At the end of the 2007, when PokerStars introduced the PokerStars Passport and opened it up to the top 100 players on the TLB, you just had to know big things were in store for 2008. Now, those big things are happening.

PokerStars has just made several updates to the TLB that make it more than a contest of pride and will. Now, every month, there's big money at stake. What's more, at the end of every year, there are prizes worth fighting for.

According to the updated Tournament Leader Board pages on PokerStars' website, the top 200 leaders of each monthly TLB contest will split up $30,000 in cash with $5,000 of that money going to the monthly winner. Then, then top 1000 players each month will have a shot at a $20,000 prize pool in the monthly TLB freeroll.

That's all pretty cool in itself. However, when you look at the yearly TLB contest, the prizes are something everybody will be looking to score. First off, the top 100 players on TLB out of the year will get a $100,000 freeroll. What's more, the top three TLB leaders will walk away with PokerStars Passports of their own. The first place player will get five trips and buy-ins to major events. Second place gets a three-trip passport. Third place will receive a two-trip passport.

Because the TLB is such a pretigious place to be, PokerStars has also created the Tournament Leader Board Hall of Fame. There, you will be able to find the players who have scored the highest points tallies on the Weekly, Monthly and Yearly TLBs. You will also find a breakdown of the PokerStars players who have won the Weekly TLB the most times since Jan ’05.

With Janaury still kicking and eleven months to go, there is still a lot of work to be done. However, by this time next year, we'll have a whole new group of PokerStars Passport holders to follow around.

Will one of them be you?