As every respectable online poker room these days, Bodog has a team of endorsing pros. Josh Arieh,David Williams and Evelyn Ng are not only there to represent though. The winner of the weekly Tournament Leaderboards gets a chance to play either Josh or David in a heads up game for $1,000 (your choice).

Let us see though, who you’ll be facing, if you do manage to come out on top of the Leaderboards at the week’s end:

Josh Arieh

If you’re watching poker on ESPN, I’m sure my presentation of this poker professional is quite useless for you, but here it goes anyway: The proud possessor of two WSOP bracelets, Josh Arieh’s biggest career performance was probably the 3rd place finish he scored in the 2004 WSOP main event.
As far as his temperament goes, Josh is certainly no push over. His verbal abuse of eventual 2004 WSOP main event winner Greg Raymer (which he subsequently apologized for), is certainly a testimony to his aggressive style and attitude. 
If you do get in a heads up with him, be prepared that he’ll bully you around, then suddenly shift gears to have you off balance just when you think you have him figured out. Tell you the truth, those $1,000 look awful far if the road to them leads through Josh. 
He took his first WSOP bracelet in 1999, in a Fixed Limit Holdem event, and the second one in 2005, in Pot Limit Omaha, from no other than Chris Ferguson. 
His total career earnings exceed $3,700,000, and he also played in the WPT, where he totals 4 money finishes and 1 final table. 
His EPT record includes 1 money finish only, but he finished in the money no less than 10 times in the WSOP. 
This is one of the players you can choose to battle for the thousand bucks. The other one is: David Williams

David Williams

We’re looking at a guy here who had been a Magic: the Gathering player for years before learning poker. Because he allegedly cheated in a Magic tournament (by bending his Accumulated Knowledge cards) he was suspended for a year. During that time, he learnt poker (mostly by himself) and became a poker professional. Checking him out from that perspective…you shouldn’t have that much trouble with the guy…right? Wrong. 
Not only did he manage a successful comeback to Magic tournaments after having served his suspension, he also became very successful at poker. So much so, that nowadays, his total poker winnings amount to $5,500,000. 
Despite the fact that he had 6 money finishes in the WSOP, and a second place in the main event in 2004, he only has one WSOP bracelet to show for his efforts (in a 2006 7-Card Stud event), besides a few millions of dollars, of course. 
He did well in the WPT too, scoring no less than 8 money finishes and 3 final tables. His mother, Shirley Williams also took up poker, and nowadays she doesn’t just watch her son play anymore, she frequently outlasts him in tournaments.

Evelyn Ng

Also known as the Queen of Diamonds, Evelyn Ng (pronounced “eng”), is much more than fellow Canadian poker pro, Daniel Negreanu’s (pronounced “neg-rah-noo”) ex-girlfriend. While Negreanu certainly influenced her game in a more-than-positive manner, these days Evelyn can stand up for herself just fine. 
Although she’s had 5 money finishes in the WSOP, Evelyn Ng became famous in the WPT. She beat many established professionals in the 2003 WPT Ladies Night I tournament.
Her total career poker winnings amount to about $300,000.
                              
These are the pros Bodog will give you the opportunity to go up against, but you may want to know that you can become a Bodog team member yourself, if you’re a good enough player, that is…

Follow the example of Leif Force, an online Bodog player, who bought his way into the WSOP with money won on Bodog Poker, and ended up pocketing over a million dollars in 2006 (and now has over $1.2mm in total winnings).