Phil Laak lends a very colorful presence to the poker world. Adventurous to the extreme, he is active in motorcycling, scuba diving, skydiving and judo. He was once spared serious injury during an accident when he flipped over a car, left his motorcycle behind him, and actually landed on his feet!

The culture of card playing was a part of his upbringing. His family enjoyed playing Tripoli for pennies and Phil says even then he observed a "card logic" which eventually carried over into his poker career.

Phil has a particular interest in what he calls "higher order thinking" and employs it at the table. He says he uses techniques of higher order thinking to establish a psychic connection with other players. Among those techniques are "lucid dreaming," whereby he plays hands over and over in dreams thus enabling himself to perceive other players' subconscious and conscious tells. "What I am talking about," explains Phil, "is being able to pick up information from my opponent that is neither visual nor verbal. In other words, information that would not be called a tell."

Phil first became acquainted with high stakes poker at an underground club in New York City in 1999. He took to the game as though born to it. "That was really my baptism into poker. From there, part of myself splintered off to be a part-time 'poker degeneratum.'" Not long thereafter, Phil began entering tournaments and enjoying success at them. The competition as well as the patience and need for varying strategies appealed to him, all the more when he saw there were many ways of applying higher order thinking to gain an advantage in tournaments.

If Phil has something of a reputation of a "loose cannon" on the circuit, that is balanced by his general orderliness. His wallet is impeccably kept, all bills facing the same way and arranged from smallest to largest. He achieves his poker successes without being tortured by the outcome of a hand. His philosophy is that: "Living well is all about optimizing and achieving a balance between fun, freedom and fulfillment."

One of the all-time Mariners fan favorites, a fixture in right field, and known simply as “Bone,” Jay Buhner’s rocket arm and explosive bat lives on in Mariner fans hearts everywhere. Buhner was acquired by the Seattle Mariners from the New York Yankees in 1988 in a trade for Ken Phelps. This trade is considered one of the best in Seattle Mariner history and has even inspired a classic “Seinfeld” scene.

Hitting his stride in 1991, Buhner would go on to hit more than 20 home runs in seven consecutive years, reaching his peak in 1996 with 44 homeruns, 138 RBI, a Gold Glove Award and an All-Star appearance.

By the mid-90s he had developed into one of the premier offensive players in the game, hitting 40-plus home runs in three consecutive seasons. A notorious power hitter, Buhner hit 310 homeruns in his career, 106th all time in MLB history.

Buhner’s ability to connect with fans was and still is second to none, epitomized in “Buhner Buzz Cut Night,” one of the most popular Mariners promotions in club history.

Bryant has been making people in the Northwest laugh for almost two decades now as the slow speaking but quick witted "Joe" of Bob Spike and Joe. He started on the Bob Rivers show as an Intern in 1990 but soon became a producer and eventually co-host of one of the most successful and longest running morning shows in Seattle radio history.

Joe also contributes to the writing of Bob Rivers parody songs for Atlantic Records and plays a pretty mean cowbell in Spike's All Star Classic Rock tribute band, Spike and The Impalers.

A longtime resident of the area Joe lives in Bellevue with his Wife Kelli, Daughter Emily, pug dog Bandit and giant cat Izzy. He's a huge fan of the Seahawks, Mariners, good BBQ and Poker Nights with his buds.

Who has more tricks up their sleeve than a magician? One of poker's most interesting players, Antonio Esfandiari, formerly a professional magician, is a bona fide superstar in the card-playing community.

Originally from Tehran, Iran, Esfandiari moved to the United States with his parents in 1988. Esfandiari knew very little English when he started school in his new home but learned the language in less than six months.

Growing up in the San Jose area, Esfandiari was a model student until he hit 12th grade. Esfandiari got heavily involved with the party scene and moved away from home when he was only 17. He soon had an apartment of his own, which he paid for by working as a waiter. His place quickly became party central and his last year of high school suffered as a result.

It was while Esfandiari was waiting tables that he got his first taste of magic. Between tables Esfandiari saw the bartender perform a magic trick. He was so impressed he went straight to the nearest magic shop and asked how the trick was done. The store owner quickly showed Esfandiari the method behind the trick. Esfandiari began throwing magic into his waitering gig, performing for tips, and eventually dropped the waitering part altogether. "Magic Antonio" was able to pull in $300 to $400 an hour just doing magic.

At that time Esfandiari had a roommate who was a professional poker player. One day, at his roommate's suggestion, Esfandiari tried his hand at poker. Despite technically being too young to play he found a way to win money in the first tournament he entered. Esfandiari was hooked and soon, in addition to making rabbits disappear as a magician, he was making other people's money disappear as a poker player.

Later in his career Esfandiari would talk about how the two professions complemented each other. He said that as a magician he learned to gauge human behavior and he was able to use that skill when he moved on to cards. Just as Esfandiari was getting into high-stakes poker he met a fellow player by the name of Phil Laak. They were sharing a table at the WSOP and Esfandiari was wowing the other players with his magic tricks. Laak was actually trying to figure the tricks out and this irked Esfandiari. Esfandiari moved to another table but Laak followed him there as well. Eventually they started talking and became quick friends.

Laak, who is also known as the Unabomber, ended up coming out to the Bay Area to visit Esfandiari and by the time he left they had agreed to share a place. Ironically both players would go on to attain fame on the poker circuit.

In 2002 Esfandiari made a name for himself at the WPT 49'er Gold Rush Bonanza by getting under Phil Hellmuth's skin and eventually placing third for $44,000. It was the first major tournament win for Esfandiari, but more were soon to come. A year later he made the final table of the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em tournament at the 2003 WSOP.

Finally in 2004 Esfandiari cemented his place in poker history at the L.A. Poker Classic in Los Angeles. The magician performed some poker magic when he beat out 382 (including Vinny Vinh in heads-up play) to win the massive $1.4 million first-place prize. At the time Esfandiari was the youngest player ever to win a WPT event.

Esfandiari bought a Dodge Viper and an Armani suit with the prize money and hasn't looked back.

Several months after the L.A. classic Esfandiari once again struck gold, this time at the WSOP. He beat Phil Nguyen in the $2,000 Pot-Limit Event to take home a gold bracelet and $184,860.

It was around that time that Esfandiari finally moved to Las Vegas permanently. Since then he's been a huge part of the poker scene.

Esfandiari has maintained his high-profile image by writing books, appearing in video games and even making an instructional DVD. He has also appeared on television in shows like High Stakes Poker and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Esfandiari, along with Laak, also starred in the reality show I Bet on You.

It's even rumored that for $1,000 Esfandiari can be hired to give a tour of the nightlife of Las Vegas.

Known for his flashy lifestyle and fantastic chip tricks, the "Magician" will probably be dazzling competitors and railbirds for years to come, whether with his card-playing ability or his magic tricks.