In the world of professional poker there are many players who have become well known in this field and play in tournaments all over the world. They have won huge amounts of money and they have also experienced their share of losses. It is helpful for those hopefuls that would like to become professionals at poker to know how these players got their start and how they keep going.

Phil Hellmouth is one of the best known of these professional players. He has won nine World Series of Poker bracelets in his career. He first won the World Series of Poker at age 24 and was the youngest player to win the tournament. Since that time, he has made 33 appearances at the tables of this tournament. Phil had been a student at the University of Wisconsin, but once he started to become successful in poker he dropped out during his third year to pursue poker professionally. He has won over $7 million throughout the course if his career.

The best known European poker player is Joe Beevers. He was one of the Hendon Mob in 2004 when he spent the season playing the Hendon Poker Tour all over the world. He and his father formed a team that was so successful at playing blackjack that they were banned from playing in most of the casinos in London, England.

Gus Hansen has won three World Poker tours and was one of the first poker players to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2004. He is known as a loose player so that it is hard to determine what he will do when sitting at the table. He is very unpredictable and has often been criticized for leading other players to raise a bet or call when he has a winning hand, but it is a style that has proved very successful for him. Along with being a professional player in poker, he is also a world class player in tennis and backgammon.

Johnny Chan has acquired many nicknames throughout his illustrious poker playing career, which include the Orient Express and Genghis Chan. Although he enjoyed a great winning streak between 1987 and 1989, he has not since risen to the top. Throughout his career he has accumulated over $2 million in winnings and he competes in all the major tournaments held in Las Vegas and Sothern California.

Annie Duke is one of the most famous female names associated with poker. She started her career by playing in the poker rooms of Montana and moved to Las Vegas in1994 to compete professionally. She has won several World Series of Poker tours and has amassed more than $4 million in winnings.

Phil Ivey is one of the youngest poker players on the professional set. He is known for his aggressive style of play and has quite a few achievements. He won both the Monte Carlo Millions tournament and the top prize of $600,000 in online poker in 2005. He generally sticks to playing cash tournaments and has been quite successful at it.

By Tong Lin
For more information on Texas Hold em poker rules,Big Slick and poker ante visit http://www.PokerTips.org