The American Dream Dusty Rhodes passed away last week at the age of 69. That's the same age as my dad. It is also a somber reminder that the golden age of wrestling is over and that its superstars are beginning to fade from the limelight. Look at whom we've lost in recent years.

In this week's edition of Flashback Friday, we travel back in time to the 2001 World Series of Poker Main Event final table. The 2001 Main Event was ultimately taken down by Carlos Mortensen and marked the last time that a "big name" pro took down the Main Event. Before you start debating me, by big name I mean pros that would be recognized by the average poker fans without having appeared in the Main Event. The final table of the 2001 Main Event featured a stacked final table for its day.

What does it feel like to win $1 million playing poker? Most of us will never know. Many of us will be lucky to hit a five-figure score. A few others reading this may some day hit a six-figure score but a seven figure? Never is the word that will come to most of our minds. Poland's 'bladsonpoker' probably thought the same thing entering Tuesday.

Any of you that have followed my blogs over the years know that I am not always the biggest Daniel Negreanu fan. I have always respected him as a player and for his job as an ambassador but there are times where we butt heads regarding some of his views. This is not one of those times. A couple days ago, I wrote an article about how I chose NOT to turn pro and instead took my bankroll and paid off my house.

By now, most of you have heard about the Italian poker player who won $60k in a poker tournament, quit his job to turn pro and then couldn't get his money. This story reminded me of a potential turning point in my life where I was thinking about possibly trying to play poker professionally. It was late 2007 and I was contemplating what had been a fairly solid summer at the tables. I hadn't hit any type of life changing scores, but I was playing well enough that I felt that I would get there in time.

This week's edition of Flashback Friday takes us back to November 7, 2009, a day that will never happen again thanks to recent changes at Full Tilt Poker. Patrik Antonius and Viktor "Isildur1" Blom were entangled in a massive heads-up match playing $500-$1,000 PL Omaha. A mini-raising war pre-flop resulted in Antonius five-betting to $81,000 before Isildur1 finally decided to see a flop. On a flop of 5c-4s-2h, Antonius bet out $91,000, followed by a pot-size raise by Isildur1 to $435,000, Antonius potted to $779,000, effectively putting Isildur1 all-in for his last $162,473.

My very first WSOP event ever was the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Event at the 2006 World Series of Poker. I will always remember this for several reasons, the biggest being that it was the largest live Limit Hold'em tournament of all-time. Anyone that has played a limit tournament knows that it is the ultimate grind. Being a newbie to the World Series, there were times I would "check out" when I wasn't in a hand.

I'm going to take a week off from Flashback Friday to instead give you my picks for *WrestleMania 31* this coming Sunday. While I wasn't very keen on this event due to what seemed to be overly predictable storylines, the event has begun to grow on me and I think we might see some interesting matchups. Below, I will give my predictions on each match and I will try to keep them brief. Fatal 4-Way for the WWE Tag Team Titles Divas Tag Team Bella Twins vs.

In this week's edition of Flashback Friday, we head back to the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event. The featured player this week is none other than 13-time bracelet winner and former Main Event champion Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth picks up Ac-Ks and raises to 1,500. His opponent picks up pocket aces and min-raises to 3,000.

Vanessa Selbst recently won the Global Poker Index Female Player of the Year award for the third time in a row. In less than a decade, Selbst has skyrocketed to become the top female poker player of all-time. This past summer, Selbst took down her third open field WSOP bracelet. It tied her for the most bracelets for a woman all-time and made her the only one to have three open-field wins.