She began playing professionally in 1984. She won her first Golden Nugget tournament in the Seven Card Stud event taking home a total prize of $74,000. During that time, it was considered to be the highest win any woman has ever done in the history of poker. When Cyndy moved to Atlantic City after her divorce, she would always participate in local games traveling only to Las Vegas to play in World Series of Poker. She won her first bracelet in the 2004 World Series of Poker Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Event taking home a total earnings of $135,900. She was one of the three women who won a bracelet in that year’s WSOP tournament securing for herself a spot in the World Poker Tour Ladies Night 2. In tournaments, Cyndy is often hailed as that “good-looking blondie who is always smiling” but despite that bubbly facade she could be a very dangerous poker player.

He has already scored numerous great success, particularly in the 2000 Winnin O The green Tournament $300 Limit Hold’em where he took home $28,240 and in the 2006 LA Poker Classic $300 Limit Hold’em event where he took another $51,789 earnings. He was also able to score a second victory in the LA Poker Classic but this time in the Omaha High-Low Eight or Better event, snagging a total of $58,607 cash win. He has participated in various live tournaments such as the 2007 California State Poker Championship, 2008 Bellagio Cup IV and 2009 Five Star World Poker Classic among others. He has participated in 7 World Series of Poker events and 3 World Poker Tour events since he started his career in poker. Clearly, this is not the last that we will hear of Jose Luis Velador as he has a bright future waiting ahead of him. He just has to keep playing his cards well and maintain the same aggressiveness he has showed ever since he started making poker his full-time career.

Jett, who acquired his fitting nickname Chip long before his poker-playing days, began in the business of poker long before he was actually playing the game. Chip Jett started out as a dealer, being the one who oversees games and the one who deals the cards to the players. He began this when he was living in Arizona, and it was through this that he started learning the ins and outs of the game of poker. He eventually picked up the techniques that were being used by the players that he dealt cards to, until he was ready to use these techniques himself. He played in the casino he worked in for six years and honed his poker-playing skills there.

He entered the tournament scene in 2000, beginning with state poker championships in California and in Iowa. It was in the following year, however, in 2001, that he made waves in the professional poker tournament world when he reached a number of final tables at the LA Poker Classic tournament. It was in 2003 that he made his first six-figure win, when he won the World Poker Tour’s Jack Binion World Poker Open and took home $129,589. Later that same year, he finished second in the WPT PartyPoker Million II tournament, and he took home over $175,000 for that tournament. He has joined many tournaments after that, including the World Series of Poker, the United States Poker Championship, and other WPT-hosted events. As of now he has earned more than $2 million from his winnings in these tournaments. With eight first-place finishes under his belt, and that much money in his bank, he is considered to be one of the poker greats of the present, and is feared in the poker tables by those who recognize him.

Niki Jedlicka began playing poker in 2006, a year before he got nominated for the EPAs, but he did not play seriously at once. He began playing as a past time, a way to spend time with family and friends. As he got better in the game, though, his interest in poker increased, and he began playing seriously when he started entering in online poker games. It was here that he found his initial success, building a significant bankroll by playing his way through. He used the name KaiBuxxe, and he became popular under this name, garnering attention when he would play in pot-limit omaha games. He improved his games by playing it big and taking risks, even taking on known poker champions and succeeding in winning these games.

He made a move from the online poker scene to the live poker tournaments later that same year. He would make it through these tournaments and to the final tables, cementing his place in the tournaments as one of the strongest players to have just surfaced in the live poker tournament scene. In 2007, he joined several poker tournaments such as the Poker Masters Royale and the Austrian classics before he finally joined the European Poker Tour. He placed 7^th in the said tournament, and he took home more than €150,000 for their No Limit Hold’em event. It was this that got him nominated for Rookie of the Year. Expect more superb performances like this from Jedlicka very soon.

Alessio Isaia began playing poker in the years following the poker boom that Chris Moneymaker had caused in the world of gambling in general. Isaia was inspired by watching poker games on television, and so he began learning about the game. He then put his newfound skills to the test by participating in various online poker games that were being offered, and he used his winnings there to participate in his first tournament. Like most poker players who were beginning in the field, he used these games as an opportunity to build up his bankroll, and soon he began playing in live tournament circuits.

His first experience of the professional tournament scene was not a breakthrough as is the case with some other poker players. He joined the European Poker Tour Grand Final in 2007, and he ended up finishing at the twenty-third place, only taking home $682. This was, however, followed by remarkable wins for that same year. He joined the Barcelona Open hosted by the EPT, and he made his first major money win, taking home $32,897 for placing sixteenth at their No Limit Hold’Em Championship. He had another big win at the No Limit Hold’em Tournament, where he won first place and took home $25,007. His biggest win to date is in the World Poker Tour season seven, where he joined in the Bellagio Cup and he won second and $132,035. Today he has made more than $470,000, and he ranks tenth in the Italy All Time Money List. Alessio Isaia sure is one promising poker player.

The new millenium brought Homam to the professional poker tournament scene, where she had a very good starting experience when she broke into e professional world of poker. She won the European Hold’Em Championship Pot Limit Hold’Em event, taking home with her $34,588. She has joined other tournaments ever since, such as the Binions Poker Classic and the Master Classics of Poker. Her biggest win to date, though, came recently, in 2008. She joined PartyPoker.com’s Womens World Open, and she won first place, taking home $50,000 for that event. As of now, she has won a total of over $100,000, and she continues to join tournaments to this day, playing for Full Tilt Pros.

Rob Hollink started out like some of the other professional poker players in the world of poker today – he was an athlete. He participated in several sports, such as soccer, basketball, and tennis. Unfortunately, on his way to a professional career, he incurred several injuries that would prevent him from further pursuing a career in any of these sports, so he had to find a new niche. Poker provided a good alternative for him, since he was extremely competitive, and he was knowledgeable in economics and mathematics, which worked to his advantage. He started playing in his home country, The Netherlands, and he found success in playing at the local casinos in his area.

He turned to the tournaments when he was thirty-nine years old and won his first tournament ever. This was at the Pot Limit Omaha event of the Euro Finals of Poker, where he won first prize and took home $82,279. From that point on he continued to join various poker tournaments. He has joined in the three most popular tournaments in the world of poker – the World Series of Poker, where he won a bracelet and twenty money finishes; in the World Poker Tour, where he has had two money wins and one final table; and in the European Poker Tour, which he has won once, has participated in final table once, and in which he has had three money wins. To this day, he has made almost $3 million from the tournaments he has joined. His biggest win so far is the at the European Poker Tour in Monte Carlo, where he won the No Limit Hold’Em event and took home $851,903. As mentioned earlier, this man started his life at 40 with a bang and a lot of cash.