Poker is no different than any other sport in that it is a great game with a lot of exciting players to watch. Over the years the game of poker, particularly No Limit Holdem, has gained plenty of exposure and created many now recognizable players to the general public. We are going to take a look at a few of those players and what I see in their immediate futures.

Phil Ivey

What else needs to be said behind the name of Phil Ivey? It’s an incredible story to see a man they used to call “no home Jerome” morph into the incredible Phil Ivey. Ivey is arguably the best all-around poker player in the world. He has won over $9.6 million dollars and continues to dominate the cash game world both online and live. Phil is also a founding member of Full Tilt poker. Last year he won the WPT LA Poker Classic and this year he already has won 2 WSOP bracelets and will sit at the Main Event Final Table in November. Yes, Ivey is on top of his game as usual. It would be an incredible feet if Ivey were able to pull off yet another 3 bracelet win and further cement his name in history as one of the greatest poker players ever.

Annette Obrestad

What else can you say about Annette_15 AKA Annette Obrestad? She started out on the internet killing poker tournaments and winning millions. Over the past 3 years Annette has translated her online wins into live tournament cashes and a victory in the 2007 WSOPE Main Event Championship. She has lifetime winnings of over $2.4 million dollars. What makes Annette so special is her aggressiveness at the table. She plays a style that is extremely successful in a live poker tournament format. Some even say that Annette is the new face of women’s poker. She is young, intelligent, beautiful and has the charm and charisma that sponsors like. Most importantly Annette is a winner and that takes you a long way. Next year will be her first year playing the WSOP in Las Vegas and it will certainly be a media members dream to have her on the scene. It also gives us another player to keep a close eye on as the series progresses.

Phil Hellmuth

Phil Hellmuth is the reining WSOP bracelet champion with 11 of them. That is certainly no small feat as he continues to win bracelets despite the fields becoming larger and larger each year. I know it can be difficult to like Phil at times. However, none of us can deny his lifetime winnings of over $8.8 million dollars in tournament cashes. Phil is probably one of the most entertaining players in poker and his “poker brat” persona have helped to build, sell, and market his brand of poker to many an advertiser. Currently Phil is endorsed by Ultimate Bet and pitches several other poker related products for various companies. Phil, always the resourceful one, also has written several books on tournament and online poker that have done well. Sure, the routines at the table can get a little stale from time to time but one thing rings true, we all know they are just a shtick. Phil is about as harmless as a fly – unless your playing poker.

Vanessa Rousso

I have one word for this Duke University bomb shell – LETHAL. Don’t let her good looks fool you into thinking that she can’t play poker. Vanessa Rousso is another up and coming professional poker player that has already made her presence known to the poker world. She is the fiancé of Chad Brown and travels the poker tour regularly from city to city. She also has very nice endorsement deals with PokerStars and GoDaddy to name a few. Yes, you will be seeing a lot of Vanessa Rousso at both Final Tables and in TV ads. Vanessa has lifetime tournament winnings of $2.3 million dollars and has also done extremely well online coming in 2nd in the 2007 WCOOP and winning the European Poker Tour Grand Final High Roller event for a cool $1 million.

Each one of these players are people that should be on your poker radar going into 2010 as they continue to win bracelets and championships and garner media attention.

Curtis Mayfield III

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