And then I played the Bounty Shootout, and I remember what happened there. First of all, the Main Event was won by PokerStars pro, Victor Ramdin, a good friend of mine, and he was at my shootout table. I was certainly rooting for Victor to win the Main Event. And how did he pay me back? Well, of course by three betting me with every small pair he had, flopping some sets, and then when I flopped a set of fives against his overpair of kings, he checked the flop and just called a bet on the turn and the river. I won the minimum off him on that hand. And then on a critical hand, when we got four-handed, for about half the chips in play at our table, I flopped top pair, Victor flopped second pair, and he made trips on the river to win the key pot and go on to win our table. So that's what happened in the tournaments, but it still was a good month for me in the cash games, so overall, a positive month of poker.

I've been looking over at my e-mails and seeing other things that are going on, I was pleasantly surprised by PokerStars donations to Children Incorporated, which is a child sponsorship organization that I'm involved with. What Poker Stars has done in South America, is they have decided to help Children Incorporated in areas wherever they're doing Latin American Poker Tour stops. They made a big initial donation to help out, and they're also sponsoring 100 children. It reminds me of the way the Professional Golf Association became so big. They started doing these different tour stops, and at each tour stop, they would generate money from their Pro Ams and help out in the community. In that way each community helped support the different tour stops. And l always think there's a good tie-in between poker and charity. So, PokerStars has taken the lead there and that makes me proud to be a PokerStars Team Pro and obviously makes me happy that they've chosen as their charity the one where I'm on the Board of Directors. And another thing that they're doing at these events is they're encouraging some of the players to donate a small percentage of their winnings, if they happen to be so lucky as to cash in the tournament.

Actually, I guess one of the things I forgot to mention that I did within the last month; I also played in the NBC Head's Up Event. I don't know how many years they've had it, but I've won my first match every year. Sometimes it's been because I've had a good match-up with the person I played but mostly it's because it's seems like I've run pretty well in those first matches; I've had better cards than my opponent. In the second round this year, we got to a late stage, I made a questionable play when I had a pretty good chip lead, and I doubled my opponent up. I was playing against Ayaz Mahmood, last year's 10k WSOP Heads Up Champion. Anyway, one misstep from me, he got the chip lead and I didn't recover. So, that was no fun. But, there's more poker to be played, and one of the things that I'm looking forward to outside of the live tournaments are the SCOOP events that will be coming up online in May. Those are some great events that PokerStars has. And then after that, of course, the biggest live tournament starts at the end of May: the World Series of Poker.

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

WSOP Summary: I came close in many events, but didn't play well enough or run well enough as we got close to the money. I had been looking forward to the WSOP and came away very disappointed. Now I'm back to grinding the cash games. Maybe I'll have a good WCOOP in September.

by Barry Greenstein

I won my first two matches (against Vanessa Rousso and Sammy Farha) in the NBC heads up. Most of the favorites had gotten knocked out early, but I couldn't beat Jerry Yang in the third round! At least I lost to a nice guy.

I made day 2 in the Shooting Star, but never was a threat.

In the APPT Manila, I misread the color of my opponent's chips which probably cost me a big pot.

9. NBC Heads Up
Buy-in:$20,000
Airfare: $300
Room and Board: $0
Cashout: $25,000
Cumulative Profit:-$165,100

10. Bay101 Shooting Star
Buy-in: $8,500
Airfare: $300
Room and Board: $400
Cashout: $0
Cumulative profit: -$174,300

11. APPT Manila
Buy-in: $2,700
Airfare: $1000
Room and Board: $400
Cashout: $0
Cumulative profit: -$178,400

by Barry Greenstein

There were no airfare or hotel room costs for me in LA since I live there. I wasted good starts in the NAPT and WPT, nearly bubbling each of them. I was overly aggressive which isn't necessary in big fields, since there will be enough weak spots dumping money.

I'm already down enough in tournaments this year that most players would be looking for backing or would have given up.

Fortunately, I have a day job: playing poker in side games.

5. Commerce 1k rebuy
Buy-in: $4,100
Airfare: 0
Room and Board: 0
Cashout: 0
Cumulative Profit: -$128,100

6. NAPT Venetian
Buy-in: $5,000
Airfare: $300
Room and Board: $600
Cashout: 0
Cumulative Profit: -$134,000

7. NAPT Invitational
Buy-in: $25,600
Airfare: 0
Room and Board: $200
Cashout: 0
Cumulative Profit: -$159,800

8. Commerce WPT
Buy-in: $10,000
Airfare: 0
Room and Board: $0
Cashout: 0
Cumulative Profit: -$169,800

It's part of my job to wear a PokerStars patch whenever I play in a live tournament. To give you an idea of how many events PokerStars is sponsoring, I heard that they are planning to introduce their tenth poker tour, the JPT, on the planet Jupiter.

In order to get this job, I established a reputation for making final tables of televised events, so that my PokerStars patch could be viewed by potential customers for the online site. Without this extra money, poker tournaments are a very dicey proposition as a way to make a living. I have a ROI (return on investment) of about 100% with seven million dollars in tournament winnings on entries of about half of that, but that doesn't include expenses. When you factor in expenses and lost opportunities from making money in side games, the live tournament trail is usually financially worthwhile only if it leads to an endorsement contract. However, many recreational and professional players like to take a few shots at a big score and the extrinsic value of fame and the satisfaction of accomplishment.

I will detail my progress in tournaments for the year in 2010, and I'll include my expenses. I'm already more than $100,000 in the hole as I start this project, having bubbled the High Roller event in Australia, but that's OK. I would rather face a challenge than be like most players who only start keeping records once they are ahead.

I'll add the economy plane ticket cost and $200 for every night I have to stay in a hotel, since this is approximately the average a young aspiring tournament professional on a budget would spend per day over the course of the year.

1. PCA Bahamas Main Event
Buy-In: 10,300
Airfare: 1,000
Room and Board: 1,000
Cashout: 0
Cumulative profit: -12,300

2. PCA High Roller Event
Buy-In: 25,500
Airfare: 0
Room and Board: 400
Cashout: 0
Cumulative profit: -$38,200

3. Aussie Millions High Roller
Buy-In: 91,000
Airfare: 2000
Room and Board: 600
Cashout: 0
Cumulative profit: -$131,800

4. Aussie Millions Main Event
Buy-In: 9,500
Airfare: 0
Room and Board: 1,000
Cashout: 18,200
Cumulative profit: -$124,100

January Summary: Success and failure are not always far apart in tournaments. I got knocked out just short of the money with Aces all-in preflop in the PCA Main Event, but even if I had won that hand, it would have only taken me back to slightly under average chips. I flopped a set early in the PCA High Roller, but lost most of my chips to John Duthie's flush on the river.

In the Aussie Millions High Roller, I was the chip leader with seven to go, paying five spots, but I lost with Kings against Jacks in a pot that would have given me almost 40% of the chips in play. The one million dollar first prize looked likely until a Jack on the turn doomed me to a bubble finish. I cashed out 50th in the Aussie Millions main event after becoming one of the chip leaders early the second day, but then struggling until I busted.

Of course, most commentators will differ on the nitty gritty, happily spending hours discussing the multiple facets of the all-round player, placing their emphasis on the various skills in the multiple variations, adjusting their opinions based on deep-stack play versus turbo tourneys, ring games versus freezeouts. However, no matter the specifics, there are certain universal truths. You need to be able to play all variations of the game; show aggression where necessary, patience at other times; you need to know how to play the big stack and the short stack; you need discipline and focus.

In two words: you need to be Barry Greenstein.

Out on table Green 42, the furthest from media row, sits the Team PokerStars Pro who goes by that name. And as ever, he's giving a masterclass in at least three of those skills mentioned above. Unfortunately for Greenstein, those attributes most on display are the final three: knowing how to play the short stack, discipline and focus. He has never been higher than about 20,000 in chips for the best part of two days. But he's still in there and still fighting. Several thousand other players are not.

Watching Greenstein at the poker table is never going to remind you of a fireworks display or a Scandinavian-only double-flop eight-card Omaha hi-lo sit & go with a bonus prize for the most outrageous all-in move with the least connected cards. But there's so much more to learn from watching his play: apparently impassive and uninterested, it couldn't be further from the truth. He is watching and waiting; he is listening and scheming. If there is a more redundant piece of electrical equipment in the room than the boom mic that the TV crew has hovering over his head, I'm yet to see it. Greenstein says nothing, and is unlikely to even if he doubles up or busts out. It's just not his style.

Instead, he has four towers of chips: two of the dark blue kind, worth 100 each, a half-tower of the yellow 1,000 chips and a quarter stack of the 500s, used primarily for riffling. He's waiting for a moment to push them all in; he'll double them up or he'll bust. If he does the former, he'll probably be here for another couple of days. If he does the latter, he'll sign a copy of his book for his vanquisher, he'll shake their hand and he'll head silently into the night.

Either way, he has nothing to prove. Greenstein won another bracelet this year. He made the final table of the $50,000 HORSE event, his second in succession and third cash in three attempts in the event that supposedly determines the best players in the world. You know, scratch that "supposedly". The fact that Barry Greenstein is the only name on every single cash list from that tournament is enough to prove it beyond doubt.

Look up "Top Poker Pro" in the soon-to-be-published "Poker Dictionary" and you'll see a picture of Barry Greenstein.

Update: There is, of course, something inevitable about this, but before the ink was dry on that last post, Greenstein bust. He did exactly as predicted when the moment came, a signed copy of "Ace on the River" lies beneath seat three, and now its author is off. And yet all that written above still stands. He still has nothing to prove.

Just a few hours before that, Greenstein had bought into the the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship, a planned multi-table excursion with the $50,000 HORSE event. A flopped set of kings outrun by quad queens ended Greenstein's time there.

After earning more than $300,000 in the HORSE event and busting early from the $10,000 PLO event, most people would probably take an evening--or at least a few hours--to breathe. Not Greenstein. He walked immediately to the other side of the room to play...a $1,500 event.

It's hard to relate it to anything. Playing the Masters and then dropping down to play miniature golf? Flying an F-16 followed by a flight simulator? Getting dumped by Angelina Jolie and hooking up with Abe Vagoda? It's impossible to equate. Is it possible to take a $1,500 seriously after the week--the Series!--Greenstein has had?

In a word, yes.

I know this, because as the $1,500 HORSE event resumed after dinner break, Greenstein walked in the door and realized he was about to miss the first hand.

He ran to his table.

If there was a picture of how seriously Greenstein takes poker, it was watching him hot-step across the carpeted floor and slide into his seat before his last card came off the deck. That's where he sits now, in a field of more than 800 players and playing for a prize pool of roughly what first place in the $50,000 paid.

Nobody can truly get in Greenstein's head and know for sure why he does it, but he makes no real secret about the most basic of his intentions. There's quite a bit of money involved. He has side bets on who wins bracelets. He knows people are betting on him. He bets on himself, too.

At the beginning of the World Series, a poker forum poster suggested it was likely Greenstein wouldn't make a final table here. Greenstein responded promptly, offering to take action on himself and telling everyone he would carry money around in $5,000 increments if anyone wanted to bet. Four final table appearances and a Razz bracelet later and the original forum poster is eating some serious crow.

There's something else at stake here as well. Greenstein's performance in the 2008 WSOP has put him in contention for the Player of the Year here at the World Series. It will take a strong finish, but at this hour, it's not impossible.

Over the past couple of years, I've probably spent more time around Greenstein than any member of Team PokerStars Pro. As I look back and try to figure out why, it's clear there are a couple of reasons. First, he's been expectedly successful and due coverage on this blog. Second, he's intriguing beyond my ability to explain. I want to understand, but it may be on the outside edge of my ability to do so.

But, that doesn't mean I won't keep trying.

Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein is not most people.

It's not been twelve hours since Greenstein won his third World Series bracelet. His victory in the $1,500 Razz event was followed by the obligatory winner's photo and then a quick sprint across the room to the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship that had been in progress all day. Over the course of the evening, Greenstein had been spending his Razz breaks tending to his stack in the Limit Championship. His entry into the $10,000 event was a calculated one.

"I have side bets on bracelets, so there is incentive on me to play," he said. "I didn't expect the Razz final table to last as long as it did."

It's pure Greenstein. He never seems to stop. He was able to keep his stack above zero in the Limit Event and will play Day 2 today. He still had a few hours to reflect on his third bracelet.

"Even though I was more experienced than my opponents, I could have easily gotten knocked out anywhere along the road," he said of his final table run in the Razz event.

Because of that possibility and the side bracelet bets, Greenstein hedged and entered the $10,000 Limit event. If he got knocked out early, he would have a seat in the Limit event. And if he didn't, well there was the matter of winning a bracelet. Somehow, as is often the case in Greenstein's world, he ended up with the best of both worlds.

It's only been a few days since Greenstein came tantalizingly close to winning the No-Limit 2-7 Draw bracelet for a second time.

"The 2-7 No-Limit looked like a very easy win for me," he said, noting the small field and his vast experience in the game. To his disappointment, he ended up finishing third. "I got a pat ten and Jeff [Lisandro] drew out on it and that ended up being my undoing."

And so he moved on to the Razz event, where he never looked to be in serious trouble. Razz is just one of the games Greenstein plays well. In a side game, he is hard to match. Razz tournaments, however, are a different beast. "It's not like side games where you get to sit patiently," he said.

Still, the skill was there and took him to the final table, where nuance went out the window. Experience and a friendly deck pushed him all the way to the bracelet. "It's kind of hard to rate how I played compared to my opponents, but I got the best cards. I went on a sick run," he said.

Anyone who follows Greenstein's accomplishments will likely note he seems just a little different his year. It's for good reason.

In years past, it was not uncommon to see Barry Greenstein awake...always. Never one to pass up value, Greenstein's MO in the past several World Series was to play tournaments all day and side games all night. If he slept, it was in the few hours he could catch when the side games broke or tournaments had dinner breaks.

"Normally I play all night and start a tournament on no sleep," he said. "This year, the side games are not as good."

So, Greenstein is taking the extra time to catch a few z's and spend time with his kids. While five hours in bed a night is not enough to support most humans, for Greenstein it is a luxury that is bearing valuable fruit. He is one of several pros who have big time side bets on who will win World Series bracelets.

"Getting some sleep and playing these things, it means I am going to make some final tables," he said.

He's already done it twice this year and looks to do it some more. With just a couple of weeks until the main event, Greenstein has a full schedule in the meantime. His calendar is already marked for the events where he feels he has the best chance to win a bracelet: $5,000 Omaha 8/b , $10,000 PLO Championship, and $50,000 HORSE.

The poker media have already dubbed 2008 as the Year of the Pro. For Greenstein, that is a distinction that doesn't mean a great deal. His confidence and experience mean whether it is Year of the Pro or Year of the Little League, he will be playing as hard as he can to win another bracelet.

And this year, he's doing it with a good night's rest and another bracelet to his name.

It's only been a few days since Greenstein took third place in the 2008 No-Limit 2-7 Draw event. Tonight, he didn't settle for third or even second. He proved he is the best at coming up with the worst.

Tonight, after nine hours of final table play, Greenstein won the $1,500 Razz event at the 2008 World Series. The win marks Greenstein's third World Series bracelet. He earned $157,619 for the victory.

Greenstein's victory not only further solidifies his role as one of the best poker players in the world. It also keeps the World Series Razz bracelet in the PokerStars family. Last year at this time, Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater won her first bracelet in the same event.

Greenstein now holds World Series bracelets in Razz, No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw, and Pot-Limit Omaha.

Congratulations, Barry, on another great win.

"The wife says I'm crazy to waste my FPP vs. you," he told Greenstein as the event began.

But with a lot of skill, a little luck, and quads twice, vectile (complete with his Jesus Loves You player icon) took down the event for $3,750.

If you're not aware, Barry Greestein's Masterclass allows PokerStars players to sit down with one of the best for 60,000 FPPs. Real cash and a lot of pride are on the line. Greenstein offers tips and shows his cards as often as he can. When it's all said and done, PokerStars replays the event with all the hole cards exposed so as many people as possible can see how a master plays. This is what today's lineup looked like.

Greenstein did not fare as well as he might have hoped today, finishing in seventh place. Vectile, however, no matter that he was a watching a Discovery Channel Greatest Catch marathon and dealing with his wife's lack of confidence, took down the whole event. It was a good win, but maybe not enough to satisfy all of his wife's desires.

"She wants to go to Europe," he said. "I gotta win more than this, unless they start using Euros on here."

Barry Greenstein's Masterclass Results

1. vectile (United States) $3,750.00
2. HipPocket (United States) $2,250.00
3. betgo (United States) $1,500.00

If you'd like to watch the replay of the whole event, you can do so next week on PokerStars. The replay runs June 1 at 16:00 ET.

Greenstein is more than just a player. He can teach as well. While not one to give his opponents undue education, he's giving PokerStars players a masterclass.

Today at 16:00 ET, Greenstein will sit down with seven other top players for a HORSE SNG. During the event, Greenstein will answer questions and flip up his hole cards as often as he can. When it's all said and done, PokerStars will replay the event with all the hole cards exposed. That replay will happen next week, June 1, at 16:00 ET.

To watch the event live today, click on the VIP tab in the PokerStars tournament lobby and look for Barry Greenstein's Poker Masterclass.

The line-up was among the toughest you'll see. Daniel Negreanu, Katja Thater, Dario Minieri, Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier, John Duthie, Vicky Coren, Noah Boeken, Barry Greenstein, and PokerStars Supernova Elite Joe "bigjoe2003" Michael, who won a Supernova Elite satellite to the event.

Over the course of seven hours, the players battled tooth and nail under TV lights and in front of the cameras. While the PokerStars EPT Grand Final players fought in the ballroom, these players sat on stage. The prize money was significant. The pride of beating each other and taking the first Stars of Poker title was just as great.

The first bust-out was a tough one. Daniel Negreanu went out set-under-set to EPT creator John Duthie. Boeken went out next shortly after getting crippled by ElkY in a battle of top-pair top kicker versus overpair. Minieri busted out after failing to win a race with AK. Vicky Coren suffered among the worst defeats, getting AK in against AK but losing to a four-flush on board. Michael went out in fifth place after losing with JJ versus AA. ElkY went out in fourth place after having his AK ourtun by AJ.

The three remaining players were all in the money. Again, though, it was clear they would savor the victory more. Katja Thater fought long and hard, but eventually went out on a blind steal gone wrong. For third place, she earned $20,000.

The heads up battle was intense, but didn't last for an eternity. After jousting for a bit, Greenstein managed a key double-up versus Duthie. After that, it was just a matter of time before the chips went in. Greenstein, holding AsKs managed to get Duthie all-in with 8h9h. Duthie flopped a pair, but Greenstein made his flush on the river. Duthie earned $30,000 for his runner-up finish. Greenstein pocketed $50,000 and the first Stars of Poker title.

Congratulations, Barry.