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Mike Kim (Michael Kim) is a professional poker player and the founder of the Asian Poker Federation and MK Global Management Solutions Inc., a gaming service provider based in Metro Manila, Philippines.
Kim started his career as an online poker player in 2003 while studying mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois. [1] After realizing poker's financial potential, he started playing full-time. Kim established the first poker room in South Korea and launched a poker room in Macau at the Starworld Hotel. [2] [3]
In the Philippines, he opened and operated Solaire Poker Room at the Solaire Resort and Casino, Manila. Kim also opened LT Poker in Okada Manila. [4] [5] He later partnered with the online poker company PokerStars, at the City of Dreams in Manila. [6]
In early 2016, Kim opened Mike's Room in Manila. The venue received a total of 1,403 entries for Kim's Millionaire Maker tournament. [7] [8]
Kim brought the Asian Poker Tour, the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, and the World Poker Tour to the Philippines. [6] [9]
In 2018, Kim expanded his activities in Europe together with his European business partners Jori Falkstedt and Miikka Saloseutu. [10]
At the 2009 PokerStars APPT Macau, Kim finished 2nd, winning $384,999. He finished 22nd in the 2013 PokerStars APPT Seoul and earned 4,750,000 KRW. At 2015 PokerStars APPT Season 9 Manila, Mike finished 15th and earned 274,400 PHP. [11] [12] Mike finished 5th in the 2013 WSOP Circuit River Rock Main Event, with $64,979 payouts. [13] Kim won the Main Event of the PokerStars LIVE Manila Megastack 2 in 2015. [14]
Gustav Hansen is a Danish professional poker player from Copenhagen, Denmark who has lived in Monaco since 2003. In his poker career, Hansen has won three World Poker Tour open titles, one WSOP bracelet and the 2007 Aussie Millions main event, and was the season one winner of the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament. Before turning to playing poker professionally in 1997, Hansen was already a world class backgammon player and a youth tennis champion.
Jennifer C. Harman is an American professional poker player. She has won two World Series of Poker bracelets in open events, one of only four women to have done so.
Nick Schulman is an American professional poker player and commentator.
David Benyamine is a French professional poker player with a World Poker Tour title. Benyamine was a professional tennis player in his early career but had to retire because of shoulder pain. He was also a successful top ten billiards player in France. He learned poker at the age of 12 and plays high-stakes cash games on a regular basis. Benyamine is a Pot-Limit Omaha specialist.
Bertrand Grospellier, also known as ElkY, is a French poker player and former StarCraft: Brood War and Warcraft III esports player. He has won a World Poker Tour (WPT), a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and a European Poker Tour (EPT) title, giving him the Triple Crown. He is a partypoker Pro and he currently resides in Prague, Czech Republic. ElkY is ranked #77 on the Global Poker Index. In November 2015 ElkY returned to the esports scene by joining Team Liquid as a Hearthstone player.
Justin Bonomo is an American high-stakes professional poker player, and a former Magic the Gathering competitor. He became the youngest player to be featured at a televised final table on February 19, 2005, when he placed fourth during the inaugural year of the EPT at the French Open in Deauville, France. He was 19 at the time.
The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) is a major international series of poker tournaments established in 2007 and hosted in cities across the Asia Pacific. Along with other major tours such as the European Poker Tour and Latin American Poker Tour, the Asia Pacific Poker Tour is sponsored by PokerStars.
Davidi Kitai is a Belgian professional poker player who won the 2008 World Series of Poker $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event for $244,583, becoming the first Belgian to win a WSOP bracelet. He also has won 2 other bracelets and has an EPT title and a WPT title, along with numerous other big scores and titles.
Shaun Frank Deeb is an American professional poker player from Troy, New York. He has three World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) player of the year titles and six World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets.
Chris Moorman, is a British professional poker player. As of August 2017, he is the all-time leader in career online poker tournament earnings crossing the $14 million mark.
HeroPoker was a Philippines-focused online poker room.
Gambling in China is illegal under Chinese law and has been officially outlawed since the Communist Party took power in 1949. Any form of gambling by Chinese citizens, including online-gambling, gambling overseas, opening casinos overseas to attract citizens of China as primary customers, is considered illegal. In practice however, Chinese citizens participate in state-run lotteries, regularly travel to legal gambling centers overseas or in the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau and access gaming through offshore based proxy betting and online gambling companies.
Joseph McKeehen is an American professional poker player and mind sports player from North Wales, Pennsylvania. In 2015 he won the World Series of Poker Main Event, earning $7,683,346.
David Peters is an American professional poker player from Toledo, Ohio. One of the most prolific tournament players of all time, Peters' live tournament winnings exceed $40,000,000.
Elton Tsang Ka-wai is a Chinese Canadian poker player currently residing in Hong Kong. Considered as one of the five best Asian poker players, Tsang has achieved icon status in the international poker scene with his involvement in several historic achievements including:
Wei Seng "Paul" Phua is a Malaysian businessman and nosebleed-stakes poker player. Phua is a casino VIP junket operator who regularly hosts high stakes gambling in Macau. Phua has been called "A Legend in the Gambling World" and the "World's Biggest Bookmaker"(IBCBET).
Kristen Foxen is a Canadian professional poker player.
Hossein Ensan is an Iranian-German professional poker player from Greven, Germany. In 2019, he won the Main Event at the World Series of Poker for $10,000,000.
William Alex Foxen is an American professional poker player from Huntington, New York.
Damian Salas is an Argentine professional poker player from Chascomús. He won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2020, becoming the first person from Argentina to win the world championship of poker and the second person from South America to win the championship, after 2001 champion Carlos Mortensen. He made the Main Event final table in 2017, where he finished in 7th place earning $1,425,000.
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