Holding strong at #2 worldwide in the PocketFives Country Poker Rankings is Mexico. The North American nation is home to 412 registered members of PocketFives, the second smallest community in the top 10, and its top 20 players have a combined PLB score of nearly 115,000 points. Several American transplants using services like Poker Refugees now call Mexico home, so with that in mind, we thought ...

It's rare to see a person jump 24 spots in the PocketFives Poker Rankings and land in the top 10, but that's exactly what happened to Portugal's Tomás Paiva (pictured), better known as T 54 T 97s on our site. When the Rankings were computed on Wednesday, he moved up from #29 worldwide to #5 and is just a few thousand dollars shy of passing $2 million in tracked online MTT cashes.

Congrats to former #1 player in the PocketFives Online Poker Rankings Steve gboro780 Gross (pictured), who came away with the win in a PokerStars SCOOP $2,100 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max Turbo Super Knockout on Monday for $106,000. Gross, now calling Canada home, was part of a four-way chop of the tournament and officially came away with the win. This is his first SCOOP title. He won a WCOOP ...

On May 8, Chris Big Huni Hunichen (pictured) booked his sixth online poker Triple Crown. He accomplished the feat after taking down the PokerStars $55 Rebuy, WPT Poker $20,000 Guaranteed, and Full Tilt Tyrannosaurus Rex all in a one-week period. His half-dozen awards are tied for the sixth most all-time on PocketFives and, as always, Hunichen made time for an interview about going where few have ...

Recently, the MiniFTOPS Main Event played out on the virtual felts of Full Tilt Poker. The tournament drew 13,000 entrants and $1 million was paid out. Over $140,000 in prize money separated first place from ninth, and taking second when all was said and done was André galatrixo Pereira (pictured), who calls Portugal home. He was the biggest winner among members of PocketFives that weekend.

In a conference call with members of the media last week, World Series of Poker officials outlined a number of changes and events on deck for this year's festivities, which start in two short weeks. WSOP Vice President Ty Stewart opened the call by lauding, "We are thrilled to be opening the doors to the 44th annual WSOP. The work is already underway at the Rio." The 2013 WSOP is Stewart's ...

The latest twist in PokerStars' attempted purchase of the Atlantic Club (pictured) in Atlantic City, New Jersey came down this week. According to , "The revelation that Isai Scheinberg – PokersStars' Israeli-Canadian founder and a target of a Federal criminal court case - was involved in the deal came as both sides filed a flurry of legal papers in advance of a hearing today in state Superior ...

Every player has his own unique story of how he got started in the game. Whether through freerolls, low-stakes tournaments, or a massive flash in the pan, each player built his bankroll in a different way. For Poland's debesciak69, an initial run online didn't go so well, but an affinity for freerolls kept him involved and eventually led to a win in an iPoker iPOPS $135 No Limit Hold'em event ...

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) halted the ability of Bitcoin users to make transactions between a popular e-wallet and the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange. The DHS Seizure Warrant calls for the forfeiture of a Dwolla e-wallet account held by a subsidiary of the Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange, resulting in the suspension of transactions between the two companies.

Holding strong this week at #16 in the PocketFives Country Poker Rankings is the mighty nation of Finland, which is home to over 400 registered members of our site. The country has a combined PLB score of its top 20 players of nearly 72,000 points and can be found sandwiched in between the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Let's take a look at the top 10 players in Finland according to the ...

On Wednesday, poker legend Doyle Brunson (pictured) revealed that he doesn't plan to play any tournaments at this year's World Series of Poker. The 10-time bracelet winner and former back-to-back Main Event champion cited Father Time in a Tweet to his nearly 400,000 followers: "Afraid I am finally gonna give in to Father Time and pass on tournament play at WSOP. #toomanyhours." Whether he'll ...

The exclusive London casino Crockfords has responded to Phil Ivey’s (pictured) lawsuit with its own account of how the man regarded as the best poker player in the world won over £7 million playing Punto Banco over the course of two nights in August 2012.

Following the release of tapes allegedly made by Russ Hamilton discussing the cheating scandal and its subsequent cover-up at Ultimate Bet, former UB pro Annie Duke (pictured) weighed in with her reaction. Duke's name was mentioned, in part, in the following context at one point during the recordings, which publicly came to light over the weekend: "The tools [that allowed the cheats to see ...

It was a very busy news weekend for the online poker community. Russ Hamilton was allegedly recording Ultimate Bet meetings, Phil Hellmuth was reacting to the tapes, and Ultimate Poker dumped Iovation, a company associated with UB. Not to be overlooked, longtime PocketFives member Steve MrTimCaum O'Dwyer (pictured) defeated one of the most talented EPT final tables we've ever seen to win the EPT ...

According to a statement posted by Kevin kevmath Mathers on Two Plus Two, former Ultimate Bet pro Phil Hellmuth (pictured) lashed out at Russ Hamilton and others associated with UB for keeping him "in the dark. They lied to me about their activities and I made a big mistake in trusting them for way too long."

The final Sunday in April was monumental for David davidv1213 Vamplew (pictured), who took down the PokerStars Sunday $100 Rebuy outright for $61,000. There were over 1,000 entrants and the member of the Scotland Poker community defeated a final table that included six PocketFivers.

We're just a few weeks away from the start of the 2013 World Series of Poker, but there is plenty of high-stakes action going on right now. Take Full Tilt Poker, for example, where Ben Sauce1234 Sulsky and Viktor Isildur1 Blom (pictured) have been battling it out in Pot Limit Omaha. In fact, according to HighStakesDB, in a session that stretched from late Wednesday night to the pre-dawn hours of ...

On one of the final days of April, Yuri Martins (pictured), playing under the screen name theNERDguy, came away with a win in the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance and booked a payday of $48,000. The tournament surpassed its $175,000 guarantee by more than $100,000 after 1,439 players turned out. PocketFivers claimed more than 60% of the prize pool and Martins bested longtime PocketFiver Jon ...

PocketFives has seen a considerable increase in traffic from Russia recently. And, perhaps not surprisingly, the massive nation is rising up the PocketFives Country Poker Rankings leaderboard. This week, it moved up from #5 to #4 worldwide with a combined PLB score of its top 20 players of 94,651 points, just ahead of the 94,483 belonging to Brazil. We thought it would be worthwhile this week to ...

Don't look now, but two former #1 players in the PocketFives Rankings have re-entered the top 10. When and if they will climb back to the top spot remains to be seen, but each certainly has the chops to make a run. This week, moorman1 (pictured) rose from #15 worldwide to #8, while p0cket00 climbed from #12 to #5. Half of the top 10 has been ranked #1 at some point during their tenure on ...

According to Diamond Flush, PokerStars has filed a lawsuit against Resorts International Holdings, RIH Propco, Eric Matejevich, Irwin Apartment Trust, and Michael Frawley over a failed purchase of the Atlantic Club in Atlantic City (pictured). The deal reportedly died last week after certain deadlines were not met, but the lawsuit could resurrect the purchase. Read the Diamond Flush article.

How did you get into poker' Did you see the game on television and decided it looked exciting' Did friends challenge you to a $10 sit and go' For James jamerOK Cawley (pictured), Counter-Strike led to World of Warcraft, which led to poker. Recently, Cawley was the recipient of a PocketFives online poker Triple Crown after wins on Full Tilt, PartyPoker, and PokerStars for a total of 564 PLB ...

In light of the Boston Marathon bombings in recent weeks, a thread popped up on Two Plus Two recommending that World Series of Poker officials heighten security measures. The original post in the thread read in part, "The last hour or so on Twitter, an argument has started about safety at the WSOP. Someone Tweeted that they thought the WSOP should increase security and check backpacks and stuff ...

Last month, Spencer Hudson (pictured), known on PocketFives as UHBigTex, final tabled the Full Tilt Poker $350,000 Guaranteed for $18,000. He is a U.S. transplant now living in Mexico and told us the story about leaving on a cruise out of Miami on Black Friday. He has been a longtime member of PocketFives – June 2005, to be exact – and has more than $2.3 million in tracked online poker ...

Ever hear someone say they don’t like Pot Limit Omaha or PLO/8 because there is no way to bluff' If so, you have identified someone you want to be playing against who is missing out on a big part of the game. I play in some of the loosest games you can find with plenty of action and a mass of players who are getting to showdown with a high percentage of hands. Even with that, I find myself ...

There has been a ton of demand to have Winamax added to the PocketFives Rankings. Every time someone has asked whether PocketFives plans to add Winamax to our leaderboards, our response was always the same: "We're working on it." Well, we are pleased to say that Winamax has been added to the PocketFives Rankings effective May 1. And, you can boost your PLB score by playing in Sunday's €200,000 ...

The PocketFives Online Poker Rankings were recalculated on Wednesday. One of the biggest jumps of the week belonged to NeverScaredB, who rose from #22 worldwide to #10, cracking the top 10 for the first time ever. NeverScaredB had a rock solid April that included a win in the PokerStars Big $162 for $21,000. He also took down the same tournament on the second-to-last day of March for $25,000. ...

May is the beginning of the peak season for live tournaments as rooms expand their offerings to warm up for the World Series of Poker. Let's see what's on tap. presents the PocketFives Live Tournament Preview for May 2013. Note that this article is geared toward poker players in North America.

April 15, 2011, Black Friday, is a date that will forever be remembered in the poker community as the day the online games all but died in the United States. Whether or not it earns its own nickname, perhaps April 30, 2013 will be a day poker players will never forget, as Ultimate Poker became the first legal, regulated real money online poker room in the United States to deal a hand of cards. ...

Earlier this month, Jase Regina, known on PocketFives as SSSMforlife (pictured), finished third in the weekly Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl and reeled in $19,000. He calls Toronto home and can be found at #509 worldwide in the PocketFives Online Poker Player Rankings, about 30 spots off his all-time high. He is now headed to Whistler to celebrate his score.

Big scores have varied impacts on players' careers. Some jump up in stakes and volume, some hit the stock market, and others take a little bit of time off. For flyflo, chopping the Full Tilt $350,000 Guaranteed earlier this month means potentially venturing out further into the world of live poker. After all, $68,000 in newfound profit can go quite far. We caught up with flyflo to learn more ...

You have to love the ability of poker players to travel. A person's home city is in some cases irrelevant, as they can travel the world in the blink of an eye and the swipe of a credit card. Take Norway's theding, for example, who won a recent running of the Ongame $100K Guaranteed. He is originally from Norway, but now makes his home part-time halfway around the world in Macau (pictured). Best ...

An online poker tournament gave PocketFives U.K. member Weland tlt17 Holroyd (pictured) $122,000. Yet, as he told us, his primary focus will remain on his "real world" job in the oil and gas industry: "My career first and foremost is within the oil and gas industry, but fortunately this affords me reasonable time off to play if I choose to."

Caesars Entertainment Corporation, the owner of the World Series of Poker brand, announced on Tuesday that it will be spinning off its online gaming business and other assets into a completely new company. The creation of the new entity, Caesars Growth Partners, will be made possible in part by an investment by two private equity firms, Apollo Management and TPG Capital.

In an interview with Reuters' Keith Weir, the Chief Executive Officer of 888 Holdings stated that the company will be ready to go with its Nevada real money online poker site this summer. Read the interview.

One of the players PocketFives has constantly gotten interview requests for is Caio Pessagno (pictured), who calls Brazil home. Therefore, we wanted to give PocketFivers what they've asked for, an interview with the #4 player in the PocketFives Rankings. Pessagno's month of March included a win in the Full Tilt Super Sized Sunday for $55,000, a win in the Sunday Second Chance for $54,000, and a ...

He is a former #1 player in the PocketFives Online Poker Rankings. He joined PocketFives just over four years ago. And now, he has over $4 million in tracked online MTT scores. His name: Jordan Jymaster0011 Young (pictured), and you can now find him at #79 worldwide in the Rankings, a number that's likely only going to go up when the leaderboard is recalculated on Wednesday.

To close out last week, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond (pictured) made history. How' He became just the third person ever to record more than $10 million in tracked high-stakes winnings on Full Tilt Poker, according to HighStakesDB. Galfond joined Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius in that superlative and piled up nearly $800,000 in winnings last Thursday alone.

"Shiiiippp it! 1st for 10mil+ hong kong dollars. Photos coming soon." Those were the words of former World Series of Poker November Niner Joseph subiime Cheong (pictured), who came out on top in the Manila Millions on Friday for USD $1.3 million. He was out in front after Day 1 of the two-day event and the top four spots paid out.

Pool and poker have always gone hand-in-hand, both serving as vehicles for gambling where a skilled player has an advantage and, in the right situation, can be profitable over time. The other night, I watched “The Color of Money,” in which Tom Cruise is an up-and-coming pool player with a lot of talent and Tom Newman is a wizened veteran trying to show him the ropes.

Chris Big Huni Hunichen (pictured) is just the fifth member of the PocketFives community to score a $5 million cash badge in 2013. In fact, he is just the 15th player to accomplish the feat since the beginning of September. This week alone, he got over the hump in part by taking down the PokerStars $15,000 Guaranteed and PartyPoker $20,000 Guaranteed for a combined take of $11,000.

Caesars Entertainment, the owner of the World Series of Poker, has applied for a license to operate an online gambling site in the state of New Jersey. Caesars is already well established in New Jersey, operating four casinos in Atlantic City: Bally’s Atlantic City, Harrah’s Resort, Showboat Casino Hotel, and the company’s namesake, Caesars Atlantic City. It would come as quite a shock if ...

A field of 542 runners showed up for the World Poker Tour's Seminole Hard Rock Showdown, which was held in Hollywood, Florida. After the final cards were dealt on Tuesday, longtime PocketFiver Kevin 1SickDisease Eyster (pictured) walked away with $660,000 for the win. He entered the final table as the chip leader.

According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, several poker pros have been named and/or arrested for their involvement in an illegal gambling case allegedly led by figures associated with Russia’s organized crime syndicate.

According to PokerScout, online poker cash game traffic is down a staggering 38% worldwide since Black Friday, the second anniversary of which occurred on Monday. Of the 61 online poker sites and networks PokerScout currently tracks, the average seven-day real money ring game player count this week was 54,433. Year-over-year, online poker cash game traffic is off 9%.

Former Full Tilt Poker CEO Ray Bitar (pictured), who is dealing with a reportedly grave heart condition, pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiracy and was sentenced only to time served, according to the Washington Post. He will also have to fork over his assets and will now apparently address his medical condition. Read the story.

The USD $52,000 buy-in High Roller event held as part of the ongoing World Series of Poker Asia Pacific series in Melbourne attracted a rather cozy field of 44 players. In the end, longtime German PocketFiver Philipp philbort Gruissem (pictured) stole the show and pocketed $866,000, or AUD $825,000.

It was quite an epic finish in a $560 Deep Stack No Limit Hold'em tournament held as part of the Borgata Spring Poker Open on Friday. The two-day event drew 179 players and ended with a showdown between two former #1 players in the PocketFives Online Poker Rankings, Ari BodogAri Engel (pictured) and Kevin BeL0WaB0Ve Saul.

In news that broke late on Friday, Black Friday payment processor Chad Elie has filed a lawsuit against his legal counsel, Jeff Ifrah (pictured). According to Forbes, "the lawyer misled [Elie] about the legalities of processing poker because the lawyer wanted to continue pocketing rich commissions."

The March 31 running of the iPoker $200,000 Guaranteed, which is played out on sites like WinnerPoker, attracted a field of nearly 1,000 players. The $215 No Limit Hold'em tournament featured an overlay, which worked to the benefit of Mexico's Eric rappy300 Rappaport (pictured), who finished in first place for $34,000. He is a U.S. transplant who sat down with us to talk about this marquee ...