PLAYERS NETWORKS

Hevad ‘Rain’ Khan

Hevad ‘Rain’ Khan (WSOP main event final table in ’07 and Team Pokerstars Pro), Peter Eastgate (’08 WSOP Main Event World Champion), Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospellier (’08 PCA Champion and Team Pokerstars Pro), and…um… Poorya Nazari? What do they have in common?

Up until few days ago, the difference between these gentlemen was clear: three of them are world class poker players, and one of them was a fan of the other three.
But a dream came true for 22 year old Poorya Nazari, when he managed to capture the main event title of the PCA, and took home a three million dollar first prize for his efforts. And in doing so, he immediately elevates his status from ‘wanna-be’ to Champion.

It’s no surprise that final tables often contain familiar names and faces. Professional poker players are damn good at their jobs, and when you throw them into fields they tend to do very well. In fact, all three of the aforementioned pros managed to win events at this year’s EPT stop in the Bahamas.

Hevad Khan captured the $2,000 buy in event, outlasting almost 500 other players, and brought home the almost $800K first prize. Khan continues his development into a solid pro.

Peter Eastgate

Peter Eastgate is still finding pillowcases to hold the nine million dollar first prize that went along with his 2008 WSOP Main Event title. The fact that the Danish government is chasing Eastgate for a $6 million tax slice of his prize money hasn’t dimmed his smile. At the last Pokerstars event Eastgate picked up a pocket change paltry $343,000 for his two days work, and lent some credibility to his status as a champion.

Last year’s Main Event winner at the PCA was Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospellier. Elky came back to defend his title this year, but bowed out of the main event early on. That allowed him to play in the $25,000 buy in ‘high roller’ event. Playing against a field of VERY talented players, Grospellier managed to outlast his fellow pros and took down the trophy, as well as half a million in prize money.

All three of these players are seasoned tournament vets, who have demonstrated they have what it takes to play with the best in the world. And then … there is Poorya.

Poorya Nazari’s story is exactly the reason most amateurs play poker. He won his way into the PCA main event online at Pokerstars. Like most amateurs, he would probably have been happy just getting through day one of the five day tournament. But he did better than that. Almost 1,400 players began the tournament. When the dust settled, he was holding the trophy and three million bucks in cold hard cash. Nice start to your poker career, Poorya.

That’s the fun of big tournament poker: on some days, the best players will win. But once in a while, the Cinderella story will ring out, and someone will put on the glass slipper.

Erik Seidel

Modest and unassuming, Erik Seidel is a professional poker soul, one of the world’s best. In fact, he is one of a very make up one’s mind few players who have won multiple World Ordination of Poker Bracelets, (he has won seven WSOP Bracelets as of this writing). Erik is the only WSOP tournament soul in the past twenty-five years to victory three consecutive years running:
•    1992 – $2500 Limit Hold em – $168,000
•    1993 – $2500 - Omaha 8 or Corking – $94,000
•    1994 – $5000 - No-Limit Hold em – $210,000

Seidel is additionally ranked among the top ten money makers in World Connection of Card game Tournament play, his standing kept intact by his $611,795 victory in the 2005 WSOP Tournament, in which he outlasted and overcame 1,402 competitors. Although Erik is fascinate in high regard in the socio-economic class of professional tournament poker, poker, his rank love now, was not his first love thirty-five years ago, when in 1970 he left college to pursue a career as a paid backgammon player.

Playing backgammon at New York’s legendary Mayfair Club, Erik entered a board game tournament in Las Vegas, where playing a elite games of low-limit poker arrive at a new interest in the game. Back at the Mayfair, Erik and a number of fellow backgammon players, Paul Magriel, Jason Lester, Steve Zotolow and Howard Lederer among them, began a regular series of poker games, eventually leading the boy’s into professional poker tournament competition.

During this time Erik worked as a trader on Wall Street to supplement an erratic income from Backgammon. Eventually, backed by friends, Erik felt confident enough to enter a Human Series of Poker Tournament in Las Vegas. Entering one-table satellite employment for the Main Event, Erik lost every one, nine in all. Not deterred by his losses, Erik bought into the Piping Event, and his skillful play enabled him to finish second only to the winner, the famed Confederate soldier Chan.

Howard Lederer

After done with college, Howard moved to New York to track his passion for chess. He soon discovered a poker game in the back room of his favorite chess club - and was immediately hooked. For two years, Howard played poker relentlessly – 70 to 80 hours a week - and went home broke nine out of 10 nights.

He would earn his nightly stake by running errands for the players. The frenetic pace caught up with him and he realized that playing all-nighters wasn’t helping his game. He took a couple of steps back, got more sleep, and saw his results improve. Howard made big strides in his game when he started to play at the Mayfair Club in New York. The Mayfair was a legendary bridge and backgammon club - home to the greatest games players in the world.

He became part of a circle of world-class games players who were the first to experiment with No-Limit Hold ‘em when it was introduced in New York City. The daily game at the Mayfair would begin at 4PM and wind down by 2AM, when all the players would retire to their favorite bar for a lively discussion of the day’s game.

The camaraderie among the players created an invaluable learning environment. Everyone was new to the game, but the ideas flowed freely and elevated their playing efforts. This group of early players included Dan Harrington, Steve Zolotow, Jay Heimowitz, and Erik Seidel. Howard continued to hone his skills and in November of 2002, won his first WPT Championship title in at Foxwoods.

In March of 2003, Howard won his second WPT Championship title in the $5,000 Limit Hold ‘em event on The Poker Million cruise. Just one month later, Howard won the first of his three Bellagio titles in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold ‘em event at the 2003 Bellagio Five-Star World Poker Classic. His second Bellagio win was in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold ‘em event in April 2004. His third Bellagio title came just 13 days later in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event. Nowadays, Howard enjoys providing commentary and analysis on FullTiltPoker Learn from the Pros and FSN’s Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament, lending credence to his nickname, “The Professor.”

Erick Lindgren

Erick Lindgren was born in Northern California and spent most of his childhood engaging in various sports. He was the most valuable player of his league in basketball and an all league quarterback. Lindgren moved to college shortly after high school, but dropped out of Butte Junior College in his second year there.

Gaming took over and he knew early on that his livelihood would be tied to poker and other games. But before poker, he started out as a blackjack dealer at a local casino, which also helped him become more aware of how people act with cards.

His tournament winnings exceeded $2 million; Erick has scored first place at three major competitions since December 2002. His most recent winning includes the Poker Million III, where he cashed out a million dollars, hard cash. Additionally, his first place at the World Poker Tour 2003 event in Aruba brought him a wealthy half a million dollar check.

Unlike many of the poker professionals out there, Erick wishes cash games and usually participates at up to eight high stake tables. It is not possible to tell what his income looks like when he’s playing online, but it is told that he once won $40,000 in a single hand in cash play.

Other than that, Erick keeps no track of his bad beats. Instead, he maintains his positive thinking throughout the whole game. Like so many of us, Erick enjoys watching his opponents play at TV shows like the World Poker Tour. He considers his toughest opponents to be Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey - mostly because he has standard their game play as amazingly aggressive.

Today, Erick lives in the heart of gambling, Las Vegas. He is untied and single but does a lot of travelling and gambling. His current sports activities include golf and basketball. If you want to play him and play him, go to his home grounds, look for a short-haired guy in an luxurious shirt and make sure to respect him just as much as you admiration your other favorite poker professionals, because you’re going to need it.