When you think about the Poker game, can you name any popular players? The question can contain multiple answers because the sphere can introduce you to many talented and long-term professional poker players. However, there are the top 10 ones who are the best among the best. So, in the article, you can learn more about every one of them. Besides, if you plan to try poker, you can do it online at any casino site in the live casino games section.
Doyle Brunson
Brunson is a legend in the world of online poker sports. He was born in 1933 in Longview, Texas and had a rich professional career until 2023. In total, his poker career as a pro player lasted for 60 years. Brunson devoted the biggest part of his life to the game and gained some impressive achievements along the way:
- wrote several books about this gambling game.
- became a 2-time winner of the “World Series of Poker Main Event” champion.
- was included in the Poker Hall of Fame.
- was the first player to win 1,000,000 US dollars in the gambling tournaments.
- won the WSOP tournaments for 4 years in a row.
Doyle was born in Texas. At school he was successful in athletics and even wanted to become a professional basketball player for the NBA. However, due to the knee injury he had no other options but to leave his dream behind. In 1954 Brunson graduated with a master’s degree in administrative education suitable to work at school.
However, Brunson began playing poker long before his injury. He tried playing illegal games on Exchange Street with his close friend. They even started traveling together to other states to meet professional players. They managed to develop their skills but decided to part their ways. Brunson finally settled in Las Vegas as its constant player and later in 1978 he published his Super system book where he talked about his game method.
Justin Bonomo
Justin Bonomo was born in 1985. He is an American professional high-stakes player. He is famous for becoming the youngest player to appear in the French Open tournament. Many fans and players also know him as ZeeJustin. However, it is not his only achievement:
- Bonomo earned over $63,000,000 in 2024.
- He won 3 bracelets and one circuit ring in the World Series of Poker tournaments.
- In 2018, Bonomo won number 16 and number 78 Events in a series of competitions and overtook Daniel Negreanu as the number 1 live money list.
- Bonomo was the winner in the “$1,000,000 No Limit Hold ’em The Big One for One Drop” competition.
- He also participated in “Triton High Roller Series”, “PokerStars Caribbean Adventure”, and “Super High Roller Bowls” that took place in China and Las Vegas and “Super High Roller Bowl” tournaments.
Bonomo is a regular high-roller in the poker circuit. However, he was also caught when using multiple accounts to play this game online and then was banned from a couple of websites. Other than that he was an active sponsor of Team Bodog until 2010. Currently, Bonomo is one of the strongest poker players.
Daniel Negreanu
Negreanu is a professional poker player born and raised in Canada. He is the 7th biggest online poker winner of all time. Negreanu’s professional career brought him other rewards and titles:
- Negreanu won seven World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and a World Poker Tour title.
- In 2014, Daniel was named the best player of the decade by the Global Poker Index ranking service.
- Negreanu was the first player to win at all three WSOP locations and received a bracelet from each.
- In 2014, he entered the Poker Hall of Fame.
Daniel was dreaming of becoming a professional snooker player during his school years. As he himself recalls, he told his mother that he would be rich one day because he had a feeling about it. However, Negreanu dropped out of high school and began working as a rounder at local casinos.
He was looking for illegal games in the city as an underaged teen, and later he started playing professionally during his time in Canada. He moved to Las Vegas at the age of 22 aiming to enhance his skills and increase the winnings by playing the game with other top-tier players. Negreanu made a name for himself and currently stays a well-known and talented player in the gaming industry.
Erik Seidel
He was born in New York and as many poker professionals moved to Las Vegas when he was an adult. During his younger years Seidel played backgammon games professionally. And before he became a poker player he also worked at the American stock exchange market. Once he decided to play the gambling games more often he joined the famous New York Mayfair Club and became one of its most talented players.
- The 1988 World Series of Poker Main Event became his first serious tournament.
- Seidel again made the final table at the WSOP competition in 1999, and took fourth place.
- He earned his first WSOP bracelet only in 1992. That year he was lucky to win several bracelets in games such as “Hold ’em”, “Omaha”, and “Deuce to Seven Draw”.
- He won his 10th bracelet in 2023 in the “$50,000 Super High Roller” event.
Seidel has many victories in different tournaments behind his back since 1992, so the list of his achievements can be continued with the names of all his achievements up to the present day. So, by the end of 2023, he earned more than 45,500,000 US dollars.
Phil Ivey
Ivey is a significant and well-known gambler in the sphere. He owns 11 bracelets earned in the World Series of Poker tournaments and has a World Poker Tour title. He is considered as the best all-around player in the world. So, below you can see his main achievements:
- Ivey acquired his first bracelet as a pro in the “Pot Limit Omaha” event in 2000.
- Phil won his next bracelet in 2002 in the World Series of Poker tournament.
- In 2005, Ivey won the “Pot Limit Omaha” event again for $635,603.
- At the age of 38, he became the youngest player to acquire 10 bracelets.
Phil Ivey started to develop his poker skills during his work at the telemarketing firm in New Jersey by playing against his co-workers. However, even prior to that, he played using a fake ID card as a teenager in Atlantic City. He even got his nickname as No Home Jerome. You might also hear about him as the Tiger Woods of Poker.
Doug Polk
Doug Polk is also known as the WCGRider in the gambling industry, is a professional American poker player, who specializes in the heads-up No Limit Hold’em game. He is very successful in what he does and so far Doug earned the following awards:
- Became one of the best online poker players in 2013 by winning a total of $840,000 after defeating Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky.
- In 2015, he defeated the poker bot Claudico for 213,000 chips.
- Polk won the WSOP “One Drop High Roller” tournament in 2017 by outlasting 130 players.
- From 2018 to 2020, Polk was retired from poker competitions.
- Polk challenged Negreanu in 2020 and won 1,200,000 US dollars.
Polk has been interested in strategic games since the age of 5 after his father taught him how to play chess. During his teenage years, Polk was a cyber sportsman who participated in Warcraft 3 tournaments. He started playing gambling games when he was at university and then dropped out to pursue a career as a professional poker player.
Antonio Esfandiari
His real name is Amir Esfandiary, and he also has a nickname, “The Magician.” It is not a coincidence because, earlier in life, Antonio was a professional magician who knew many tricks. He decided to become a gambling game player on a regular basis and achieved some success during his career:
- Esfandiary won 2 World Poker Tour tournaments and is the owner of three World Series of Poker bracelets.
- In 2012, Antonio won $1,000,000 in the Big One for One Drop.
- He is the second player in poker history who received the largest $18,346,673 payout.
- In 2014, Esfandiary was ranked the first all-time tournament player.
- In 2012, Antonio Esfandiary became the author of the iOS game The Magician’s Secrets for Winning Tournaments on Insta Poker.
Esfandiary moved to California at the age of 9 and changed his name to Antonio at the age of 19. He worked as a professional magician while he was also invited to a game of Texas Poker. And that was the time he became interested in the game and decided to devote his full time to it later.
Stu Ungar
He was a professional American poker player who also played blackjack and gin rummy. He is still considered one of the greatest poker players of all time. Ungar is another three-time winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event. However, during his career, he has other remarkable achievements in poker:
- He managed to win the famous Amarillo Slim’s Super Bowl of Poker three times.
- Ungar has 4 consecutive wins in the WSOP Main Event.
- He had his first WSOP professional event in the 1980s.
- In 1989, he won the main event by defeating Brunson.
Ungar was born in New York. His father was a bookmaker who ran a social club. He tried to ban his son from any gambling activity. But Stu still started playing gin rummy underground and made a name. Later, he even dropped out of school. Eventually, he began his poker career in 1977 when he moved to Las Vegas.
Fedor Holz
He is one of the youngest talents that are currently playing poker tournaments. In 2016, he won his first bracelet in the High Roller For One Drop. Although his career is not very long, he still managed to win multiple poker games:
- In 2012, he participated in his first professional €500 No Limit Hold ’em GPT II Deepstack Series Main Event and took second place.
- Then, he won the World Championship of Online Poker for $1.3 million in 2014.
- Next, in 2015, Holz was 25th in the World Series of Poker Main Event.
- In 2016, Holz won the Triton Super High Roller for $3,463,500.
- In 2023, he kept being the first on the German all-time money list.
There is not much information about his personal life though. However, he has a huge fanbase who keeps watching his tournaments and providing their support. Experts are close in the opinion that this young person will play more excellent poker games in near future.
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth is a legend in poker and the owner of seventeen World Series of Poker bracelets. His achievements in the gambling field are quite impressive:
- He won the main event in the 1989 World Series of Poker competition.
- Hellmuth also was the winner of the “2012 World Series of Poker Europe”.
- In 2007, he was included in the Poker Hall of Fame. He is considered one of the best tournament players of all time.
Hellmuth was born in Wisconsin and was not very popular at school. He started his education in a university but dropped out later to become a full-time professional poker player. Currently, he is ranked 21st on the all-time money list. The total amount of his winnings in 2023 was $29,000,000.
Conclusion
The top best poker player rating includes only the most titled and skilled persons of all time. Each of them has their secret tactics, tricks, and skills acquired along with their career. So, after reading the article, you can get a general understanding of the personalities and lives of these eminent players and maybe follow their steps in a way.