When we look at the history of poker, we see that some of the professions and well-known people. This can be because of the money they have won, their outstanding character, or their contribution to the game’s popularity. However, the best ones are the ones who are lucky enough to have all three of these traits and make their name forever on the golden pages of poker history. Instead of making a definite list of the best poker players who have ever walked the field, this article seeks to shed light on the best poker players and their professional and personal lives. So dive into the sea of the best poker players and get to know them better.
The best poker players based on income
We start this list with three people who have made a lot of money from playing poker. In total, these three lucrative poker players have more than $ 140 million in their bank accounts! They are one of the top poker players in the world.
Bryn Kenney
Income: $ 56,403,500
Country of origin: United States
Years of activity: 2007-Now
Date of birth: November 1, 1986
Poker Hall of Fame: No
Biggest win: $ 20,563,324 in the 2019 Triton Poker Super High Roller series
Before becoming one of the best poker players, Brian Kenny was known for playing The Gathering. His excellent memory skills led him to great success in this game and made him the highest-paid poker player in the world.
His first six-figure win came in 2010, during the main WSOP 2010 event, where he finished 28th with $ 255,242. Kenny is still active in poker and is still known as one of the game’s most powerful opponents.
Top Bryn Kenney fact:
The interesting thing about Brian Kenny’s income is that about 40% of the money he earns as a professional comes from a win. In 2019, Kenny made a staggering $ 20,563,324 by playing in the Super High Roller Triton Poker series in London.
Justin Bonomo
Income: $ 53,263,200
Country of origin: United States
Years of activity: 2001-Now
Date of birth: September 30, 1985
Poker Hall of Fame: No
Biggest win: $ 10 million at WSOP 2018
Justin Bonomo is an outspoken polyamory practitioner (if you are unfamiliar with the term, it means having multiple romantic relationships at the same time) and a staunch supporter of bizarre medical practices such as cryonics, another dominant force in modern poker.
Bonomo started his career with Magic: The Gathering. Since then, he has won three WSOP bracelets, plus another 50 cash games in the tournament. He has won 188 games and won 26 championships. He has no intention of giving up or retreating at all.
Top Bonomo’s fact:
In 2006, Bonomo, 20, was suspended by PokerStars and PartyPoker for multiple accounts. The two poker rooms seized tens of thousands of dollars from young Bonomo.
Daniel Negreanu
Income: $ 43,298,506
Country of origin: Canada
Years of activity: 1998-Now
Date of birth: July 26, 1974
Poker Hall of Fame: Yes, registered in 2014
Biggest win: $ 8,288,001 at WSOP 2014
He left high school and at the age of 22. He packed up and moved to Las Vegas. “Kid Poker,” as Daniel is known in the world of poker, is perhaps the most famous player of the modern era.
Negreanu is proud to have six World Series of Poker bracelets and many other titles, including two World Poker Tour titles. He is known for his unique ability to read opponents’ cards accurately. He become one of the most popular fans because of his skills on the table and his social personality, and was even hired by PokerStars as an ambassador from 2007 to 2019. This brand will serve.
Top Daniel Negreanu fact :
He was named Player of the Year in 2004 and then in 2013 and was the only player to receive this prestigious award more than once!
The most famous female poker players
Here we introduce you to some female poker players. They are skilled in their work and each is a professional. Here are three women who have made the most impact in the modern world of poker.
Annette Obrestad
Income: $ 3,942,233
Country of origin: Norway
Years of activity: 2003-2019
Date of birth: 18 September 1988
Poker Hall of Fame: No
Biggest Win: $ 2,013,733 in the 2007 European Poker World Series
She started playing poker at the age of 15. She first played online poker. Annette was successful from the start: she won the World Championship bracelet in 2007. Not only did she compete with some of the best poker players of the time, but she also achieved this victory as her fifth live poker cash.
However, Oberstadt’s career did not last long. Although she never formally retired from poker, she appeared to be less likely to play. Finally, in 2019, she started her new career as a hairdresser and offered makeup tips on her YouTube channel.
Top Annette Oberstadt Fact:
Apart from being one of the best female poker players of all time, Annette Obrestad has a special achievement in her name. Her name is listed in the history of poker as the youngest player to ever win a major tournament. She acquired the bracelet just one day before she was 19 years old.
Vanessa Selbst
Income: $ 11,898,565
Country of origin: United States
Years of activity: 2003-2018
Date of birth: July 9, 1984
Poker Hall of Fame: No
Biggest win: $ 1,823,430 on the 2010 Partouche Poker Tour
Vanessa is one of the richest women in the world of poker with three WSOP bracelets in her collection. Vanessa has participated in 21 live poker tournaments during her 15 years of career and amassed a fortune of nearly $ 12 million. Thanks to this figure, Celeste won the title of the best poker player. She is the only woman to have won first place on the world poker list! Vanessa decided in 2018 to retire from poker and pursue a completely different career instead. Vanessa , who holds a degree in political science from Yale University, currently works as a hedge fund manager and occasionally appears in competitions.
Top Vanessa Selbet Fact:
Vannesa Selbst secured her place among the poker legends with the only person to win a consecutive North American tour in 2010 and 2011.
Kristen Bicknell
Income: $ 5,253,351
Country of origin: Canada
Years of activity: 2006-Now
Date of birth: December 29, 1986
Poker Hall of Fame: No
Biggest Win: $ 408,000 in 2019 No-Limit Hold’em – Poker Masters, Las Vegas
Kristen Bicknell is another player who started her poker career online at university before entering the big live arena. Bicknell’s most notable achievements are three WSOP bracelets in her collection: the first from the 2013 Women’s Event, the second from the $ 1,500 Bounty No-Limit Hold’em event in 2016, and the third from 2020 at the $ 2,500 No-Limit Hold’em 6
She also won the GPI Female Poker Player of the Year award three times in a row, and in 2017 she was ranked number one among the female players of the Poker Tournament! This is a great achievement.
Top Kristen Bicknell Fact:
In the early days of poker, Bicknell called herself The Ultimate Grinder because of the number of poker hands she played. And between 2011 and 2013, she consolidated her position in women’s gambling and gave her name a whole new meaning by playing about 7.5 million poker hands.
Legendary Poker Players
Here are the people who wrote the history of poker! Legends that were always unique.
They may not have made the most money or titles in their time, but they have certainly earned their place among the best poker players to ever sit at the table.
Doyle Brunson
Income : $ 1,198,260
Country of origin: United States
Years of activity: 1970-2018
Date of birth: August 10, 1933
Poker Hall of Fame: Yes, registered in 1988
Biggest Win: $ 1,198,260 in Legends of Poker 2004
Long before poker entered the mainstream in the early 2000s, Doyle Branson was a legend to himself. In fact, this Texas poker player is one of the people responsible for promoting poker to such a reputation. As a young man, Brunson hoped to become a basketball player. However, a severe knee injury led to the termination of his fledgling career in sports. After this, he was forced to turn to poker. Before that, he had tried several different jobs.
The injury did not dampen Branson’s competitive spirit, and he soon began playing professional poker. Branson did not know that he would have a unique resume in the world of poker and would win 10 poker world tournaments and two wins in the main WSOP event! “Texas Dolly” retired from poker in 2018 and made it to the final WSOP final table in his last appearance! It can be said that he said goodbye at the peak.
Top Doyle Branson Fact:
Branson is the author of what is often called the “Bible of Poker.” His book Super / System, where he presented his methods, changed the game forever as it opened the door to the world of poker for a wider audience.
Johnny Moss
Job Income: $ 1,254,859
Country of origin: United States
Years of activity: 1970-1995
Date of birth: May 14, 1907
Poker Hall of Fame: Yes, it was registered in 1979
Biggest win: $ 160,000 in the 1974 World Series of Poker
Johnny Moss was the first to receive the WSOP Award. Moss won again in 1971 with the introduction of a frozen format and returned in 1974 to win another title. During his amazing career, Moss won nine WSOP bracelets in addition to three major event titles!
Moss played in the WSOP, the tournament he practically invented, until 1995, when he was named one of the greatest poker legends.
Top Johnny Moss Fact :
Johnny Moss was born in 1907, when poker flourished in Las Vegas in the 1970s, he was the oldest man on the table. Moss earned the title of Old Poker Man because of his age and special position among his peers. He can also be called the father of poker because of his first WSOP position.
Wild Bill Hicock
Income: N / A
Country of origin: United States
Years of activity: ???? – 1876
Date of birth: May 27, 1837
Poker Hall of Fame: Yes, it was registered in 1979
Largest range: N / A
James Butler Hickok, nicknamed “Wild Bill”. Hickok was a respected popular hero, a soldier, a legislator, and even an actor. He was one of the first professional poker players. Wilde Bale seemed to have gambling in his blood and chose poker as his weapon of choice. Towards the end of his life, he turned entirely to poker to make a living. A man with such a reputation will certainly have many enemies, which is why Wild Bale always had a strange request: to sit with his back to the wall when playing poker. Unfortunately, the first time he was not granted this order, he was killed in the back by a man who claimed to have killed his brother Wild Bell.
Wild Bill Hicock, believed to be one of the greatest poker players of all time, was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979, 103 years after his death.
Top Bill Hicock Fact :
Wild Bale had a pair of aces and eight and an unknown hole card in his last hand. Although there is no evidence to support this, it could have been dead-handed.
Phil Ivy
Income: $ 31,137,928
Country of origin: United States
Years of activity: 1998-Now
Date of birth: February 1, 1977
Poker Hall of Fame: Yes, introduced in 2017
Biggest win: $ 3,582,753 at the 2014 Australian Millions Poker Championship
Ivy, who grew up in Atlantic City, regularly spent up to 15 hours a day playing with a fake identity. He was inspired by legendary poker players and took notes in a notebook, writing down various players, teams, and situations that helped him adjust his game.
As soon as Ivy turned 21, he fell in love with tournament competitions and achieved success in a row: At the age of 23, he won his first WSOP bracelet. He won nine more times during his career, earning more than $ 30 million and establishing himself as one of the best poker players. In 2014, Ivy was sued for fraud at Baccarat desks. After years of litigation, Ivy finally settled the dispute in 2020 and paid millions of dollars to Casino Borgata.
Top Ivy Elephant Fact:
We already told you that Phil Ivy has 10 WSOP bracelets, but did you know that he is also the youngest person to have this number of bracelets in his collection at the age of 38.
Dan Bilzerian
Income: $ 36,626
Country of origin: United States
Years of activity: 2009-now
Date of birth: December 7, 1980
Poker Hall of Fame: No
Biggest win: $ 36,626 at WSOP 2009
Well, Dan Bilzerian is certainly not one of the best poker players, but he is the most controversial figure on our list. If you have Instagram, you have probably heard the name of this actor, businessman, a poker professional, and an avid fan of using hot girls as accessories in photos. Over the past decade, Dan Bilzerian has become a caricature of manhood in the 21st century, spending large sums of money on cars, motorcycles, and guns, while claiming his wealth comes from poker. However, none of his claims can be substantiated by any major poker website: According to the Global Poker Index, his total poker fortune is $ 36,626. The rest of the money is probably from his father’s wallet, which he had set up before going to prison.
Top Dan Bilzerian Fact
His claim to fame on the big screen comes from a $ 1 million investment in Lone Survivor. According to the agreement, he was supposed to have at least 8 minutes of screen time, but he had less than one minute! Bilzerian sued the company but later withdrew his lawsuit after making $ 1.5 million due to the film’s commercial success.
Stu Ungar
Income: $ 3,677,961
Country of origin: United States
Years of activity: 1980-1997
Date of birth: September 8, 1953
Poker Hall of Fame: Yes, registered in 2001
Biggest win: $ 1,000,000 at the 1997 WSOP
The story of Sto Ungar is one of the saddest stories. Ungar struggled with mental health problems throughout his life. Before playing poker, Ungar spent most of his teenage years playing Jane Rami. The man was so good at this game that he had to leave it: no one wanted to play against him because of his fame! In 1980, he became the youngest person to ever win a major WSOP event. In total, he wore five WSOP bracelets under his belt.
His body was found in a hotel room in 1998. The body of a man who was said to have the sixth sense of cards. After he died in 2001, Ungar found his place among the best poker players in the Poker Hall of Fame.
Top Stu Ungar Fact:
Ungar, considered by many to be the best Texas Hold’em player to ever sit at the table, is one of only two players to win three WSOP Main Event titles and one of only four poker players to win the title in a row. has done!
His story shows that mental health is a priority, and untreated mental conditions may increase the risk of gambling problems.
Summary
There are different criteria for the best players. This list certainly does not exist like this. Instead, we introduced you to professional poker players. Those whose names have forever been recorded in the history of poker and who were prominent among others because of their personality, winning as well as their sharp skills. You can also add multiple people to this list.
