Texas Holdem Poker

Fresh young faces at the poker table have been a reoccurring theme in the past 5 to 10 years. With the boom of internet poker and televised live tournaments, there has been an ever-growing amount of people wanting to take a shot at stardom. Enter Tom Dwan: the 23 year old internet poker sensation turned high stakes live tournament player. For 6 years, Tom has been playing poker as much as possible and really mastering the game.

His dream began when he was just 17 years old with a modest $50 initial investment. It was a gift from his father placed on an internet poker room that gave Tom the start he needed. Amazingly, he lost over half of his $50 and was ready to write off his possible talents. But Tom was not satisfied with giving up so easily. He pushed on and turned a meager $15 into a promising career.

Play Online Poker

As Tom Dwan, aka “durrrr” – his internet poker nickname, started to build his bank roll, he experimented with many different games. Sit n Go tournaments, cash games and multi-table tournaments until he found his favorite. That favorite game was heads up no limit poker. Tom was not afraid to go up against the big guns either. He regularly battled against some of the top pros both from the internet and from the pro circuits. With Tom’s newfound confidence and his impressive knack for the game, it was not wonder that he showed up at the World Series of Poker to try and make a name for himself. With 2 cashes at the World Series including one final table, Tom has really brought some attention his way.

One of the most interesting aspects of Tom Dwan is his fearlessness. Amazingly, Dwan reports that he has lost huge amounts of money in very little time periods. It is believed that Tom lost of about $2.5 million in a just four month’s time. What is even more remarkable is that Dwan has managed to gain it all back. He is even challenging huge name players to go heads up for $1 million. It seems like the kid has ice in his veins. If there is one thing we can count on from Tom Dwan, it is that he is not going anywhere for a while. Look for Dwan to make a lot of noise through his heads up challenges and he might even be a threat to win some events at the World Series of Poker this year.

Dutch Poker Players
There are many beloved poker players who come from the Netherlands, some very highly regarded in the poker community. One recently well-known poker player from the Netherlands is Rob Hollink, who took home three wins from the 2008 WSOP, one of which was first place in Event #30, the World Championship Limit Hold ‘em. He also placed 15th in Event #19 Pot-Limit Omaha and 22nd in Event #50 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha.

Another rising star from Amsterdam in the poker world is Noah Boeken, born in 1981. Like many other professional poker players from all parts of the world, his strategy skills came from excelling in the game Magic: The Gathering, which prepped him for a successful career in poker. His big break came from his 1st place win at the 2005 Scandinavian Open when he took down Ram Vaswani for almost $200K.
Boeken is often called Mini-Marcel after his mentor, fellow Dutchman and intercontinental poker champion, Marcel Luske, who is probably the most well-known of Dutch poker players. Luske is also known as the “Flying Dutchman” as he started out playing poker all over Europe, flying from city to city to compete in tournaments. Luske is an avid player at many high-stakes live events and a winner of millions of dollars. This classy poker giant, also from Amsterdam, is the definition of poker etiquette and his stylish air is pleasantly complemented by his acute sense of humor, known for breaking out in song at the tables and wearing upside down sunglasses. Being an older poker player gives him an edge against the young guns that populate the tables these days. He approaches poker with respect and in 2001 was ranked as the number one player in Europe, later to be European Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004. In 2008, he ranked as 150th on the Player of the Year list, up from 884th in 2007. Needless to say, he’s not new to poker.
Luske taught Boeken that there is a place for modesty and respect for yourself and others in poker and in life, in general. Luske has been called “Poker’s Roving Ambassador” for the goodwill he exhibits among his opponents. He embodies the honorable character of the region he represents and teaches Boeken to do the same. These two players are seen together often, representing the past, present, and future of Netherlands poker. Both of these poker players from the Netherlands are proud of the role they have played in Dutch poker, as well as global poker. They have a huge Dutch following, and many of their fans are inspired by them enough to follow in their footsteps. Luske, especially, has done a great job promoting poker as a rather admirable job in the Netherlands.