Federated Sports + Gaming Announce Inaugural Professional Poker League Roster
On Tuesday, May 3, 2011, the Federated Sports + Gaming’s professional poker league announced the lineup for its inaugural season. Two hundred and eighteen players qualified for membership in the 2011-2012 league; however, that number will likely increase as players can continue to qualify through August 1. In addition, nine temporary, single-event exemptions will be awarded through Pro-Am tournaments, increasing the field slightly.
Perhaps most importantly, the FS+G roster announcement assured fans that the league, headed by Jeffrey Pollack and Annie Duke, would not be affected by the events of online poker’s infamous “Black Friday.”
The lineup was based upon an advance formula developed by FS+G. According to its website: “Qualification for the new professional poker league is based on a player’s performance in qualifying tournaments and measured by a combination of adjusted lifetime earnings; number of major poker titles won; adjusted earnings since January 1, 2008; and, the adjusted number of cashes since January 1, 2008. The criteria for each type of card is as follows (note that all monetary amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars):
- 5-Year Card: At least $4.0 million in adjusted lifetime earnings, with the single largest win capped at $2.0 million; at least three major titles; at least nine cashes since January 1, 2008, for a total of at least $600,000 won
- 3-Year Card: At least $2.5 million in adjusted lifetime earnings, with the single largest win capped at $1.5 million; at least one major title; at least nine cashes since January 1, 2008, for a total of at least $500,000 won
- 2-Year Card Category A: At least $2 million in adjusted lifetime earnings, with the single largest win capped at $1 million; at least one major title; at least six cashes since January 1, 2008, for a total of at least $300,000 won
- 2-Year Card Category B: At least $1.25 million in adjusted lifetime earnings, with the single largest win capped at $750,000; at least nine cashes since January 1, 2008, for a total of $600,000 won
In addition, all qualifying tournaments must have a buy-in of $1,500 or more; are open to the general public; is announced at least 30 days in advance; and attracts at least 21 players. Furthermore, Invitational tournaments count but only if the “public can play their way in through preliminary or satellite events,” meaning “Seniors, Ladies, Employees, CEO and other special-design events are not qualifying tournaments.”
While the inaugural lineup included most of poker’s biggest names, there were some notable players who failed to qualify. Absent from the list are Chris Moneymaker, Dennis Phillips, Tiffany Michelle, Joe Sebok, Jamie Gold, Jerry Yang, Jonathan Duhamel, Joe Cada, Todd Brunson, Liv Boeree, Bill Chen, Phil Galfond, Mike Sexton, Dan Harrington, and T.J. Cloutier.
In an article in USA Today, Duke explained the absence of such big-name stars as the 2006 WSOP Main Event Champion: "If it was based on Q rating (name appeal), Jamie Gold would have made the list.”
On the other hand, poker fans might be surprised at some of the players who did qualify such as Hevad Khan, Jason Lester, Toto Leonidas, Andrew Chen, Jeffery Papola, Blair Rodman, and Mike Wattel. Nonetheless, all these players met the objective criteria and earned their spots in the league.
Duke went on to say: "We put a lot of thought into it just thinking about what it is that would define one of the best live tournament players in the world. We wanted to make sure that we were grabbing the best of the best today."
Here is a look at the FS+G 218-player lineup:
Federated Sports + Gaming Season One Roster
| Player | Card | Player | Card | Player | Card | Player | Card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Akenhead | 2Y B | Daniel Alaei | 5 Year | Patrik Antonius | 2Y A | Josh Arieh | 3 Year |
| David Bach | 2Y A | David “Bakes” Baker | 2Y A | David Baker | 2Y B | Eric Baldwin | 3 Year |
| Praz Bansi | 2Y A | Jose Ignacio Barbero | 2Y B | Allen Bari | 2Y B | Isaac Baron | 2Y B |
| Christopher Bell | 3 Year | David Benyamine | 3 Year | Steve Billirakis | 2Y B | Mike Binger | 3 Year |
| Nick Binger | 2Y B | Chris Bjorin | 3 Year | Andy Bloch | 2Y B | Salvatore Bonavena | 2Y B |
| Justin Bonomo | 2Y A | Dutch Boyd | 2Y B | Matthew Brady | 2Y B | Steve Brecher | 2Y A |
| Brenes Humberto | 2Y A | Chad Brown | 2Y B | Doyle Brunson | 2Y A | Shawn Buchanan | 3 Year |
| Eric Buchman | 3 Year | Olivier Busquet | 2Y A | Erik Cajelais | 2Y A | Brandon Cantu | 3 Year |
| John Cernuto | 3 Year | Johnny Chan | 3 Year | Neil Channing | 2Y B | Andrew Chen | 2Y B |
| David Chiu | 5 Year | Cornel Cimpan | 3 Year | Scott Clements | 5 Year | Hoyt Corkins | 5 Year |
| Allen Cunningham | 5 Year | David Danshgar | 2Y A | Roland De Wolfe | 5 Year | Freddy Deeb | 5 Year |
| Ivan Demidov | 2Y B | Jason DeWitt | 2Y B | Quinn Do | 2Y A | Annie Duke | 2Y A |
| Tom Dwan | 2Y B | Peter Eastgate | 3 Year | Mike Ellis | 2Y B | Antonio Esfandiari | 3 Year |
| Chris Ferguson | 5 Year | Amonon Filippi | 2Y B | Layne Flack | 3 Year | Randall Flowers | 2Y B |
| Ted Forrest | 2Y A | Jimmy Fricke | 2Y B | Eric Froehlich | 2Y B | Chau Giang | 3 Year |
| Matthew Glantz | 2Y B | Alexandre Gomes | 3 Year | Matthew Graham | 2Y B | Barry Greenstein | 5 Year |
| Gavin Griffin | 2Y A | Dmitry Gromov | 2Y B | Bertrand Grospellier | 3 Year | Tony “G” Guoga | 3 Year |
| Hasan Habib | 3 Year | Joe Hachem | 3 Year | Roger Hairabedian | 2Y A | Dean Hamrick | 2Y B |
| Gus Hansen | 2Y A | Christian Harder | 2Y B | Jennifer Harman | 2Y A | Isaac Haxton | 2Y B |
| Dan Heimiller | 2Y A | Phil Hellmuth | 5 Year | Juha Helppi | 2Y B | Rob Hollink | 3 Year |
| Alessio Isaia | 2Y B | Phil Ivey | 5 Year | Alex Jacob | 2Y A | Fernando Jacobo | 2Y B |
| Martin Per Jacobson | 2Y B | Faraz Jaka | 2Y B | Sirous Jamshidi | 2Y B | Peter Jetten | 2Y B |
| Marco Johnson | 2Y B | Theo Jorgensen | 2Y A | John Juanda | 5 Year | John Kabbaj | 2Y B |
| Mclean Karr | 2Y B | Frank Kassela | 2Y A | Eugene Katchalov | 3 Year | Matt Keikoan | 2Y B |
| Bryn Kenney | 2Y B | Allen Kessler | 2Y B | Hafiz Khan | 2Y B | Hevad Khan | 2Y A |
| Davidi Kitai | 2Y B | Chris Klodnicki | 2Y B | Alexander Kostritsyn | 3 Year | Moritz Kranich | 2Y A |
| Andreas Krause | 2Y B | Alexander Kravchenko | 3 Year | Valdemar Kwaysser | 2Y B | Ludovic Lacay | 2Y B |
| Florian Langmann | 2Y B | Ted Lawson | 2Y A | Howard Lederer | 5 Year | Antony Lellouche | 2Y B |
| Toto Leonidas | 3 Year | Jason Lester | 2Y A | Adam Levy | 2Y B | Andrew Lichtenberger | 2Y B |
| Kathy Liebert | 3 Year | Erick Lindgren | 5 Year | Jeff Lisandro | 5 Year | Jonathan Little | 3 Year |
| Vitaly Lunkin | 3 Year | James Mackey | 2Y B | Jeff Madsen | 3 Year | Ayaz Mahmood | 2Y B |
| Amit Makhija | 2Y B | Mihai Manole | 2Y B | Matt Marafioti | 2Y B | Thomas Marchese | 2Y A |
| Lee Markholt | 2Y A | Michael Martin | 2Y A | Matt Matros | 2Y B | Arnaud Mattern | 2Y B |
| Mike Matusow | 5 Year | Mike McDonald | 3 Year | Nenad Medic | 3 Year | Jason Mercier | 3 Year |
| Dario Minieri | 2Y B | Michael Mizrachi | 5 Year | Robert Mizrachi | 3 Year | Sorel Mizzi | 2Y B |
| Will Molson | 2Y B | Scott Montgomery | 2Y B | Chris Moore | 2Y B | Carlos Mortensen | 5 Year |
| Greg Mueller | 2Y B | Daniel Negreanu | 5 Year | Men Nguyen | 5 Year | Scotty Nguyen | 5 Year |
| Annette Obrestad | 3 Year | Luca Pagano | 2Y B | Jeffrey Papola | 2Y B | John Brock Parker | 2Y B |
| Jean-Paul Pasqualini | 2Y B | Ralph Perry | 3 Year | Max Pescatori | 2Y A | David Pham | 3 Year |
| Thang Pham | 2Y A | John Phan | 5 Year | Carter Phillips | 2Y B | Dwyte Pilgrim | 2Y B |
| John Racener | 3 Year | Vivek Rajkumar | 3 Year | Victor Ramdin | 3 Year | Greg Raymer | 2Y A |
| Tobias Reinkemeier | 2Y B | Chino Rheem | 3 Year | Claudio Rinaldi | 2Y B | Andrew Robl | 2Y B |
| Blair Rodman | 2Y A | Roberto Romanello | 2Y B | Farzad Rouhani | 2Y B | Vanessa Rousso | 2Y B |
| Sebastian Ruthenberg | 3 Year | Nichlas Saarisilta | 2Y B | Nick Schulman | 3 Year | Noah Schwartz | 2Y B |
| Huck Seed | 5 Year | Erik Seidel | 5 Year | Scott Seiver | 2Y A | Vanessa Selbst | 5 Year |
| Daniel Shak | 2Y B | Soheil Shamseddin | 2Y B | Shannon Shorr | 3 Year | Barry Shulman | 3 Year |
| David Singer | 3 Year | Gavin Smith | 3 Year | Jordan Smith | 2Y B | Justin Smith | 2Y B |
| Marty Smyth | 2Y A | Fabrice Soulier | 2Y B | Mike Sowers | 2Y B | David Steicke | 2Y B |
| Samuel Stein | 2Y B | John Storakers | 2Y B | Surinder Sunar | 3 Year | Steve Sung | 2Y B |
| Joe Tehan | 3 Year | Mark Teltscher | 2Y A | Todd Terry | 2Y B | Julian Thew | 2Y B |
| Nam Thien Le | 3 Year | William Thorson | 2Y B | Yevgeniy Timoshenko | 3 Year | Alec Torelli | 2Y B |
| JC Tran | 5 Year | Sam Trickett | 2Y B | Michael Tureniec | 2Y A | Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott | 3 Year |
| James Van Alstyne | 3 Year | Tommy Vedes | 2Y B | Ville Wahlbeck | 2Y B | Lee Watkinson | 3 Year |
| Michael Watson | 3 Year | Mike Wattel | 2Y B | Timothy West | 2Y B | David Williams | 3 Year |
| Justin Young | 2Y B | Ryan Young | 2Y B |
2011-12 FS+G Season 1 Tournament Schedule
| Event | Pro-Am | Charity Tournament | League Main Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | August 5-8, 2011 | August 7, 2011 | August 9-12, 2011 |
| #2 | September 2-5, 2011 | September 4, 2011 | September 6-9, 2011 |
| #3 | December 9-12, 2011 | December 11, 2011 | December 14-18, 2011 |
| #4 | January 27-30, 2012 | January 29, 2011 | February 9-12, 2012 |
| Championship | -- | -- | February 13-14, 2012 |
What do you think of the lineup? Any surprises? Anyone overlooked? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. In the meantime, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
