WSOP

Las Vegas is the place to be if you want to hit it big in the world of Poker. Every year this is where players from all places come to make a name for themselves and to compete for the World Series of Poker bracelets. Along with the growing popularity of the game, poker’s best players have also come to take on center stage. Guys like Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, and Scott Nguyen are among those you can expect to see every year in Vegas and on World Series of Poker programming. Good at what they do, these players definitely deserve the wide recognition they’re getting. But there are some who have not taken on the spotlight but have multiple bracelets to their names.

Billy Baxter. Baxter has a total of seven WSOP bracelets. Yet a lot of people do not even know him. Baxter is a true poker legend. He won his first WSOP bracelet in a 1975 deuce to seven event and since then has gone on to cash 28 times so far. In the 80s he won five of his seven titles and won one in the 90s. In 2002, he captured his latest bracelet and soon after made seven cashes. So with all the credentials to back up a superstar personality, why is Baxter not so known in the poker world? The possible reason is that he plays in less popular games like deuce to seven lowball, Razz, and Ace to Five draw. Just recently, he made the final table in event 40, proving that he is still a great player. Seven bracelets and more than one million dollars in WSOP earnings – Baxter is truly deserving of a spot among the greatest poker players of all time.

Layne Flack. Sure, you might have heard the name and know the face. But do you know that he has six WSOP bracelets? Flack has been on television quite a few times, although he isn’t a regular on popular programming. With 19 cashes so far, he has more than $2.2 million in WSOP earnings. His first title came in 1999 when he won a Pot Limit holdem event for more than $220,000. His career took off from there and since then he has won bracelets in No Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi/Lo, and Pot Limit Omaha rebuy. This year, he won his first bracelet in five years, taking home more than a half million dollars. Flack has a current title count of six and has finished in the top five five times.

Berry Johnston. Although a lot of people do not know who he is, Johnston is a main event winner. In 1986, he won the main event and took home the bracelet along with $570,000 in loot. Overall, Johnston has a total of five bracelets and has cashed 56 times in his career. He has won titles in limit and no Limit Holdem, Omaha, Razz, and in Heads Up. This year he cashed in three times. His best finish in 2008 was being 10th in the World Championship of Omaha. He has a total of over $2 million in earnings and is known for being one of the tightest and most solid players in the history of Texas Holdem poker. His playing style has definitely helped him get a lot more cashes in his career and compete for bracelets.

Tom McEvoy. He first took the title in 1983 and has so far won four bracelets and has made 36 career WSO cashes. The highlight of his career was the year 1983 when he won two events which included besting Doyle Brunson himself at the final table of the Main Event. His bracelets were won in four different games: Limit Holdem, No Limit Holdem, Razz, and Omaha. His career earnings has reached more than $1.2 million, which will surely increase as he continues to play in the series every year. Although he has failed to win another bracelet since 1992, he has had seven cashes in the last three years. This year he finished in the top 30 twice and made more than $12, 000.

Chau Giang. Giang has had 46 career cashes and has three bracelets to his name. This year has been amazing for him as he cashed in eight times and finished in the top 15 three times. His first bracelet was won in 1993 and the latest was in 2004 for winning the Pot Limit Omaha event. His total career earnings reach close to $1.5 million, becoming one of the most consistent and best players in the world.

Do not get in fiery arguments with any of the staff. Mistakes will occur at the Poker table. Dealers will do thing either they should not or floor employees will make calls that they should not. Keep your anger in check first. Let it go until later and discuss it calmly with them if the matter is of moderately small result that has little or no overall bearing on a hand or the tournament. You may ask for to even see the rules. If you do not like the result you may even appeal to speak with the Tournament Director. You need to take care of the matter at the table right then the matter is something of serious consequence. Request if the Tournament Director needs to be involved. On the other hand, once a final decision has been made, continue with play. Even the policy affirm that the “floor decisions are final.”

Do not put Poker chips in your pocket. This may sounds silly, but people forget about this every year and end up in problem. The chips automatically become dead if you put chips into your pocket. If you are moving to another table, it does not matter. There have been period where players have put all of their chips in their pockets, and as an outcome they were ineligible.

Do not try and make out a way to cheat at the World Series of Poker. Initially, there are cameras everywhere. After that, the floor staff is especially trained to look for cheating. Do not forget that your opponents will be a little smarter than your home game buddies so they will also be able to spot any conspicuous irregularities. Steps are also at all times taken to make sure that Poker cheating does not occur. Two years ago a situation happened where someone had a drink napkin on the table for a long time for example. Usually this is above suspicion enough, but the player had in fact been hiding cards under the napkin. Napkins are no longer allowed on the table afterwards. If you ever see a dealer count down the number of cards in a deck a couple of times an hour, which came as a through outcome of the above scenario.

Do not bother the professionals while they are playing. There are many that would rather you let them work while they are in a tournament while some professionals are very open to their fans. Every now and then people like to approach pros while they are on break from a tournament. It would really be most excellent if you leave the professionals unaccompanied while they are on break in a tournament. Pros have need of a break just like other Poker players.

Carry on a number of of the above tips in mind when you are present at the World Series of Poker. It will help all and sundry have a great time and keep conflict down to a minimum.

With a total of 10 World Series of Poker bracelets under his name, Johnny Chan is undoubtedly one of the best players in WSOP history. He is just behind Phil Hellmuth by one in the total number of bracelets. Born in China, he came to the United States in 1968. Chan’s first WSOP cash was in 1983. He won his first bracelet in 1985 while his tenth was won in 2005. He still plays a full schedule with three cashes in 2008. He is popular on poker television and is considered to be one of the top 5 players in the entire World Series of Poker history.

The Main Event of the 1987 World Series of Poker Main was where Chan’s career truly started, although he already had one bracelet at that time. The final table in 1987 was full of poker’s great players such as Howard Lederer, Dan Harrington, and Mickey Appleman. But Chan proved that he was a poker player to reckon with. He beat all the top pros at the table that day and took home the title. He was up against Frank Henderson and beat him heads up to win $650 000.

In 1988, Chan again made the final table of the Main Event this time with guys like Erik Seidel, TJ Cloutier and Humberto Brenes. He again showed that he was one of the top pros in the world, besting Seidel heads up. He took home the bracelet and $700 000. In the 1989 Main Event, Chan was already the man to watch, already with back-to-back wins and three bracelets. He battled his way to be in contention for the title, and what happened was a battle that made poker history. It was Phil Hellmuth against Johnny Chan. Hellmuth took home the title, but Chan still brought home more than $300 000. After that, Chan won more bracelets and made another final table appearance in 1992.

His fourth bracelet wouldn’t be until 1994 when he won a 7 card stud tournament. His fifth was in 1997. That year, he outlasted Barry Greenstein, Steve Zolotow and Lyle Berman, winning the deuce to seven lowball bracelet. His sixth bracelet was in 2000. And in 2002, he found himself up against once more with Hellmuth in the no limit holdem heads up tournament. But this time Johnny took home the title and his seventh bracelet. His eighth and ninth bracelet were both won in 2003 in event 15 and event 24. In 2005 Chan made record with his 10th bracelet in a Pot Limit holdem tournament where he had to beat Phil Laak heads up. He had a total win of $300 000. Since then Johnny has cashed eight times. Most recently in 2008, he finished 4th in an Omaha event.

Overall Chan has 10 bracelets and cashed 41 times under his name with 27 final tables made in his 25-year career. At the World Series of Poker alone, he has already made more than $4 million. Chan is considered to be one of the most consistent poker players in poker history, having significant success playing Holdem of all limits and styles, Omaha and seven card games.

Johnny Chan is happily married and has six children. He has written two books, Play Poker like Johnny Chan and Million Dollar Holdem. He is a frequent figure on the NBC show Poker After Dark. He owns fast food franchises. He runs his own online poker site and even has plans of opening up his own casino. A business man and a legend in poker, Chan is one guy who strives for and most certainly already has success in the endeavors he has made in life.