Sarah Mitchell

Sarah Mitchell has been covering poker since Chris Moneymaker turned $39 into $2.5 million. Over that span she's developed real relationships with most of the names that define the modern game - which is why her profiles and feature stories get the off-the-record colour that other writers can't reach.

She writes the way she talks: like she's telling you a story at the bar, complete with asides, pauses and the occasional admission that she got something wrong the first time. The result is a conversational byline that still carries the weight of two decades' access.