One thing that symbolizes the booming industry of poker is the emergence of poker related products that every poker enthusiast wants to have.

First there was the poker pop shirt, then the poker shades which is made to conceal your emotions in the Poker table, and now comes the coolest USB Flash Drive perfectly shaped like your poker chips that could serve as a reminder as well as a proclamation of your love for the game.

It is undeniable that the market size of the poker industry had expanded from a mere casino poker, to an Online Poker. Most cannot seem to get enough of their love for this ancient game that they are willing to purchase products that will let the whole world know they are into Poker.

It is for this reason that another product has once again been reportedly patterned after a poker chip.

Dane-Elec, one of the largest manufactures of memory modules and boards for computers, telecommunications and digital appliances, had just recently launched their newest product called the poker mate which will soon to be the envy of everyone who is addicted to poker.

Do not be deceived because though the poker mate looks like an ordinary poker chip, it is actually a flash drive that easily pulls out from the side of the chip. This sleek and compact interface design allows you to safely and conveniently store your document files, images, and music videos. poker mate is available in 1gb or 2gb memory capacities at prices not higher than $28. It also comes with a five year warranty that will make you a sure winner when you buy this.

It turns out though that Dane-Elec is not the first one to think of this product.

Memorex, now a division of Imation Corp. and is considered to be one of the most widely recognized and respected names in the consumer electronics industry, had earlier launched a very similar product.

Memorex call it the poker Chip USB Flash Drive offering only up to 1GB of storage capacity. Unlike the poker mate, the poker Chip USB Flash Drive comes preloaded with Big Fish Texas Hold’em software on the drive allowing poker enthusiasts to play Texas Hold’em right on their personal computer.

Both products support Windows 2000/XP and Vista, Mac OS 8.6 or above-Mac OS 8.6 – 9.x USB 1.1 support only- Linux 2.4.x These flash drives will certainly be put to a good use. Not only will it help you in organizing and storing important files, it will also serve as a constant reminder of your dream to be a Patrik Antonius and rule the poker world and the need for you to make money for whatever reasons you have.

Reports said that at about 1:00 a.m. on June 3rd Nenad Medic was named the Pot Limit Hold’em Champion in the first event of the 2008 World Series of Poker at the Rio Hotel and Casino.

It is said that it was no easy task for Nenad because he had to fight his way through a final table that
consisted of well known pros such as Phil Laak, Patrick Antonius, Kathy Liebert, Andy Bloch and Mike Sexton.

Going into the final table Nenad was reportedly 2nd in chips with about 1.2 million and it did not take long for Nenad to bust another player out of the tournament, because on only the 5th hand of the day Phil Laak moved all in and Nenad called and flipped over pocket aces and after the board was laid out Nenad’s aces held up and Phil Laak was knocked out in 9th place. A couple other victims to fall to Nenad were Chris Bell who Nenad knocked out in 6th place and Kathy Liebert who was knocked out in 3rd place by Nenad.

It was now down to heads up action between Nenad Medic who sat at 4.94 million in chips and Andy Bloch who sat at only 2.1 million in chips. It was a long and stressful heads up game which took over an hour of play and on the last hand of the match Nenad turned a heart flush and Any Bloch had a pair of nines. For his win Nenad won is very first World Series of Poker Bracelet and he took home over $794,000.

According to reports, Nenad is a former college basketball player turned Poker professional.

While at the University of Waterloo, Medic has already been playing Poker with his team mates. And after his graduation, instead of playing basketball professionally, Medic started playing Online Poker professionally.

Success is without a doubt in a favor of Medic. He reportedly made his first success in WPT final table at Pokerstars.com and in Carribbean Poker adventure in 2005.

January of 2006 came where he won the final table at the Aussie Millions. He bagged the 3rd place and earned $282,432. He also earned $1,717,194 when he won the final table at the World Poker finals last year.

Reports also said that Nenad is a sponsored pro with Full Tilt, a popular Poker Room.

Medic plays Online Poker under the alias Serb2127, a Poker Review said.

Just who is this hot Poker babe?
For those who are not in the
know, this babe is a successful
actress and also one of the
hottest and greatest Poker
players you will ever meet.

Born on September 7, 1973 in
Houston, Texas, Shannon
Elizabeth Fadal was a cheerleader
and an aspiring professional tennis
player who used to work hard for her sport until she landed a role in a music video that was shot locally. She used that as a motivation and began a modeling career which in turn led to acting jobs on television shows like “Hang Time” and “Arli$$”. Because she did best in portraying these roles, she was chosen to be Nadia in the movie “American Pie”. In addition, she made 35 more films and television appearances in the past years. With all these achievements she had, people consider her a well-seasoned veteran in the showbiz industry.

Similar to other Poker players, Shannon ventured into the world of Poker at an early age by playing games such as 7 card stud with her family as a past time. When Poker was booming and there was a rise in the popularity of televised Poker Tournaments, Shannon got to know the game of Texas Hold’em.

Akin to other Poker celebrities, Shannon had to adopt Poker mentors to help tweak her game and teach her the subtle nuances of the game which led her to play with a proficient and seasoned style that was able to stand up to the best of competitors.

Now that she is already proficient, Shannon found herself playing Poker more often.

She got in the 2005 Main Event at the World Series of Poker with Daniel Negreanu as her guardian.

Since she is said to have a lot of victories in 2006- for instance, she was a sixth placer at the Las Vegas Poker Invitational, Shannon proclaimed a new career as a devoted Texas Hold’em player.

Shannon also finished 3rd in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship in 2007 and won $125,000.

One Poker site said she also stars alongside Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson and Poker hall-of-famer, Doyle Brunson in an improvisational Poker comedy called “The Grand”. I actually met with one of the producers of the movie back in 2005 so he could pick my brain about being a female in a predominately male industry. He was looking to “round out the female character”. His original email described the movie as “a factious improv comedy in the vain of Christopher Guest’s film Best in Show is the best way to describe it.” I get many emails talking about projects and it’s nice to see one that has come to fruition. It’s even nicer to see some big names including Shannon involved in the project.

It is also said that Online Poker room, Full Tilt once had a sponsorship agreement with Shannon.

Just recently, Poker Reviews said that Shannon joined Doyles’ Poker Room.

Does the live and Online
Poker community have its luck
candidate? According to some
Poker Review sites that candidate may just be Barack Obama.

Obama just won the democratic nomination. Should we vote for him or should we opt for McCain? A Poker Review site points us in the direction of a Telegraph article that details Mr. Obama’s Online Poker background.

Toby Harnden writes:

“When he was a young state politician in Illinois, Barack Obama played his cards right. “He had the stone face,” said Senator Terry Links, who hosted weekly Online Poker games at his home. ‘He didn’t stay in hands if he didn’t think he had a chance of winning.’

Links told Harnden:

“Barack wasn’t one of those foolish gamblers who just thought all of a sudden that card in the middle was going to show up mysteriously. He’s as competitive in politics as he is in Online Poker. It’s not like he’s going to go into something without a course of action mapped out.”

So would Barack Obama rally behind the Online Poker playing community who today feel like castaways thanks to a few choice politicians? Probably not. But we cannot help but wonder if Mr. Obama would have requested the removal of an attached measurement to curb Online Poker attached to that port security bill.

Anyway, i have read in Doyle Brunson’s blog that that he’s backing Sen. Barack Obama:

“I have come to the conclusion that poker players have to support Obama. We cannot possibly let McCain be our President because he supports most of George W. Bush’s views. Hillary has lots of experience but I do not think she is ready to lead our nation. Imagine her trying to talk to the leaders of the Islamic world? I wish we could have her husband back, but we cannot. Jennifer Harman and I have emailed Obama and asked what his position is on internet gaming. Hopefully we will get a response from his camp.”

You can also count CardPlayer columnist and poker author Bob Ciaffone as an Obama backer.

Hmmm. Whether or not i will vote for him, the real question that really intrigues me is, How does Obama play his cards? Earlier in the campaign several journalists looked into that.

Aside from Harnden’s report, Christopher Wills also filed a report for the AP in September about Obama’s poker playing as a state legislator in Springfield, Illinois:

Obama was a regular at the low-stakes games – sometimes stud poker, sometimes draw – designed to break up the tedium of long legislative sessions. poker, beer and cigars were staples; Democrats and Republicans, lawmakers and even the lobbyists who Obama sometimes rails against dealt the cards and placed their bets.

The traits Obama displayed around the card table those many nights are ones he brings to his presidential bid and are certain to be evident — and analyzed — if he wins the White House.

By his poker buddies’ accounts, Obama is careful and focused. He is not easily distracted and doesn’t give away his intentions unless it’s to his advantage. He’s not prone to taking risky chances, preferring to play it safe. But he’s also serious and competitive: When he plays, he plays to win.

“It’s a fun way for people to relax and share stories and give each other a hard time over friendly competition,” Obama said by e-mail. “In Springfield, it was a way to get to know other senators — including Republicans.” …

Though Obama is one a strong presidential candidate, i am still thinking if he will look back and help the poker industry if in case he wins.

In mid 2005, some revealing (but not x-rated)
photo’s of Jennifer Leigh “Jennicide” were leaked
and caused her internet popularity to go up
10-fold; now after placing 42nd out of 724 players
in a 2006 World Poker Tour tournament, Jennicide
has been unstoppable that she even bagged
her very own Playboy Spread.

After realizing that her leaked web-cam
photo’s were actually a blessing in disguise,
Jennicide went into self promotion overload
and caught the attention of Hefner’s company.
Jennicide gave SheKnows exclusive insight to her
Playboy sizzling shots.

SheKnows (SK): How did you get into poker?

Jennifer Leigh (JL): I’m a nerd. I’m one of the nerdiest girls I’ve ever met. Early on at a very young age, I was always playing on the computer. So I had this computer literacy behind me and I eventually ventured into areas like hacking, gaming, Everquest, World of Warcraft, and hardcore Raiding Guild. I’m a hardcore raider, always trying to get into the Black Temple, and the Wrath of Lich Kings. Nobody ever believes I’m a poker player and a gamer on World of Warcraft.

I was a pre-law major at the University of Delaware and wanted to be the star of the courtroom. But then I found my new obsession. Robert Boyd, poker champion Dutch Boyd’s brother, was a good friend. He said I should try out this online tournament. It was only a $5 pay in. This was the worst move for an adrenaline junky. I was soon the new female player on the scene dominating online tournaments. I was soon entering larger and larger tournaments.

SK: Strategy-based online games like Magic the Gathering have turned out some of the new breed of poker player. Do you think your online gaming background influenced your poker career?

JL: Oh yea. Tons of great players have come from Magic the Gathering. David Williams, Ali Eslami, The Keller Brothers, MadCaddy, Jon Murphy, and Scott Dove, to name a few, are all great players. In online gaming, you have to learn how to personalize the experience and realize that the chip desensitizes you from thinking about being real money. Overall though, games like Magic have contributed greatly. It’s sick.

SK: You are not only a successful tourney player, but you’re also a successful cash game player. Which do you prefer to play and why?

JL: Demographically, you have your random players who get very lucky and they win their big tournaments with very large buy ins, like the World Series of poker The field consists of 7,000 to 10,000 players and it’s like buying a $10,000 lottery ticket, it’s a crap shoot generally.

Tournaments are the gratification, the glory. You win a tournament and you feel like you conquered. You just beat a field of however many players and you played your “A” game, your best game. A lot of different elements of the game come into play like luck, variation and changing your pace. Like a video game, it’s your final boss and you’re preparing to down the boss.

Cash games are more consistent. As a professional cash game player, you set yourself on a very meticulous budget, more management of yourself and your money. I prefer cash games — they made me my living. Heads Up play is personal gratification because I’m so aggressive, like a warrior you could say. Having an opponent heads up with you and beating them is something that feels really good when you’re done.

SK: What do you consider your greatest moment?

JL: I did Playboy last year. This is going to be real big. It’ll be a six-page pictorial coming out beginning of April. Coming from a small town in Delaware, it’s HUGE. It’s very hard to grasp coming from one end of the spectrum to the other — from a $5 tournament to this!

SK: Did you enjoy posing for Playboy?

JL: I liked working with the cast and crew the best. I never thought I’d do it. It took a lot of confidence and talking to my parents. They weren’t too sure of it. They looked at it as an issue of moral. But a woman is beautiful on the inside and out. To tell you the truth, the more you can become one with your body the better. I have hips and breasts and don’t try to use it — but I can and that’s OK. Posing in Playboy allowed a platform for me to show women that it’s possible to be a staple in poker and we’re not going anywhere.

SK: How did your parents react to your posing in Playboy?

JL: Believe it or not, my dad was prouder than my mom, although, my mom came on the shoot with me. The shoot was very professional but it was a very long process. But it was an eye-opener for me. You walk into the Playboy studio, you see Marilyn Monroe, and you think to yourself, “I’m here and they’re photographing me … this is amazing!” I think the human body is beautiful. Posing made me feel more confident about myself as well.

SK: Who would you say is your role model?

JL: Jennifer Harman is one of my biggest role models just because she has been through so many health issues and life struggles and is still noticed as not only one of the best female players, but one of the BEST players in the world. That’s hard to do in the poker industry. “It’s a man’s world,” they say. I think of Harman when I’m at my low and running bad. I’m reminded that I’ll come out of it with a positive experience and survive.

SK: Do you consider yourself a role model for women?

JL: I won’t say I’ve been to Hell and back, but a lot of younger women have been through what I’ve been through. In general, you have to watch your back. In a perfect world, it’d be a very simple peaceful world, but they are very cruel people who can take advantage of you. So having your own self-awareness is important. Being someone with a positive outlook is a good role model for women and that’s what I try to do.

SK: Do you have any advice for players wanting to try their hand at poker ?

JL: It really depends on you and what attracts you to the game. For me, it’s competitiveness. When you’re completely known as a world-class poker player, there’s always room to find improvements. I tell women who are interested in poker to take anything you have done and been passionate about and take that energy and consume it into what you love and work with it. Do the best you can by using knowledge — which is power. Never be intimidated because of a specific gender.

SK: Does it ever get old having people adding “woman” to the term poker
player?

JL: I wish we’d get rid of that term. When talking about a female post deliverer, we don’t use the term “post woman.” We’re not aliens, we’re women. It’s very sensitive for some people. Tournaments are never classified by race or sexual preference, but it is classified by gender. All poker players are the same, although women are more intuitive then men.

SK: Who would you select to play at your “dream” table?
Ted Forrest
Phil Ivey
Jennifer Harman
Doyle Bruson
Phill Hellmuth
Vanessa Rouseau
Dan Harrington
Miami John Cernuto
Annie Duke
Daniel Negraneau
Mark Seif

SK: Any last word for your fans?

JL: I just want to thank everyone for their support. It’s going to be an amazing year!

If you still haven’t seen the pics of this poker player, just click on these links and it will take you directly to her. Take notice of how Playboy airbrushed her frontal area to look like she has the anatomy of a barbie doll.