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Casino City had an interesting report this week regarding the most overexposed poker pros. They provided their top 10. Who made the list?
Howard Lederer came in at number 10.
Casino City says it’s a case of “What have you done for me lately?” Well, he hasn’t had a six figure win in six years.
“As a founder, co-owner and CEO of the company that created Full Tilt Poker, Lederer may be spending more time focusing on the business end of the online business than the tournament circuit,” writes Aaron Todd of Casino City.
Antonio Esfandiari, the face of Victory Poker, comes in at number 9. He’s cited as having not made a final table in a major event since 2005, yet he appears on quite a few poker shows.
Gavin Smith, Annie Duke and Tony G. round out the bottom 10.
Regarding UB.com representative Annie Duke: “Duke is one of the most well-known professional poker players, in part because she's a woman playing what has traditionally been a man's game. She has just one WSOP title, won in 2004, and until this year, hadn't broken the $200,000 threshold in tournament earnings since that year. While she did win the NBC National Heads-Up Championship this year for $500,000, she didn't post one cash in this year's WSOP, outside of the invitational-only Tournament of Champions.”
The top 5 most exposed poker players include Phil Gordon at number 5 and Welcome Back Kotter star Gabe Kaplan at number 4.
“We get it. Mr. Kotter played poker before poker was poker. Hey, he even made four final tables before the boom, and one after. Heck, he even made a TV final table on the WPT in 2004. But he's not one of the top players in the game. Including him in the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship seems … charitable, to say the least.”
At number 3 is Vanessa Rousso and Gambling911.com feels her inclusion among the most “overexposed” might not be appropriate unless we are talking about her Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue photos. Rousso has enjoyed great success in the past year-and-a-half, regardless of whether she has never made a WSOP or WPT final table. Big cashes included back-to-backs NBC Head’s Up Championship for the $250,000 2nd prize in March of 2009, followed by a May first place win of just over $1 million at the Grand Final PokerStars EPT/Season 5. She’s had a few substantial cashes and two wins in major poker tournaments since.
Phil Laak, who our own Jenny Woo is sitting down with this week, comes in 2nd.
“’The Unabomber’ has made just two WSOP final tables. And while his more famous girlfriend — Jennifer Tilly — has a WSOP gold bracelet, he's still looking for his first,” Todd writes.
And finally, the most exposed poker player is…
Prahlad Friedman.
“Ever since the ‘phenom’ put together the ‘Poker is Fun for Everyone’ rap during the 2006 WSOP (he did finish 20th in the Main Event that year), ESPN cameras have followed him everywhere he goes. Perhaps he wishes they would stop. In the 2006 Main Event, Friedman memorably accused Jeffrey Lisandro of not posting an ante (he was wrong), and this year, after having the clock called on him, he was caught on camera calling an all in between the "one" and ‘zero’ count. When his opponent flipped over two pair, he instantly mucked when the floor said that his hand was dead. The rest of the players at the table flipped out, saying that he called, and Friedman just sat there, not defending himself, also not admitting that he did indeed call.”
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Patrick Flanagan, Gambling911.com
