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NAME: Shawn Buchanan AGE: 23 RESIDENCE: Vancouver, Canada YEARS PLAYING POKER: 4; 2 years professionally FAVORITE FORM OF POKER: NL cash games

Some know Shawn “Buck” Buchanan as the protégé of Greg “FBT” Mueller (Check profile November ‘05), but the truth is, the kid’s game stands up on its own. Shawn is beginning to make a presence in the poker world, having won last year’s UltimateBet “Make you a Pro” freeroll tourney, as well as placing his mug in recent UB television commercials alongside the likes of Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth.

Shawn’s playing skill and personality couldn’t be more different. At the table he’s fearless, aggressive, and tenacious. Away from the table, he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve met on the tour, and has a hard time saying no to his friends (a rare but great quality in my opinion).

He has no problem accumulating a stack, though; even in the biggest buy-in tournaments with the toughest fields. And give him a stack and this kid will have your head spinning.

Some notable achievements include winning $100k-worth of tournament buy-ins from UB’s freeroll, placing 13th at last year’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, and winning the PokerStars Sunday tourney in December ‘05, picking up a nice $125k. I think it’s just a matter of time before Buck has his turn at taking down a big one.

NAME: Dave Baker AGE: 33 RESIDENCE: Houston, TX YEARS PLAYING POKER: 8 years; 2 years professionally FAVORITE FORM OF POKER: High-stakes Limit Hold’em

I’m having breakfast in Reno with the talented and upcoming Steve Guifire, when Dave Baker, who had been up early to register for a tournament, sees us as he walks by and yells over to our table, “Hey Ed, when are you gonna profile me? Everyone you profile goes on to make a televised final table or win a WPT event, and you know – I kinda need the money.” We all get a good chuckle and Dave goes on his way.

Well, little did Dave know that he was already on my shortlist of players I intended to profile, and rightfully so. Known as an aggressive player, Dave always seems to be in the hunt these days. It seems like every time I get online to see some results, Dave always has a stack.

He chiseled his skills in the underground home games of Houston, but seems to have polished them up well playing the tournament circuit over the past year. These days, he focuses mostly on no limit and limit tourneys; however, you’ll often find him playing mid-high-stakes cash games.

Dave already has an impressive five final tables this year, in addition to a first place finish in an LA Poker Classic prelim event, which earned him $71k.

Amazingly, of these five final tables, four of them have resulted in top three finishes (impressive when you consider the majority of the prize pool is paid to the top three spots). Well, Dave, now that I’ve written you a profile, I hope you make me proud.