Brand new to PocketFives is FaceUp Gaming, a subscription-based online poker room that happily accepts U.S. players and charges $24.95 per month. It's in the midst of starting its June Poker League, which has a $50,000 prize pool that includes Aruba Poker Open packages, Card Player Cruises, and cash.

Elsewhere on FaceUp, which you contact in its Official Support Thread here on PocketFives, you'll find Blue Shark Optics sunglasses giveaways, LIPS tournament giveaways, and trips to various poker seminars and events. Check it out.

Serving as a spokesperson for FaceUp Gaming is Tom McEvoy (pictured), who won the 1983 World Series of Poker Main Event and has been nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame three years running. PocketFives caught up with McEvoy for an exclusive interview.

PocketFives: Will we see you at the 2012 WSOP? What events are you looking forward to?

Tom McEvoy: I'm going to be playing in the Main Event. I have to tiptoe around that schedule because my daughter is getting married on July 7, which is Day 1A. I have to fly back from New York, so I can only play on Day 1C, so I'm going to sign up early.

There are two other events I plan to play, the Seniors Championship and the $1,500 HORSE event. I've been playing HORSE tournaments all year long in a private league. It looks like I'll win a $1,500 seat through the league and will use that for the HORSE event. I'm hoping to play eight to 10 events altogether.

PocketFives: Is it hard to fathom how much the WSOP has changed since you recorded your first WSOP cash 20 years ago?

Tom McEvoy: It's not the same event. Before, it was kind of a little annual get together. Most of us knew each other. You'd sit at a table where you knew seven or eight of your 10 opponents either by name or you had just played with them before. Now, if you know more than one or two, it's par for the course.

The WSOP has gotten so much bigger too. The atmosphere is a lot different at the Rio than at the Horseshoe downtown. They had space limitations downtown anyway and the tournament got too big, so it was good timing that the Rio managed to take it over and put on the kind of show they do. I've seen the WSOP grow with the Rio's ability to put on a good show and do it in an efficient way.

PocketFives: What sticks out about your WSOP Main Event win in 1983?

Tom McEvoy: It'll always be the highlight of my poker career. Scotty Nguyen once said it's something they can never take away from you no matter what happens in the intervening years. Even for the best players, right now with the huge fields, making the final table of the Main Event is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That's why there are nine new guys there every year. I hope I'll get back there one more time, but I realize the deck is stacked against all of us.

PocketFives: Talk about the honor of being among the nominees for the Poker Hall of Fame the last three years, even though you haven't officially been voted in.

Tom McEvoy: I certainly feel honored to be nominated. They allow the public to put forth nominees and I've been nominated the last three years, but haven't gotten in yet. It's a little frustrating considering I've also been a poker writer and teacher and helped with the non-smoking movement. The recent inductees are all very qualified, but I feel I deserve to be in there, but it's beyond my control. The media reps have about half the vote and some of them are not familiar with me. I feel like they've overlooked me.

PocketFives: Talk about the experience of being involved in the WSOP Champions Invitational in 2009. How seriously did the field take that event and what did you end up doing with the car?

Tom McEvoy: There were 20 of us that played, which were most, but not all, of the living Main Event champions. Most of them took it seriously. I took it dead seriously because I thought I had something to prove, that I could still compete against my colleagues who had won Main Events in the past. A lot of the big names like Doyle Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, and Johnny Chan were there.

A lot of people didn’t give Robert Varkonyi or me a chance and we were the final two standing. He put up a heck of a battle and I think he felt he had something to prove too. I converted the car into an engagement ring for my wife.

PocketFives: What methods do you use to learn and grow in poker today?

Tom McEvoy: The same things I've always done: observation and paying attention. When I know I'm playing against someone who has made a name for themselves online, I'm especially tuned into them. I can learn from them, just like if they're smart, they can learn from some of the older generation of players.

I've already revamped my game several times. Some of the approaches are not as effective anymore because there are so many more players and they're playing so much more aggressively. There's so much more to this game now.

PocketFives: What kind of legacy or mark do you want to leave on poker?

Tom McEvoy: The non-smoking rule will be one of the best parts of my legacy. A few years ago, I was at the WSOP and someone came up to me and asked me if I knew what my greatest accomplishment at the WSOP was. I said it was getting the WSOP to go non-smoking, as opposed to saying my Main Event win. I knew what he was referring to.

The current generation of players and media writers don't know what the players had to put up with. The Horseshoe had no circulation or ventilation. Even the smokers, when we agreed to go non-smoking, liked it better. People were getting what we called the "Horseshoe Crud," which consisted of respiratory illness and bronchitis. You had two choices: put up with it or don't play.

PocketFives: Why did you decide to sign with FaceUp Gaming, a U.S.-facing subscription-based online poker room? Can you walk us through the chain of events?

Tom McEvoy: FaceUp Gaming is a subscription site and is perfectly legal. You get to play a lot of tournaments. It's all No Limit Hold'em tournaments right now. There are no cash games or anything, but we're hoping at some point to have legalized internet poker where people can play cash games.

It's a great bargain for players because for $24.95 per month, they have a chance at big cash prizes, Aruba trips, cruises, and things of that nature. It's a huge overlay because you don't have to face 2,000 players like you have to on a few of the other sites. Our biggest tournament has been in the 300s. Now is the perfect time for people to sign up.

In terms of how I signed with the site, I'm really good friends with Bonnie Leinhos. She got a job helping with FaceUp Gaming's marketing and promotions. We've been longtime friends and she actively recruited me as soon as they were ready to sign up a couple of pros to represent the site.

This all happened right after Black Friday when I was still representing PokerStars, so I had a talk with PokerStars management and said I knew they'd probably be letting some of their U.S. pros go. I told them I had an offer from a startup site that wouldn’t be competing head-on with them. There aren't too many opportunities for U.S. players right now. Hopefully that will change in the future.

PocketFives: What are your thoughts about Full Tilt Poker not paying back players?

Tom McEvoy: I've said this before and I'll say it again: Ray Bitar, Chris Ferguson, and especially Howard Lederer belong in a jail cell. I still feel strongly that way. Even after Black Friday, they continued to take deposits from their non-U.S. players and continued paying themselves bonuses knowing they didn't have enough money to repay everyone. If that's not fraud and doesn't deserve a jail sentence, I don't know what does. These people have not only destroyed themselves, but it's a huge black eye to poker in general.

PocketFives: When do you think we'll see legalized nationwide online poker in the U.S.?

Tom McEvoy: It won't be until after the 2012 elections and then it'll take six months, maybe longer, to get through Congress, but it's inevitable. There's too big of a potential tax base. The U.S. Government, starving for revenue, has been ridiculous in my opinion.