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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.

These days it has become very easy, not only to track what Poker Brat Phil Hellmuth is doing, but also to track what he is thinking. This is because he is always Tweeting. On the way to the Super Bowl in Dallas there was a constant stream of Twitter messages on Dancing with the Stars, a meeting with George Bush and more.

Unfortunately it is neither a confirmed yes nor a confirmed no for Hellmuth’s appearance on Dancing with the Stars. The rumors were not baseless, though. Hellmuth admitted that he had been taking dancing lessons for a week. He even Tweeted the steps “1-2, 1-2-3, 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-2”. The Poker Brat also claimed that he had some dancing skills. But the tenor of the Tweet, “Thought I was going to be on Dancing with the Stars!” puts a question mark on the whole affair. Annie Duke, Hellmuth’s one-time colleague at UB.com, will be disappointed. Reacting to the rumors she had said that Hellmuth would make her watch the show. She also hit bull’s eye when she said, “With Phil, it’s always a love-hate relationship with the audience. People love to watch him because they love to hate him.”

The weather was not kind in Dallas. Hellmuth Tweeted, “Accidents everywhere; Driving on freeway in Dallas, tons of cars littering shoulder!” The All-In Celebrity Poker Tournament organized by Adrian Peterson had to be cancelled. While in Texas, Hellmuth caught up with former president George W Bush Junior, Condoleezza Rice and Hilary Swank. The message on Twitter said, “WOW! Gave George Bush a signed book + signed beer can at his library at SMU + we hit it off really well! Found him to be witty + engaging…”. He even sent a picture of the event. Hellmuth had done the same with Bill Clinton some time back. Incidentally Hellmuth is backing the Packers to the hilt in the Super Bowl.

There were Tweets about his charity work as well. “At Atkinson Convo Center at Dallas Stadium fitting kids w hearing aids w Starkey Hearing Foundation. Giving away tons of $1,700 hearing aids!” Later in the month Hellmuth is scheduled to host the Raise Your Hand for Africa charity poker tournament for this same foundation.

After her second place in the Ladies Event in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure last month, everyone is talking of Lauren Kling as the new face of women’s poker. This was by no means her first live tournament cash or her largest. Lauren took home $32,000 at the WPT Festa al Lago in October 2010. However, all this is nothing compared to Lauren’s online poker tournament performance. A second place finish in the UB.com Online Championship Main Event in January 2010 fetched her $163,000. Last year she also won $44,000 at Full Tilt Poker and $25,000 at PokerStars. She is active at the best online poker rooms.
Speaking to Jon Friedberg on The Showdown, Lauren said that she is taking poker very seriously. She plays five to six days a week online and focuses on playing to the best of her ability. “Everything else will come with success,” she said. Lauren is a hand histories freak and discusses them and poker strategy with a core group of friends. When asked how she keeps her game sharp Lauren replied, “I work out five to six days a week and do Pilates. It makes you play better and feel a lot better, and that’s important.” Friedberg quizzed her on whether playing a Ladies Event is different from playing open tournaments. Lauren indicated that some adjustment is required. On playing against guys she said, “Some guys want to give you their chips. Some guys can’t let you win a pot, so they try to bluff you.”

On the personal front, Lauren lives in Panorama Towers in Las Vegas and is roommates with poker babe Christina Lindley. During WSOP 2010 she was dating Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers. Lauren’s College Mansion profile is very interesting. Her biggest turn-off is taking life too seriously, and the three things he potential suitors should know are “poker, chivalry, and Lauren Kling”. Lauren is from that breed of women poker players who have a solid academic background. She has studied Engineering and Business at Berkley and at one time her dream job was to be the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company.
Lauren is all set to be hot property for sponsors, but at the moment she is biding her time and waiting for the right deal.

Bluff Magazine is one of the leading poker journals. Every year it announces a set of awards more related to poker personalities than to poker playing abilities. These are voted for by the readers of Bluff Magazine. The awards for 2011 were released last week and make for some interesting reading.

The online poker room PokerStars won awards in three categories. One was for the favorite online poker site. This was virtually a heads up between PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, with PokerStars garnering 51% of the votes and Full Tilt Poker getting 44%. Joe Stapleton of PokerStars won the award for the favorite poker announcer. He hosts The Big Game, which is a high stakes televised cash game. His co-host on the show, Amanda Leatherman (in picture), won the award for favorite hostess. Poker babe Amanda is ever the subject of discussion on poker forums. After her break up with poker player Joe Sebok, posters at poker forums tried to pair her up with Daniel Negreanu. A few months later there were detailed discussions on whether she had implants done for The Big Game complete with before and after pictures. Amanda polled 43% votes, beating poker babe Kara Scott who got 29% of the votes. Kara is the hostess for High Stakes Poker. High Stakes Poker had its revenge when it beat The Big Game for the favorite poker TV show.

An interesting award was for the funniest poker Twitter. Doyle Brunson won this hands down with 40% of the votes. Announcing this award Bluff Magazine wrote, “The Godfather of Poker isn’t afraid to fire off a blonde joke or two or take other pros to task on his Twitter feed.” His sexiest poker players list is still fresh in memory. More recently he wrote about the prop bet he had won for not kicking the bucket in 2010.

The favorite moment of 2010 was the most closely contested award. There was a difference of only five percent in the top three moments, all of which were from WSOP. Phil Ivey winning the eighth bracelet came first, followed by Tom Dwan’s loss in the heads up of $1,500 NL Hold’em to Simon Watt and Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi winning the $50,000 Players’ Championship.