Since its invention in the 17th century, poker has become a household game. It has made or broken a lot of its patronisers. We take a look at some famous poker players in the 2000s.
DANIEL NEGREANU
The Canadian who is nicknamed Kid Poker was born in 1974. Daniel dropped out of high school to play poker. At age 21, he migrated from Canada to Las Vegas to further his dream career. The 43-year old won 6 World Poker series bracelets and a couple of World Poker Tour championship titles. In 2014, he was ranked as the world’s best poker player by the Independent Poker ranking service Global Power Index.
NEGRANU’S ACHIEVEMENTS
Daniel won the World Series of Poker Player of the year award in 2004 and 2013. This made him the only player in the historic World series Poker to win the prize more than one time. He also won the World Poker Tour Player of the year in 2004/2005. Kid Poker was included in the Poker hall of fame in 2014. Daniel is the pioneer of the annual “Big Swing” charity golf event which commenced in 2009.
ANNIE DUKE
This is one of the best female poker players ever. Annie who is also a renowned author was born in America in 1965. She started playing poker at age 22 for fun. She was persuaded by her brother, Howard Lederer, to take up poker as a profession. Annie acquired a double major in English and Psychology at Colombia University. But she walked away a month before defending her PhD to pursue her poker career dream.
The 52-year old holds a World Series of Poker gold bracelet from 2004. She has written a lot of educational books for poker players. .The American is also a famous philanthropist to majorly African nations. She was a co-founder, executive deputy president and commissioner of the Epic Poker League from 2011 to 2012. This was before the organisation went bankrupt. She won the 2004 World Series of Poker tournament of champions. Her total lifetime live match earning is more than $4,270,000. She is also known to be a vocal critic of gender bias in poker tournaments.
GUS HANSEN
The Dane was born in 1974 before becoming a poker professionally in 1997. He was a youth tennis champion and a renowned backgammon player before switching to poker. Gus started playing poker when he came to the United States as part of a youth exchange program. He was declared by People Magazine as the World’s sexiest poker player and landed himself a modelling contract from Frank Q. His achievements include; 2002 Five-Diamond World Poker classic champion, Bad boys of Poker 2003 champion, 2004 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure champion. In defiance of his successes, Gus has reiterated his struggles and addiction to sports betting which he profoundly regrets. As of 2017, his total live tournament earnings is about $11,250,000. He was inducted into the World Poker Tour Walk of fame in 2004.