A Survey of Casino Cards by Manufacturer

Spirit of Poker Award

In 2014, Lövgren was nominated in the Rising Star category. That was her second nomination as she was also nominated in 2013, but the award went to Luca Moschitta, her boyfriend. As of 2019, Lövgren's net worth is estimated at 1 million US dollars.

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Bryn Kenney

Career earnings: $56,403,500

Country of origin: USA

Years Active: 2007-Present

Date of birth: November 1, 1986

Poker Hall of Fame: No

Single biggest win: $20,563,324 at the 2019 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series

Before becoming one of the best poker players, Bryn Kenney grew up playing the once viral Magic: The Gathering. Excellent memory skills he displayed from an early age allowed Kenney to reap significant success in the game and helped him transition to the more lucrative game of poker.

It was in 2007 when Kenney embraced poker fully and played his first tournament. His first six-figure win came later, in 2010, during the 2010 WSOP Main Event, where he finished 28th for $255,242.

After that, Kenney notched up success after success: he won his first WSOP bracelet in 2014, and his first seven-figure score came shortly after, in 2016, when he won 1.7 million in PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Kenney is still active in poker today, and he is still seen as one of the most formidable opponents in the game.

Top Bryn Kenney fact:

Apart from sitting atop the all-time money list (and having no intention to give up the spot!) and being one of the most famous poker players, what's interesting about Bryn Kenney's earnings is that nearly 40% of the money he earned as pro comes from a single tournament win. In 2019, Kenney won a staggering $20,563,324 playing at Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in London. Wow!

Podcast of the Year:

Winner: The Chip Race Poker Podcast

Runners Up:

LFG Podcast (Chad Holloway, Jamie Kerstetter)

PokerCentral Podcast (Brent Hanks, Remko Rinkema)

PokerNews Podcast (Sarah Herring, Jeff Platt)

The Fives a PocketFives.com Podcast (Lance Bradley, Donnie Peters)

Dietrich Fast

German professional player Dietrich Fast just won the 2016 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic Main Event. Consisting of 515 players, it was his first World Poker Tour title, and he won a prize of $1,000,800 as reported here. It was his second final table of the year so far, so it could be a good year for him.

Justin Bonomo

Career earnings: $53,263,200

Country of origin: USA

Years Active: 2001-Present

Date of birth: September 30, 1985

Poker Hall of Fame: No

Single biggest win: $10 million at the 2018 WSOP

An outspoken practitioner of polyamory (if you're unfamiliar with the term, it means having several romantic relationships simultaneously) and a staunch supporter of weird medical procedures like cryonics, Justin Bonomo is another dominating force in modern poker.

Like his colleague Bryn Kenney, Bonomo also kicked off his playing career with Magic: The Gathering before switching to poker. Since then, he snatched as many as three WSOP bracelets, in addition to another 50 cash finishes in this tournament.

In total, Bonomo boasts 188 career cashes and 26 titles and has no intention of backing down any time soon!

Other Trophies Presented:

2018 GPI Poker Player of the Year: Alex Foxen

2018 GPI Female Player of the Year: Kristen Bicknell

Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poker: Doyle Brunson

Charitable Initiative: Robbie Strazynski for his Run Well Campaign

Jury Prize: Drew Amato

PocketFives Legacy Award: Chris Moorman

People’s Choice Award for Poker Personality of the Year: Brad Owen

Congratulations to all winners from everyone at LateReg!

To keep up with the latest poker news, check out our latest articles here.

For all the latest poker bonuses and site reviews, check out MyOnlinePokerBonuses.

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"WE WANT TO MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR THE SHARKS"

The POY award’s value

While the Player of the Year award doesn’t necessarily reflect who the top poker player is (cash games are impossible to track, and the POY systems have all proven to be somewhat flawed), what it has done is bring some legitimacy and a new marketing angle to tournament poker. It was a way for poker to showcase skilled players (Player X has been in the Top 5 on the POY list for three straight years) and a way for TV producers to hone in on what would otherwise have been anonymous players at the beginning of tournaments.

And as poker grew in popularity it also gave players something to shoot for, a reason to attend as many tournaments as possible, especially if you had the chance to become the POY and land a sponsorship deal.

Suddenly, poker players had a way to keep score with one another, and it all started with Card Player Magazine.

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10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TOUR CALENDAR

AGS FREEROLL BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

PKR Contract

She began playing poker when she was 16 years old after being introduced to an online poker game by her brother. Lövgren built her bankroll by playing more than three million hands and managed to cash in at a number of prestigious events. Since the get-go, she has been winning consistently when playing online poker.

In early 2010, PKR.com, an online poker room that used to allow members to play poker game in a virtual reality setting, noticed her skills and asked her to join their team, making her the first female to so. She was given the nickname Wellbet. Lövgren earned her spot on this pro team by playing numerous games and being among the most consistent and biggest winners on the website.

When she got the contract with the Alderney, UK-based PKR, the then 23-year-old poker player was excited because it gave her an opportunity of playing the world's biggest live tournaments around. She was writing articles for PKR, she was also active in all their friendly community and she played on the PKR team, representing the poker room at live events.

In an interview, Lövgren stated that the thing that makes her love poker is that she gets to travel and see different parts of the world while playing her favourite game. She enjoys the fact that she is her own boss and can plan the daily activities as she likes. She can work from anywhere, all she needs is her laptop and she can start working. She added that poker is her favourite hobby, that's why she feels contented to live from something that she's loves doing.

Kathy Liebert

Liebert has been playing for years, and in 2002 she won the Party Poker Million event, which was the first limit tournament with a prize of $1 million. She has made the final table five times on the World Poker Tour, and she already has a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2016.

Kelly Minkin

Minkin was named the GPI Female Poker Player of the Year at the same award ceremony in Beverly Hills where Byron Kaverman picked up his award. She has been making a reputation for herself over the last three years, and she was the last female at the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event. She also works another job alongside her poker, making her success even more impressive.

WHY ARE THE DIVORCE RATES SO HIGH IN THE GAMBLING INDUSTRY

In the fantastic book, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work the author, John Gottman, explains that 80% of divorced men and women said they lost a sense of closeness, didn’t feel loved and appreciated.

If you are spending long hours at work, and are away from home for prolonged periods of time, it must lead to a loss of closeness and a feeling of lack of love and appreciation for the partner left behind.

Maybe it's a positive thing that so few of the world's best poker players are married and have children. While the Chinese believe marriage is a positive thing for their people, perhaps it hinders the professional poker player who needs to spend long hours on the felt and travel across the world.

One of the ways to combat this, of course, is to take your partner on an extended busman's holiday, so you can spend time together when the game is over, but this cost prohibitive and complicated if you have children.

All of the 40 players I spoke to were male, and according to an article that appeared in Forbes (2011), 75% of women involved in a survey admitted they would never marry an unemployed man. The natural desire for the woman to seek safety and security may hinder the poker players chances of saying their vows. Any poker player who tries to get a mortgage or loan quickly learns the establishment doesn't view the role as a professional poker as a secure position. I wonder if women feel the same. When they look at a pro poker player, do they look past the instant gratification of the high life and instead see a high-risk, long-term strategy and avoid the gamble?

I'm not too sure the high-risk strategy matters that much with our sample. Most of the players in the GPI Top 50 aren't at an age where getting married and settling down enters the psyche.

But it will, one day, and so the players should be prepared.