By Rocco Havel | December 25, 2009

PokerStars ever-growing roster of sponsored pros can be spotted at any stop on the European, Asia Pacific and Latin America Poker Tours, but the new slew of the site’s Team Pros will be doing all their playing from the comfort of their own home.

PokerStars recently revealed the names of the 23 players selected to represent the site as part of its new Team PokerStars Online. The group of nearly two dozen people was handpicked from over 2,000 applicants and is comprised of 20 men and three women from all over the world. Some of the names may be new to poker fans, but there are a few on the list that are more recognizable.

Perhaps the most familiar to the casual poker fan is Nichoel Peppe. Girlfriend of fellow poker pro Tad Jurgens, Peppe was featured prominently in the ESPN coverage of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. Peppe made a deep run in this year’s Main Event before busting out in 75th place. She was also the penultimate woman remaining in the tournament, while 27th place finisher Leo Margets earned the honor of last woman left in the field. She will play as part of Team PokerStars online under the screenname “NicP.”

Online poker enthusiasts may also be familiar with Steve “stevesbets” Jacobs. He took down the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) $25,000 buy-in Heads-Up Championship. Jacobs defeated Team PokerStars pro Bertrand “ElKY” Grospellier heads-up for the bracelet and earned $560,000 for the win. That win makes up the bulk of his nearly $700,000 in online tournament winnings on PokerStars and he has almost $100,000 in winnings on Full Tilt Poker as well.

Thomas “Boku87” Boekhoff had a relationship with the online poker room prior to the announcement of Team PokerStars Online, so it makes plenty of sense that he was one of the 23 names to make the first cut. Boekhoff achieved notoriety in the online poker world earlier this year when he turned $100 into $10,000 in 15 days as part of a prop bet. Dubbed the “Boku Challenge”, Boekhoff’s bet earned him more than $25,000 in betting profits, plus the $10,000 he won playing online. PokerStars was so impressed by Boekhoff’s feat that they invited him to replicate it, this time attempting to turn $5 into $100,000 in the span of a year. He is in the midst of this year-long challenge right now and blogs about his efforts to meet his six figure goal on the poker room’s official site.

Other players who are part of the online team are Grayson “spacegravy” Physioc, Sebastian “Seb86” Sebac and Anders “Donald” Berg. PokerStars announced these 23 players were only the first batch of online Team Pros and there are plans in the works to add more players to the roster in 2010.

Related posts:

1. Team Aced Strikes Gold at Dream Team Event
   This past weekend the poker room at Caesars Palace looked more like a sports bar than a casino as nearly...
2. Team PokerStars Grows by Two
   PokerStars announced this week that it had snatched up two of the few remaining well known players to become part...
3. Liebert, PokerStars Team Up
   While her name has yet to show up on the list of pros in the PokerStars software client, it appears...
4. Barry Greenstein Joins Team PokerStars
   In a bit of a surprise to the poker world, prominent high stakes poker player Barry Greenstein has announced...
5. Dream Team Poker Going to the 2009 WSOP
   Fresh off the rousing success of the second Dream Team Poker tournament at the end of March, Dream Team Poker...