Poker Blog & Poker Forum

Caroline Wozniacki (in picture) is 20 and hot and the number one ranked female tennis player in the world with a penchant for short skirts that leave nothing to the imagination. And she is dating poker professional Gus Hansen. Apart from their ages (Hansen is 37), they have a lot in common. Both are Danish. Caroline’s father was from Poland but migrated to Denmark after signing up for a Danish club football team. Both live in Monaco. And both have a tennis connection. Hansen was a local tennis champion in his younger days.

Despite Caroline’s number one status in tennis, Hansen is probably more popular in Denmark, especially with the girls. Hansen’s achievements at the poker tables are well known, but he was voted one of People Magazine’s 50 Sexiest Men in 2004. He was also voted the sexiest male poker player in Doyle Brunson’s list. Hansen is a strong believer in physical fitness and takes prop bets on personal athletic challenges. His boxing match against fellow poker professional Theo Jorgensen is still fresh in memory.

It is rumored that Hansen and Caroline first started seeing each other during the tennis Australian Open in 2010. Thereafter Hansen was a frequently spotted figure in the tennis circuit. The pairing became more apparent when the two spent last Christmas together in Thailand and it was fully out in the open during the 2011 Australian open. Hansen was seen seated in Caroline’s box during her quarter final win over Francesca Schiavone by an international television audience. Being in Australia at that time suits Hansen because it coincides with the Aussie Millions poker tournament, an event which he won in 2007. Those who follow Carorine’s Twitter will get frequent references to Hansen. At around the time of the Australian Open Caroline had Tweeted, “And also just met my good friend Gus Hansen (Poker player) and had a coffee .”

Going against the popular adage, Hansen has been lucky in love and in gambling. This period has been good to Hansen at the poker tables as well. In 2011 so far Hansen has won about $4.5 million in nosebleed action at the online poker room Full Tilt and is up over $6 million over the past six months.

Though Doyle Brunson is fondly acknowledged as the Godfather of Poker, and not without reason, he is less in the news because of poker and more because of his age and the sex that is on his mind. And he covered both in a Tweet he sent out last week. “Wish we could report Doyle died while taking off @liv_boeree thong with his teeth”. Liv Boeree is one of the most perfect examples of a Poker Babe with traffic stopping good looks and a sharp poker acumen. No wonder PokerStars.com described her as “one of the hottest properties on the world poker circuit”.

Doyle’s preoccupation with sex keeps on bursting into his blogs and Tweets every now and then. In October 2010 Doyle asked his Twitter fans to vote for the poker player they would most want to “make whoopee with”. The three poker babes most in demand were Elizabeth Shannon, Vanessa Rousso and Jennifer Tilly in that order. Liv only received an honorable mention. Clearly Doyle’s fans are not in synch with him. There was an anecdote that Doyle narrated in his blogs some years back. He said one night his wife suggested that they climb up to their bedroom to make love. And he replied that at his age he could either climb up or make love, but not both.

Doyle has perhaps read the news of his death more often than anyone else. No one knows how or why these rumors keep surfacing, but they do. Jenny Woo, the poker correspondent who has been covering Doyle professionally for a long time, says that the rumors tend to hit their peak sometime in May. Last May Doyle had to put out this message to reassure everyone that he was alive and kicking. “Every year about this time, some sicko feels the need to spread the news that I died. Doug Dalton was the first to call and I had several calls after that. I was tweeting on twitter and Howard Lederer spread the word that if I was dead, someone was twittering on my account. When I do die, hopefully years from now, everybody will have to check to see if it’s true.” Jenny gives Doyle another 20 years and may her words come true because Doyle Brunson is irreplaceable.

Blogs, Twitter and Internet forums are the latest way that celebs use to communicate with their fans. When poker players are not at the tables, real or virtual, they are one of the above three communication channels. Unfortunately over the last few days three well known names in poker have been using these channels for the wrong reasons.

Poker Kid Daniel Negreanu is known for saying the wrong thing, whether it is a sexist comment to colleague Annie Duke or accusations against online poker room UB. In his latest blog at Card Player, Negreanu has cast racist remarks and alleged corruption at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Commerce, California. Negreanu had a room booked at the hotel, but when he turned up there he was told there were no rooms available. Negreanu alleged that employees took bribes to give rooms and turned away those who had bookings. “If the place was sold out, you call Juan, give him a few hundred dollars, and he’ll get you a room. The new guy’s name is Rodney. Give Rodney some money and all of a sudden rooms that were once reserved are canceled and ‘voila’ you have a room.” What has not been appreciated is that Juan is a Hispanic name and Rodney is a common African American name.

Prahlad Friedman accused, through a series of Tweets, Iassac Haxton and Justin Bonomo of sharing and switching accounts at online poker rooms, which is against the rules and looked down upon. Friedman Tweeted, “Haxton knows I don’t want to play him head up. So scummy. Beware of their scummy tactics. They have been doing this to me for years.”

Bonomo was vacationing with his girl friend in San Francisco when he received information on the Friedman Tweets. In response he posted a scathing diatribe on the Two Plus Two poker forum. It is know that Bonomo was banned by PokerStars for multi- accounting and was then given a reprieve a few years ago. Up front Bonomo claimed that he has been extra careful not to put a foot wrong since being given a second chance. He then issued a heads up challenge to Friedman under conditions that would ensure that it was he who was playing and not someone else. The ball is now in Friedman’s court.

For the last six years the leading poker magazine Bluff has been releasing an annual list of the 20 most influential persons in poker. This list is known as Bluff Power 20. The list is compiled by a select group of voters within the poker industry. Bluff Magazine said, “The list is always a subject of intense debate, and this year’s edition was no exception.” Out of the 20 persons on the list only five are players and none of them are in the top five. The rest are owners and administrators of various poker forums. This just goes to show that the faces we see and hear of on a day to day basis are not those who call the shots.

Of the players three would appear to select themselves. One cannot imagine this list without Doyle Brunson, the Godfather of Poker, who is at #10. He has to be there because of endurance alone. Some may be surprised that Negreanu is above Hellmuth. Negreanu is at #7 and Hellmuth is at #16. Negreanu has been chosen primarily because he is the leader in all time live tournament winnings. He could have been higher up in the list had he been able to keep his tongue in control.

Referring to Hellmuth’s parting of ways from UB, he has been tagged as Poker’s Most Valuable Free Agent. Bluff Magazine says, “You can say this much about Hellmuth, he works hard at promoting himself and that can only be music to potential sponsors’ ears. Whether it’s the self-aggrandizing entrances to the WSOP Main Event, the blowups during televised poker events or his propensity to drop names of every celebrity he’s ever met, Hellmuth knows how to draw a crowd and create a buzz.”

The two younger players are Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan. Ivey is the highest ranked poker player and is at #6. He is called the world’s best poker player. Dwan at #12 has been chosen for his propensity to gamble at nosebleed stakes. For the sake of record the top five in decreasing order are Howard Lederer, Isai Scheinberg, Ty Stewart, Harry Reid and Brian Balsbaugh. How many of these guys do you heard of? And there are no women in the Bluff Power 20.

The poker world has poker babes who are great models (Lacey Jones) and also has poker babes who are great moms (Jennifer Harman). But the latest poker babe on the block is both a model and a mom. Ever since the 28 year Ebony Kenney won the Isle Classic No Limit Hold’em in January 2011 she has been the toast of some of the best poker columnists.

Jenny Woo attributes the rise of Ebony to the new laws in Florida that have made live poker tournaments legal and this means that the Miami Beach based poker babe can play more often locally. Ebony has just turned pro a few months back and already has over $80,000 in the kitty. She has however been playing poker for nine years and has also worked as a casino dealer.

Michael Vasquez of the Miami Herald recounts an interesting incident early in Ebony’s poker life. Then she met a “crusty old retiree” at a poker table in Atlantic City who told her that “this is a man’s game”. Ebony feels that some men are still hostile toward, or dismissive of, female players, but there is good news ahead. She has of late encountered a new type of male player, who both recognizes and congratulates her.

On Twitter Ebony describes herself as “Overly Aggressive. Short Attention Span. Poker player. Aspiring: model. actress.” Her first foray in the modeling world was as a makeup artist. But after moving down to Miami she started getting approached by photographers and agents, and was asked to do “stuff”. That stuff now includes appearances in several music videos, including “Rap Song” by Grammy winner T-Pain. Despite acting and modeling ambitions poker will remain Ebony’s top priority.

“That’s like my 9-5,” says Ebony. “While my kids are at school, I go and I play.” Her children are aware that she plays poker for a living and are comfortable with it. While being dropped off at school they wish her luck as she heads for one of the local casinos. If she is stuck at the tables she calls up a baby sitter. But a few months back life was not that cozy. She was playing catching up with her bills and losing. Then friends helped her put together a starting bankroll and Ebony has not looked back.