Gavin Griffin started out on the way to becoming a professional baseball player. He excelled in the game so much that he was offered several baseball scholarships in a number of schools, but he ended up choosing to study Speech Pathology instead. It was at this point in his life that he started playing poker, and little did he know that just a few years later, at the age of twenty-two, he would be the youngest World Series of Poker champion to win as of the year that he won. While this record was broken easily the following year, his desire to play poker remains as fervid as ever.

He made his debut at the WSOP in 2004, and this was the tournament that he won as the youngest WSOP winner. Right off the bat he had a bracelet to his name, as well as a hefty $270,420 in his bank account, to declare his arrival at the professional poker industry. He followed this with many tournament appearances, where he would place significantly high enough to make big money finishes. It was three years after this glorious victory, however, that he made his biggest win in his career so far – he won the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, taking home $2,391,895 for the event. This was followed by another big win at the Borgata Winter Open, where he finished first as well, taking home $1,375,609. He continues to play professionally to this day as he also continues to raise the public’s awareness on breast cancer.

Chad Brown is a native New Yorker, having been born in Manhattan in 1961 and raised in the Bronx for the most part of his life. His first dream was not to be a professional poker player, but rather, he wanted to be an actor who will make it to Hollywood, and so in the early nineties, when he was already in his thirties, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue this dream. He had a tough time building a career in Hollywood, and so what he did to make ends meet was to play poker in various casinos in order to make money. It was not long before he realized how good he was at the game, and so he started taking poker more seriously.

He entered the professional poker tournament scene in 1993, when he joined the 24^th Annual World Series of Poker. He finished quite well at eleventh place, taking home $6,624 and pretty much announcing his arrival at the poker scene. His first big win came after he appeared in some films and television shows though, when in 2002, he finished third at the World Series Of Poker’s Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event. He took home $45,400 for that said event. Two years later, he finished one place higher, finishing second at the same tournament, taking home more than $62,000. The biggest amount he has won for a single tournament is at $324,777, which he achieved at the 38^th Annual World Series of Poker in 2007. He has had five first-place finishes and sixty-two money finishes, all amounting to over $2.8 million in winnings. You’d be lucky to be Chad Brown, surely.

Greenstein is one of those poker players who picked up the game at a young age, and within the family. It was his father that introduced him to the game, and he continued playing as he had adopted a fondness for the game. He went to college at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science there. He continued to study, going to graduate school to earn a PhD in mathematics, but although he finished his dissertation, he did not defend this to a panel to earn the degree. He played poker all throughout this time, but he wanted to adopt children and so he took a regular job at Symantec, playing poker on the side. It was not until later, when he was thirty-six years old, that he was able to retire from his day job altogether to play poker full-time.

He debuted in the professional poker tournament scene in 1992, when he joined the 23^rd Annual World Series of Poker. He finished quite remarkably well at 22^nd place, taking home $8,080. This was followed by a few more places in different tournaments, until he achieved his first-place win in 1997, when he won the California State Poker Championship’s Limit Hold’em event. He took home $29,000 for that event. He returned to the WSOP and the California State Poker Championship several times throughout his career. His biggest win so far, however, came in 2004, when he joined the Jack Binion World Open, a World Poker Tour event, and he finished first, taking home more than $1.2 million. As of 2009, he has made more than $6.9 million, and he has obtained three WSOP bracelets. Majority of his huge winnings went to charity though, and his biggest recipient is Children Incorporated, which sponsors childrens’ needs around the world.

He began playing poker in casinos in 1999, when he moved from his home in Missouri to Stonington, Connecticut. At the time he was a patent lawyer for Pfizer. His experience with poker goes back to his college days though, when he played “nickle-dime” poker with friends from college. He worked his way up to different amounts until he made his way to the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. The year after he began playing in Foxwoods, he made his debut in the professional live poker tournament scene by joining the World Poker Finals. He made it all the way to third place, taking home $48,960. The win that made him famous came several tournaments and four years later, when he joined the 35^th Annual World Series of Poker in 2004. He won the tournament, bagging the $5 million cash prize for their No-Limit Hold’em Championship. Throughout his career  so far as a professional poker player, he has won one WSOP bracelet, he has had three first-place finishes and twenty-five money wins, and he has one of the highest bankrolls a person can make in just a few years in the industry – over $6.6 million in cash prizes from different tournaments, majority of which came from the WSOP tournaments he participates in every year. This is one player you should be scared of, no matter how goofy his glasses may be.

She never was just another pretty face, both in the poker world and out. She started her life as an overachiever, an honor student who was also busy with many sports activities as well as social and leadership activities under her belt. She was also a musician, playing the violin in her younger years, as well as an activist, volunteering in the movement of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. She was very active in the honor society as well as in the French society. She was a dean’s lister in college when she went to the Ivy-League school Duke University, and she graduated with a major in economics in 2003. She then went to law school at  the University of Miami, but she did not finish pursuing her JD in law. Instead, she became a professional poker player.

She began playing poker during her stay in Duke, and she studied game theory to be able to improve her game significantly. She would paritcipate in online poker games, wherein her age would not be so much of an issue, and she practised her techniques and her skills there. She entered the professional poker tournament scene in 2005,  when she joined a World Series of Poker Circuit Event and finished 7^th, taking home $6,465. Her first big win came the year after though, at the Five-Star World Poker Classic, which was part of the fourth season of the World Poker Tour Championship. She took home over $260,000 for finishing seventh as well. Her biggest win so far was at the European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Grand Final in May 2009, where she took home over a million dollars for finishing first. She has a long way to go in her career, and more money to win.

Vlad Zguba was not a professional poker player all his life though. He was originally a lawyer and economist. A simple and secure life did not stop him from achieving his greater desires in life. He had a burning passion for poker, which he only unleashed a few years earlier. Realizing this encouraged Zguba to make poker a livelihood. And he did not regret it since. Zguba is a successful professional poker player in Europe, and continues to attract more success.

Vlad Zguba is almost always present in various major tournaments in Europe, and has not failed to reflect his talent and skill. Zguba had no shortcuts. In fact, he had to work hard in order to achieve his present status. During the No Limit Holdem event at the Black Sea VIP Poker Festival 2008, he was able to claim the runner-up status. He was able to walk away from the tournament with $22,087. Then, his next taste of success was in the PokerStars European Poker Tour Season 6, which consisted of 1,178 participants. He was able to secure the 46th place in the largest poker event ever to be held in Europe. He walked away with $20,168. Lastly, Zguba achieved his most prized glory in Star Of Poker Season 2 in Ukraine.

Duthie achieved great fame during the Poker Million 2000 tournament which was held on the Isle of Man. The televised tournament was won by Duthie, who battled it out with Tony Bloom and Barny Boatman. Duthie was able to gather a total of 1,000,000 pounds. Duthie has also done well in other tournaments such as the Late Night Poker, where he qualified for the series 6 Grand Final, the European Heads-up Championships where he secured a second place spot, the PokerStars Scoop 25K where he also secured a second place spot, and the World Series of Poker 10K Tournament where he finished second place. Duthie has made himself as a successful professional poker player. He is capable of winning in every game as noticed in his past successive cash finishes.

Aside from being a professional poker player, Duthie is also the founder of the European Poker Tour which has also garnered enormous success around the world. Duthie is also a great assistant director. He has engaged in side projects such as Longitude TV, Haunted, and The House of the Spirits. Finally, he worked as a full-time director for TV shows such as As If, Clocking Off, and Silent Witness. Silent Witness has actually garnered an RTS award (Best Editing) and Best Drama Serial. Duthie is currently a member of the Team PokerStars, which features some of the most prestigious professional players around the world. Duthie is truly an inspiration to those who have the passion for poker.

Aside from writing, Victoria is also a presenter in the UK. She has done great presentations such as “Off The Page” and “Fourth Column” in BBC Radio 4. She has made other significant presentations for the BBC TV program entitled Balderdash and Piffle.

Victoria Coren is one of the most popular and recognized poker players in the world. Her success in the European Poker Tour has given yet another inspiration to many women. During the European Poker Tour in London 2006, she made a name for herself by becoming the first player to win a televised Poker tournament as well as a televised Celebrity poker tournament in 2005. Who could ever forget the 24th of September 2006, where Victoria had prevailed over Emad Tahtouh. After her success in the European Poker Tour, Victoria still continues to practice her passion. She often plays poker in the Victoria Casino in London. She had won the prize of 500,000 pounds. Victoria is currently a member of Team PokerStars Pro. Victoria is truly one of the most admired people not only in the world of poker, but in writing and presenting as well.

The success of Ruben Visser in this field however did not start until he reached college. He was born and grew up on Amsterdam and as a little boy, he was a huge sports follower particularly field hockey. His passion in the said sports was so intense that he continued to playing field hockey to a high level. Aside from field hockey, he was also interested in football, snowboarding and tennis. In college he took Business and Marketing in Erasmus University at Rotterdam but has to leave his studying temporarily to pursue a career in poker.

Leaving college proved to be quite fruitful for this young man because right now he is a bracelet holder in the World Championship of Online Poker winning in $320 No-Limit Hold’em (6-max) event taking in a total prize of $135,687. He also finished in sixth place at PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker No Limit Hold’em event taking home a total of $126,00 cash wins. It is only fair to say that this man has a long way to go in his poker career even after he admitted that poker was just supposed to be a hobby for him. Right now, he loves every bit of being a poker player because aside from playing his favorite game, he gets to travel too. And who would not want that right?

He eventually made his way up playing mostly cash limit games and was even able to bagged the Tournament Leader twice. He was soon competing in different card rooms from Holland to France but his goal was set to playing in a bigger arena: Las Vegas. In 2007 $5,000 Pot Limit Hold’em World Series of Poker, he placed 35th overall taking home a total of $14,030 cash wins. His dream of playing at the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and the Mirage has come true.

But the highlight of Veldhuis career as a pro player came in the 2009 $40,000 No Limit Hold’em World Series of Poker event where he was able to stay in the final table. He finished 7th overall bagging a whopping $277,939! It was the biggest cash that Lex Veldhuis has ever won in his career as a professional poker player and he is not stopping there, so watch out for this guy in the future. When he is not in Las Vegas participating in tournaments, he spends his time in Rotterdam. before becoming a pro, Veldhuis was studying Criminology at Erasmus University but has to temporarily leave it to pursue a career in poker.