When Brandon Cantu won his first WPT title at the 2008 World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Stars he neglected to leave a tip for the dealer. Naturally, that caused a big stir and all of a sudden Cantu’s being labeled a bad guy for cheaping out on the staff. In his defense, here’s what Cantu had to say:

“In this specific situation, I simply assumed that a percentage of fees were withheld for all appropriate staff, as this practice is common amongst most major tour tournament events,” said Cantu in a statement concerning the issue.

A lot of the time it isn’t made clear what the rules are in the case of tipping the dealer after winning a major poker tournament.

Shooting Stars director Matt Savage explains it this way: “It is unfortunate the way this issue came out publicly. I feel really bad, and I think he is a great player. I am happy he won, and I believe that tipping is a personal choice,” said Savage. “I do, however, want to make sure that my staff is taken care of, because they are all so deserving. Nobody has been paid yet, because the club is trying to find a way to make it right.”

What do you think? As a suggestion, it should be made clear prior to every major tournament that tipping is appreciated. Or not necessary. Whatever. How hard is it to dish out a few bucks after taking in a huge haul?

I’ve seen lots of players that pretend to be females online. These guys just post a shot of their girlfriend and then use a feminine name. I can’t see this being a big edge, but at the lower levels it could certainly save you a bet or two. If the picture of the girl is attractive enough, some players will take it easy on her during play. Many of these players posing as females will even flirt with other players, and pretend to be inexperienced.

Any table image you can present to opponents can be used to your advantage if you plan it out enough. Many male players tend to underrate female players, so they will have that advantage for awhile anyway. If some chick outplays me in a pot or two, you can bet that I’ll be playing her as hard as I play any other opponent.

If you want to win a thousand dollars online, you first have to find the best bonus for your buy-in. Go to a poker review site and get yourself some extra cash for buying in that particular room. How long it takes to win $1000 depends on how much you buy in for, but if you go on a good winning streak playing $5/$10 limit holdem, you can make a $1,000 in a few days.

You could go to an aggressive $2/$4 no-limit room and play really tight. If you get some cards and bust a couple of guys, you could make your $1,000 in one session. That would require having at least $200, preferably more, with which to play.

You could also chop your buy-in into a bunch of smaller multi-table tournament entries and hope that you go deep enough into one of them to win $1,000.

After event #1 of the Bodog Poker Open ($250 + $20 no limit holdem) was finished, it looked like the pros would dominate the whole thing. The big story was the second- and third-place finishes by Evelyn Ng and Josh Arieh, respectively. But the event was won by an unknown player named rusostreet who won $26,062.50.

Event #2, (6-handed) - No Limit Hold’em - $300 + $25 buy-in didn’t have poker stars filling up the final table, and the $23,292.50 was taken home by 3pounder. The second-place prize of $14,822 was won by pepsiontherocks.

Event #3 was the No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys - $100 + $10 buy-in. PckAces won $28,270 for first place, and ibakitup won $17,990 for second. KGBluvsOrEos had to settle for the third-place prize of $11,924.80.

In event #4 Pot Limit Hold’em - $200 + $15 buy-in, foldpreflop85 was the big winner of $14,100.

I remember back in junior high, I used to make fun of those guys with their “Magic – The Gathering” cards, who played throughout lunch in the cafeteria. After learning about poker pro David Williams, I wish I had joined them instead of mocking them. Williams, who is now a World Series of Poker bracelet winner and Team Bodog Pro, progressed from Magic cards to real cards and poker.

Williams is probably best-known for finishing as runner-up to Greg Raymer in the 2004 WSOP main event. Williams may not have earned the title as world champion that year, but he still cashed out with a hefty $3.5 million. He won his first WSOP bracelet two years later in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event and he has also made it to three final tables on the WPT.

At only 25 years old, Williams – one of the WPT’s “Young Guns” of poker – has plenty of time to add to his growing list of poker accomplishments and to add to his bankroll, which already exceeds $5 million in tournament winnings alone. For more info on Williams check out his website at  www.davidwilliamspoker.com

Here’s my list of my favorite top young poker stars:

Julian Gardner- This guy is my favorite British player. Julian took 2nd place in the WSOP Main Event this year earning himself some nice pocket change of $2million making him the youngest millionaire in WSOP recorded history.

Annette Obrestad- She is clearly one of the most talked about online players in Europe right now and is known as one of the best online multi-table tournament players in the world. Starting here carrer at the age of 15 she is the youngest person to ever win a WSOP bracelet.

Phil Ivey- Some call him the “Tiger Woods” of poker. 2002 was this guys year where her won 3 gold bracelets in the WSOP which equaled the achievements of Ted Forrest and Phil Hellmuth for wins in one year.

Allen Cunningham- Starting out at 18 Allen has made a name for himself winning 2 WSOP gold bracelets so far proving him to be a formidable opponent.

Kirill Gerasimov- This young Russian player has a lot of wins under his belt. He’s the winner of the World Head Up Championship in 2002, he won the Paris and Vienna No Limit Hold’em tournaments and in 2003 came in 2md in the $25,000 World Poker Tour Gellagio event.

1. Have enough money to support yourself. I don’t recommend moving to Vegas to play poker unless you’ve been able to accumulate a sizable bankroll to live on.

2. Get a sponsor to fund part or all of your play. Even someone willing to stake you is good, but you have to pay them a share. Any sponsor wins are all yours.

3. Have a Plan B. Many professionals have had to try a couple of times before they were able to win enough to survive. Have something to fall back on just in case.

4. Study the game and practice thousands of hours of play. You need to be an experienced player who understands the game at all levels, or you’ll go broke fast.

5. Promote yourself at every opportunity. Recognizable poker players get sponsorship deals. Promote yourself by teaching, writing or making television appearances whenever possible.