The rising stars

Many rising-stars in online poker are making their entrance into the poker tournament industry at this year’s WSOP. See who’s who in this overview of upcoming poker tournament players and the titles they boast, here.

It’s that time of year again when online poker is simply buzzing with satellites. At the heart of the poker tournament industry is the World Series of Poker (WSOP), widely regarded as the most professional poker tournament around, and home to many of the world’s best online poker players. With the tournament nearing the World Championship event, it is important that we take a look at some of this year’s front-runners…

Scott “SCTronjans” Freeman has established a respected name for himself in the online poker industry, and is becoming a rising force in the live poker domain too. Since May 2007 he has won many poker tournament titles, including the $1K Monday at Full Tilt Poker. He finished 19th at last year’s WSOP Main Event, taking home $333,490 in free poker money. This year he has moved up 10 spots to 9th place, taking home $69,714 in free poker winnings.

Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet has made most of his money playing at online poker tournaments, only recently making appearances at live competitions. In 2007 he took home no less than 21 titles valued at over $200,000 in free poker cash, and has made more than $1 million in free poker winnings since deciding to play professionally. He is widely considered one of the best no limit poker tournament players, and ranks 65th at Pocketfives.com. He recently finished 12th at the $5,000 no limit WSOP event against Scott Freeman.

Eric “Basebaldy” Baldwin is another rising star in online poker. Ranked 28th at Pocketfives.com, he boasts triple-crown poker tournament titles and six wins to date at the WSOP, including finishing 16th place in his latest appearance against Jacobo Fernandez. He is also a regular at Bodog, Full Tilt, Poker Stars and Ultimate Bet.

Blair Rodman is not a new face to the poker tournament scene. He taken home nine WSOP cash wins since 2006, and over $1 million in free poker winnings since 1991. In event 22 this year he won a commendable $25,138 against Jens Voertmann. Confident and capable, and with a WSOP bracelet to his name, Rodman is a force to be reckoned with.

With online poker clearly generating so many talented poker tournament players, who knows what other new stars will break into the industry at this year’s man event?!