Big Winners of the Every Other Week!

It feels good to run good … and because it\’s important to know whom you\’re up against, here are six players you may wanna congratulate/look out for at the tables live and online, as their most recent noteworthy successes suggest they are running particularly well.

Mary Joe Belcore-Zogman
Heartland Poker Tour\’s \”The Grand Series\”
Onamia, Minnesota

Bested 201 players to take down $85,723 — making her the second woman to win an HPT event, and part of the first husband-wife team to both win on the Heartland Poker Tour. Dan Zogman won $220k in Gary, IN, last year. The Zogmans hail from McHenry, IL, about 60 miles outside of Chicago.

More details about her win at HeartlandPokerTour.com

Phil Ivey
Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash Game
London

Made a stab at his 6th bracelet in the £2,500 HORSE at WSOP-Europe (banking more than US$25k for 6th place), and while overseas was the big winner in the million-dollar cash game against his fellow Full Tilt pros and other highest-stakes players. Finished +$536,400, dominating the competition for the second time in the event\’s 3-year history.

Live-blog coverage from Michael Craig (relevant posts start in the #520s)

Jesper Hougaard
WSOP-Europe £1,500 No-Limit Hold\’em
London

24-year-old pro establishes himself as a Danish powerhouse, beating 409 Europponents to win more than US$256k whilst taking down his second WSOP bracelet in 2008. Gave up a career as a world-class table tennis player to focus on poker.

Check out his bracelet climb beginning with a cash in the 2007 main event at WSOP.com

Carter King — \”ckingusc\”
WCOOP $5,200 Main Event
PokerStars

22-year-old online pro from Columbia, SC, beat out 2,183 other avatars to win the biggest online tourney (in terms of prize pool) in history. Anytime you can win $1.27 million playing a computer game for two days straight, you gotta think it\’s a pretty good use of your time. He got in on a $320 mega-sat.

Check his impressive stats at PocketFives.com

Vivek Rajkumar — \”Psyduck\”
WPT Borgata Poker Open — $10,000 No-Limit Hold\’em
Atlantic City

Another 22-year-old online pro, Vivek \”Harold and\” Rajkumar (our nickname, not his) came off a win in the $2,500 NLH at the LA Poker Classic ($113k) to win $1.42 million at the WPT Borgata Poker Open.

More about Vivek at WorldPokerTour.com

Sherkhan Farnood
WSOP-Europe £2,500 HORSE
London

Barack Obama says we need to focus more on Afghanistan, and Sherkhan gives poker escapists a reason to do just that. The Kabul banker becomes the first second ever Afghani (and because he also claims residence in Dubai, the first UAE-er) to win a WSOP bracelet — US$193k.

Check out the competition he beat at WorldSeriesofPoker.com