As we're leaving the north valet entrance of Bellagio very, very late one night, my wife stops me in my tracks as soon as the automatic door opens the July-oven evening into our faces. "Look, it's Danny DeVito," she gushes. She's excited because, growing up, she had a Throw Mama From the Train poster in her bedroom for eight years. As he's handing over the keys to his Mercedes S600 to the valet, I immediately see the guy she's getting giddy over. It isn't Danny, but if you didn't know poker, you wouldn't know any better. Kassem "Freddy" Deeb is in the house. He is all smiles and his infectious personality is in full force as he backslaps five people on his way into the casino. He has a large cup of coffee in his hand. It's time to go invest - in the biggest poker game in town, which is still running at 4 a.m. with more money spread on the felt per hand than an average hoity-toity white-collar guy makes in a year.

Freddy Deeb was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He moved to the United States at the age of 19 and has since become one of the biggest names in poker. A grinder at heart, Deeb has made a consistent living playing in high-stakes cash games, but also has had some major tournament success. He’s earned more than $6 million in live events, and has two World Series of Poker bracelets, one of which was for the 2007 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. championship, and a World Poker Tour title.