Phil Ivey is officially motivated. Uh oh. Look out poker world! Normally, I don't watch a lot of fluff videos from various poker sites, but there was one that I watched today where Gloria Balding was interviewing Ivey and when she asked him what was next for him in poker, he said: "Well, um, I guess now.

The first player on my list of the 20 most influential people in poker really needs no introduction. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker came out of nowhere to win the Main Event after winning his entry via PokerStars. His win ushered in a whole new era known as the "Poker Boom" during which players numbering in the millions turned to the game of poker. [assets/Uploads/Blog/Chris-Moneymaker.

Who are the most influential people in the world of poker? This is a question that is posed from time to time by different media organizations and I think it's time that I tackle this burning question. Ok, maybe it isn't so much a burning question as an interesting exercise in opinion. But over the next few months, I will be bringing you a series of blogs covering who I believe are the 20 most influential people in the world of poker. Now when I say the word influential, I am not necessarily referring to being influential in a positive way.

Yesterday I played a holdem tournament with 25 friends and colleagues. I soon noticed that I wasn’t in a good mood. Which is bad for your poker. I didn’t know why.

Congratulations to Phil Laak for winning his first bracelet. WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!? Phil Laak won a bracelet?!?!? O_O Yup, Phil Laak just took down Event #1 at the World Series of Poker Europe for his first bracelet and £ 170,802. He survived a stacked field of 244 players and a final table that included Chris Bjorin. Also, don't forget that he did this all while playing with a broken arm and recovering from a serious accident he had last month.

Word was released earlier Thursday that SpadeClub. com would cease operations and players were asked to move over to the ZEN Entertainment Network. As you may remember, SpadeClub was a subscription based poker room that CardPlayer setup back in 2008 that took action from the U. S.

I logged onto Full Tilt to play a little Stud Hi-Lo and inspiration came to me for a new slogan for the site. As such, I figured I would share some ads that were rejected from various sites.    (Ad tag line in photo caption. ) *Full Tilt Poker:* For some reason, Full Tilt thought that trying to convince people they might actually win would be a better way to go: *Poker Player Magazine:* Daniel Negreanu was pegged to be this site's spokesman, but there were privacy concerns: You can talk to these guys about anything.

*I didn’t know there’s a brick and mortar poker school out there, but there’s the New York School of Cards. You’ve got to love it!* *Genuine commitment to the game* Poker truly is a game of strategy. Poker is a game that requires a significant amount of thinking. If you’re not thinking, you’re gambling.

During the 2010 WSOP, Michael Mizrachi was sporting a patch from Deliverance Poker. Nobody really knew much about the site, other than the fact that Mizrachi was a sponsored pro by the site. However, once he went deep into the Main Event, Mizrachi started sporting a Full Tilt Poker logo. Now, Mizrachi is being sued by Deliverance Poker.

It looks like PokerStars has decided to trim down their roster of sponsored pros.   Havad Khan, Gavin Griffin, and Peter Eastgate are no longer with the site. First, the cutting of Peter Eastgate is not surprising.  He's no longer playing poker and as such should not be sponsored.