by Randy 'nanonoko' Lew

First off, I'd like to say that being a part of Team Pokerstars Online is such a great honor of which I'm very proud of. I've always aspired to be a part of Team PokerStars and I believe my hard work ethic and dedication has paid off. I expect 2010 to be one of my best years to come.

Every day that I play online, it's very rewarding to be reminded of being a part of Team PokerStars Online. I get lots of chat messages at the PokerStars tables from players and observers to congratulate me. Although I am easily distracted from all of the action at my tables, I do try my best to respond to show my gratitude.

So far this year, my poker has been good. I've been playing a lot of poker these days and I've been much more active in the tournament scene so far. I played a tournament where all Team PokerStars Pros battled it out to determine the Team Pro champion for the year. I felt handicapped because we were playing 8-game and I only have real experience in NL hold'em and Limit hold'em. However, I do know the rules for omaha type games but I have very limited experience with it. Unfortunately, the stud games were very confusing to me and I didn't even know the rules to 2-7 triple draw!

However, I felt that I held my ground and adapted decently well to the games. I ended up placing at approximately 45th place out of around 85 players which is pretty good considering I only have experience in one quarter of the games.

My plan for the rest of 2010 is to continue playing lots of hands at 6-max NL hold'em as well as achieve Supernova Elite again. But besides the regular routine, I plan to play a lot more tournaments as well as attend more live events. I will be playing at the NAPT Venetian main event, EPT Monte Carlo, and the WSOP Main Event for sure this year so hopefully I can translate my online success to live tournament success.

* While Randy 'nanonoko' Lew was studying managerial economics at UC Davis, he was also making a name for himself on the videogame scene. His title of choice was 'Marvel vs Capcom 2' and he played on the national circuit throughout college. There he encountered Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan and other players that were making the switch from video games to online poker. Randy opened a PokerStars account and found that his decision making skills and quick-fire reactions, honed playing fighting games, were well suited to high-volume multi-tabling. He made Supernova Elite in 2008 and 2009 by 24-tabling 6-Max No Limit Hold'em cash games. When he's not playing poker he still plays fighting games at the highest level.

by Kristian 'CharismA3' Martin

Hello there. Let me start this off by introducing myself: My name is Kristian and I live in the northern part of Germany and I am currently a full-time student of maths and economy at University Hamburg.

Poker wise I have always been trying to become as complete a player as I can, so after starting out playing only Hold'em, I quickly learned a lot of the stud and omaha games as well. So throughout the entire next year, now I'm a member of Team PokerStars Online, you will find me playing a little bit of everything: some Hold'em, some Omaha, some Hi/Lo, some tournaments and you might even find my trying my luck at the draw games.

I started the year off by trying to get my fixed limit game up to shape again, playing mainly the 5/10, 10/20 and 15/30 games. That went along quite well but just grinding the same games all the time isn't for me so for the last few days I have been playing a lot of Hyperturbo Sit and Go satellites to the big major tournaments at PokerStars - and topped that off with a very lucky deep run in the Sunday Million where I got 10th for more than $9,000.

So all in all I am very happy with my game right now and extremely proud to be able to represent PokerStars at the tables.

I also want to say thank you to PokerStars for giving me this unique opportunity as well as to all the nice supporters on the rail and on the tables that were very friendly and welcoming to me.

This is it for now, but you'll hear more from me in the future!

* Born in Germany, Kristian Martin started playing poker against friends when he was 18. He was then given $5 to deposit into his PokerStars account by an online training site and hasn't looked back since. Kristian started out playing on the micro stakes cash tables and developed his skills bit by bit. He was soon able to move up the levels and now plays successfully in the bigger games.

by Nichoel Peppe (NicP)

I have been a "live" cash game player throughout my entire five+ years of playing poker. I have dabbled in online play periodically, but never once considered it as a means to making money. It was always just for fun and love of the game. The thing I love most about poker and is (in my humble opinion) the best part of my game is being able to read my opponents and knowing what they have.

Visual clues are huge for my game... I pay attention to everything. This is why online play always seemed to be a little bit out of my comfort zone. Online seems to be more about the statistics and math side of poker (which is a big part of the game but something I usually consider without really having to think about it). And with online gamers it is "positive ev" this and "nit" that and "c bet" this and lmfao... it's like another whole world out there, even for someone like myself who has played poker for many years.

So to say that I was a "wee bit" nervous for my first month as part of Team PokerStars Online would be a drastic understatement (to say the least)! Numerous players posed the question: "If you are a live player, why are you now part of Team Online?" Every time someone asks me that I give the same reply: "I filled out the application in October and here I am!"

But when I truly think about it, it is quite a great question. Why me? I am pretty sure that my results at the 2009 WSOP Main Event played a big part in the decision. Especially since I sported the PokerStars logo in all its glory throughout my ESPN coverage. Also, I have not only played poker for a living for the last five years, but I have also hosted the 5-10 no limit hold'em game at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles for three of those five years. In actuality, being a part of Team Online and my hosting gig at the Bike were really quite similar... in both I am/was paid a salary to play at a specific establishment for a specific period of time.

So the question becomes: "How is it going?" All I really have to say to that is: "Aye-Ya." For all you live players out there, you know that expression well; it means things are not going so hot... very sad. The month started off innocent and normal enough, but ended with one of my worst weeks in poker. I couldn't get a hand to hold up to save my life. No matter what I did, it was wrong - no matter how far ahead I was when I went all in, I was always the one who ended up on the rail. It is weeks like this that make us wonder what the heck we are doing in this profession. And then tomorrow ... our hands hold up, we make all the right plays, we win all the money and the sun shines again! Here's to our tomorrows.

Until then, good luck at the tables. I'll see ya there!

To follow my day-to-day progress, catch me playing on PokerStars under the user name 'NicP'. You can also find me on Facebook by searching for 'Nichoel Peppe'.