In poker, it can be more difficult to win the same event two times in a row, where a single misplayed hand or bad beat can derail your entire tournament. Poker is a game of skill, but the prevalence of chance can make repeat performances seem all but impossible.

Last month, two players showed the world that it wasn’t. Jason Mercier and Vanessa Selbts, generally regarded as the two hottest NLHE Tournament players on the circuit, showed just why they are held in such high regard.

Both won events at the North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun in 2010/2011. First Vanessa captured two Main Event titles and then Jason followed up with a second victory in the High Roller event. Considering that the NAPT is only two years old, these two American pros have totally dominated this particular festival.

In honour of their achievements, lets compare and contrast their achievements with two of the most famous back-to-back wins in poker history.

In 1980, Stu Ungar arrived at the Binion’s Horshoe casino in Las Vegas having never played in a Texas Hold’em Tournament before. Graduating from gin rummy and cash games, the concepts of levels and clock were new to this precocious talent. However, it didn’t take him long to adapt and in double-quick time he was heads up with the legendary Doyle Brunson.

Even more impressive than his initial success, was that he was able to put in a repeat performance the next year. Stu had to overcome fields of 73 and 75 players to win his WSOP bracelets, hardly massive when compared to the mammoth fields of today’s Main Event. Still, it was the most prestigious poker tournament in the world and commanded a buy-in of $10,000 – no mean feat.

Adjusting for inflation, that 1980 buy-in would be worth around $25,000 today, exactly the price Jason Mericer paid to enter the 2010 NAPT Mohegan Sun High Roller Event. He too had to battle against a small elite field. This year, the tournament became a Bounty Event and the buy-in shrunk to $10k. However that increased the field to 78 players, in line with the numbers Stuey had to battle in the 80s.

The other famous WSOP repeat was performed by none other than Johnny Chan. The Asian sensation barreled his way through the 1987 WSOP, defeating 152 players on his way to the title. If you haven’t seen Rounders, stop reading this now and go and watch it.

Welcome back! By now you will have seen the famous clip of Chan defeating Erik Seidel heads up in the 1988 Main Event. History has proven Seidel to be one of the finest tournament players in the world, showing just how impressive Chan’s second victory was. He almost became the only player in history to win three on the bounce. Johnny got all the way to the final two in 1989, only to be ousted by the then youngest ever Main Event winner, Phil Hellmuth.

In her first Mohegan Sun triumph, Selbst had to best 716 runners, far more than any of the other repeat winners. She was playing in only a $5k buy-in event, but that’s still a price tag only the good and the lucky can afford to pay. In 2011 the event was considerably smaller at 387 players, but that is still more than double any of our other candidates.

If you ask me, Vanessa’s success is the most impressive, considered in a vacuum. With the quality of players today and the sheer volume of her opponents, the difficulties she had to overcome make her challenge the toughest. Two NAPT victories will never be as prestigious as two WSOP titles, but history is really all that makes the World Series special. Mechanically it’s just another poker tournament.

Sure Stu is probably the greatest ever and nobody can argue with Chan’s brilliance, but in the class of finest back-to-back win, Vanessa Selbst takes the prize.

Selbst is the first player in the six years of NAPT history to win back to back titles. No one in the 9 year history of the WPT has won the same tournament twice, let alone back to back titles. While not as legendary as Johnny Chan winning back to back WSOP titles, in today’s world of bloated tournament fields, highly trained professionals, and slight edges, Selbst’s accomplishment deserves a slow and steady standing ovation. We’re only in April and Selbst’s repeat Mohegan Sun titles will surely be one of the biggest poker accomplishments of 2011.

This win takes Selbst’s lifetime tournament winnings to $4,115,800 and moves her to third on the all-time women’s money list, behind Annie Duke and Kathy Liebert. Selbst’s signature poker style is super aggressive when the stacks get deep and the money is on the line. For her aggressive play, Selbst’s live tournament results have been absolutely spectacular the last two years. Next year we have our fingers crossed for a historical Vanessa Selbst Mohegan Sun three-peat.

Places & Payouts:

1st: Vanessa Selbst – $450,000
2nd: Dan Shak – $254,000
3rd: Tyler Kenney – $170,000
4th: Thomas Hoglund Jr – $120,000
5th: Vincent Rubianes – $90,000
6th: Joe Tehan – $70,000
7th: Aaron Overton – $50,000
8th: Steve O’Dwyer – $32,330

“This was a great experience. The turnouts at NAPT events have been getting bigger and bigger,” said Tehan, about the tournament. “I mean, this is a $5,000 tournament with over 700 players. I don’t play much outside of Vegas or LA, so to get a turnout like this in LA was good. I was excited to come down and play and I’m glad I did.”

Jake Toole was Tehan’s first victim at the eight-man final table. Toole made a stand with JJ and was called by Tehan’s A-Q. Tehan flopped an A to knock Toole out in eight place. Shortly after, Tehan got all in with JJ vs Jason Mercier’s A-K in an enormous coinflip and held.

“I ran really, really good today. I won a lot of coin flips. I won all of the hands that were 50-50. It feels great. I’m happy with the way I played,” Tehan told PokerStars about his race-winning.

Next on Tehan’s list was Michael Binger. Binger decided TT was a good enough hand in which to stake his tournament life. Tehan made the call with A-J and, unfortunately for Binger, Tehan’s streak of winning races continued. An A on the turn sent Binger home in 6th place.

After the elimination of Binger, Tehan decided to kick it up a notch. He got involved in a three-way all in with Anh Van Nguyen, who held A-Q, and Ray Henson, who held A-J. Tehan only held K-5 suited, but a K on the turn helped Tehan eliminate both players in one hand.

Shortly after, Al Grimes, who was short-stacked most of the day, was eliminated when his 7-8 suited could not overcome Tehan’s J-9.

Thus began heads-up play between Chris DeMaci and Tehan, who was on an incredible heater. Though DeMaci had started the day as the chip leader, he was now out-chipped over 2:1 by Tehan. The two played small pots for nearly two hours, with Tehan winning the majority and chipping up even more. The final hand came when DeMaci moved all in on a K-5-3 board with K-4. He was quickly called by Tehan, who held K-T. DeMaci never improved and Tehan took down the hand and the tournament.

Here are the results from the NAPT LA Main Event Final Table:

1. Joe Tehan — $725,000

2. Chris DeMaci — $440,000

3. Al Grimes — $250,000

4. Anh Van Nguyen — $195,000

5. Ray Henson — $145,000

6. Michael Binger — $114,000

7. Jason Mercier — $84,857

8. Jake Toole — $60,000

“I’ve played at The Bike in the past and there is a strong local presence in LA,” comments poker legend and Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreaunu. “It’s always really important for a tournament’s success to have a strong core of local players as it gives even more incentive to travel to the events when you know there will be big money on the line. I’m looking forward to playing.”

Others scheduled to be on hand for  the new stop include highly renowned Team PokerStars.net Pros such as Vanessa Rousso, Barry Greenstein, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, 2004 WSOP Main Event winner Greg Raymer, plus returning WSOP champion; 2009 Main Event winner Joe Cada.

The festival will feature a five-day Main Event with a US$5,000 buy-in. There will also be a broad range of fun and exciting side events catering to players of all bankroll levels. Up-to-date information on the events and schedules will be posted on the NAPT website.

Haig Kelegian, Managing Partner of The Bike, states, “We are very enthusiastic to secure the West Coast Tour stop. We clearly recognize the NAPT as the next major happening in the evolution of poker, and we have no doubt this Tour will entice and attract players from all over the world.”

Season 1 of the PokerStars.net NAPT has proven to be a resounding success. The NAPT’s first three festivals of Season 1 enjoyed tremendous support from players. Sixty different countries were represented in fields that numbered from 700 to 1,500.

The NAPT PokerStars.net Caribbean Adventure drew in a record-breaking 1,529 players with US based player Harrison Gimbel taking home $2.2 million for first prize. The NAPT Venetian title was won by 22-year-old online player Tom Marchese for $827,648 and the NAPT Mohegan Sun saw local Vanessa Selbst beat 716 players to win her biggest live tournament pay day to date of $750,000.

Players at all three events were treated to luxurious accommodation, amazing parties, and well-designed, professionally-run poker tournaments.

The easiest path to NAPT Los Angeles is by winning a free tournament package on PokerStars.net. Packages for the festival will include the US$5,000 entry fee for the Main Event, accommodation for the duration of the festival and a stipend for travel expenses.

About PokerStars.net:

PokerStars.net is the world’s largest online poker school with over 36 million members. It’s the premier destination for the world’s top players – with numerous tournaments running every day. PokerStars.net is renowned for offering the best software and security in the online poker world.

PokerStars.net is the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour, PokerStars.net Caribbean Adventure, Latin American Poker Tour, Asia Pacific Poker Tour and The World Cup of Poker. For more information please visit the PokerStars.net website.

In addition to Doyle Brunson, the show featured poker legends Daniel Negreanu and 11 time bracelet winner Phill Hellmuth. Don’t worry about remembering how many bracelets Hellmuth has won, he will be happy to let you know, frequently. Filling out the rest of the six-handed table were Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, big mouth Tony G, and the amateur Loose Cannon, Ernest Wiggins.

The Loose Cannon is an amateur player who has qualified for the “Big Game” via PokerStars satellites. He has been staked $100,000 by PokerStars and gets to keep any profit he accrues. If the Loose Cannon does profit, he or she will be invited back to take another shot at the pros. The Loose Cannon who wins the most money will be given a NAPT Passport on top of their winnings. The NAPT Passport is a free pass to all the events on the NAPT circuit next year.

The Loose Cannon started out red hot in regards to hole cards. Wiggins was dealt AA, KK, and AK within a span of 30 hands. Wiggins played smart and avoided disaster versus Negreanu at the beginning of the episode. Negreanu made it $1200 with pocket kings ($200/$400 blinds). Tony G called on the button with A9 of diamonds and Wiggins raised to $3700 total. Negreanu 4-bet to $9400, Tony G folded quickly, and Wiggins made the call. Wiggins checked in the dark and Negreanu fired close to 2/3 of the pot. Wiggins contemplated for a short time, but wisely threw his big slick into the muck.

The next big hand put the spotlight on the two Phils. Laak had fired all three streets with KT on a board of 8-9-T-5-K. Hellmuth held KQ and was deliberating whether or not to call the river. Hellmuth verbalized that the only hand he beat was KJ. Eventually, Hellmuth made a solid fold.

Nearly midway through the show Brunson made it a cool $1500 before the flop holding pocket tens. Tony G made the call in the SB with JT and Hellmuth decided to squeeze in the big blind with A5 of spades. Brunson called $6500 more and Tony G decided to speculate with his JT. The flop of J-2-J was a monster for Tony G who checked. Hellmuth checked and Doyle bet $18000. Tony G called relatively quickly with trips and Hellmuth folded. Tony G announced he was all-in in the dark. This may have confused Brunson who eventually called the $67,600 bet when the King of Spades fell on the turn. Tony G flipped his hand and Brunson saw he was drawing dead to the tune of $100,000. Brunson quickly reloaded for another one hundred grand.

After Doyle was stacked, Wiggins had a chance to take bite out of Tony G. The Australian raised to $1000 with AJ of diamonds and Wiggins called on the button with KQ. Tony G bet $2000 in the dark. Wiggins flopped top two pair on a board of K-Q-5 and pushed his entire stack in over the Tony G’s dark bet. After a bit of table banter, Tony G eventually mucked his hand. Perhaps the Loose Cannon was a bit aggressive, but Tony G would have been hard pressed to lay down a flush draw or a hand like AQ to the amateur.

At the end of the episode, Tony G was the big winner. Brunson was in the hole over a $100,000. The Loose Cannon, Wiggins, was down $13,000 and needs to step up his game if wants an invitation back to the “Big Game”. The PokerStars.net “Big Game” airs every weeknight on Fox. Episodes can also be watched online at PokerStars.tv.

Viewers can tune in every Monday at 10:00 PM EST to catch two episodes of the NAPT. The familiar faces of Lon McEachern and Norman Chad will be providing the commentary. The duo has been ESPN’s voice of poker since 2003. Supermodel Joana Krupa will join the two, providing eye candy and insight into the poker world between hands.

The first two episodes of the NAPT cover the PokerStars.net High Roller Bounty Shootout. These episodes feature poker legends such as Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth. The first season of the NAPT will broadcast two episodes every Monday for five weeks. The final six episodes are scheduled for the summer.

The NAPT made just three stops in 2010, but had strong attendance at each event. Deuce Cracked instructor, Vanessa Selbst, took down the final tournament, NAPT Mohegan Sun, on April 12. She collected a pay day of $750,000.

Jeffrey Hass, Global Poker Tour Director, believes the NAPT installments will inspire people to win a live event. “It will make the NAPT an aspirational event and will drive a lot more people to compete. Not only will they want to win the money and have the opportunity to compete at the highest level, but let’s face it: The dream of poker players everywhere is to win a poker tournament on ESPN. That’s what we’re giving them.”

This first NAPT event came to a finish just a few days ago. The $5k buy-in tournament wrapped up with eight players at the final table including two online tournaments pros, two online cash game pros, and a three time WSOP bracelet winner in “Miami” John Cernuto.

Sam “KingKobeMVP” Stein and Eric “ericb09” Blair led the way for the online tournaments pros, while David “dlpnyc21” Paredes and Tom “kingsofcards” Marchese represented the online cash pros. Sam Stein came into the final table with the chip lead, bringing in over 100 big blinds.

Stein continued his winning ways, outracing Blair’s pocket sevens with ace king to eliminate him in 8th. He followed that up by outrunning Cernuto’s ace five suited with jack ten suited, bringing the final table down to six. Even David Paredes’s pocket aces couldn’t hold versus Stein’s pocket jacks, as Stein flopped a jack to take Paredes out in fifth.

Stein had over half the chips in play with four left, but Yunus Jamal and Daniel Clemente were sent packing in a quick fashion by Tom Marchese, leaving Stein with approximately 16.4 million in chips, and Marchese with 9.5 million in chips going into heads-up play. Heads-up started with the blinds at 100k/200k 20000 ante.

Stein’s chip lead evaporated rather quickly at this point, and heads-up didn’t last long at all. Stein became well known during the tournament as someone who wasn’t a fan of folding as he rarely folded flops and he was willing to make thin calls. Those calls cost him as he doubled Marchese into the chip lead and subsequently lost the tournament, calling Marchese down with 2nd pair in the final hand when Marchese had top set.

See below for the handsome final table payouts. It’s safe to say that the first NAPT event was a great success at the Venetian, and we look forward to many more PokerStars sponsored events in North America.

1st:  Tom Marchese – $827,648

2nd: Sam Stein – $522,306

3rd: Daniel Clemente – $309,366

4th: Yunus Jamal – $241,064

5th: David Paredes – $184,816

6th: Thomas Fuller – $144,639

7th: John Cernuto – $104,461

8th: Eric Blair – $60,266

We, as a civilization, have been raised to lie with our faces. Think about it. When, as a child, you were forced to take family pictures or eat an unpleasant food, your parents would often say something like, “At least pretend you’re happy. Smile!”

Faking a happy expression around those you dislike, hiding your elation in front of a sports opponent on whom you’ve just laid a monster beatdown, even fighting not to wrinkle your nose at the unpleasant smells when visiting a sick relative in the hospital – all of these experiences combine to teach young people how to lie with their faces.

At the poker table, we watch for the flare of a nostril, the wink of an eyebrow, or the twitch hiding at the corner of an opponent’s mouth. But the face, thanks in large part to our respective upbringings, is the least honest portion of our anatomy. We’ve been taught since infancy to mask our true emotions before they flicker across our countenance.

So where, then, can we hope to glean the most truth from an enemy? The answer may surprise you.

It’s the feet. Sounds preposterous, doesn’t it? After all, how many players get a chance to glimpse under the table? But think about it. Other than the occasional, “Stop tapping your foot,” how many of us were regularly admonished to keep our toes in check? While the proper control of face, eyes and arms has been drilled into us, almost no one spends much time regulating their lower limbs.

Therefore, the immediate reactions and movements of an opponent’s lower body are one of the most powerful barometers of hand strength and aggression.

While no method of reading is 100 percent accurate, I’ve won many pots off of otherwise excellent players by watching the moment of their legs and feet. Here are some of the most common cues of the shoes:

When an opponent’s feet are angled and ready, cocked like those of a sprinter about to explode from the blocks, this indicates action. Your foe is about to make a move, most likely a raise.

A pigeon-toed player is most often an insecure player. They are uncomfortable with their hand and can generally be induced to fold.

If an opponent’s feet are angled (especially toward the door from which the entered the room), he’s seeking to escape. Not happy with where the hand is going, the subject is desperate to flee from conflict.

If another player wraps their legs around their chair, you’ve got them. This is a self-restraining maneuver – the mind’s subtle attempt to keep the body in place. This is one of the most telling cues you could hope for. From personal experience, I’ve found that this generally means an opponent is bluffing, or is at least hoping to push you away while holding a marginal hand. The same can be said of interlocked ankles. When a player crosses their feet, this is a self-pacifying behavior, indicative of insecurity produced by a bluff or longshot draw.

However, if your quarry’s ankles suddenly unlock and hit the floor after a new card lands on the felt, they may have made their hand. This is indicative of an elevation of confidence. They may have drawn out on you.

In fact, any quick arch of the feet and toes generally means that your opponent likes what they see, such as a fortuitous flop or street.

As mentioned above, no system of tells is absolutely correct all of the time. But the general rules of human behavior dictate that footing is an essential attitude indicator. So remember, watch the shoes. When used in combination with other body tells, they can provide a devastatingly accurate read on the opposition.