Spending most of the time thinking about the luck of having awesome friends has been a matter to Linda Johnson. Realizing that poker is been the common factor in almost of the friendly thing.

After spending four amazing days together with her 14 friends all the way from Canada just t celebrates the 10th anniversary of MIF. This MIF stands for “Make It Fo(four) which was commonly expressed by poker players during $2-$4 Limit Hold’em game at the Palace Station many years ago.

The climax of MIF has put out limitless tournament that features United States against Canada. Pride is important rather than the cash to be obtain. Almost everyone approved that the very meaning of the moment is brought about by friendship and poker runs second to that.

Johnson also builds a strong bond to various ladies who belong to the family of online poker forums, to mention few of her affiliations were; LadyPokerSharks.com and PokerChix.com.

One of her most promising activity was the days spent in WPT Boot Camp. As she analyzed the whole poker thing, players are the one who take part in the spotlight. Johnson considered herself extremely lucky to have made a plethora of longtime friends.

“I count my blessings every day and realize how lucky I am to be able to share my passion for poker with so many wonderful friends. Poker makes my life a much happier place.” said Johnson.

Phil Helmuth was eliminated on the sixth place at the World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star. His image was then the talked of the town after that event.

Tony G, member of Team Party Poker mentioned on his blog his concern on Phil Helmuth’s mental health. He made an open letter to Phil to express his concern on the poker player. Tony even mentioned in his letter to Phil about the PEMM that means Positive, Exercise, Moment and Meditation. He also added in his letter about the LMAO that makes him play seriously ridicule.

It was mentioned in the letter of Tony to Phil that his game on the final table is like the mega comeback of the poker player in the industry since the last Bay 101 final table. He did not show any lasting psychological damage on the game as Tony G mentioned on his letter.

Tony G also stated on his letter that Phil Helmuth is one of the best players in the poker industry and is one of the valuable assets in the industry. As of the moment, Phil is stuck on his mindset coach named Sam Chauhan. Most people are waiting for the time to see Tony G and Phil on the road enjoying a bike ride in the future.

The most interesting news in the world of poker does not happened at the table alone or in the halls of government. Most of the time, it is the people involved in the action itself that makes an interesting news and attracts a lot of attention. The case points to the developing romance between Team Full Tilt member Erick Lindgren and fellow pro Erica Schoenberg.

It was the people behind the PokerListings.com that gave the first information with the evidence to the general poker public. Lindgren was spotted railing Erica as she played deep in the main event at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic. He was the first to provide comfort when she busted out and were seen kissing afterwards.

Schoenberg is a model that turned poker pro was once engaged to recent PartyPoker Premiere League IV Champion and High Stakes Poker fixture David Benyamine which made her previously as one of the poker’s power couples. It was their relationship that became the central theme of the September 6th, 2009 shows.

There were no detailed information with regards to the breakup of Schoenberg and Benyamine however, it was rumoured that it was in the month of October that their relationship was ended.

Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Barry Greenstein are two giants that set new TV Cash-game poker record. Poker has been increasing its popularity on television. Popularity has drastically increased due to the ridiculous pots generated by high-stakes aces. The two giants made a new record for playing with the largest pot played.

Phil Ivey was a two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and who had made to the WSOP Main event final table. During the Full Tilt Poker’s Million Dollar Cash Games that was televised on SKYTV, Tom Dwan tackles with Ivey. Both players set new record at $1,108,500 while both having straight cards.

Tom Dwan holds a 7 of hearts and 6 of hearts and drops a bet worth $50,000 against Ivey who holds a combination of A clubs and 2 diamonds. The flop came with Jack of clubs, 3 of diamonds, and 5 of clubs. The 4 of hearts was the card on the turn and Ivey dropped a bet of $90,000 and Dwan took his time thinking before raising the auction to $ 232,600. The river was completed when the Jack of hearts came out.

Ivey was completely blank when he saw the seven digit pot money was all in. He had nothing to do but sit as he watched the Dwan took the money.

Joe Hachem was born in Lebanon on March 11, 1966. He moved with his family to Melbourne, Australia somewhere in 1972 and got married to his high school sweetheart which he met when he was 15 and she was twelve, and raised a family of his own there.

He started playing pro on poker in a Manila version of poker just for fun during his teenage years and shifted to Texas Hold’em in the mid 1990’s after he watched the movie the Rounders. He decided to try his luck by playing live at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.

After a rare blood disorder in his hands, Joe Hachem was forced to quit his passion business that he ran for 13 years around the year 2000. He devoted most of his time working as a mortgage broker and as a semi professional in poker, playing live regular in games on Melbourne and online at PokerStars.com.

It became serious for Hachem when the Aussie headed for Las Vegas with his cousin, brother, and @10,000 of his money wanting to win the “Big One”. Hachem entered WSOP Event 37 which is a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em game held in July and placed 10th earning $25,850 then.

He came out of nowhere in 2005 as he survived round after round of the very first World Series Poker Main Event that he joined. He won $7.5 million grand prize then and instantly became a poker celebrity. His popularity was actually more gradual than it appeared. He is actually the first Australian to win an event being one out of only four non-Americans to have won.

A person who says “nothing’s more important than family”, Joe Hachem being a millionaire can afford to bring his wife and four children to travel to international tournaments. This has led him into winning more cashes in 2006 WSOP. In the same tournament, Joe made it to two final tables in the WSOP’s main event and at the 2006 Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship.

Currently, he now joins the ranks of Juan Carlos Mortenson, Doyle Brunson and Scotty Nguyen being the only players to win a WPT championship title and in a WSOP Main Event.

Unlike many popular players though, Joseph Hachem doesn’t have poker dominating his life. His newfound wealth gave him time to enjoy his other favorite things to do like playing golf, smoking quality cigars in nice bars, and eating a nice meal in good restaurants.

Andy Bloch grew up in Orange which is a small suburb in New Haven, Connecticut. He started playing poker in 1992, where at the same he got his two electrical engineering degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Believing and even told his parents that he could live with poker alone, he decidedly continued to play poker after he got fired from his working when he had an argument with his employer. Ignoring his engineering career, poker became the top on his list of interests.

He continued a degree in Harvard Law School, and actually skipped the last week of his law classes just to play in the 1997 WSOP Main Event. That time, Tom Sims was looking for a volunteer to whom he could “sweat” and record all his hole cards in a low-tech hole card cam trial where Bloch actually presented himself. This record story was written as a two part article in the prestigious Card Player Magazine.

Passing the bar exam in 1999, he decided to delay his law career to pursue his poker profession. This was delayed even more when he realized that his poker career continued to pick up in the long run. However, he stayed an activist at heart, and in 2003, he was arrested during an anti-war protest in front of the White House. It was then that he defended himself as a licensed lawyer.

Andy Bloch is popular in his game analysis specialty, and most of his interest lies in the mathematical and psychological aspect on poker. Some of his poker achievements are winning a @100 No-Limit Texas Hold’em tournament in 1992, made two final tables at the WSOP in 2001, won first place at a Seven Card Stud Event at Foxwoods in 2002 and made another two World Poker Tour final tables during the first season at 3rd both times. He also became the winner in the second season of the Ultimate Poker Challenge’s $2,500 No-Limit Texas Hold’em Tournament.

Currently, in his official website’s journal, Bloch announced that he’d be boycotting the World Poker Tour until the tournament’s body decides to change the way the player’s identities and names are used. When he’s free, he runs an unofficial yet popular World Poker Tour Fan Site and plays in Fulltiltpoker.com as part of Team Full Tilt.

Gustav “Gus” Hansen, also called as “the Great Dane” in the poker world because of his Danish roots was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1974. Before becoming a professional poker player, Gus was a backgammon and tennis player. Coming to the United States as an exchange student, Gus Hansen first played poker in earnest during his stay in Santa Cruz, California.

Gus is one of the first inductees, together with Doyle Brunson and James Gamer, in the World Poker Tour Walk of Fame in 2004. His poker career has been impressive having won three World Poker Tour tournaments, and an invitational one table event. People Magazine also voted him as one of the world’s 50 Sexiest Men Alive during the same year, December of 2004.

Gus Hansen’s play style is known to be extremely loose, but at the same time extremely aggressive. He also is popular at calling a raise or bluffing any two cards, which makes him very unpredictable on the table. Hansen’s got that high risk play style that leads his opponents to call or raise even if he is hiding a winning hand. Though this had been criticized numerous times, this move seemed very effective on him and the successes or wins is his proof for it. Gus Hansen is also a Full Tilt Poker Pro , he has been signed with full tilt for years now.

It is said that a large part of Gus Hansen’s victories lies on the implied odds and pot odds during a game play. While his opponents find it hard to read him, Gus is an expert at reading their moves and had avoided traps easily. His most important aspect however is his being a probability expert. This had allowed him to redefine the games making him in complete control of the table. His most played game is the Texas Hold’em.

Hansen penetrated the poker business world by becoming a founding partner of the online poker site: pokerchamps.com launched in 2003. In 2005 however, the site was sold to the British company Betfair, which was told to be priced for over a 100 million Danish crowns. That’s approximately £8.8n million or 13 million euro. It’s a little puzzling when one commentator mentioned that Gus has been having money problems since he continued to earn somewhere over $2 million winnings from tournaments in 2005.

At present, Gus Hansen enjoys being single, probably due to the fact that this guy is known to be free spirited and would rather be alone that be tied down in a way. He currently resides in Monte Carlo.