Yet even with this negative press surrounding Hevad Khan, he is also known for his outstanding poker strategy. At the age of twenty-four, he is already among the lineup of the biggest poker players in the world today. He only began playing in professional tournaments in 2007, making his debut at the 38^th Annual World Series of Poker, where he placed in a number of events and won a combined total of $976,498. His biggest win so far is close to this number, as he won the Caesars Palace Classic the year after his superb performance at the WSOP. He took home a solid $1 million for their No Limit Hold’em Championship.

His competitive nature truly rears its head. After all, he began competing at the tournaments for StarCraft before moving on to poker. Today, with three first place finishes and twenty-two cashes, and a total of over $2.5 million in winnings, Hevad Khan does not need to make friends – he just needs to keep winning, and he’ll be just fine with his reputation in the poker world.

He has been playing for over fifteen years already, and poker is not his only game. Ylon Schwartz is also a chess master, which gives him an advantage in poker because he is quite capable of anticipating possible moves and outcomes ahead of time, so he can strategize pretty well. He also is a backgammon player, which is another game that requires you to have good strategic skills in order to succeed. Outside of the game, he took on many different jobs before he played poker full-time. He sold Broadway tickets at one point, and he was a child actor when he was younger, and these are only two of the long list of jobs that he took on before finally embracing poker as a full-time activity. It was during this time of transition that he debuted on the professional poker tournament scene, in 1998, when he joined the US Poker Championship and finished third.

He stopped and went back to the tournament scene in 2004, after the death of his mother the year before, whom he took care of when she was diagnosed with cancer. Things went fairly well with him after that. He made quite a number of money finishes and built up his bankroll as well as his reputation as a poker player to watch out for in the four years that followed his return. It took that entire decade since his first tournament, however, for him to get to where he became very famous – the 39^th World Series of Poker, which was held in 2008. While he did not win first place at the No Limit Hold’em Championship, he did place fourth, taking home the prize that brought him to the spotlight – $3,774,974. That cemented his place among the respected poker players of today. He continues to build up his bankroll, and as of 2009 he has more than $4.1 million in his bankroll.

In his career so far he has four WSOP bracelets to his name. The other two were won separately – one in 1986, where he won $52,400 for Limit Razz, and one in 1992, when he won in Limit Omaha and took home $79,200. He has had ten first-place finishes all in all, and he has made an astounding 119 money finishes throughout his career as a professional poker player. Those money finishes amount to more than $2.8 million, over $1.2 million of which came from the World Series of Poker alone. He has also already joined the European Poker Tour and the World Poker Tour, but he has yet to earn titles in the aforementioned tournaments. Aside from his superb poker playing skills, he is also known to be a vocal non-smoker, even getting Binion Benhen to agree to make the WSOP a non-smoking tournament in 2002 in exchange for free poker lessons.

This accountant sure has his mind in the right numbers. He was an account manager for Broadway Trucks before he became a professional poker player. He was already playing in different local casinos and tournaments in the year 2006, but his debut in the professional world came in 2007. He joined a World Series of Poker Circuit Event, the Grand Casino Tunica Poker Tournament, that year, and he finished at ninth place, taking home the prize of $2,386 for their No-Limit Hold’em event. Two days later, he beat his own record, placing seventh at the same event and taking home an additional $2,192. What followed a year after was incomparable to these two petty wins, though, as he made his breakthrough in the professional world of poker tournaments. He placed third on the 39^th World Series of Poker in 2008, and he took home the prize of $4,517,773 for the WSOP No Limit Hold’em Championship. He was the chip leader in the tournament when he sat at the final table, so it is comes as no surprise that he won for that year. Today his earnings exceed $4.8 million, and while he has not garnered a WSOP bracelet just yet, he has nine significant money finishes, one of which is a first place win for the Deep Stack Extravaganza. He is well on his way to earning that much-coveted bracelet.

Daniel ’s first taste of success came in when he participated in the 1998 World Series of Poker $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event. He became the youngest player to win his first ever World Series of Poker bracelet, at age 23. In 2002, he competed in the World Series of Poker $5,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event and ended up 2nd place. In 2003, he continued to compete in the World Series of Poker $2,000 SHOE event and obtained his second World Series of Poker bracelet. In 2004, he shone again in the World Series of Poker $2,000 Limit Hold’em event and won his third bracelet. He was able to take home $169,000. In 2008, he obtained his fourth bracelet in the World Series of Poker $2,000 Limit Hold’em event and garnered a total of $204,863. Daniel joined the World Series of Poker Europe £10,000 Main Event and reached the final table. He was able to secure 5th place and collected $395,024. Daniel also gained experience in the 2004 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open and won $1,117,400. He also won another impressive amount of $1,770,218 in the Five Diamond World Poker Classic which was held in the same year. Success was in sight again when Daniel participated in the 2005 World Series of Poker Circuit event and became the champion. He won an amount of $755,525. His latest success was in the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event where he won $788,618. Throughout his tournament career, Daniel has achieved an amount of around $12,000,000, which makes him one of the wealthiest poker players in the world.

In 2004, John participated in the annual Jack Binion World Poker Open. He competed in two events of the tournament and obtained significant earnings. He also competed in the Festa al Lago II $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em event and made an impressive 1st place finish. In 2005, John participated in the World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic. He competed in the $2,425 No-Limit Hold’em and achieved 1st place. He was able to bring home a superb amount of $300,000. After this, he participated in the 2006 five-Star World Poker Classic. He competed in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em event and was able to secure a runner-up finish. 2008 was a successful year for John. He participated in the World Series of Poker and competed in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em event. John amazed the crowd as he won his first ever World Series of Poker bracelet. He was also able to take home $430,000 for the event. Later, John competed in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw event. He was able to obtain his second World Series of Poker, and grabbed an amount of $150,000. John also participated in the World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup IV $15K No-Limit Hold’em event  and was able to make it to the final table. He battled fierce competitors in the 2008 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker $9,500 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event. He was able to receive an impressive $1,000,000. His successful campaign hailed him as 2008 “Player of the Year” for both CardPlayer and Bluff.

David’s exposure to poker was cultivated in his college years. What started out as a hobby began to grow into passion and excitement for David. He learned the game as much as he can and read more about it. He played the game when there was enough free time. One day, he left school and decided to play poker as a profession, David engaged in games that involved around $300 to $600. Soon, he would compete in major live tournaments that required bigger buy-ins. David was able to make a convincing third place finish in the 2003 Borgata Poker Open $5,000 No-limit Holdem Championship. This experience helped David improve his game more, and later on he participated in the 2006 World Poker Tour No-limit Holdem Event. He made a very impressive 3^rd place finish and gained a lot of praise. David continues to compete in online and live tournaments and never fails to surprise everyone.

David is not only a highly-talented player, but a well-rounded person as well. He spends his time playing golf, or simply swinging in the driving range. David is also fond of reading and traveling around the world. Outside the poker room, David is a very humble person. Presently, David has a wife and three kids whom he spends as much time to be with them as he can. David is a complete poker player and a family man.

Raul traveled to Las Vegas and started to cultivate a passion in casino games, specifically in Backgammon. After a while of playing backgammon, Raul became more interested in poker, and started learning and understanding the game. He became very engrossed in online poker, and learned No-limit Holdem and Pot-limit Omaha Sit & Gos.

Soon, Raul started to play in live tournaments and began to impress a lot of people. He was able to carry himself and fit among the professional ranks in 2003. He managed to make it to the Hall of Fame of poker in Brazil. Aside from his hometown, Raul traveled to the United States and gained lots of experience in poker. He participated in the  2004 World Series of Poker $3K No-limit Holdem event and gained satisfying earnings. He also participated in the 2006 World Poker Classic $25K and was able to walk away with $73K. Raul had a unique style that captivated audiences. He always played aggressively and intimidated opponents. He is one of the most respected players in the world of poker. Raul strikes a balance between agressiveness and intelligence, which is an essential quality for every player who aspires to succeed.

Adam resigned from his bookmaking job and decided to play poker on a part-time basis. He stilll does journalistic work and writes for the poker informational site TheHendonMob.com. Poker has become a life passion which instantly convinced him to play professional poker. Adam is a talented poker player yet a very simple person. The British man is obssessed with football and supports the Arsenal Football Club.

Adam learned the game as much as he can and participated in tournaments to gain experience. He engaged his time in No-limit Holdem and HORSE. Adam improved his game and after a while, he started participating in tournaments that involved higher stakes. Soon, Adam joined the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event and was able to reach 209^th place. He won $50K in the tournament. Adam’s moment finally came when he qualified for the 2008 Full Tilt Poker Million Pound Challenge in London. Out of the 79 players, Adam was able to endure and emerge as the victor of the tournament. Later, Adam engaged in three heads-up matches with Full-tilt Poker Professionals. The  victor who wins all three matches was rewarded an enormous £1 million. Adam won two out of three, where he beat Phil Ivey and Chris Ferguson. Though Roland de Wolde won one of the heads-up matches, Adam still won the competition and garnered £200,000. Adam continues to motivate himself and keep improving his game. Soon, he will rank among one of the hall of famers in the world of poker.

However, Phil’s hobby was growing more persistent – poker was seemingly his calling, and he had the urge to play poker as a professional, full time. When he did, he played big. Phil finished fourth during the WSOP Championship back in 2001 and his proceeding victories took the poke world by storm. In 2002, he was able to enter the coveted final table of two championships. He made waves both on the internet and in land casinos. He was invited by the biggest names to join by-invitation tournaments and his winning streak amazed everyone. Phil continues to play professional poker up to this day, practicing daily to keep his skills sharp.