Best Poker Players

Poker is one of the most popular and beloved card games in the world. For many years, people have been captivated by the thrill and excitement of the game, and many have risen to fame for their incredible skill and strategic play.

Discover the Best Poker Players : Top 30 Legends You Need to Know

In this article, we will explore the top 30 best poker players in history, providing biographies and details about their achievements. Whether you are a seasoned player or simply a fan of the game, this article will give you a glimpse into the world of professional poker and the legendary figures who have dominated it.

Maria Ho

United States – Total Winnings : $4,496,043

Maria Ho is a Taiwanese-American poker player and television host/commentator. One of the top ranked female poker players in the world, and a Women in Poker Hall of Fame inductee, she has over $5,000,000 in live tournament winnings.

Koray Aldemir

Germany – Total Winnings : $21,611,854

Koray Aldemir is a German poker player of Turkish descent, born in Berlin and now residing in Vienna, Austria. In 2021, he won the World Series of Poker Main Event for $8,000,000. Aldemir first played poker while at a friend’s house on New Year’s Eve in 2006.

Chance Kornuth

United States – Total Winnings : $11,891,250

Chance Kornuth is an American professional poker player. Kornuth has earned close to $12 million playing poker in live tournaments. A three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, he won the 2016 European Poker Tour High Roller and the 2022 World Poker Tour Main Event. The American topped the world poker rankings for the first time in early 2022 and led the rankings for a total of 26 weeks.

Vanessa Kade

Canada – Total Winnings : $1,100,364

Vanessa Kade is a Canadian poker player who rose to prominence when she won the 15th anniversary PokerStars Sunday Million for $1.5 million. In addition to the career-best seven-figure score, Kade has picked up over a million in live tournament earnings.

Ramon Colillas

Spain – Total Winnings : $6,280,507

Ramón Colillas is a professional Spanish poker player. He won the PokerStars Players Championship in 2019. Colillas became a professional poker player at the age of 24. He won his first live cash in August 2015 at the Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event in Barcelona. In January 2019 he played the PokerStars Players Championship in the Bahamas. As leader of the Campeonato de España de Poker rankings, the Spaniard had received a so-called “Platinum Pass” in the run-up to the tournament, which entitled him to participate in the event, which actually cost 25,000 US dollars, and also covered travel and hotel costs.

Michael Addamo

Australia – Total Winnings : $20,886,263

Michael Addamo is an Australian professional poker player from Melbourne. He is a four-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner. Addamo was a chess player as a teenager and reached a career-high rating of 1930 in 2013. He studied to be an actuary. Addamo began playing poker in 2012.

Shaun Deeb

United States – Total Winnings : $11,284,723

Shaun Frank Deeb is an American professional poker player from Troy, New York. He has three World Championship of Online Poker player of the year titles and five World Series of Poker bracelets.

Alejandro Lococo

Argentina – Total Winnings : $2,322,179

Alejandro Lococo, also known by his stage name “Papo MC” is an Argentinian MC, avid poker player, and PokerStars Ambassador. Lococo has racked up $1,343,127 in live tournament earnings, which includes four cashes under the WSOP umbrella. Prior to Lococo finishing 7th in the 2021 WSOP Main Event Final Table, his best live cash of $36,772 was achieved thanks to his fifth-place finish in the MILLIONS South America Rio Open.

Johan Guilbert

France – Total Winnings : $4,157,704

Guilbert has been playing online poker since March 2012. He uses the nicknames YoHViraL (GGPoker), YoHHH_ViraL (PokerStars), PCMPCM (partypoker), Ronaldo4112 (888poker) and YoHH_Viral (PokerStars.FR and PMU.fr). The Frenchman has been running a YouTube channel called YoH ViraL since October 2006, which currently has more than 160,000 subscribers. In the videos, Guilbert documents his poker games mostly in French and shares hand analysis with the viewer.

Andrew Moreno

United States – Total Winnings : $3,778,908

Andrew Moreno, the husband of former PokerNews hostess Kristy Moreno (former Kirsty Arnett), has been playing poker since the early 2000s. Originally from the Midwest where he worked at a factory running a steel-cutting machine, Moreno met his future wife after overhearing her talk about poker.

Ali Imsirovic

Bosnia and Herzegovina – Total Winnings : $18,697,120

Almedin “Ali” Imsirovic is a Bosnian-American professional RTA-advantaged poker player from Vancouver, Washington.

Josh Arieh

United States – Total Winnings : $10,614,230

Josh Arieh is an American professional poker player. Arieh has been competing in poker competitions since 1999.

Adrian Mateos

Spain – Total Winnings : $31,114,452

Adrián Mateos Díaz is a Spanish professional poker player. At the age of 19, he won the 2013 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event for €1,000,000. He also won an event on the Estrellas Poker Tour in Madrid in January 2013 for €103,000.

Stephen Chidwick

United Kingdom – Total Winnings : $44,665,132

Stephen James Chidwick is an English professional poker player from Deal, Kent. Chidwick led the Global Poker Index from April 18 to October 9, 2018.

Kyna England

United States – Total Winnings : $921,466

Kyna England is an American poker player with over $800,000 in career earnings who was named the 2021 Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Player of the Year. England, originally from Illinois, enjoyed a breakout year in 2021 after leaving her job in the insurance industry to pursue a professional poker career. England finished third in the MSPT Riverside Main Event for $73,782 and later finished third in the WPT Venetian Main Event for $448,755. She followed that up later that year with victory in the MSPT Canterbury Park Main Event for $186,709.

Jake Schwartz

United States – Total Winnings : $4,019,040

Jake Schwartz is an American poker player from New York with $3.8 million in live tournament earnings. The biggest score of Schwartz’ career came in December 2015 when he finished fourth in the $10,000 World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $412,187. Many of Schwartz’ biggest scores have been earned on the WPT trail, including a second-place finish in the WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble for $228,590 and another runner-up finish in the 2020 WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event for $177,680.

Mike Matusow

United States – Total Winnings : $10,024,080

Michael Matusow is an American professional poker player residing in Henderson, Nevada. Matusow’s nickname of “The Mouth” reflects his reputation for trash-talking at the poker table. Matusow began playing poker seriously in the early 1990s, first while working as a poker dealer, then as a professional player.

JJ Liu

Taiwan – Total Winnings : $3,574,063

Joanne Jishung Liu is a professional poker player from Palo Alto, California. She was in 2007 the highest placing female in a World Poker Tour Championship event, finishing runner-up to Ted Forrest at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars. As of 2019, her total live tournament winnings exceed $3,200,000.

The Best Online Poker Players

Yuri Dzivielevski

Brazil – Total Winnings : $5,118,959

Yuri Dzivielevski is a Brazilian poker player with two World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and over $5 million in live tournament earnings.

Andras Nemeth

Hungary – Total Winnings : $5,467,483

András Németh is a footballer who plays as a forward for German 2. Bundesliga club Hamburger SV. Born in South Africa, he represents the Hungary national team.

Ole Schemion

Germany – Total Winnings : $17,279,663

Ole Schemion is a German professional poker player from Berlin, Germany. Schemion primarily plays in Europe.

Teun Mulder

Netherlands – Total Winnings : $4,249,351

Teun Mulder is a Dutch professional poker player, not to be confused with the Netherlands’ world champion cyclist of the same name. Mulder has more than $6 million in online poker tournament winnings, the bulk of which stems from his play at PokerStars, where he is known as “tinnoemulder.”

Shaun Deeb

United States – Total Winnings : $11,284,723

Shaun Frank Deeb is an American professional poker player from Troy, New York. He has three World Championship of Online Poker player of the year titles and five World Series of Poker bracelets.

Joris Ruijs

Netherlands – Total Winnings : $2,634,177

Joris Ruijs is a Dutch professional poker player who specialises in tournament poker. Predominately an online poker grinder, one with almost $10 million in online poker earnings, Riojs is both feared and respected in equal measure. Ruijs is known as “BillLewinsky” or “KONY2012” in online poker circles, the former being his PokerStars alias. Ruijs is approaching $6 million in PokerStars winnings, an impressive haul helped by capturing a $530 NLHE Sunday Million SE title at the 2019 Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) for a career-best $217,140, and a World Championship Of Online poker (WCOOP) title in 2019 for $70,158.

Professional Poker Players

• Patrik Antonius
• Alex Foxen
• T. J. Cloutier
• ElkY
• Dan Bilzerian
• John Roveto
• David Benyamine
• Shannon Shorr
• Lee Markholt
• João Vieira
• Wiktor Malinowski
• Bruno Volkmann
• Show less

Best Poker Players of All Time

Phil Hellmuth

United States – Total Winnings : $28,428,845

Phil Hellmuth is another legendary figure in the world of poker. With a record-breaking 15 WSOP bracelets to his name, Hellmuth is one of the most successful players in the history of the game. He is known for his brash personality and controversial outbursts, as well as his formidable skills at the poker table.

Daniel Negreanu

Canada – Total Winnings : $50,297,798

Daniel Negreanu is one of the most popular and well-respected players in the game today. He has six WSOP bracelets to his name and has been named the Global Poker Index player of the decade. Negreanu is known for his friendly demeanor and his dedication to charity work.

Stu Ungar

Stu Ungar is widely regarded as one of the most talented poker players of all time. He won the WSOP Main Event three times in his career, and he is the only player in history to have won the event three times. Ungar had a troubled personal life, however, and died tragically at the age of 45.

Phil Ivey

United States – Total Winnings : $38,281,866

Phil Ivey is a ten-time WSOP bracelet winner and one of the most successful players in the history of the game. He is known for his quiet and focused demeanor at the poker table, as well as his exceptional skill and strategic thinking.

Who is the best poker players

Now let’s dive into the biographies of some of the best poker players, as sourced from PokerNews, Capitol Casino, PokerBankrollApp, and other top poker publications.

Doyle Brunson

Doyle Brunson is a true icon of the poker world, having won 10 WSOP bracelets and two WPT titles over the course of his career. Known for his old-school style and fearless play, Brunson is also an accomplished author, having penned several books on poker strategy.

Vanessa Selbst

Vanessa Selbst is widely regarded as one of the best female poker players of all time. She has three WSOP bracelets to her name and has also won the NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event and Partouche Poker Tour Main Event. In addition to her success on the felt, Selbst is a Yale Law School graduate and a prominent advocate for social justice.

Fedor Holz

Germany – Total Winnings : $37,441,291

Fedor Holz is one of the youngest players on this list, but he has already made a huge impact on the game. He has won one WSOP bracelet and one WPT title, but his biggest success came in 2016 when he won the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop at the WSOP, earning over $4.9 million.

Johnny Chan

Johnny Chan is a two-time WSOP Main Event champion, having won back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988. He has also won 10 other WSOP bracelets and one WPT title, cementing his status as one of the greatest players of all time.

Chris Moneymaker

United States – Total Winnings : $4,022,990

Chris Moneymaker is one of the most famous poker players in history, thanks to his victory in the 2003 WSOP Main Event. His win, which came after qualifying for the tournament on PokerStars, is widely credited with sparking the poker boom of the 2000s. Moneymaker has one WSOP bracelet and over $3.7 million in tournament winnings.

Antonio Esfandiari

Antonio Esfandiari, also known as “The Magician,” is a former professional magician turned poker player. He has won three WSOP bracelets and two WPT titles, including the largest prize in poker history at the time, the $18.3 million Big One for One Drop in 2012.

Erik Seidel

Erik Seidel is a veteran of the poker world, with eight WSOP bracelets and one WPT title to his name. He has also made numerous final tables in high-profile events, cementing his status as one of the game’s greats.

conclusion

In conclusion, poker has been a popular game for many years, and there have been countless talented players who have made their mark on the game. Whether it’s the high stakes world of professional poker tournaments or the online world of virtual tables, there are always players making their mark in the game.

While these players all have different backgrounds, playing styles, and personalities, they share a common love for the game of poker. They have dedicated their time and effort to improving their skills, and their success is a testament to their hard work and perseverance.

Whether you’re a fan of the game or a player yourself, these top poker players are worth learning about and watching. From Doyle Brunson’s legendary career to Daniel Negreanu’s impressive tournament winnings, there is no shortage of talent and excitement in the world of poker.

FAQ