Best Poker Moments Of All Time

Ed. Note: Updated August 11, 2019!

Most great poker players play all the time. They're grinders. Ashton Cartwright compiles the knowledge of more than two dozen pros from across the world into his book. It's full of insight on the career of a pro poker player, what it takes, and how it's different than playing as an amateur. The viewer finds out they've been tricked at the same moment when the detective does. My husband and I recite that scene to each other all the time! And the best part is that it's all done.

The all-time money list is one of the more common ways that poker players and fans determine who is the best. While this certainly isn’t the only way to gauge how good a poker player is, lifetime tournament earnings certainly can tell us a lot about a poker player’s skill. Sure, some poker players in the top 100 of the all-time earnings list have only had one huge score (see also: Gold, Jamie), and many players in the top 50 have earned the bulk of their winnings in super high roller tournaments with limited field sizes and astronomically high buy-ins, but when we look at the top names on the all-time money list, it’s very much a who’s who of poker.

If you fantasize about some day perhaps making it on to the all-time poker money list and are looking to start your journey towards the top, it might be best to first test the waters online and build yourself a bankroll online, so you should look for a good poker bonus code and grab a sign-up bonus as well if one’s available at a reputable site.

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In the meantime, we’ll take a snapshot at the top five players on the all-time money list and a brief look at how they got there. Of course, we’ve got to add the caveat that with so many high buy-in events taking place throughout the calendar year, amounts won and place/spot on the list are constantly in flux.

Bryn Kenney – Lifetime Earnings: $55,505,634

Active in the poker tournament scene since 2007, Bryn Kenney recorded his first million dollar year in 2011. After a couple “off” years (by his standards), Kenney hasn’t looked back, posting annual results since 2014 of over 1, 2, 5, 8.5, and 5 million. In 2019 alone, prior to the WSOP, he amassed an astonishing $9.1 million in earnings.

🎊 Big Congratulations!! @BrynKenney 🇺🇸 wins ANOTHER title at #TritonMontenegro2019, claiming the HKD 1m NLH Main Event trophy 🏆 and the first place prize of 💰 HKD 21.3m (USD $2.77m)

✒ Full Recap: https://t.co/yE2aPTXJdy
▶ The Live Stream continues: https://t.co/YD58raNsrvpic.twitter.com/EJpJmIsAOO

— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) May 10, 2019

Kenney’s crowning moment, however, was notching the largest-ever poker tournament score, $20.5 million for a second place finish (after he agreed to a chop with the event’s eventual winner while holding the chip lead) at the £1,050,000 No-Limit Hold-Em – Triton Million for Charity event in London.

He’s number one in the all-time money listings. He’s Bryn @BrynKenney Kenney, the $55 million dollar man. https://t.co/peOhnBAdhf

— PokerNews (@PokerNews) August 11, 2019

While Kenney’s #1 spot might arguably be “tainted” by the fact that he has almost exclusively played on the super high roller circuit — in events with buy-ins of $25K or more — over the last few years, so have dozens of others, and they don’t have the results he can boast. There’s no reason to believe Kenney will slow down anytime soon, so look for him to hold on to the top spot on this list for a while.

Justin Bonomo– Lifetime Earnings: $48,508,780

In 2018 Justin had the best poker tournament run in history, having won upwards of $25 million! He had incredible string of final table finishes and wins all over the world, from the Bahamas to Malta to Hong Kong and Las Vegas. He won every major high roller poker tournament in 2018, including the Super High Roller Bowls in China and Las Vegas, as well as a second WSOP bracelet, in the $10K Heads Up Championship.

💥 Breaking – Justin Bonomo Wins 2018 Super High Roller Bowl ($5,000,000) https://t.co/1y3A1n44HCpic.twitter.com/WZrSmlGx4A

— The Poker Wire ♦️ (@thePokerWire) May 31, 2018

Already having accomplished the unthinkable, Bonomo went on to do the impossible, winning a third bracelet (second one in 2018) in the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop for a $10 million score.

There is big and then there is @JustinBonomo.
Wins Big One for @OneDrop for $10,000,000 and takes the top spot on poker’s all-time money list. 💧💰1⃣
▶ https://t.co/wtwTU6NmGwpic.twitter.com/abfFDN0rz2

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 18, 2018

Bonomo was already a stellar poker player with over $18 million in career wins prior to 2018, so his performances over the past couple years have vaulted him from the top 20 into second place overall. Quite the achievement indeed!

Daniel Negreanu – Lifetime Earnings: $41,857,384

Prior to Bonomo’s ridiculous 2018 run, and Kenney’s insane $20+ million runner-up Triton Poker event score, Kid Poker had earned more money playing live poker than anyone else. The Canadian poker hero has been grinding the poker tables for years now and he has amassed a fortune in live poker tournament earnings. A first-ballot Poker Hall of Famer, he continues working on his game to ensure that he can stay atop this list, as the competition gets ever tougher. To point, his most recent score was a massive $3 million payday for finishing runner up in the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl.

Negreanu has also capitalized on his popularity in the poker world. A staple for years on all the top poker TV shows, Negreanu also pumps out plenty of content of his own for fans to enjoy on YouTube as well as his Full Contact Poker blog and podcast.

Exclusive new interview with @RealKidPoker. Grab the popcorn! https://t.co/OjKNjYlBLa#poker#LFG#TheWaitIsOverpic.twitter.com/hNl4ZF6Kmk

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 5, 2015

Dan Smith – Lifetime Earnings: $36,742,718

Dan Smith is a killer poker player who has found success for a number of years at European Poker Tour stops and Aria High Roller events in particular. Specifically, having played mostly 5-, 6-, and 7-figure buy-in events over the last couple years and cashing for huge sums has quickly boosted him towards the top of the all-time leaderboard, his recent 3rd place finish at the £1,050,000 No-Limit Hold-Em – Triton Million for Charity event in London helping him pad his earnings with close to $9 million. Smith shows no signs of slowing down and will surely keep climbing as the high roller circuit events keep being held all over the world.

Luckiest card of my career yesterday 🙂 https://t.co/eqpMT7tA4O

— Dan Smith (@DanSmithHolla) August 4, 2019

Erik Seidel – Lifetime Earnings: $35,726,969

Seidel has been playing live poker actively for decades now. A winner of eight WSOP bracelets, he’s also a Poker Hall of Famer. Seidel continues not only to be active, but also to thrive in poker tournaments of all buy-in levels. To point, two-thirds of his career tournament winning came AFTER he was elected to the Poker Hall of Fame! A force to be reckoned with Erik continues to play in all the big High Roller events around the world and remains a threat to climb the all-time WSOP bracelet leaderboard as well.

Erik continues to pad his numbers and add to his career totals with millions in cashes over the last couple years.

The great @DanielColman_& a slow moving dinosaur chase @RealKidPoker

— Erik Seidel (@Erik_Seidel) February 20, 2017

The Rest of the Best

After scrolling through this list of the top five poker players on the all-time money list, you might be shaking your head in amazement that legends like Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari, and Phil Hellmuth (who sits atop the career WSOP bracelet list) didn’t make the cut. Well, to be fair, both Phils and the Magician ARE still in the top 20. How to explain it though?

Simple: with the proliferation of High Roller events all around the world over the last few years, cashing for six- and seven-figure scores has become increasingly common. Guys like Hellmuth, Ivey, and John Juanda earned their stripes and built their career tournament winnings stats playing in events with FAR lower buy-ins, usually a maximum of $10,000; plus, there weren’t nearly as many such high buy-in events running in any given year. These days, yearly wins of $2-3 million are relatively common among those who play the High Roller circuit; a far “easier” achievement when some events cost $25K, $50K, $100K (and more!) just to enter, and they run throughout the year…

Lastly, let’s not forget that “amount won” does NOT take into account amounts bought in for, chops, staking agreements, and the like. We’ll likely never know the true amounts of PROFIT that poker players will have earned over their careers, but nonetheless it’s fun to talk about and enjoy all-time money lists like these.

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First off, most poker pros specialize in either live cash games, online cash games, live tournaments, or online tourneys.

You also have to look beyond just earnings because some players can climb the all-time winnings list with a few big scores.

Then there’s the matter of whether somebody is still actively playing and improving their game.

But while a lot of factors go into deciding the best poker players, some pros stand out above others no matter what games or format they play.

That being said, here’s a look at the 33 best all-around poker players in the world today.

Not even 25 years old, Fedor Holz has rapidly ascended to the top of the poker world thanks to a flurry of big tournament finishes.

The German began a torrid pace in May 2015, when he final tabled two EPT Grand Final high rollers for a total of €667,300.

The same year, he would go on to finish third in the $10k NL Hold’em 6 Handed Championship $268,463, 25th in the WSOP Main Event $262,574, and first in the $100k WPT Alpha8 High Roller $1.59m.

Holz kicked 2016 off by winning the $200k WPTN Triton Super High Roller along with $3,463,500, then finishing runner up in the $300k Super High Roller Bowl $3.5m.

Not finished yet, Holz won the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop and $4,981,775. Just two months later, he won the €50k EPT Barcelona High Roller along with €1,300,300.

It’s difficult to weigh high rollers over a long, steady stream of poker results. Hollywood casino pa slot winners. But given Holz’s impressive results at such a young age, it’s hard to deny his talent and $20.3 million in livewinnings.

Dan Cates is a great example of perseverance in poker.

Working at McDonald’s and playing online poker on the side, he busted his bankroll several times before making a breakthrough. This breakthrough came in the form of a $5 million profit in 2009.

Since then, Cates has remained a consistent winner in high stakes online cash games, proving both his longevity and ability to keep up with the competition.

Playing under the name ‘w00ki3z,’ Cates led everybody with over $2.8 million in online cash game winnings in 2014. He has $11.5 million in career online winnings at the time of this writing.

A regular in the top 5 of the Global Poker Index GPI rankings, Dan Smith is a top 5 player on my list too.

What helps Smith consistently stay among the GPI’s top players is his mix of outstanding regular and high roller tournament results.

Regarding the latter, Smith has finished: first in the 2012 Aussie Millions $100k High Roller $1m, first in the 2012 EPT Barcelona €100k High Roller €962,925, second in the 2013 Aussie Millions$25k Challenge $243,567, third in the 2015 WSOP $10k PLO Championship $269,564, first in the 2016 Aria High Roller $285,200, third in the 2016 WSOP $25k PLO High Roller $487,361, and second inthe 2016 WSOP $111,111 One Drop High Roller $3.1m.

In all, Smith has $15.1 million in live winnings at the time of this writing.

Daniel Negreanu has plenty of pursuits outside of poker, namely being the face of PokerStars. Nevertheless, he still finds time to hit the felt and rack up cashes.

Negreanu is the biggest tournament winner of all time with over $32.6 million in earnings.

One reason why the Canadian tops the live tournament winnings list is because he’s consistently earned cashes since 1997.

Some of Negreanu’s biggest recent scores include: third in the 2015 WPT Alpha8 $100k High Roller $640,103, 11th in the 2015 WSOP Main Event $526,788, first in Shark Cage Season 2 $966,000, andsecond in the 2014 WSOP $1 million Big One for One Drop $8.3m.

While Jens Kyllönen kicked his poker career off with a win in the 2009 EPT Copenhagen Main Event $1.12m, he’s become much more famous for his online exploits.

The Finnish pro has nearly $5.4 million in online cash game winnings at the time of this writing.

The bulk of his profits came in 2011, when he earned over $3 million. But ‘Jeans89” continues to win, earning over $1.2 million in 2015 and ’16 combined.

Former stock broker Erik Seidel is a true poker legend, starting his poker career in the 1980s at New York City’s Mayfair Club.

Seidel’s first major tournament was the 1988 WSOP Main Event, where he finished second place to Johnny Chan and scooped $280,000. The final hand of this tourney appears as a scene in the 1998movie Rounders.

Seidel hasn’t slowed down since then, earning 8 WSOP gold bracelets and over $30 million in live tourney winnings — second only to Negreanu.

Seidel’s career winnings have been accelerated by big years in 2011 $6.5m, 2015 $5.1m, and 2016 $5.1m.

Ben Sulsky learned poker on a spring break trip to Mexico, reading books and playing online hands during his downtime.

The man known as ‘Sauce123’ has since become one of the biggest winners in online poker history with $4.4 million in profits.

One thing that makes Sulsky impressive is that he continues winning against the world’s toughest players.

A poker pro’s pro; Ike Haxton has earned success in both the live and online poker realms. He has $2.4 million in online cash profits and over $12 million in live tournament winnings.

Haxton’s live career started off very well when he finished second in the 2007 PCA Main Event $861,789. He expanded his bankroll by finishing second in the 2009 WSOP 40th Anniversary tournament$1.17m.

Other big finishes for Haxton include taking fifth in the 2013 GuangDong Asia Millions $1.31m, second in the 2014 Aussie Millions $250k High Roller $2.53m, and second in the 2014 Aria Super HighRoller $813,394.

Earning his first tournament cash in 2010, Tom Marchese has quickly become one of the biggest ever tournament winners with $15.5 million.

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What’s amazing about Marchese is his consistency in high rollers, notching 10 six figure cashes in 2016 alone.

The biggest finishes of Marchese’s career include: second in the 2014 WPT Alpha8 $1.57m, first in the 2014 Aria $100k Super High Roller $1.31m, and third in the 2014 Summer High Roller I $1.47m.

If Phil Hellmuth sees this list, he’d quickly argue that he should be No. 1.

Perhaps Hellmuth is underrated because he draws so much flack for his incessant whining, blowups, and self-aggrandizing nature.

But through it all, Hellmuth’s poker talent shines with a record 14 WSOP gold bracelets and $21 million in tournament winnings.

One of the most recognizable faces of the Poker Boom, Patrik Antonius continues to be relevant in the online scene.

The former High Stakes Poker regular has won more money than anybody in online poker history with $15.9 million.

He earned $3.4 million in 2013/14 and continues to test his skills against the top online grinders.

After starting his poker career off with a win in the 2008 EPT Sanremo Main Event €869,000, Jason Mercier continues adding big cashes and wins to his resume.

Some of the Florida based poker pro’s most notable accomplishments include: second in the 2014 Super High Roller $1.62m, first in the 2013 EPT Grand Final $1.46m, and first in the 2011 FiveDiamond World Classic $707,767.

Mercier doesn’t show any signs of slowing down since he won two gold bracelets and cashed 11 times at the 2016 WSOP.

While Brian Rast has always been a good poker pro, he entered a new stratosphere in 2016.

Not only did he take down the WSOP $50k Poker Players Championship $1.3m, but he also won the $500k Super High Roller Bowl and $7,525,000.

These are just a couple highlights from a career that also includes the following finishes: first in the 2011 WSOP $50k Poker Players Championship $1.77m, sixth in the 2012 WSOP $1 million BigOne for One Drop $1.61m, first in the 2013 Five Diamond World Classic $1.08m, and third in the 2014 WPT Alpha8 $755,370.

Dan Colman will always be remembered for two things: 1 his anti-poker rant, and 2 a magical year in 2014.

Both things coincided at the 2014 WSOP $1 million Big One for One Drop, which Colman won along with $15,306,668. Afterward, he said that poker is a “dark game” that he doesn’t owe anything to.

Surely this isn’t the case, though, because Colman has collected over $26 million in live tournaments.

Some of his other big cashes include: first in the 2014 EPT Grand Final €100k High Roller €1.54m, second in the 2014 EPT Barcelona €100k High Roller €843,066, first in the 2014 SHRPO Main Event$1.45m, first in the WPT Alpha8 London £600,000, and third in the 2015 WSOP $111,111 High Roller for One Drop $1.54m.

Doug Polk is a triple threat, known as a great coach, live tournament player, and online cash grinder.

He has almost $700,000 in online cash profits along with $5.07 million in live tournament winnings. Polk’s largest tourney cashes include: fourth in the 2014 Aussie Millions $100k High Roller$770,237, first in the 2014 Super High Roller $1.65m, third in the 2015 Aussie Millions $250k High Roller $807,709, and second in the 2015 WSOP $10k Six Handed NL Hold’em Championship $406,261.

Polk relies on his successful resume when coaching other players and releasing training videos. He’s also an avid YouTuber and Twitch streamer.

Known as “The Grinder” because he never gives up in a tournament, Michael Mizrachi’s never quit attitude has earned him over $15.3 million in live tourneys.

His first big score came in the 2005 WPT L.A. Poker Classic Main Event, where he finished first and collected $1,859,909. Mizrachi quickly added another WPT title in the 2006 Borgata Winter Open$1.17m.

Other big cashes for Mizrachi include: first in the 2010 WSOP $50k Players Championship $1.56m, fifth in the 2010 WSOP Main Event $2.33m, and fifth in the 2012 WSOP $50k Players Championship$1.45m.

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Scott Seiver is another tournament player who consistently finds his way to the GPI’s top ranks. He kicked off his successful career by winning a 2008 WSOP $5k NL hold’em event along with$755,891.

Other impressive cashes by Seiver include: first in the 2011 Five Star World Poker Classic $1.62m, first in the 2012 PartyPoker Premier League V $500,000, first in the 2013 PCA $100k Super HighRoller $2m, second in the 2013 WPT Alpha8 London £509,600, and second in the 2014 EPT Grand Final €25k High Roller €509,600.

At the time of this writing, Seiver ranks sixth all time with over $21.7 million in live cashes.

Having accumulated over $11.83 million in live winnings, Vanessa Selbst is regarded as the best female poker player of all time.

She’s one of the top poker players period and has many notable cashes to back this up.

Some of Selbst’s career highlights include: winning a 2008 WSOP $1.5k PLO event $227,933, taking first in a 2010 NAPT Mohegan Sun tourney $750,000, first in the 2010 Partouche Poker Tour MainEvent €1.3m, first in the 2011 NAPT Mohegan Sun $450,000, first in a 2012 WSOP Six Handed 10 Game tourney $244,259, first in a 2013 PCA High Roller $1.41m, and first in a 2015 Super High RollerCelebrity Shootout $1m.

In addition to her poker acumen, Selbst is also a civil rights lawyer and graduate of the Yale School of Law.

Although he’s been a successful poker player for a while, David Peters has really come on recently, earning $2.93 million in 2014 and $6.85 million in 2015.

Some of the Toronto’s big recent scores include: first in the 2015 EPT Malta €10k High Roller €597,000, fifth in the 2015 $500k Super High Roller Bowl $1.5m, second in the 2016 WPTN Philippines$200k High Roller $2.3m, and first in the 2016 Asia Championships of Poker High Roller $629,868.

Once regarded as the best all-around poker player in the world, Phil Ivey’s image has taken a hit in recent years.

The reason why Ivey’s reputation dropped is because he’s lost $8.7 million in online poker since Black Friday Apr 15, 2011. But Ivey was such a big winner before this that he still has $10.4million in overall online profits.

Add in the fact that he’s currently sixth all time in live tournament winnings with $23.86 million, and it’s not hard to still see him among the top 20 players.

Nevertheless, with Ivey concentrating on business interests these days, his game has slipped from its once dominant form.

Best Of All Time

While John Juanda started playing live tournaments in the mid-1990s, he didn’t experience any big successes until the early 2000s.

One of his most notable wins includes taking down the 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event and earning £868,800.

Other big scores for Juanda include: second in the 2010 UKIPT London Main Event £545,000, third in the 2012 WPT World Championship $100k High Roller $526,320, fifth in the 2012 Macau High StakesChallenge $1.65m, second in the 2012 WSOP Europe €50k High Roller €600,000, and first in the 2015 EPT Barcelona Main Event €1m.

Aside from earning over $18.8 million in live tournaments, Juanda is also a very good cash player and has played everywhere from Vegas to Macau.

Playing under the screen names ‘Kanu7’ and ‘IReadYrSoul,’ England’s Alexander Millar is one of the biggest online poker winners ever with $4.5 million in profits.

Millar had an incredible run from 2011 to 2013, where he made over $4 million. His play has slowed since then, but Millar remains one of the most feared players in the online nosebleeds.

Another Brit on this list, Sam Trickett had a budding soccer football career before hurting his knee. With little to do because of his ailing knee, Trickett picked up poker and the rest ishistory.

In 2010, Trickett began playing rich businessmen in lucrative Macau based cash games. In an interview, he revealed that he won over £1 million in these games.

But this was nothing compared to what Trickett would do on the live tournament scene in 2011. His biggest 2011 scores include: first in the Aussie Millions $100k High Roller $1.51m, second in theAussie Millions $250k High Roller $1.38m, and first in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event €1m.

Trickett would follow this up by taking second in the 2012 WSOP $1 million Big One for One Drop and earning $10,112,001. In all, he has almost $20.6 million in live tournament earnings.

Hailing from Toronto, Justin Bonomo quickly experienced online success in the mid-2000s. At one point, he was the youngest poker player to be featured at a final table, playing in the 2015 EPTDeauville finals at age 19.

Bonomo has stayed on top of his game ever since, tallying a number of big cashes on his way to over $12.8 million in live tournament winnings.

Bonomo’s biggest scores include: fifth in the 2009 WSOP $40k 40th Anniversary event $413,165, first in the 2012 EPT Grand Final €100k Super High Roller €1.64m, second in the 2013 SHRPO Main Event$1.16m, fourth in the 2015 Aussie Millions $100k High Roller $632,111, second in the 2016 Super High Roller 8 $558,782, and second in the 2016 WSOP $50k Poker Players Championship $801,048.

Chris Moorman is the best online poker tournament player in the world, amassing a record $13,751,801 at the time of this writing.

Moorman is also has 25 triple crowns, which involves winning three online multi table tournaments with at least a $10k prize pool in a seven day span.

While the Brit dedicates the bulk of his time towards online tourneys, Moorman has also experienced success in the live realm too. He finished second in the 2011 WSOP Europe Main Event €800,000,first in the 2014 L.A. Poker Classic $1m, and third in the 2016 ESPT Barcelona Main Event €241,300.

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Steve O’Dwyer’s poker career started off modestly in the mid-2000s, but it’s really picked up over the last several years.

His first big time cash came when he took second in the 2011 UKIPT London Main Event £465,000. He also won the prestigious 2013 EPT Grand Final Main Event along with €1,224,000.

The top moment of O’Dwyer’s poker career came when he won the 2014 Asia Championship of Poker $1.81m in November 2014, followed by victory in the PCA $100k Super High Roller $1.87m in January2015.

Since 2013, O’Dwyer has earned between $2.4 million and $4.8 million every year on the tournament circuit. In all, he has $15.93 million in career winnings.

Phil Galfond is one of the original online poker greats, having battled against the likes of Ivey, Cates, Antonious, and Tom Dwan in high stakes action. Galfond has over $8 million in online cashgame profits throughout his career.

What makes Galfond special beyond his results is that he’s also one of the prominent instructors for training videos. Surface pro 4 expansion slots.

Galfond’s training videos at Blue Fire Poker offered some of the most innovative strategy that the poker world had ever seen. He eventually left Blue Fire and started his own trainingsite called Run It Once.

The only reason that Galfond isn’t higher on this list is because he doesn’t play as much anymore.

Along with Holz, Ole Schemion is one of several Germans who’ve experienced massive poker success thanks to a heavy mathematical approach.

Schemion’s knowledge of poker math and other strategy has helped him build over $11.4 million in live tournament winnings.

Schemion has won the 2012 Partouche Poker Tour Main Event €1.72m, 2014 Aria $100k Super High Roller $1.1m, and 2016 EPT Grand Final €100k High Roller €1.6m, while he’s taken second in the 2016EPT Grand Final €50k High Roller €857,241, and 2015 Aussie Millions $100k High Roller $1.1m.

Michael McDonald experienced poker success at a very young age, winning the 2008 EPT Dortmund Main Event €933,600 at age 18. The Canadian has proven that this wasn’t just a fluke either, earningover $13 million in his career.

The greatest stretch of McDonald’s career came when he took second in the 2014 PCA Main Event $1m, finished second in the 2014 Aussie Millions $100k Challenge $1.34m, and finished third in theAussie Millions $250k High Roller $1.7m — all within a two month span.

While Antonio Esfandiari is known for many things in the poker world, his biggest accomplishment includes winning the 2014 WSOP $1 million Big One for One Drop along with $18,346,673.

But as his $27.35 million in career winnings suggest, Esfandiari is more than just somebody who won big in a single event.

Other highlights for Esfandiari include: finishing first in the 2004 L.A. Poker Classic $1.4m, first in the 2010 Five Diamond World Poker Classic $870,124, fourth in the 2014 WSOP $111,111 HighRoller for One Drop $1.43m, and fourth in the 2014 PCA $100k High Roller $575,920.

Known as “The Magician,” Esfandiari has also made several mainstream TV appearances, including I Bet You, Entourage, Freelancers, and Underground Poker.

Jonathan Duhamel went from a little known grinder to a famous pro after winning the 2010 WSOP Main Event and $8,944,310. And unlike many players who got a jumpstart from the WSOP Main Event,Duhamel has shown longevity in poker.

Since winning the 2010 Main Event, Duhamel has managed the following notable cashes: second in the 2012 PCA $25k High Roller $634,550, first in the 2015 WSOP $111,111 High Roller for One Drop$4m, and first in the 2015 WSOP Europe €25k High Roller €554,395.

When Viktor Blom burst onto the internet high stakes scene in 2009, he baffled the world’s greatest players en route to over $5.5 million in profits.

Times have been tougher for Blom and he’s gone through a number of wild bankroll swings since then. Nevertheless, Blom has never stopped grinding against top online pros over his career.

Despite being a lifetime loser, I believe that all of the Swede’s upswings show he belongs among the world’s best players.

Starting her adult life as a model and lead singer in a rock / goth band, Liv Boeree switched gears when she was selected for the TV show UltimatePoker.com Showdown. She didn’t win theshow, but it kick started her love of poker.

In 2010, she won the EPT Sanremo Main Event and €1,250,000. Boeree also took third in the 2015 EPT Barcelona €25k High Roller €391,000.

Aside from her poker exploits, Boeree has also appeared on mainstream TV shows like Codex, Golden Balls, BBC Breakfast, Mind Control Freaks, and I Bet MyLife.

This list represents who I see as the world’s top poker players based on their results, current skills, and longevity.

But the poker world never stays still, and new players are always rising up to join the best.

The list that you see here will change greatly over the next 5 to 10 years, and it’ll be interesting to see the new faces.

Of course, we can also expect a number of the players featured here to continue their success while adding more winnings and accomplishments.

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