Ten Best Poker Players in the World

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Poker has been one of the most famous money-making games since a long time. Everyone who plays poker is not a successful player. The game requires strategies, knowledge, and luck. And someone who has all of it is ultimately considered to be a good player. There is a lot of money to be made by playing poker. Many of the poker’s best players have climbed the ladder and made millions on live and online felt in the world of poker tournaments. We have made up a list of best poker players in the world for you. Let’s have a look!

1. Bryn Kenney – One of the best poker players in the world

Bryn Kenney’s incredible 2019 run has helped him make it to the top of this list, with his biggest career cash coming in August at the Triton Million. Kenney finished 3rd in that event for $20,563,324.

Bryn’s first live tournament cash was in 2007. Since then he has steadily added to his winnings. He won a WSOP bracelet in 2014 at the $1,500 10-Game Mix 6-Handed event, and, in total, he has made seven final WSOP tables and cashed 32 times, including a 28^th place in the 2010 Main Event. His largest single cash of nearly $2 million came back in April 2017, at the PokerStars Championship €100,000 NLHE Super High Roller 8-Max in Barcelona. Since then, Kenney has had many top-five finishes around the globe.

2. Justin Bonomo

Justin Bonomo took over the spot at the top with his win in the 2018 WSOP $1 million Big One for One Drop. The $10 million prizes swiftly propelled him to #1 on the All-Time Money List. Now at #2, the 32-year-old Bonomo had a crazy run in 2018, amassing wins seemingly wherever he played.

This three-time WSOP bracelet winner managed an impressive ten wins in various high-roller events across the world that year, including the May Aria Super High Roller Bowl $300,000 NLHE event where he won $5 million and the Macau Super High Roller Bowl $HK 3 million NLHE event where he pocketed another $4.8 million (HK $37.8 million). Bonomo certainly shows no signs of slowing down and is considered one of the best poker players around the world according to the online poker sites in the US. 

3. Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu emerged on the poker scene in 2003 when he won the US Championships. He has remained front and center ever since, considering to be the best poker player around the world. He is the biggest winner in tournaments with over $41 million. Daniel has six WSOP bracelets, made 38 final tables, and has cashed 108 times, including as 11th place finish at both the 2001 and 2015 WSOP Main Events. Negreanu was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2014. Negreanu’s uncanny ability to read his opponents with incredible accuracy has undoubtedly contributed to his impressive success and a well-deserved place among the best poker players of all time.

4. Johnny Chan

Johnny Chan was immortalized in the 1998 film “Rounders” and has 10 WSOP bracelets. His biggest achievements were winning back-to-back WSOP Main Event bracelets in 1989 but what is not widely known is that he lost heads up to Phil Hellmuth in the 1989 Main Event, coming very close to a surely never to be repeated three wins in a row.

Chan is also famously known for sniffing an orange during live play, which he says is more pleasant to smell than the smoky atmosphere of poker rooms and the occasional poor hygiene of some of his fellow players. Chan is known for his side bets as well as his poker play, he would suit a site like Bet365, where there is a poker room and sportsbook on offer.

5. Antonio Esfandiari

Esfandiari has been a household name for over a decade, having made his mark on the poker scene way back in 2004 with his $1.3m win at he LA Poker Classic. Having made six-figure sums every year since 2004, he’s in a position many poker players can only dream of. On top of this, Esfandiari’s biggest achievement came in 2012 with an $18m win at the Big One for One Drop. It is the single largest payout in a poker tournament.

6. Daniel Colman

Best known for his Big One for One Drop win during the 2014 WSOP, Daniel Colman is a man with lots of winnings. Nabbing the second-largest payout in poker tournament history pushed Colman into the hall of fame for this reason alone. On top of all this, he’s also the proud owner of various player awards including the 2014 BLUFF Player of the Year award. And then he was awarded the 2014 Card Player Magazine Player of the Year award.

7. David Peters

A self-confessed convert to online poker after seeing Chris Moneymaker win big in 2003, David Peters has gone on to develop his own brilliant career in poker and considered a famous and best poker player in the world. Peters has seen 9 separate amounts of cash over $1m, pushing him into the competition with the big poker names.

Despite only winning one bracelet, David has bagged himself almost 50 cash finishes in the WSOP alone along with making it to 8 final tables.

8. Stephen Chidwick

Stephen Chidwick is considered, even among his peers on the high roller tournament scene, to be quite possibly the best tournament poker player in the world. The Englishman has spent considerable time at the top of the Global Poker Index player rankings. He broke through for his first World Series of Poker bracelet this summer at the 2019 WSOP. Chidwick owns more than $5 million in online earnings, in addition to his live totals.

9. Jason Koon

The Triton Poker ambassador Jason Koon has had himself quite a year in 2019. Adding more than $6 million in tournament winnings to his already impressive resume. A fixture on the Triton high roller tournament scene, Koon’s two biggest career amounts of cash came in a pair of short deck events on the Triton circuit. Koon won both events, cashing for more than $6.4 million in just those two tournaments alone.

10. Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey, also known as the Tiger Woods of poker, won his first WSOP bracelet in 2000, he went on to win nine more. He’s also bagged $1m+ cash wins on seven different occasions which makes him count as one of the best poker players in the world. Ivey spent several months away from the poker limelight after Black Friday. But he returned in style by placing first in the Aussie Millions $250,000 Challenge in January 2012. He also went on to become the first two-time winner of the event in 2014. The $3.5m prize was the biggest win of his career.

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