Tag Archives: Legends of Poker

Hoyt Corkins

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Hoyt Corkins is probably one of the most soft spoken poker players that you will ever meet. He comes to the table wearing his signature cowboy boot and hat. Upon talking to him and finding out about his ranch in Alabama, you would likely peg him as a fun loving cowboy at the table to have a good time. You will soon find out that he is a fearsome poker player after all your chips are in his stack.

Corkins learned how to play poker at the age of 19 from his father. He started playing professional poker tournaments in the late 80 and had some mild success, including a win in Pot Limit Omaha at the 1990 Super Bowl of Poker and a 1990 WSOP Main Event win. However, his first major poker title did not come to him until 1992.

Corkins won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 1992 in Pot Limit Omaha. His win earned him $96,000 and his first major title. He would then finish in 10th in the Pot Limit Holdem event later in the series. After his win, Corkins would leave the poker scene for 11 years. He went through a divorce and decided to stay away from the game. It wasn’t until his new fiancé prompted him to return to poker that he decided to give poker another go.

Corkins came back to poker in 2003 and in short order took down his 2nd major title, this time with the World Poker Tour. Corkins won the World Poker Finals to take home his first WPT title and the $1.089 Million prize. Two months later in early 2004, Corkins would finish in 2nd at the PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure for another $290,065.

Corkins was now a force in the poker world and continued to make many strong finishes in poker. He finished 3rd in the Main Event of the United States Poker Championship in 2004 and then followed up with a 2nd place finish at the 2005 WSOP Tournament of Champions. He then made his third WPT final table in 2006, finishing 3rd at the Legends of Poker.

Corkins would win his 2nd WSOP gold bracelet in 2007 when he took down the $2,500 Six Handed No Limit Holdem event. A few months later Corkins would come just short of his 2nd WPT title, finishing 2nd at the World Poker Open in Tunica MS. The 2008 WSOP was also strong for Corkins. He finished in the money five times, including a 4th place finish in the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event and money finish in the Main Event.

Hoyt Corkins has earned over $4 Million in live tournaments for his career. Outside of poker, Corkins tends sixty head of cattle at his ranch in Alabama. His fearsome play at the table has earned him the nickname of “nightmare.” Phil Hellmuth says that he is a “great bluffer who constantly puts people to the test.” With the support of his family, Corkins has come back to the poker world after an 11 year absence to dominate it. At just 40 years of age, Corkins will be bringing his soft spoken nature to the tables for many years to come, and walking away with most, if not all, of his opponent’s chips.

Thor Hansen

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Thor Hansen was born in Oslo, Norway where his family owned a grocery store. He learned to play poker at the age of eight. His father would let him sit in for him and when he would return, he would discover that Thor won money. Thor continued to play poker after he dropped out of school at 13 to go to work. He soon discovered that more money could be made at playing pool and poker than by working and as a result he took to being a professional pool player. After a while he switched to professional poker and has never looked back.

Thor would win his first major title in 1988 when he took down the $5,000 Seven Card Stud Event at the World Series of Poker. This would be the first of two bracelets for Hansen. He won the 2002 $1,500 Deuce to Seven Lowball bracelet and $62,600 in prize money. Hansen also cashed four times in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker, with his most Main Event cash occurring at the 2008 WSOP. In addition, Hansen has made numerous final tables, including the final table of the 2007 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event where he finished 8th.

He won the Main Event of the Grand Prix of Poker in 1998. In 99 he won the $500 Limit Holdem event at the Carnivale of Poker and the $500 Seven Card Stud event at Legends of Poker. He also has titles at the 2004 L.A. Poker Classic and 2004 World Poker Open. He also has four money finishes in the World Poker Tour and one EPT money finish. For his career, Thor Hansen has won $2.55 Million in live tournaments.

To many Norwegian players, Thor Hansen is considered their “Godfather of Poker.” Hansen has long since moved to the United States, but is still the all-time Norwegian money win. Thor’s name may remind you of the Norse God and his play at the table may leave you thinking you’ve been hit by Thor’s Hammer.

John “The Razor” Phan

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John “The Razor” Phan is one in a long line of California professional poker players. For those that are not familiar, the Los Angeles, CA area has several casinos in the region and boasts some of the best poker action in the world, regardless of the game you are in.

Phan first started scoring in professional tournaments in 1998 when he won two tournaments in a month. He would then over the next few years make a name for himself in the L.A. area, making numerous final tables and taking down several events including the America’s Poker Classic and Legends of Poker.

His first big score in poker did not occur until 2004. He placed in five different tournaments at the World Poker Open in Tunica MS, winning the $500 Pot Limit Holdem and $500 No Limit Holdem events. He took home over $255,000 in winnings from his stint in Tunica that year. This would start a string of cashes in 2004 at various events and resulted in three more wins at the Fiesta al Lago, Legends of Poker, and World Poker Open.

2005 saw Phan make his first WPT final table when he finished 4th in the $25,000 WPT Championship event. He would also make his first World Series of Poker final table that year with a 4th place finish in the $5,000 7 Card Stud event. Phan nearly came up with bracelets at the 2006 and 2007 WSOP but finished runner up in the 2006 $1,000 No Limit event and the 2007 $2,500 No Limit Event.

2008 has been the best year so far in Phan’s professional career. He made a final table at the WPT Bay 101 shooting stars event, finishing in 6th and then rode the momentum from that finish into the World Series of Poker. He had two cashes in earlier No Limit events in the series before finally achieving his first major win.

Phan made the final table of the $3,000 No Limit Event and put on a masterful performance to get heads-up with Johnny Neckar. The two then proceeded to play a heads up match that lasted nearly five hours. After five hours of play, the two decided to start going all-in blind. This occurred three times and afterward Phan claimed that they were going to go back to playing normally. Play continued for one more hand before the chips were all-in again and in the end, Phan emerged victorious with his first bracelet. Phan would win his next bracelet less than a week later when he was able to take down the $2,500 2-7 Lowball event. Phan was finally a WSOP bracelet winner and World Champion and in a weeks time solidified himself as a force in poker.

Over the next two months after the WSOP, Phan would go on to two more final tables in the WPT. First he finished 5th in the $15,000 No Limit event at the Bellagio Cup. Then a little more than a month later, he took down his first WPT title with a win at the Legends of Poker. In the span of three months, Phan was a two time bracelet winner and a WPT champion.

At present, Phan has over $5.3 Million in lifetime tournament wins. His style at the table is considered very loose and aggressive. He tends to bluff a lot, or so it appears. After his bracelet win, he claimed that he is much more solid of a player than people tend to give him credit for. Of course, this is the same player who during the $2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event at the 2007 WSOP claimed to raise every hand he played during a particular stud round in the dark.

Phan does have a reputation to take an extremely long time while making his decisions at the poker table. This sometimes tends to rub poker players the wrong way. He usually is a sharp dresser and has a very flamboyant lifestyle, or at least gives off that image in public.

At just 34, Phan is now beginning to hit his stride in poker. His background in poker in the Los Angeles area has prepared him for the success he is currently enjoying. Time will tell whether he will be able to duplicate his recent success, but one thing is for certain, it should be very entertaining to watch.

Dan Harrington

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Dan Harrington is the poster child for the tight and aggressive player. He got his start in gaming as both a champion backgammon player and a chess master, winning the 1971 Massachusetts State Chess Championship. He got his start in poker playing at the Mayfair Club in New York City. In the 80’s he gained experience playing with players such as Howard Lederer, Steve Zolotow, Erik Seidel, and Jay Heimowitz.

Harrington first started to be noticed in poker in 1987 when he finished 6th at the WSOP the year that Johnny Chan won his first title. A few years later in 1995, Harrington took his first WSOP bracelet when he won the $2,500 NL Holdem Event. Later that year, Harrington made the final table again of the Main Event, but this time he was able to walk away with the title and the $1 Million prize pool.

For many players, this would be the crowning achievement in one’s poker career. While it is considered one of his greatest feats, Harrington accomplished something a few years later that is still talked about in poker circles. In 2003, Harrington finished 3rd in the Main Event. At that time, the field was 839 players. This was the largest Main Event in history. 2003 was also the year of Chris Moneymaker’s improbable win, causing the current poker boom. The next year, the field exploded to a new record of 2,576. Dan Harrington was able to navigate his way through the field and again make the final table. He finally finished 4th in the event. While he did not win either event, the fact that the made it to the final table in the two largest Main Events to that point was, and still is, considered one of the greatest accomplishments in poker history.

In addition to his World Series of Poker accomplishments, Harrington has two World Poker Tour final tables. His first final in 2005 saw him take 2nd at the Doyle Brunson North American Championship for $620,730. In 2007, after the WPT decided to not arbitrarily raise limits, Dan Harrington took advantage of a great structure and again made the final table at the Legends of Poker. This time, after the longest final table in WPT history, Harrington was able to win his first WPT title.

In total, Harrington has won over $6.5 Million in tournaments. In addition to his accomplishments at the table, he has written five poker books. Harrington on Holdem: Volumes I, II, and III focus on tournament play while the other two books Harrington on Cash Games, focus on ring games. Outside of poker, Harrington is both a real estate and stock investor.

Dan Harrington’s style is a solid tight-aggressive approach that comes off as boring to some, but it gets results. He is a prime example of how solid play can pay off over the long term. Also, his business sense away from the table has made him both a champion of poker and a champion of life.