The poker world is a fickle thing, especially the WSOP Qualifiers.

In 2012, the poker world belonged to Dan Smith. The Rick Moranis look-a-like walked away from the tables of world poker with $3.7 million and change, whilst winning three back-to-back $5k events at the EPT Grand Final at Monte Carlo, and two seven-figure scores in the Aussie Millions and EPT Barcelona High Rollers.

That feat of magic placed him at the top of the Global Poker Index (GPI) for most of the latter part of the year, and he was deservedly crowned the GPI Player of the Year.

What a difference a year makes?

Well not quite a year, but you know what we mean. It???s 2013, and despite cashing at the NBC Heads-Up Championship in January, Smith has yet to cash in anything.

If you add the fact that his final table appearance at the 2012 Partouche Main Event has since waned from the figures, then you will not be surprised to learn that he has slipped out of the top ten.

The man who was snapping at his heels throughout that barnstorming run, ?Mad? Marvin Rettenmaier, has taken his place in the number one spot. The London-based, German pro, has maintained a steady pace in the first few months of the year.

No huge scores to speak of, but a series of cashes and a final table berth at WPT Baden showing that the flames that light his heater have not been fanned just yet.

The GPI waves bye-bye to last years WSOP National Championship winner Ryan Eriquezzo and the former WSOP Main Event final tablist Alexander Kravchenko. The highest riser is Barry Hutter who climbs 40 places into 256th place. Olivier Busquets and Salman Behbehani also make some big moves this week.

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The quote, ?Chip and a Chair,? is an iconic one in poker. But where exactly did the term come from? Let???s find out.

It has been attributed to the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) hall of famer Jack Strauss, and the famous words were mouthed during the 1982 WSOP Main Event.

The stories vary in number, but the most common one is that Strauss moved all of his chips into the middle, was called and lost the hand. The legend got to his feet to leave, but discovered that he had one chip left underneath a napkin lying on the table in front of him. As Strauss had not used the words ?all-in? the tournament directors allowed him to continue playing.

It???s believed that this incident happened on Day Two of the Main Event and his tournament life now hinged on a solitary 500 chip. Strauss managed to spin that solitary chip into every single chip in the tournament - Strauss defeating his fellow WSOP Poker Hall of Famer Dewey Tomko, heads-up, to capture the WSOP Main Event title.

So that?s how the phrase ???Chip and a Chair? found its way into Betfair Poker folklore. There have been numerous skin savings acts since that famous day, but none better than the story of Bill Edler.

It was 2007, and the tournament was the World Poker Tour (WPT) Gulf Coast Poker Championships. With just 17-players remaining Edler found himself with just two chips and a chair. They were $1,000 chips meaning he didn?t have enough change to even make the blinds, which were set at $4,000/8,000. Edler threw his last two chips into the middle and eventually won the event for $747,615. Now that?s what you call a comeback!

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The world consists of certain cases of inevitability: one day we will all die, we need to eat in order to live and Vanessa Selbst was always going to become the highest earning female professional poker player on the planet.

Kathy Liebert has held that top spot for many years, but after her recent success at the $25,000 High Roller event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), Selbst has finally ousted Liebert from that position and nobody is arguing that she didn???t deserve it.

Just days after announcing her engagement to her partner, Selbst overcame what she said was her toughest final table in her career, to capture the High Roller crown and join the millionaires club at the Atlantis Resort. The final table was beaming with brilliance as Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Mike Watson, Ole Schemion, Shaun Deeb, Bryn Kenney, Tobias Reinkemeier and Micah Raskin captured chips, collided cards and chased the cup.

The action started like a bull in a china shop. Micah Raskin, Tobias Reinkemeier and Bryn Kenney all sent packing within the first 12-hands. That flurry of action saw Selbst rise to the chip lead and she extended it after eliminating Shaun Deeb in fifth place albeit under rather fortuitous circumstances.

It was a blind battle with Selbst holding Ah Ks and Deeb holding Ad Tc on a ten-high flop. All of the money went in with Selbst behind, but a cruel king on the river sending Deeb out and Selbst soaring.

Watson eliminated Schemion and Selbst eliminated Watson to set up the heads-up encounter between Selbst and Troyanovskiy. Troyanovskiy played brilliantly to close the gap on Selbst, but once again a key river card came to her rescue. The final hand of play saw Troyanovskiy and Selbst playing for the title: Kx Kx v Ah Qs, and the Ac hit the river to hand Selbst the title and $1,424,420 in prize money.

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Sam Trickett not only runs good on the tables, the man runs good in life.

The handsome and debonair card sharp, with over $17 million in live tournament earnings to his name, has recently announced his engagement to his fianc??e, the beautiful Natasha Sandhu. Not content with securing one sumptuous relationship, Trickett has secured another in the form of a contract with Poker Royalty.

Poker agent, Brian Balsbaugh, founded Poker Royalty in 2003. Since then the Las Vegas based poker player management, marketing and Representation Company has signed the likes of Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Gus Hansen, Tom Dwan and Phil Hellmuth. The film star Jason Alexander is also a member of Poker Royalty.

Trickett only cashed three times in live competitions during the 2012 season, but incredibly bagged over $11 million in the process. The largest slice of that pie coming in the Big One for One Drop $1 Million buy-in where he finished as the runner-up to Antonio Esfandiari for $10,112,001.

Trickett was later set upon by a series of youths whilst out celebrating his win with his fianc??e. Trickett suffering from bruises and cuts after an altercation outside of a Las Vegas nightclub.

???Sam is an immensely talented poker pro who is living the dream of every young poker player.

Given our strong relationships with the world?s biggest gaming companies, Poker Royalty is ideally situated to identify the numerous poker-related sponsorship opportunities available to someone with Sam?s outstanding poker accomplishments." Said Brian Balsbaugh in a statement.

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The world away from electronic gadgetry is fast becoming a thing of the past. Just try spending a few days without staring at a laptop, reading e-mail or checking Facebook and Twitter updates and it is a strenuous task. You feel as if you are missing something. You feel lost. Your hobbies and pastimes become electronic. Even reading is carried out on a Kindle these days.

So it?s more and more common for people to fall in love with [Texas Hold?em|http://poker.betfair.com/en/how_to_play/texas_holdem.php] poker online. The love affair will start through a computer screen, but eventually that relationship will want to blossom. To show your love for poker, you will need to hold hands out in the open. You will need to play your poker live.

There are some very strange nuances that you will have to get used to when playing live online poker tournaments for the first time. Let?s concentrate on the dealer. Because when you play online there isn?t one. Things just happen automatically. Here are two things to pay attention to in the world of the live.
Speed

Even the fastest amongst them will feel slow to you, if you are used to the online climate. They have to gather the cards, take the rake, shuffle the cards; get the cards cut and then deal to nine-players. All very taxing to the unseasoned mind so be prepared for patience.
The Cut

Some casinos will need you to deal yourself. This mean everyone seated at the table takes turn. You will deal on your button and it can be daunting. Take your time and shuffle before handing them to the player to your right who will then cut the pack before handing them back to you. Hide the bottom card from view, with a cutting card, and deal.

It???s time for bloodletting. You need to leave the sanctity of the four walls adorned with posters of Tatjana Pasalic , log-out of Betfair Online Poker and head to the casino, a real casino.

You know you will never truly be a man unless you pit your wits against the very best in whatever county you reside. But what should you expect? What lies behind those fancy revolving doors? Ooh???revolving doors.

The first piece of equipment you need to take with you is a passport. If you have never visited a casino before then you will not realise that it is easier to gain entry into Fort Knox. It is tough to gamble, it really is. So take your passport with you, as it is the best form of identification you have.

When you get through the doors remember that this is not Las Vegas (unless you live in Vegas then it really is). The alcoholic drinks are not free, which is a good thing because you wouldn???t want to dull your senses anyway, you are here to make money.

The next task is to sign on for a game. If you have arrived to play in a tournament then you will have to pay the cashier desk. The cash games may, or may not, have a waiting list. There is generally more than one game and also differing types suchas as Texas Hold???em or Omaha Poker as well as different stakes. Make sure you pick a game and stake you are comfortable with.

Once seated have fun. Strike up conversation, while maintaining steady concentration, as this will put you at ease. Just don?t go too gung-ho thus revealing to the world what a fish you are. It?s just like your first hot date ? don?t tell them you are a virgin!

You are surrounded by inadequacy. The table reeks of fish and you have this overwhelming superiority complex. You know you are better than these people are but it just is not your night.
The fish are making moves that make little, or no sense, but the gods have decided to allow their moves to look as dazzling as the quickstep.

If the above paragraph seems familiar to you, then you need to understand that this is a normal part of the game. In the short term, luck is king. If you want to wear the crown, then you need to play your poker in a way that is designed to reward you over the long term.

This means having to handle these types of situations in a professional manner. For some of you, there will be an overwhelming urge to speak out, to berate the player for their idiocy, to tell them where they are going wrong. If this is also familiar then you need to lose the tag and quick.

Telling another player how to improve their game is not good for long-term success. It is also a little belittling for the person receiving the (often unwanted) advice. Who likes to be belittled? Players on the receiving end of this form of abuse just get up and leave. They find easier ways to enjoy themselves.

If you wish to be great, then you need to focus long-term. In the short-term, this means patting your opponents on the back and saying, ?Well done?nice hand?you deserved that.? This kind of behavior keeps the fish swimming around in your pool, makes you a nicer all round person and gives you long term success.

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