Tue, 04/05/2011 – 02:24 – PokerPages Staff

#5 Bertrand Grospellier
A Frenchman by birth, Grospellier now lives in South Korea.  There he became a cyber-gamer with exceptional skills, when a friend introduced him to poker; he soon discovered that his gaming skills could translate to the game of poker.  Starting out on PokerStars where he set out to reach ‘Supernova’ status.  Playing online as ‘ElkY’, he continues to make himself a world-class contender.

#4 David Williams
A Team PokerStars Pro, Williams entered the scene in 2004 in the WSOP $10,000 Main Event where as runner up; he gained himself a bankroll to be able to enter any event of his choosing by taking home $3,500,000. He has continued to establish himself as a world-class contender. He can be found playing poker online as ‘dwilliams’.

#3 Daniel Negreanu
Negreanu plays online as ‘KidPoker’.  He is probably the most recognizable face and name in internet poker and live play, as he often works as a commentator and is an author as well as poker player.  He had hopes of being a snooker player growing up in Toronto, Canada, but his career choice took a turn when he discovered poker.  In just ten years, his record has become one the most impressive.

#2 Vanessa Rousso
On the internet, she is known as ‘Lady Maverick’.  Miss Rousso is a scholar as well as a poker player and is trying to balance a poker career with her law degree studies.  She has had impressive live play wins at championship tables, the first finishing seventh at the WPT Championship in 2006.

#1 Chris Moneymaker
Moneymaker began player poker as a pastime on the internet.  A $39 entry into a WSOP Satellite that earned him a chance to play in Las Vegas at a championship would change the accountant’s life forever. The win at the WSOP $10,000 Main Event in 2003 would in a way make him an internet player legend.  Despite other successes and winnings, the story of the internet amateur that took on the pros and won in 2003, will always be what he is remembered for. He plays online as ‘Money800′.

Sat, 04/02/2011 – 02:33 – PokerPages Staff

Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas revealed that the Washington State Poker Lobby Day held in the state earlier this month was a huge success.

Key figures from PPA headed to Washington in the hope of convincing lawmakers that the gambling law passed in 2006, which classed online poker as a Class C felony, was unsustainable.

“We accomplished a lot and the feedback we got from lawmakers was encouraging. There was not a lot of appetite to keep the criminalization in the law.”

However, Pappas admitted that it was not feasible for a bill to be passed which would eradicate the criminalization until 2012.

Pappas also revealed that the Washington lawmakers were shocked at the severity of the law.

“It has never been enforced, but that is no excuse to have a stupid law on the books.”

“The idea that you are making criminals of players on their computers is illogical especially since the state has regulated card rooms and tribal casinos.”

The outlook for pro online poker legislation was bleak following the failure to get Barney Frank’s bill off the ground during the lame duck session of Congress late last year.

However, recent lobbying seems to have highlighted the need for federal legislation which would create a regulated and licensed framework.

Pappas admits the PPA still champion federal based measures and does not harbor hopes for an intrastate framework in Washington.

“The licensing and regulation will be a much harder sell. No one knows exactly where the tribes would come down on that and the PPA still has broader concerns in pursuing state by state models.”