While being a nit certainly doesn’t qualify you as a bad poker player, most people don’t blush with pride when labeled a nit. After all, this term implies that a player would rather spend hours waiting for perfect starting hands, rather than grow some balls and take a risk every now and then. With all of this being said, CardPlayer recently ran a somewhat humorous article on the ten biggest nits in the game of poker.

Not surprisingly, Allen Kessler was at the top of the list since he’s legendary for min-cashing in poker tournaments. Going beyond his min-cash reputation, Kessler is considered a huge bumhunter in regards to free comps at casinos.

Right behind Kessler on this unflattering list was Tony Cousineau, who has cashed in 163 live tournaments with only three wins to show for this. And despite earning $2.2 million in career winnings, Cousineau has gained little fame in the poker world due to his lack of titles.

Checking in at number three and four on the list were a couple of familiar names in Chris Ferguson and Phil Hellmuth. Both players earned their uber-tight rep while playing in various TV cash games. But in their defense, they have taken some risks in tournament poker, and it’s paid off since both have quite a few life tournament accolades.

A couple of other notable names on this list include Jerry Buss and Teddy “The Iceman” Monroe. Buss, who’s worth $600 million and owns the Los Angeles Lakers, certainly isn’t going to part with this money at the table due to his tight style. As for Monroe (pictured above), he’s one of the cagiest cash players in the game – having been around for three decades – and he readily admits to folding pocket aces if a big stack shoves on him. Of course, you can’t really bash his style since Monroe has been making a living with the game so long.

Dutch Boyd doesn’t exactly have the greatest track record when it comes to his fellow poker peers. After co-founding the PokerSpot online poker site, Boyd received a lifetime black mark when the room shut down, and over $400,000 worth of player deposits were never paid. Boyd has plenty of excuses why his site failed to repay the funds when it shut down in 2001, but the bottom line is that a lot of cashouts went unpaid.

Relating this all to the present, Boyd seems to be resurfacing in the poker news lately by offering 1-on-1 poker coaching sessions through Skype for a measly $20. You sign up for the sessions through his site, PokerClinic.com, and he works out the details with players from here.

The biggest thing worth pointing out with this story is how far Boyd has fallen in recent years to be offering $20 poker coaching sessions for half an hour. As stated on his site, he’s a two-time WSOP bracelet winner, and Boyd has over $2 million in career live tournament winnings. Plus people with half of his experience command much higher fees, so it’s surprising to see the low fees that he’s charging.

But even with this being said, assuming you pay Boyd’s fees and think that he is full of sh**, you can get a money back guarantee. Of course, it’s hard not to laugh at the irony here when looking at how the whole money back thing at PokerSpot worked out. But hey – at least he’s not asking anybody to leave deposits on his coaching site.

Here’s a universal question that must be asked: does Phil Hellmuth like to ride giant hot dogs in the water? Judging from the picture on the left-hand side, you would have to say that he does ride giant hot dogs on the water.

After all, the guy in the picture looks very much like Hellmuth, and he’s been known to do just as crazy stuff in the past. You might even say that some of his various WSOP entrances top riding the giant hot dog.

On the other hand, it’s pretty hard to beat riding a giant hot dog in the water just for the simple fact that who would think of such a thing. Perhaps this is Phil’s strange way of blowing off some steam after he narrowly missed out on a 12th WSOP gold bracelet.

Even if the guy in the picture isn’t Hellmuth (although it looks very much like him) or it’s a photoshop, this guy is still pretty cool by my standards.

Wouldn’t it be great to be coached by a poker player who boasts over $10 million in online poker winnings? Sure it would – especially if the coach was the dashing, world-famous poker pro Patrik Antonius. And what’s great is that you can retain Patrick Antonius’ poker coaching services for a mere $6,000 an hour.

Seeing as how it takes the average US resident over two months to earn this kind of cash, $6k might seem a little steep – even if the coaching is coming from Antonius. And PokerNews documented just how much Antonius’ fee compares to other professions in an interview regarding a new poker coaching company run by Brandon Adams. Here is an excerpt from the Brandon Adams interview:

For $400 an hour, Jeff Miron, a senior lecturer on economics from Harvard will be at your service to inform you of the latest policy conflicts worldwide. Or, for an unpublished fee, you can discuss marketing secrets with Daymond John, CEO and founder of FUBU. As for poker, you can pick the brains of some of the most accomplished players in the world. Patrik Antonius charges $6,000 an hour, while Tom Dwan’s price is a bit steeper at $6,500 an hour. The unique website is quickly gaining interest. PokerNews spoke with Adams about Expert Insight.

Interestingly enough, Tom Dwan makes even more than Antonius coaching players, despite the fact that he’s been far less successful in recent years. In any case, it’s crazy to see that Dwan and Antonius are out-earning many brain surgeons, CEO’s and top-flight lawyers with their poker coaching. And this is pretty impressive considering the fact that you don’t have to go to school for 10 years and be $400k in debt afterward.