Drew Lesofski, former senior federal policy adviser from Washington, D.C., has joined the PPA as director of Grassroots and External Affairs. His previous position under Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons had him dealing with a variety of issues, such as immigration, health care, education and gaming.

This is not Lesofski’s first involvement with a grassroots political organization. He had worked and volunteered with a number of local, state and federal campaigns prior to his tenure in Washington.

Alfonse D’Amato, chairman of the PPA, welcomed Lesofski by saying, “As we get closer to reaching the million-member milestone, it is more important than ever for PPA to find new ways to energize and mobilize our members. Drew’s policy and political campaign experience will be an asset to PPA as we further refine and augment our grassroots program.”

About The Poker Players Alliance (from www.pokerplayersalliance.org)
The Poker Players Alliance is a nonprofit membership organization comprised of over 900,000 online and offline poker players and enthusiasts from around the United States who have joined together to speak with one voice to promote the game, ensure its integrity, and, most importantly, to protect poker players’ rights.

Visit PokerListings.com

But to those in the know, he may be the most entertaining - and most feared - high-stakes player online.

He’s got all the ingredients - a seemingly bottomless bankroll, a relentlessly aggressive playing style and a recklessness at the tables that produces wild swings, from down $500k one minute to up a cool $1 million the next.

And is if that weren’t enough, he also has an acid tongue to go along with it, often belittling the game’s best players in the chat box in the process of dismantling their bankrolls.

So when Sahamies sits, it’s always a bit of a spectacle for the railbirds.

It wasn’t much, but they got a small taste this morning as he sat for a couple of quick heads-up sessions of $200/$400 No-Limit Hold’em at Full Tilt Poker.

And much like Antonius, Sahamies also doesn’t shy away from the toughest opponents he can find, choosing to tangle with both Full Tilt Pro (and Cardrunners instructor) Brian Hastings (aka $tinger88/LucLongley) and equally renowned online specialist Cole South (aka cts).

The result: roughly $200k in the black for Sahamies, including the biggest hold’em pot online today for $91,196 after getting all-in pre-flop with #Ah-#Kh against Hastings’ #As-#Qc and having it hold up.

How the action played out:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5578636741: Table Pimento (heads up) - $200/$400 - No Limit Hold’em - 9:25:24 PST - 2008/03/10
Seat 1: Brian Hastings ($45,598)
Seat 2: Ziigmund ($77,195)
Ziigmund posts the small blind of $200
Brian Hastings posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #2

HOLE CARDS

Ziigmund raises to $1,200
Brian Hastings raises to $4,200
Ziigmund has 15 seconds left to act
Ziigmund raises to $12,400
Brian Hastings has 15 seconds left to act
Brian Hastings raises to $45,598, and is all in
Ziigmund calls $33,198

Brian Hastings shows #Ah-#Kh

Ziigmund shows #As-#Qc

To see how the board came down, more big pots from both sessions and more of the biggest Hold’em pots won online over the last day, week and month, jump over to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.
Visit PokerListings.com

The tournament, a $10,000 buy-in event, has been on the WPT schedule since the second year of the organization’s existence. While it has generated huge prize pools for the victors in the past, the unique feature of this tournament is the bounties that are placed on 50 of the top names in the game.

Each bounty player has a $5,000 bounty placed on them (the figure dates from the buy-in in the early years of the event). The money, along with a commemorative T-shirt that immortalizes the victory, is awarded to the player who eliminates a given bounty-holder from the tournament.

By the looks of the names on the bounty list this year, it could be a daunting task to knock one of them out.

On Day 1a of the tournament, none other than World Champion Jerry Yang is expected to be on hand with a bounty on his head. As if that wasn’t enough, players such as Todd Brunson, Hoyt Corkins, Kristy Gazes, Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, current PokerListings Player of the Year leader Men “The Master” Nguyen, Vanessa Rousso, Erik Seidel and WPT champion Roy Winston are also on the bounty list.

Players bellying up to the felt on Day 1b will find the likes of the legendary T.J. Cloutier, Allen Cunningham, defending Shooting Star champion Ted Forrest, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, and former world champions Phil Hellmuth, Dan Harrington, Tom McEvoy and Joseph Hachem on the bounty list. For the full bounty list visit Bay101.com.

While the bounty carriers will be on hand representing the pros, players can also expect to see some non-bountied pros taking their shot at the top prize in the tournament and making sure that next year they won’t be overlooked for the bounty list.

For a bounty tournament, professionals have done rather well in this event. Tiltboy Phil Gordon was the first champion of the tournament back in 2004, defeating the reigning world champion, Chris Moneymaker.

Newcomer Danny Nguyen captured a $1 million prize the next year with Gus Hansen and Men Nguyen at the final table. Professional Nam Le was the victor in 2006 with David Williams and Chad Brown at the final table and Forrest outlasted Joanne “JJ” Liu last year.

The playing field for the event is capped at 500. If it meets that number, the top prize in the event is expected to pay out an estimated $1,200,450 and a seat at April’s WPT Championship to the winner.

PokerListings.com’s reporting team will be there for every turn of the card and details on the shot-down bounties, so be sure to tune in to the Live Tournaments section today for all the action at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star.

Visit PokerListings.com