Latest Players Post

Vivian Im may have only been in the game of poker for just a few years, but don't confuse lack of time with lack of experience or skill. In her short career she has achieved something that many before her are still trying to do. Im kick-started her live tournament...more

She wanted to be a dancer. She was lithe, poised, and a floating work of art. Vivan Im defined a certain sort of grace that only a few people can carry. She studied it, performed it, and taught in Seoul. Like dance, life has a way of surprising people. For...more

For the fourth straight week, PokerStars' resident heads-up warrior Viktor "Isildur1" Blom was back in action for another SuperStar Showdown, this time to continue his two-round match with the formidable Scott "urnotindangr" Palmer. And after another efficient session lasting just over four-and-a-half hours, Viktor was the victor yet again, besting...more

Of all the opponents he's faced in the SuperStar Showdown thus far, Viktor Blom has probably logged the most hours at the tables with the man who took him on today, nosebleed-stakes fixture Scott "urnotindangr" Palmer. Although the 20 year-old may not be a household name yet, he regularly trades...more

Viktor Blom isn't the type of guy who seems like he considers danger. Depending on the day, he's either the Roadrunner or Wile E. Coyote. On neither day, however, does it appear he gives one diddly-damn whether he's in peril. As he told me a couple of months ago over...more

This is always the busiest time of year. Everyone's always trying to squeeze in one last event whether it be a party, or a poker tournament before the end of the year, and it gets pretty exhausting. This year's exhaustion for me started in Wichita, Kansas. It was a charity...more

by Victor Ramdin I was really looking forward to the month of September. You've got the WCOOP on PokerStars, and things usually tend to finally cool off just a bit here in New York City. I was all set to take all the things I had learned about online poker...more

by Victor Ramdin I predicted I was going to have a big World Series this year, and I came through for myself. I had the best World Series of my life. I had six cashes in only 16 events, and one final table. I cashed for over $75,000 total which,...more

I think some people scale down their poker playing in August. The big tournament circuit goes quiet: it's the gap between the end of the World Series and the start of the EPT. The card room at the casino is quieter, which makes me wonder whether the regulars are off...more

London-based Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren is a poker columnist for The Guardian and a commentator for The Observer. She is one of the biggest names on Britain's poker circuit and is also one of the highest-earning female players. Vicky, are you beside yourself over the Royal Wedding? What will...more

It's hard to imagine PokerStars Team Pro member Vicky Coren being afraid to walk into a casino poker room, but the way she describes it in her book, For Richer or for Poorer, Confessions of a Player, it seemed to her at the time like walking into a lion's den....more

In any given year, the people who make $1 million playing tournament poker is very small. If you look at live tournament results alone over the past couple of years, it's usually sixty or so people who crest that seven-figure mark in a calendar year. It's an elite group by...more

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst is one of the most successful and respected tournament players in the world, with over four million dollars in tournament winnings and a World Series of Poker bracelet in Pot Limit Omaha (2008). Vanessa's victories include the 2010 Partouche Poker Tour and back-to-back North American...more

by Vanessa Selbst As poker players, we know theoretically that there are many factors beyond our control that are subject to luck, but we never really dissect just how they come into play. We lament the two-outers we suffer and celebrate the flushes that come in on the river. But...more

PokerStars Women's Caribbean Adventure January 14, 2011, 9 a.m. Its four short hours before the 2011 PCA Women's Caribbean Adventure 1K Main Event and the women who are scheduled to play today are soaking up some last minute advice from someone who knows a thing or two about winning...more

I'll admit that at school I was never very good at math. English was more my thing, although some readers of this organ may disagree. Numbers were always a bit of a chore, and as I reached adulthood they were put to use only when I had to work out...more

Vanessa Rousso's poker career lacks few things. She's made important final tables, earned millions, and cashed more than a dozen times at the World Series of Poker. She's won an EPT high-roller event, the PCA ladies event, and a televised tournament. She's even won a WPT side event. In all...more

I remember playing my first live tournament. It was a $200 freezout in a local casino. I've been playing poker for a year already, but only online. My hands were shaking, and though I knew what I should be doing with my cards, at a real poker table everything seemed...more

It's not all glamour Along with the life as a professional poker player also come worries. Last week was the trip to Barcelona for the European Poker Tour tournament in Barcelona. All I had to do is show up. PokerStars had taken care of the five-star hotel and the...more

He'll be one of the youngest players at next week's World Series of Poker Main Event final table, and the first German to make it that far. Now Pius Heinz, 22, has the full support of the PokerStars family; he has joined Team PokerStars Pro. Heinz, who studied business psychology...more

In the middle of 2010, Peter Eastgate announced he was leaving the game that made him a world champion. He left Team PokerStars Pro, stopped playing poker, and auctioned his WSOP Main Event bracelet for charity. Now, after several months on hiatus, Eastgate is ready to return to the game....more

by Peter Eastgate The World Series of Poker may have already started in Las Vegas, but while you are reading this, I am to be found in my apartment in London - fully focused on enjoying the sport, like the recent French tennis open. I have booked my flight to...more

There wasn't much clamoring in the poker world for Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate to prove himself after his WSOP win. That said, if anybody still needed some proof that the man from Denmark had some pretty serious poker chops, they only needed to be tracking Eastgate's progress last week...more

by Pat Pezzin I just landed in Los Angeles and I am really looking forward to be playing the NAPT LA Main Event at the Bike. It will be my first live event since busting the WSOP Main Event on Day 3 back in July. Despite the dry spell of...more

by Pat Pezzin As the dust settles on the WSOP, I always find it a little bittersweet. The grind and chase of winning a bracelet is suddenly over after seven gruelling weeks of live tournament poker, but I quickly realize that I finally get to go back home to Canada...more

After a great party week on Ibiza, the best island in the world, I finally returned home to get back to business and play the PokerStars WCOOP. The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker has always been a very exciting tournament series for me, one I look forward to a...more

by Noah Boeken Poker started for me a few years after I found out that there was a Master Classics of Poker. I saw an ad once on TV; it was for one of Europe's biggest poker tournaments held in the Amsterdam Holland Casino each year. At the time I...more

by Noah Boeken Winning WCOOP Heads-up tournaments has always been a huge goal of mine. Having watched fellow Dutchman Rob Hollink win the Heads-up in the first WCOOP ever, I was eager to follow in his footsteps and take this tournament down. Unluckily for me I was met with my...more

Nearly two years ago I was blogging live from EPT Deauville, reporting yet another bust-out of a player who I had never heard of. To be fair, this particular player had performed well that week, falling in 11th place, just shy of the final table, for $49,547. This was Martin...more

Back in 2000 and 2001, when I was still at my previous job as a corporate finance advisor (actually, I was just starting after graduation), I had a chance to make a valuation and privatization project of one of the biggest Estonian companies. I travelled there and back a few...more

by Marcin Horecki The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is THE event for all online poker players. You will not find any bigger, better and more exciting tournament poker series anywhere else! Starting on September 5th on PokerStars and lasting for three weeks there will be 62 tournaments...more

by Marcin Horecki Event #9 of PokerStars' 2008 WCOOP No-Limit 4-Max promised to be a fast and fierce tournament. With 1,100 players out of nearly 3300 participants departing in the first hour, those predictions came true. Actually, this proved that PokerStars players present high skill level and are not only...more

He's one of the nicest guys in poker, one of its greatest businessmen, and now the winner of the San Remo stop of his native Italian Poker Tour. Today, Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano took down the event in San Remo for €210,000. Though Pagano has been a professional poker...more

Luca Pagano is a man of trademarks. He has a trademark Italia jacket, a trademark wink, and a trademark smile. Emotional yet composed, friendly yet fierce, and confident yet humble--Pagano defines them all. In an age when many parents have been forced to come to grips with having poker players...more

Editor's note: This Q&A with Liv Boeree took place at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure on January 13. Walking into the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure poker room, an intimidating figure of Liv Boeree, wearing six-inch heels and wielding a whip, greeted thousands of poker players. Between waterslides and poker at the PCA,...more

"Someone who has used a degree in astrophysics to good effect and has now become one of the UK's most successful card players." This was waspish television presenter Jeremy Paxman introducing Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree on a special Christmas edition of the BBC's University Challenge, the quiz show for...more

I had an opportunity to interview Liv Boeree recently at the PCA and found her to be refreshingly candid with some really interesting insights on what it's like to be a female pro poker player, suddenly thrust into the glare of overwhelming publicity. Her San Remo win was what started...more

In 2009, two Team PokerStars Pros, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Lex "RasZi" Veldhuis got into a friendly confrontation that led to the two making a prop bet where they would square off against each other in the ring -- mixed-martial-arts style. The two agreed to fight it out, seriously, but...more

When migrating from cash games, I really like to play the Sunday tournaments or the big daily guarantees. They have good structure and big player pools. These fields also tend to be soft. Apart from the fact you always have to adjust to the table, generally I played a lot...more

It's nearly that time of year again; yes, the PokerStars SCOOP is fast approaching. This will be its third year, and judging by the previous two years, it's most definitely something worth getting excited about. What distinguishes SCOOP from any other online poker series is its appeal to every poker...more

by Jude Ainsworth With Vegas fading to a distant memory, it's nice to look forward to one of the world's biggest poker festivals without having to worry about hotels or flights. Last year's PokerStars WCOOP consisted of 45 tournaments which ran over 18 days and paid out over $51 million....more

There will be a new World Champion this year at the WSOP Main Event! Unfortunately I was not able to successfully defend my title this summer. If you think this will affect my confidence or my will to win, you are absolutely wrong! Late May, departure for Vegas. I only...more

Hi again, poker fans! I've been very busy lately, and this explains why I could not write any new blog entry in the last two months. In my last column, I spoke about the long journey I spent in the United States west coast. I then participated in various charitable...more

The last month has been hectic for me with a long trip planned on the United States west coast. To refresh your memory, I finished my last blog by talking about the bet I lost against Matt Jarvis. He finished in a better position than I in our last tournament...more

by Johnny Lodden The EPT season is now over and with Monte Carlo Grand Final behind us, it's time for some serious online poker focus. Yesterday the tournament highlight of spring started: SCOOP. First up was the No-Limit Hold'em 6 max and No-Limit Hold'em two-day tournament. Let's start with saying...more

by John Duthie I've had a fairly hectic couple of weeks traveling around the globe; part pleasure, part business. I arrived back on Wednesday last week from a family holiday to India having flown London-Delhi, Delhi-Calcutta, Calcutta-Bagdogra, Bagdogra-Delhi then Delhi-London. It was an amazing trip and if you've never been...more

Having bubbled in the $5,000 Omaha tournament the previous night, I was pretty determined to do well in either the SCOOP $25,000 heads up or $10,000 main event. The HU field looked pretty grim being full of some of the best HU players in the world, but I knew that...more

by John Duthie Having busted on level 4 of this tourney making a move with 4,6 suited it was great to watch the players whose patience, timing and skill managed to get them to the final 10. This looked like a very interesting line-up with our old friend 'Money800' (Chris...more

Well, it was a crazy three weeks beginning February 22nd. I flew straight into Vegas for the Big Game. I played in the last session and it was one of the most fun times I have had playing poker. Both Tony G. and Phil Hellmuth should get medals or statues...more

by Joe Hachem Summer truly is the sporting tournament season for Aussies and poker is no exception. Just days after a hugely successful Aussie Millions, we looked forward to the very first tournament in the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tournament (ANZPT). This is the second year of the tour...more

by Joe Hachem The courage of a sportsman takes him through some of the most difficult moments a person can face, and he needs to face them again and again. The courage to get back out on the field or the floor after you've taken a hard knock. The courage...more

My March was pretty mad. It was crazy, and I just about wanted to punch Butler in the stomach for binking off the remainder of my NCAA bracket. But, it was a pretty fun month too. There is no greater sweat than the NCAA tournament (outside of poker), and speaking...more

Man, time has really flown by since my last blog. I guess that makes sense. The holidays tend to fly by every year, and especially for me, as I had to do a whole bunch of Christmasses this year! But, I guess let's take it back to early to December....more

Well, I finally have an answer to the age-old question of "So, Joe, what did you buy with all your winnings from the World Series of Poker?" For a while I hadn't bought much more than a stack of Blu-Ray DVDs at the local Best Buy, but I'm pretty sure...more

There's no being Jason Mercier unless you actually are Jason Mercier. I know this, because I've tried. I've stopped shaving for a few days, worn a Miami Heat jersey, and stayed up for days at a time playing poker. I am not a rich man. Meanwhile, Jason Mercier, as near...more

Just before midnight Las Vegas time, Jason Mercier was in the bathroom. No story should have to start like that, but this one does. It's important. To understand the scene, imagine a long convention center hallway with scuffed tile floors. About a hundred yards short of the back exit is...more

by Jason Mercier I just recently glanced over the PokerStars WCOOP schedule and it got me pretty excited. With just a few weeks before WCOOP starts, I will need to figure out which events I will be playing. I will be trying to balance playing WCOOPs along with playing live,...more

I smile when remembering how I started my career on PokerStars in 2005... with a bankroll of $50. The lowest SnG's at the time were $5, so I started from there. After big win days I went on to play a 'lottery', i.e. some tournament to play through the night....more

24,400,000 chips Ivan Demidov is the form player coming into the final table, having used his break from the World Series to play in, well, the World Series. Demidov returned to Europe after his heroics in Las Vegas and made the final table of the World Series Europe Main Event...more

In minutes that followed PokerStars player Ivan Demodov's making it to the 2008 World Series final table, he was still in shock. After coming all the way from Moscow to compete in his first major live tournament, Demidov could barely find the words to explain what had just happened to...more

He had lit up the online poker world by seemingly coming from nowhere to play the nosebleed stakes cash games, enduring wild swings along the way by winning or losing in the biggest pots poker had seen. But what was also remarkable was that Isildur1 was an enigma. Quite simply,...more

It's getting a little late here at PokerStars Blog HQ, but this is news that shouldn't have to wait for morning. We've just received word from Daniel Negreanu that he is 100% up for a SuperStar Showdown re-match with Viktor "Isildur1" Blom this coming Sunday. As you might have seen,...more

They've been dropping hints for a while. They've whipped the playful banter into a meringue. They've flirted with the idea for so long, people are starting to sing that "Viktor and Daniel sitting in a tree" song. It's time to--if you will--get it on. In news breaking this very moment,...more

I remember that six years ago when I started my relationship with PokerStars I traveled to different places in Latin America and, when going to play poker, there were different games and rules depending the place and country where I was. Also poker was so much less popular. Since the...more

The Shark was feeling a bit peckish. Then again, Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes is always feeling a little hungry for chips. Put him in water full of players who match his life experience and Brenes' stomach growls even more. Such was the scene at Event #11 of the Bellagio...more

Twenty-one years, one month and 15 days ago, a 37-year-old poker player from Costa Rica visited the cashout cage of Binions Horseshoe Casino, Las Vegas, to collect his first winner's cheque from the World Series of Poker. It was worth $12,500 and represented 14th place in the main event of...more

Just around the corner is this year's instalment of one of the biggest online tournament series; The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP). With bigger and bigger prize pools every year, this year's series is shaping up to be a bang! With a plethora of game types and buy-in...more

by Greg DeBora The 2010 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is just around the corner and I can't wait until it gets underway. As one of the most prestigious online tournament series and with a large range of buy-ins and game formats, there really is something for everyone. Coming...more

When Eugene Katchalov looks back on his poker career, he will be hard-pressed to find a year better than 2011. It was the year he became a Team PokerStars Pro. It was the year he won his first WOSP bracelet. It was a close second for his highest-earning year. As...more

On December 18th PokerStars will be holding an absolutely amazing event. For its 10th Anniversary, they will boost the Sunday Million guarantee to an incredible $10 Million prize pool. What this means is that there will most likely be 50,000+ players all paying just $200 for a chance to win...more

Though I enjoy Stud and was looking forward to playing the $1,500 WSOP Stud event if the opportunity arose, that day I was definitely concentrating much more on the 5k no-limit hold'em tournament that I was still in. Alas, I busted out of that event at around 7pm, got some...more

The advent of online poker has done a lot for the cult of personality. These days, just about any kid who makes a splash online can walk into a room and be known only by his screen name. One man, however, did not culture his image in online poker. He...more

It's a documented fact that Betrand "ElkY" Grospellier wins every tournament he enters. Well, almost, anyway. For the past half-decade, ElkY's trip from Starcraft to poker saw him notch titles on the European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour. The journey earned him fame, validation, and more than $7 million....more

The EPT Grand Final is always one of the most prestigious event of the year. I came fully prepared and very excited about the change of host city to Madrid. Even though I'm not superstitious at all, it's a bit frustrating when there is a place where you don't have...more

by Darus Suharto It is every poker player's dream to play in the World Series of Poker event and win a WSOP bracelet. The WCOOP, while an online event, carries a number of similarities to the WSOP. PokerStars WCOOP offers a variety of mixed games with millions of dollars prizes...more

It only cost him $80. Darus Suharto qualified on PokerStars for the World Series Main Event. His $80 win got him into a bigger qualifier and there he won his prize package to Las Vegas. Now, Suharto is one of the November Nine, the final table players of the 2008...more

The first couple of days of the $50,000 HORSE event were played out in some of the most spacious conditions ever seen at the World Series. Recognising the fact that players coughing up $50,000 for a single tournament deserve, and have paid for, their space, the 148 connoisseurs who anted...more

ESPN 360 commentator Nick Geber called him the "baby-faced assassin." PokerStars blogger Howard Swains dubbed him "Super Dario." Noted poker writer Paul McGuire called him "Scarf Boy." Now, Dario Minieri has a new title: World Series bracelet winner. Tonight, Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri won the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed...more

You might remember a post last year about Dario Minieri using his PokerStars Frequent Player Points to buy a new car. If you missed or it slipped your mind, here's the skinny.At the time, I wrote in "Dario Minieri Gets a New Ride":Less than a year after PokerStars introduced its...more

Just call him KidComeback. Last week's SuperStar Showdown was nothing less than a disaster for Daniel Negreanu. A terrible run in all-in pots ended with all $150,000 of his challenge bankroll in Viktor "Isildur1" Blom's pockets after only 1,439 hands. What was supposed to be a two-part, 5,000-hand challenge...more

Play With the Pros! Oh, it sounds good, doesn't it? It's something quite special to tell your home game buddies, "We're going to fill that empty seat tonight. Some guy named Danny Negreanu is coming over." After all, who wouldn't want a chance to take on one of the best?...more

Daniel Negreanu has called many places home. He set up shop in the Canadian pool halls in his youth. Then we saw him spend a lot of time at Bellagio. He called The Venetian home for a bit before signing on fulltime with PokerStars. Now, he's such a fixture around...more

Hi everyone, I hope you are doing fine. I write to you from Mexico City to talk a little bit about the LAPT. For Season 4 of LAPT, it has been announced that Colombia will be its next stop, this time to host the Colombia National Poker Championship. In a...more

Editor's note: As part of the PokerStars 10th Anniversary celebration, we and members of Team PokerStars Pro are taking a look back at how PokerStars has looked over its ten years. Chris Moneymaker, 2003 WSOP champion and no stranger to PokerStars live events over the years, shared this memory of...more

I was walking out of a professional tennis match in February when I received a call from ESPN. They wanted to know if I would like to relive one of the biggest days in my life and play Sam Farha heads up again on the WSOP stage. Under the lights....more

This could end in disaster, and nobody seems to recognize it. While everyone is smiling and doing a happy dance about tonight's World Series of Poker grudge matches, no one is paying attention to the metaphysical ramifications of what could happen. It will serve them all right if they end...more

The WSOP is upon us and for me personally, it's the most exciting time of the year. It's six weeks of hardcore poker, mostly tournaments for me, but also some great cash games, too. It's also nice to have home court advantage. Most of the time I'm travelling to another...more

by Chad Brown I often get asked a lot of questions from people keen to improve their game. This is one that came in to my Facebook page this week after I made it through Day 1 of the PokerStars NAPT event in Los Angeles... Hi Chad, Big fan of...more

by Chad Brown I really enjoy Christmas. It is the time of the year I get to spend with my family, and after traveling all over the world, it's great to have a couple of weeks to just chill. Now, after having two weeks of relaxing, I'm really looking forward...more

Shanghai born, Melbourne raised, and currently living in Macau, it's no wonder that Celina Lin has a love affair with travel, cultural fusion, and food. It's also fortunate that her role as Team PokerStars Pro allows the opportunity to combine these passions into a way of life. We chatted with...more

PokerStars Team Pro Celina Lin's third place finish this week at the Macau Poker Cup Championship Event #1 is just the latest in an impressive career. That cash for $145,800 HKD is the most recent in a string of final table wins dating back to 2004. That was the year...more

The hottest player coming out of the Asian poker tour is undoubtedly the very attractive Celina Lin who is omnipresent at all of the top poker games in Asia. Celina won the prestigious PokerStars APPT Red Dragon Main Event at the Macau Cup in 2009, adding $50,932 to her career...more

Four years ago when PokerStars stepped into Macau, the gaming capital of Asia, no one had ever heard of Texas Hold'em. Week by week and month by month, poker began to spread its reach throughout Asia and hordes of poker fans from all over Asia began recognizing Macau as the...more

by Bryan Huang The worlds most prestigious online poker championship (the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker) is drawing close and I've learnt several lessons from the Spring Championship Of Online Poker that I wish to share with fellow poker players, especially those based in the Asia-Pacific region. For those...more

Bill Chen is many things: mathematics whizz, double WSOP bracelet winner, author and long-time Friend of PokerStars. But did you hear the one about Bill Chen, Wedding Planner? No, thought not. Yesterday, Chen showed up for day three of the $3,000 HORSE tournament at the World Series in a pristine...more

As we arrived at the Amazon Room this afternoon the pot limit Omaha event, which started yesterday, was getting underway. In it played three Team PokerStars hopefuls in Humberto Brenes, Noah Boeken and Bill Chen. As reported earlier, in a period of carnage lasting about 15 minutes, the landscape...more

The name of this tournament -- $50,000 HORSE -- is something like a reporter's dream. Equine puns abound on media row: saddle up, giddy up, go. But if we think about it for a moment, the horse-race analogy is not especially appropriate. Far from being a grunting, thunderous sprint to...more

I spent the last month playing poker pretty close to where I live in the Los Angeles area. First there was the month-long tournament at the Commerce and I can't remember doing much of anything in the tournaments. I played the Chinese Poker Tournament and came in third out of...more

Barry Greenstein is giving us a monthly peek into his books and being honest about how his tournament year is going.For more check out: January, February, and March. by Barry Greenstein Events 18-41: The WSOP 2010 Buy-ins: $186,000 Airfare: 400 Room and Board: $9,000 Cashout: $51,000 2010 Cumulative Profit -$422,400...more

Barry Greenstein is giving us a monthly peek into his books and being honest about how his tournament year is going.For more check out: January and February by Barry Greenstein I won my first two matches (against Vanessa Rousso and Sammy Farha) in the NBC heads up. Most of the...more

I have missed few things that I really wanted to see during my career in poker. I've been fortunate enough to be around for most of the great moments, and those that I've missed have been unavoidable. Tonight, I'm suffering with a giant smile. I couldn't be in Las Vegas...more

Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari has been hanging out in Barcelona for the European Poker Tour and playing WCOOP at the same time. This is a road dispatch from the Brazilian bomber himself. By Andre Akkari EPT started in the best way possible to me, and in the city I...more

Beneath the stage of the $50K HORSE final yesterday was the $2K no limit hold’em event, smaller in stature perhaps but no less significant in terms of there being a bracelet at stake. It featured among others PokerStars sponsored player Kirill Gerasimov but also Alexandre Gomes, the first ever...more

If you've been looking forward to another series of PokerStars SCOOP - the Spring Championship of Online Poker - then the good news is we've now got the schedule. As usual the list of SCOOP tournaments covers all the main poker formats, with small, medium and large buy-ins for each...more

by Alex Kravchenko One of the most important strategies in MTTs is varying your game. That means that in similar situations with similar hands you must occasionally play a different way. For example, when you have a big hand pre-flop and there's a raise in front of you, sometimes you...more

Omaha hi-lo split is a kind of poker game where you can see more action than in any other kind of poker and this final table was a good example of this statement - chips were changing hands fast, players stacks were going up and down. For example "PieOhMy" started...more