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This will be news to some people, many more already know this, but professional poker player Brandi Hawbaker has passed away. Last week she committed suicide, and the Los Angeles County Coroner has confirmed that it truly was her. This is a sad day for anyone who not only appreciates the game of poker, but the culture of it as well.

How many poker players in the online world know what it means to run the river more than once? Older gamblers, poker players who play plenty of live cash games in the casinos, and a few of the more intense online poker players probably know, and thanks to the Game Show Network's High Stakes Poker show, more and more players are learning.

Poker players were often looked down upon in the United States and other countries, considered good for nothing gamblers, but much has happened in the last ten years or so to change that image.

Poker is a game that typically awards for outstanding efforts with big piles of cash, but sometimes there are other kinds of rewards that go along with it. A bracelet from the World Series of Poker, a trophy from the WPT, winning the Player of the Year race are all fine examples. People behind the European Poker Awards also strive to recognize outstanding poker play, and they recently honored Annette Obrestad with the Tournament Performance of the Year award.

A good chunk of the poker world was shocked to learn of the untimely death of David "Chip" Reese. Perhaps the greatest testament in the world to this great player was that nobody wanted him playing at their table. Despite his reputation as a rather pleasant fellow, Chip would often treat a ring game like a playground where he was the biggest bully around.

World Series of Poker has made quite a splash along with pro poker play as a whole, but this latest benchmark in publicity may just put the final check next to poker's list of how to become a cultural icon. The 15th season of the hit reality TV show Survivor has a very varied cast this time around, including a pro poker player.

Phil Hellmuth is one of the world's top no limit Texas Holdem players, as he will readily tell you himself. Despite the self promotion - or perhaps because of it - he really is one of the top flight players, with eleven World Series of Poker bracelets to his name.

When considering the title for this article restraint had to be used to put away the first choice, which was "Thanks For Nothing, Phil Gordon". Okay, it was actually a little harsher than that, but in any case was meant in good fun.

Australias gift to poker knows his stuff. It could be said that anyone who makes it to the final table of the World Series of Pokers main event knows their stuff, but Joe Hachem has the battle scars to prove it.

On a bright September day several Las Vegas EMTs were approached by a crying young woman. 'He's not breathing, he's not breathing!' she kept yelling.