Sean Chaffin is a full-time freelance writer based in Ruidoso, New Mexico. He covers poker, gambling, the casino industry, and numerous other topics. Follow him on Twitter at @PokerTraditions and email him at seanchaffin@sbcglobal.net.

Crime in the world of poker and casinos is nothing new. Poker legend Doyle Brunson and his contemporaries faced robberies as they traveled the U.S. looking for high stakes games.
When the poker boom kicked off two decades ago, it seemed every player making a major final table was given a sponsorship deal. Players simply showed up to play, wore an online poker site patch, and appeared in commercials and advertisements.
Head to any poker tournament or card room and the odds are that the vast majority of players are male. Efforts to bring more women to the tables have been underway for several years, with mixed results.
One of poker’s most successful players recently offered insight into his entry into the game via a passion for other strategy games. Justin Bonomo, who has $64 million in live tournament winnings, grew up playing Magic: The Gathering and the immersive EverQuest online game.
Allen Kessler has been a mainstay on the tournament poker scene for years. He travels around the U.S. playing events and now has more than $4 million in live tournament winnings. Another type of gambling is also regularly on his agenda while on the roads – playing slots.