pro in Denmark where he is extremely successful playing cash games, he was an almost complete unknown in the United States until his victory. Eastgate has played extensively with the likes of Gus Hansen and has been compared to him on more than one occasion. Eastgate is an aggressive and unpredictable opponent which makes him an intimidating player to play against.

After his victory in the Main Event, he has made his presence known on the European Poker Tour among other successes. He took home an impressive $843,000 when he placed second at the London stop on the European Poker Tour. With the massive WSOP payout, Eastgate has live career winnings of over $11 million. One of the things Eastgate has been most noted for is the fact that he had a very tempered reaction to winning the Main Event. Typically, when a player wins the Main Event he is visibly ecstatic jumping around and partaking in celebration. Eastgate has said that the reason for his tempered response is the fact that he was shocked that he won and after playing poker for 12 hours a day for two days straight, he simply did not have the energy to go crazy.

David Pham was born in South Vietnam on February 10, 1967. At the age of 17, he fled Vietnam to come to the United States. Pham made the trip from Vietnam on a small boat carrying 145 people and of those 145 people who left Vietnam only 46 survived the crossing the reach the United States. Once he reached the US, Pham started working for his cousin, Men Nguyen, at his laundry business. Nguyen is also a professional player and Pham originally learned to play poker from his cousin and continues to play with him to this day.
Pham, also known as The Dragon, has had extensive success on the professional poker circuit taking home over $8 million in tournament winnings. Pham has two World Series of Poker bracelets – the 2001 $2000 S.H.O.E event and the $2000 No-limit Hold’em Shootout in 2006 – and 25 money finishes on the WSOP in addition to 14 money finishes on the World Poker Tour and one money finish on the European Poker Tour. In addition to his success playing poker, he has won the Player of the Year Award from Card Player twice in both 2000 and 2007.

Joseph Hachem defeated 5618 players to win the Main Event at the 2005 World Series of Poker. His victory earned him a record breaking $7.5 million dollars and forever cast him into the poker limelight.

Joseph Hachem was born in Lebanon on March 11, 1966 but he moved with his family to Melbourne, Australia in 1972. He has lived in Australia ever since and became a chiropractor. In 2002, Hachem abandoned his medical practice as a result of developing a rare form of blood disorder that affects the hands. While pondering what to do moving forward, he decided to start playing poker. Initially, he played poker in casinos but he began to play more and more online poker. In addition to playing poker, Hachem also ran a brokerage business in Pascoe Vale. In 1989, Hachem got married to his wife Jeanie and currently has four children with her; Anthony, Justine, David, and James.

One of the things that Hachem credits with the great improvement in his game was his ability to control his emotions. He has said, “I used to be a lot more excitable. I’m of Lebanese origin so my blood is at boiling temperature at rest. I’m very emotional.”
Developing a more level-headed demeanor helped him to perform more consistently at the table with fewer extreme swings in emotion and success. According to Hachem, he credits his disciplined and focused play with his success at the poker table and has said that he rarely bluffs and almost never bluffs with no outs. Hachem finally broke into poker superstardom when he defeated 5618 players to win the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event. This victory netted Hachem a record-shattering $7.5 million dollars and solidified his position as an international poker professional. As of October 2009, Hachem has taken home more than $10 million in tournament winnings. In addition to his poker play, Hachem runs a mortgage business and is a promotional celebrity for PokerStars and enjoys playing golf.

Poker is one of the most popular gambling games and although it is fun, few people have actually managed to enter in the records of some of the greatest poker players of all times. Compared to the number of people who play poker, the number of those great players of all times is very low and for those who have managed to do so, there is usually a story behind their success. One of the greatest poker players of all times is none other that Chris Moneymaker.

His story spins like a tale of one who came from rags to riches pretty first. Coincidentally, Chris moneymaker and these are his real names, was initially an accountant from Tennessee who was never into poker much. He is said to have been living a lonely life, playing poker yes, but never really finding a nice game. It was while he was surfing over the internet that he began playing at Pokerstars online, where his game gradually improved and he decided to try qualifying for the World Series. He was lucky to win a seat and paid US$ 40 for that. Being broke and without money, Chris realized that he would have to struggle just to raise the money to go and play in Las Vegas. Desperate, he sold pieces of his action to his father and another friend. But as fate would have it, he managed to go and play in Las Vegas and guess what? The tournament ended with Chris moneymaker scooping the main trophy and a cool US$ 2.5 million, in cash. That was the turning point and since then, many people and fans alike have tried to follow suit and he inspires many around the world.

This win for Chris in 2003 was his first title in WSOP, better known as World Series of poker. In fact, Chris almost missed that great event in Las Vegas, but his determination reigned supreme. At a time when he did not have the money to travel to Las Vegas, let alone money to board a room in Vegas, Chris made a quick deal with his father and friend. However, some people believed that he was relying so much on luck to win, with some going as far as saying that had they the same cards which Chris held, they too would have won. But again Chris is proving many wrong on that assumption. He has played at the WPT, better known as the world poker tour, where he came second in the tournament and won US$ 200,000. He only came second to Phil Gordon, but some believe he would have won, had it not been for some bad beats

Perhaps one thing people and fans can learn from Chris Moneymaker is to believe in yourself and play to win regardless of who you are playing with. In that 2003 WSOP win, Chris was in a tough table with former world number one Dan Harrington and another feared cash player, Sammy Farha. However, despite the struggles and being his first shot at a major event, Chris was never intimidated or cowed. He played like a veteran, never relenting in his push for a win. He managed to bust out Harrington in third and then zeroed in on Farha, before shortly winning the game on a full boat.

As a matter of fact, Chris has helped take the game of poker to a new level and millions of people play up to 1000 hands a day, drawing their inspiration from this great man. This is not to say however that Chris no longer plays poker. In fact he does and goes by the name money800. He lives with his wife and daughter in Nashville. As you would expect, he quit his frustrating job as an accountant and is a celebrity spokesman for Harrah’s entertainment. He became a celebrity overnight, but has managed to maintain his humility and calm and is a loving father and husband. Chris has gone ahead and donated US$ 25,000 to a cancer research.

This explains perhaps why his style of play is not exactly aggressive, like other poker greats. His is a light game, but he is always alert and ready to narrow in on his opponents. Wherever Chris is playing, you will find friends and fans, all shouting and calling him by his nickname, “Money” and “Go money”. He always looks cool and composed, but determined. These deadly combinations scare his opponents who see him as a seasoned veteran. In an interview, Chris says that he was drawn into playing poker after watching a movie starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton and a poker legend Johnny Chan. The name of the movie is “Rounders” and actually changed his perception on poker.

Indeed, Chris Moneymaker is one player who has made a permanent mark in the world of poker and shall continue inspiring generations to come.

Barry Greenstein is one of the legends when it comes to poker. He was born in Chicago Illinois in December 30th 1954 and he lives in Rancho Palos Verdes California. He is one of the most talented players in the poker world. He began playing this game at a tender age and learned skills from his parents. His parents were very supportive and they showed him how to play a cool and analytical game. This made him very good at the game and by the age of 12 he could earn a huge sum of money from the game. A year later he started playing home games which would earn him 50 dollars every night. Before he thought of going pro Barry always had dreamed of being a doctor. He was a very bright boy and had even made his own software by the time he was 15. Going pro was also not an option as gambling is always associated with vices such as cheating and stealing.

Barry studied in Bogan high School where he excelled in maths and computers. He used to go to school during the day and at night he would play poker to make money. He went on to the University of Illinois where he majored and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. His routine did not change much in the university as he kept playing his games at night and making loads of cash. His winnings at this time could not be counted. After his undergraduate program, Barry went on to take a PhD in mathematics and spent the next decade of his life studying for a doctorate degree in mathematics. Al this time he was still playing and excelling in poker.

Even though he was busy with school life and poker he still managed to maintain a healthy social life and even got married to a beautiful lady called Donna who had three kids from a previous relationship. Unfortunately things did not work out with his wife and they got divorced. Barry filed for custody of the children and he was advised to get another job other than gambling which would increase his chances of winning the suit. He followed this advice and he gave up school and poker so that he could be able to live with his family. He moved to Silicon Valley where he partners with four people to begin a company known as Symantec. The company dealt with designing new software programs and he was also good at it. He finally gained custody of the children and had two others with Donna. The company was too dependent on his skills and they even gave him a doctorate degree so that he would stay and help them finish the software.

The product he was working in was known as Q& A and was named the software of the year by almost all industry magazines in 1986. This software put the company in the map to be on the best computer software makers in the world. To date Q& A is one of the proudest achievements Barry has ever made. This helped to instill some values such as maturity, patience and discipline in Barry as he new the importance of starting a project and staying with it till the end.

In the years he lived in California he joined the Cameo Club in Palo Alto where he continued with to play the game he was most talented in. This helped him to earn more money and it helped him to support his family. In the late eighties his wife and daughter developed complications with their health which needed a lot of money for treatment. This made Barry to spend more time on the tables so that he could get money to facilitate the treatment of his wife and daughter. This eventually led him to quitting his job at Sysmantec and concentrate fully on poker as he was making good money from it.

When he went into being a pro Barry entered into many tournaments which he won both in Vegas and California. He played limit hold’em and no limit hold’em and excelled in both games. His big break came in 2003 when he won a one million seven card stud event. After this tournament he made his first donation to charity and has been in involved in many charitable events which mostly deal with children. Barry attributes his success to his unique way of playing where he is always attentive to the game and follows all the rules and etiquette to the later. Playing for a long time has also enabled him to be able to make the correct predictions on the game and that is why he is good at it. Despite being a legend in the poker world Barry is one of the most humble guy you will ever meet. Find out more about Barry Greenstein on his official website at: Barry Greenstein

If there is anyone in the world of poker who will forever be remembered for, not only his prowess in the game, but also for his flashy look and attitude, then it is Scotty Nguyen. This man has won 4 World Series of poker bracelets and has competed in many other important poker events. As recently as 2007 this poker genius almost made it to the final table of World Series again, only for him to get eliminated in the 11th place. However, some of his most famous wins include the 1998 world series of poker main event and the 2008 WSOP 50,000 US$ H.O.R.S.E. world championship. This latter win made him the first and so far the only player in poker world to win both the WSOP main event and the 50,000 US$ H.O.R.S.E. events. This poker legend is still actively involved in playing poker and he resides in Las Vegas. Nevertheless, to understand the genius behind this man, one must first get acquainted with his profile.

Scotty Nguyen was born in 1962 in Vietnam and ironically, this was around the time when the USA was spoiling for a war with his country Vietnam. Just like many other Vietnamese, he grew up in poverty and hardships, but his mother strived to get her son out of the war stricken country. After much struggle and convincing by other close relatives, Nguyen’s mother managed to get her son set out for the USA in search of a better life. Nguyen was only 11 years old by that time. Suffice it to note that his journey was not so smooth and his first stop was in Taiwan, where he was to escape from a refugee camp to go and work as a manual laborer. Scotty struggled with this manual work, until later when an American family offered to sponsor him. He was now 13 years old.

It is believed that America is the land of happiness, but when Scotty arrived, thing seemed different. It was not easy for a young boy of 13 years to cope with life in a new country, foreign language, culture and most of all, the extreme weather variations. To be precise, the climate in his new home in Illinois was cold and harsh, compared to his former home in the tropics in Asia. So this new kid requested for a new host family in a climate that was close to that in Asia. His request was granted and again Scotty Nguyen moved again, this time to the beaches of Orange County, in California. As fate would have it, Nguyen got bored with high school; he missed classes and became an enigma in his neighborhood. He started stealing bikes, breaking windows and other activities that can only be attributed to an upcoming criminal who begins at home, before venturing in the bigger world. But thank heavens, before Nguyen could carry on with his criminal activities, he stumbled upon poker and as they say the rest is history. His first poker experience was at a friend’s house and his passion for the game saw him in pool halls and backrooms where he tried to perfect his game.

At around 20 years old, he moved to Las Vegas where he took a job cleaning tables in a casino. He later took a job dealing cards and while at it, he perfected his game by learning from his customer’s mistakes and methods. It was at 23 years that Nguyen turned to professional poker and since then, he has many poker tittles under his belt. What distinguishes him from many other poker greats however, is the fact that Nguyen is humble, disciplined, charismatic and always puts his fans first in all his games. His opponents fear him and for a good reason. His style of play is unique and he always plays to win and he does exactly that. Some have described his style of play as loose and aggressive and he likes to end his sentences with the word “baby”. Scotty Nguyen is actually a thorough planner when he is plying his games and he always depicts a form of confidence and calm that sends shivers down his opponents and this endears him to millions of fans round the whole world. His most infamous phrase “You call, gonna be allover, baby!” Was made to an opponent called McBride, who called thinking he would share the pot with Scotty. Scotty later beat him with a better full house.

Indeed, Scotty Nguyen is an exceptional and professional poker player, who is in class of his own.

Born in Cambridge Massachusetts, Dan Harrington currently resides in Santa Monica California. He attended law School at Suffolk University and it was while he was in college that he took up poker and he is said to have been traveling to Harvard for poker games with some of the world’s richest people such as Bill Gates. It was not until in the nineteen eighties that he became a member of a poker group that used to play at the Mayfair in New York City and he soon began traveling to Las Vegas to participate in poker tournaments. It was after entering his first world poker series tournament in nineteen eighty seven that he explored his talent and at the end of it all he emerged in an impressive sixth position.

In nineteen ninety five, Dan won in a field comprising two hundred and seventy three entries, in an event that also saw him walk away with a cool million dollars having beaten some of the veteran poker players. After this event, he stayed out of the limelight for a while, he is known to shun publicity and was said to be managing his real estate business. He continued enjoying the low profile and would only participate in some low profile events, before he won the nineteen ninety six WSOP, the main event. And as if he had been honing his skills for the time that he had disappeared from the limelight, Dan resurfaced in the 2003 WSOP main event and surprised many when he beat poker greats like Howard Lederer. Freddy Deeb and David Singer.

Though he did not emerge top at the tournament, he emerged third and managed to walk away with six hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The following year, he finished fourth at the WSOP main event but again walked away with one and a half million dollars. It is worth noting that in both the two events, Dan had to compete with a large number of fields, there having been eight hundred and thirty eight opponents in the year two thousand and three and with a whooping two thousand, five hundred and seventy six the following year. Having failed to capture a WPT event in 2005, Dan proved his worth in the 2007 legends of poker WPT when he went all the way to the final and proceeded to win the one point six million dollar prize.

The poker great has authored three books and they are all volumes one to three of the title Harrington On Hold’ em. The books have been said to be some of the best ever written on poker strategy and in fact countless professional poker players have touted them as one of the best ways through which to learn to begin poker. Surprisingly, Dan considers himself as a businessman first and then secondly a poker player. His overly successful investment company, Anchor Loans, consumes most of his time these days and he has a Backgammon and chess championship to his name. The veteran player has agreed to the fact that his age is slowly pushing him away from poker as the championships are draining.

Dan employs a number of the not so normal types of strategies to help him stay at the top of the other players during a specific poker game. He has been described as a wolf in sheep’s skin, as his outlook is no match for what he showcases in tournaments. Dan is known to maintain a conservative approach in the early stages of each tournament, only for him to show his aggressiveness as the game progresses. He knows exactly when to avoid slipping into the danger zones and he then starts playing more hands to prevent himself from being anted away.

He has been known to perfect the squeeze play, through pushing in more than half of his remaining chips and then committing himself to the hand. He uses well calculated mathematical approaches in order to bring down an opponent or opponents, through calculating their most likely ranges of hands before combining them with pot odds and finally evaluating his moves. He shows an awareness of the multiple styles of play which are most common among many players and the specific strategies which are employed to combat them. He describes the single most determinant for winning as being in a position to know when to go all in. His super aggressive style of play has earned him lots of respect from fellow poker players. Dan is said to have chosen his own current nick name of ‘Action’.

Paul Phillips was born in August 9th in 1972. Enjoying an early managerial career in an internet company the top notch poker player known by his fellow players as ‘dot com’ began playing poker during his college years.

His love for the game started when a friend of his discovered that he was a great fan of blackjack. Soon afterward he joined an internet company as a chief technical executive and from then on, there was no stopping him in the direction that his career took and that would affect his life for the next fifteen years. As a great enthusiast and fluent communicator, the aggressive player says that he loves discussing with people in online forums and on online pages because it helps to improve his thinking capabilities and to develop his skills. The main topics that he is versed on in these chats are issues surrounding the poker game that has continued to dominate his profile. He believes in self criticism and satisfaction with individual method of play where a player targets on improving their play rather than nagging on their failures.

One of his most beautiful performances was during season 2 of the WPT championship when he finished in first and second positions in the Bicycle and Bellagio events respectively where he earned 1.5 Million Dollars. Though this race put him on the limelight, his traditional poker play was still a factor for his wide recognition by the game lovers. His career spilled over to the television cameras with media focusing its attention on Phillips style of play as well as his personality making him a celebrity far from his profession. His happy and witty demeanor won him a place in the social platform and many enthusiasts converse with him freely via his blog. Reviews from fellow giants in the game have revealed him as a truly great player with a concentrated tight style of playing the game. He is known as telepathic and a good player who knows how to face his opponent by reading their moves. He is perfect at short staked plays and is always in for a win in small jackpots. He has been known to regain a lead when his opponent is way ahead. Reminiscent of this is the memorable win at the Bellagio where Paul Phillips recaptured a 5-1 lead in favor of Gus Hansen. The game had begun in a three set consisting of Paul Phillips, Gus Hansen and Paul Carve where Phillips counted on the knowledge of the two opponents to win the race in a very antecedent manner.

During the long span of his career he has won a total of 2.2 million Dollars in game tournaments in the United States and Europe. All these wins are covered in every form of the game from the ‘seven card stud’ to the ‘no-limit hod’em.’ Like all other star players, Paul Phillips owns a website that posts news on his poker career and offers an engaging site for social networking on all topics related and unrelated to poker. Phillips had been a great player also in the business circles. During his tenure as the chief Technical Officer of an Internet firm in Seattle, he saved his shares and sold them out before the collapse of the dot.com boom of the early 1990s earning him millions of dollars. He was just on time for the online share market collapsed soon afterward. Phillips is estimated to be worth 90 million Dollars making him one of the richest poker players.

On the personal front, the poker player is known to be strongly opinionated on a wide a ray of topics that has made him a controversial figure. His ever changing individual styles have made him look like a man for all seasons. However strikingly he may choose to shave his head or wear his clothes, he still remains one of the geniuses of the game who has helped shape the ideas of the game and given it breadth.

The style of Paul Phillips differs from the rest on the technical front. He uses oppositional maneuvers like reading the other players strategies that reverberates back on his play. He employs comical tactics that have the effect of reassurance. His game is characterized by a never say die attitude that has enabled him break from demoralizing situations like lagging behind. He has a commanding presence and skills for short hand games as well as the bigger games. His personal style of playing is usually very mental and logical supplemented by use of memory of the poker board and wide knowledge he has at the theoretical level on the game. The player takes a critical look at the way he plays and believes that an honest evaluation of the methods and personal coordination skills really determine the metal of champions and makes them who they really are. Find out more information about Paul Phillips on his personal blog at: Paul Phillips