If you want to find out who really is the best poker player in the world, don’t look for him (or her) at the World Series of Poker main event. If Jamie Gold is the best poker player in the world, I’ll eat a full deck of 52 playing cards. To find the best poker player in the world, look for the winner of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event.

To win that tournament you need immense skill, and it’s not just because you need to be proficient at five different types of poker. You have to be proficient at five types of poker while also matching wits with the best poker players the world has to offer. This year’s $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tourney started up a few days ago and this is just a taste of the 148-player field: Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, Scotty Nguyen, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey, Ted Forrest and 2006 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament winner Chip Reese. If you can go up against those players, plus a ton more that we didn’t even mention, and walk away with all the chips – you deserve the title as world’s best.

If you talk to any of those players they’ll definitely agree that the H.O.R.S.E. tourney is the best of the best at the WSOP. In fact a number of players want the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tourney to replace the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em tourney as the true WSOP main event. Some people, such as Chip Reese, already consider the H.O.R.S.E. tourney to be the main event. In fact if you look at numbers and level of play, the current H.O.R.S.E. tourney compares with WSOP main events from a decade ago much better than the WSOP main events the last couple of years.

The last man or woman standing in this year’s $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tourney will pocket $2,276,832 of the $7,104,000 prize pool. That’s up from the $1,784,640 that Reese collected last year. Another change this year is that they will actually be playing H.O.R.S.E. at the final table. Last year the final table was played as No Limit Hold’em because the fools that ran the WSOP did not think H.O.R.S.E. would translate very well on TV. They’ve fixed that this year by making the event H.O.R.S.E from start to finish.

Anyone who wants to see the real best of the best that poker has to offer should tune in.

Here are a bunch of other online poker tournaments that you can play!

Most poker fans think that Mike Sexton is a poker announcer who plays a bit of poker on the side. But poker’s greatest ambassador has been on the poker scene since the late seventies, and has cashes on his record going back to 1981. After college, where he played poker more than he went to class, and a short stint in the Army, Sexton realized that he could make more money playing cards than he could working any job, and the rest as they say is history.

Since that decision, Sexton has over $3.2 million in tournament winnings and is one of the most recognizable faces in the industry. Sexton has a WSOP bracelet, and a year ago he won the million-dollar first prize at the 2006 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions. He is also is 10th on the all-time list of cashes at the WSOP with 37 cashes, including three at this year’s tournament. Ranking 44th on the all-time U.S. money list is an impressive stat as well, not to mention 26 first-place tournament finishes. Mike has done just about everything there is to do on the poker table.

And that’s why he’s done so much for the game off of the table. He’s the face and announcer for the WPT and the spokesman for Partypoker.com. He has published articles in Card Player Magazine and Gambling Times. No one in poker speaks to the fans more than Mike because he is a trusted, knowledgeable voice who calls it the way he sees it.

Sexton isn’t on the tables as much as he was in the past. Appearances and other commitments have cut his playing time down, and his many affiliations limit the events in which he can play. The event is always better when Mike is the host, anyway. I met him at the 2005 WSOP Celebrity/Media event. He was the exact gentleman he presents himself as on television, but he had a lot of difficulty getting anywhere because he had to stop and chat with just about every person he walked past, as any true ambassador would.

Get set to play some online poker!

It’s probably isn’t much of a stretch to say that Ted Forrest has never met a poker game or a prop bet he couldn’t win. At least not in the last 15 years.

Forrest officially announced himself to the rest of the poker world at the 1993 World Series of Poker. That year Forrest took home three WSOP bracelets in the $1,500 7 Card Razz event, the $1,500 Omaha 8 or better event, and the $5,000 7 Card Stud event. It was another 11 years before Forrest would lay claim to another WSOP bracelet, but he won a ton of money in cash games and other tournaments over that span.

In 2005 Forrest won two more WSOP bracelets in the $1,500 7 Card Stud event and the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. Since adding those two WSOP bracelets to his collection, Forrest has been racking up wins on the tournament circuits with a win in 2006 National Heads-up Championship, again in the 2007 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars main event, and a victory on the Professional Poker Tour.

Forrest may have won five WSOP bracelets during his poker career, but he’s only continues to have possession of one of them. Forrest’s first three WSOP bracelets were stolen, and he gave one of his 2005 bracelets to his daughter, while his other 2005 bracelet is safely locked away. In the interests of complete accuracy, however, Forrest is also in possession of another WSOP bracelet that was won by Hamid Dastmalchi. Forrest bought the bracelet after Dastmalchi complained that the bracelets that were supposedly worth $5,000 weren’t anywhere near that valuable, and he would take $1,500 for his. Forrest tossed him three $500 chips and the bracelet changed hands. The moral of the story is watch what you say when Ted Forrest is around.

Forrest has a couple of nicknames in the poker world. He’s known as “Professor Backwards” because he often plays opposite conventional wisdom, and he’s also known as “Spooky” because he sometimes gets insanely lucky and is described as being “spooky good.”

When Forrest isn’t busting people at the poker tables, he’s usually making cash by partaking in a ton of prop bets. Forrest has no fear when it comes to making prop bets. Some of the famous prop bets he has made (and won) include a $10,000 dollar bet that he could perform a standing backflip at the WSOP, drinking 10 beers in 30 minutes, and running a marathon in Las Vegas during the hottest day of the year for $7,000.

Ready to play in some online poker tournaments? Yeah baby!!

Whenever you see Barry Greenstein playing in a poker tournament you should be rooting for him. That’s because when Greenstein wins a tournament he’s not the only one that really wins. Charities also win.

Greenstein donates all his poker tournament winnings to charity, a majority of which goes to Children Incorporated. This philanthropy has earned Greenstein the nickname the “Robin Hood of Poker” and a reputation as one of the nicest poker players you’ll ever meet. Before making a living at the poker tables Greenstein was a software designer working for Symantec. He left Symantec in 1991 to play poker fulltime, and the world has been better off because of that decision.

Greenstein makes a living by playing in high-stakes cash games, but it’s his tournament play that gets him noticed. Greenstein has two World Series of Poker bracelets, having won the $5000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw event in 2004, and the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event in 2005. He’s also cashed in over 20 WSOP events.

Greenstein has also had plenty of tournament success on the WPT circuit. Greenstein has finished in the money a whopping 12 times in WPT events and that includes four final tables and two main event wins. Those two big wins came in the 2005 World Poker Open and the 2006 WPT Invitational.

If you ever end up at the same table as Greenstein at a tourney and you’re lucky enough to eliminate him, you’ll end up with a signed copy of his book Ace on the River. In every tournament in which Greenstein plays, he keeps a copy of his book under his chair. If anyone at the table is able to knock out Greenstein he autographs his book and often writes out the hand with which he has just been beaten.

David “Chip” Reese has been called one of the best all-around gamblers that has ever lived. Whether it’s at poker, gin, backgammon or sports betting, Reese always seems to come out on top as a winner.

Reese began playing poker at a young age and was a card shark who was playing for baseball cards against much older kids when he was only six years old. Not only was he playing poker at the age of six, but he was also winning.

Reese’s life could have taken a much different turn if not for a trip to Las Vegas he took while in college. After passing up Harvard for Dartmouth College, Reese was admitted to Stanford Law School, but never made it there. Before heading off to Stanford, Reese made his first visit to Las Vegas and after winning $40,000 in a tournament decided that playing poker beat being a lawyer.

According to poker legend Doyle Brunson, Reese is the best 7 Card Stud player he has ever played. Reese proved he really was the best by winning the $1,000 7 Card Stud event at the 1978 World Series of Poker and the $5,000 7 Card Stud event at the 1982 WSOP. It would be a long 24 years before Reese would win another WSOP bracelet.

At the 2006 WSOP Reese won more than $1 million in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event. That win was notable because not only did the event have the largest buy-in in WSOP history, but Reese also faced Andy Bloch in the longest heads-up battle in WSOP annals. Reese and Bloch played heads-up for seven hours and 286 hands.

Reese doesn’t travel the tournament circuit as much as most poker professionals, instead preferring to make his money in cash games. Reese has actually scaled back his cash-game play in recent years as well, in order to spend more time with his family. Reese’s poker winnings enable him to take off as much time as he likes, and he also pulls in a great income from sports betting. It has been reported that Reese has won millions betting on baseball alone.

Thinking about playing a little online poker? Oh yeah!

Phil “The Unabomber” Laak has made name for himself in the poker world by playing winning poker and by being a character at the tables.

You can usually identify Laak by his hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses. His poker-playing apparel earned him his nickname “The Unabomber”, because he looked like the forensic sketch of the real Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski. You can also pinpoint Laak by his antics around the poker table, which include jumping around and doing push-ups after winning big hands, and kneeling down beside the dealer so he can be the first to catch a glimpse of the river card at the showdown.

Even before getting into poker, Laak led a rather interesting life. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, but was raised in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Laak earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and before beginning his poker career in California he worked as an engineer, a repo man, a stock day-trader and real estate investor, and he was even a sports betting broker.

Since leaving all that behind and focusing on poker, Laak has won the 2004 WPT Celebrity Invitational and made it to two other WPT final tables. Laak is still searching for his first World Series of Poker bracelet, but came extremely close in the 2005 $2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event when he finished second to winner Johnny Chan.

Anyone that doesn’t know Laak from his famous poker apparel or his performances at the tables likely knows him because of his famous girlfriend. Laak is going out with actress and poker player Jennifer Tilly, who won the WSOP $1,000 Women’s title in 2005. Laak may trail his girlfriend in WSOP bracelets, but with his game and his antics providing him with as much info on his opponents as attention from the public, he’ll likely catch up to her soon.

Marcel “The Flying Dutchman” Luske has been tearing up most poker tables he sits at since 2001. In only seven years he has won over $3 million playing tournament poker.

He’s been European Player of the Year in 2001 and 2004, and has finished 14th in the 2003 WSOP Main Event and 10th in the 2004 Main Event. He finished just short of a WSOP bracelet again in 2004 with a second- place finish against Joe Awada in the $5000 Seven-card stud tournament. He is cashing so often that it’s difficult to keep his statistics up to date.

Luske isn’t just a winning tournament player, he is also a stylish and charismatic personality. As close to a real 007 as you’ll find, Luske is a camera magnet with his tailored suits and trademark upside-down sunglasses. He carries himself with charm and a calm that endears him to just about everyone.

Owning a pub in Amsterdam gave Luske an appreciation of people that contributes to his success. He is an ambassador of the game and is always promoting goodwill between players. He also crusades for standardized rules for poker, and is the founder of the International Poker Federation.

His dominance of the European poker scene has led to the creation of a poker school called Circle of Outlaws for young players, some notables being David Williams and Kirill Gerasimov. Recently he has been given a reality show in Europe where celebrities learn the game from Luske and Noah Boeken, and eventually play off against each other with the winner getting entry into a big event in Vegas.

Luske seems to be a truly well-rounded individual who will make real improvements to his game throughout the course of his career. One can not help but enjoy his company, and respect his opinions. He’s certainly one to watch in the future. This guy is going to be real legend in the game, both on and off the tables.

As a trained magician, Antonio Esfandiari is highly skilled at making things disappear. As a professional poker player, Esfandiari is just as skilled at making his opponents’ chips disappear.

Esfandiari immigrated to San Jose, California from Tehran, Iran when he was nine years old. In his new home, Esfandiari stumbled upon what would become two of his great loves in life – magic and poker. When he was 16 and working as a waiter, a bartender at the restaurant in which he worked showed Esfandiari a card trick. That one card trick was the beginning of a lifelong fascination with magic. Esfandiari began learning all he could about being a magician and went from entertaining customers at the restaurant to performing his own shows.

Esfandiari’s introduction to poker also came by chance after he followed a friend to a poker tournament. Esfandiari was introduced to the game that day and started developing the same affinity for poker that he had for magic. At first, Esfandiari went through many ups and downs at the poker tables, but through study as well as some help from his friend and sometimes roommate Phil Laak, Esfandiari began winning with regularity as he gained more and more experience with the game.

It is widely reported that in 2004 Esfandiari won $1.4 million in the Commerce Casino poker rooms. He also found great success on the tournament circuit that same year, with his WPT main event title in the L.A. Poker Classic and his first World Series of Poker bracelet in the Pot Limit Hold’em event.

An example of Esfandiari’s persistence and ability to improve is illustrated by the fact that he finished in last place in his first appearance in the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament. The next season, undaunted, Esfandiari returned and this time chalked up a second-place finish.

If you ever end up at a poker table with Mike Matusow, make sure you bring headphones or ear plugs. Nicknamed “The Mouth”, Matusow is famous for his non-stop talking barrage at the poker table. He’s also famous for his barrage of trash-talk at the tables; just ask Greg Raymer.

Matusow’s in-your-face style of play has been both a help and a hindrance to his bankroll during his poker career. Matusow has won two WSOP bracelets – one in the 1999 $3,500 No Limit Hold’em event, and the other in the 2002 $5,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event. Matusow also pocketed a cool million dollars after winning the WSOP Tournament of Champions in 2005.

But Matusow’s fiery brand of play has also been a hindrance because he has been known to ruin hours of good play by making a stupefying mistake from time to time. This occurrence has been regular enough to earn its own moniker, and it known alternately as either the “Mike Matusow Blowup” or the “Mike Matusow Meltdown”. You can shoot your mouth off with impunity in most circumstances, but if you put your balls on the line from time to time, eventually someone will deliver a swift mule-kick to the groin.

Matusow’s poker-playing career came to grinding halt in 2000 after he became a habitual drug abuser of ecstasy, speed, cocaine and alcohol. Matusow resumed playing poker eventually, and even quit drugs between May to September 2003 before a marathon session of speed and alcohol derailed his sobriety. Matusow’s drug use came to a head in 2003 when he was arrested for selling and trafficking controlled substances, which landed him in jail from September 2004 to April 2005.

Since his release from prison, Matusow has been drug-free and is once again one of the most feared and loudest poker players at the tables. With his life back on track Matusow has become a familiar face on numerous poker tours and poker T.V. shows, and is a member of Team Full Tilt.

Read “Mike the Mouth Speaks: Part I” and “Mike the Mouth Speaks: Part II” for more great stuff!

Dan Harrington is not only one of the best no-limit tournament players in the world, but he is an astute businessman as well. It’s no secret that he’s interested in only the money; not the fame that can come along with it. Harrington is not the high-roller type, and is always on the search for a discount or a freebie meal. Even after he became a wealthy man, he continued to rent a room from a friend to keep his living costs down.

Harrington has become a financial advisor to many players. At the 1995 WSOP Main Event, he proposed to the players at the final table that they should all chop the cash nine ways, and he would help them all invest it and get rich. He continued to try and share the cash with the remaining players after each player was knocked out, but no would take him up on his offer. He ended up winning the event and earned a million dollars all for himself. I don’t know about you, but if I’m at a table with Dan Harrington and he wants to chop, I would most likely take him up on it.

His keen business sense has taken him off the tables more than it did in the past. Harrington is surely making more dough with his loan company, Anchor Loan, which employs and services many poker players. He has issued over 2500 loans and claims that no investors have ever lost any money with him. Harrington knows the value of investing his money in the real estate market, which can be a safe haven as long as the appropriate opportunities are chosen.

It makes sense to me that he’s able to walk away from the action. His sarcastic nickname “Action” was given to him because of his lack of exactly that, and I doubt that he has ever been under the spell of the games he has mastered in his life. These games include poker, chess (a state championship), and backgammon (another championship).

Harrington has been part of MIT teams that have developed systems to beat Roulette and blackjack games that have gone down in gaming folklore. He has nothing left to do in a casino, so now he makes money like the rest of the wealthy world does: He lends it, with interest.

Play a little online poker and maybe make a few bucks!