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Top Ten Texas Holdem Players of All Time

February 10, 2009

There are many great poker players and many people will have different opinions on their top ten poker players of all-time. I’ve been recently spending time constructing biographies of many of the worlds best poker players for a project and I now feel like offering up my top ten poker player list of all-time. I completely understand why people will have different choices due to a difference in opinion and that’s fine. Please share with us your top ten poker player list of all-time under this article so we can compare lists.

I won’t go into detail about why I have chosen each poker player to appear in my list, but they are all deserving. A lot more than ten poker players could battle for spots in the top ten, but I had to narrow it down and here is what I’ve come up with.

• Doyle Brunson
• Phil Ivey
• Phil Hellmuth
• Chip Reese
• Johnny Chan
• Scotty Nguyen
• Daniel Negreanu
• Gus Hansen
• John Juana
• Barry Greenstein

I’m more of a new school poker player so the majority of my list is poker players that have established themselves in the big name tournaments. There are many other players that could have been on this list, and when I write this list a couple years from now I’m sure it will have changed.

As some of the newer breed of poker pros continue winning tournaments and high stake games I can see my list changing from the old to the new. Players such as Erick Lindgren and Antonio Esfandiari will definitely be contenders for the top ten list as they age and become more established players. They’ve already proven they can beat the best now they just need some time in order to catch up to some of the older pros in bracelets.

Older players like Doyle, Hellmuth and Nguyen have all won a massive amount of bracelets which is why at this time they deserve to be on the list. You can’t just take live tournaments into consideration either because nowadays many poker pros are spending more time in the online poker rooms then anywhere else. The action is fierce and there are weekly tournaments with thousands of dollars to be won which draws in even the pros of poker.

There are many young guns coming up in the poker ranks that started in the online poker world and many are making serious noise. Tom Dwan is one online poker player who is young and a gunner. He’ll definitely be one poker player that I’ll be watching over the next five to ten years to see how he does. As we all know some players can be busts like Chris Moneymaker, but the ten players featured on my list all have one thing in common and that is that their all great poker players.

Doyle Brunson Biography

February 10, 2009

Quick Facts

• Doyle Brunson was born in Longworth, Texas, USA.

• Doyle currently resides in gambling central Las Vegas, USA.

• You can find Doyle online in his own online poker room Doyle’s Room.

Career Highlights

• WSOP NL Holdem Six-Hand 2005 – 1^st

• WSOP H.O.R.S.E. 2003 – 1^st

• WSOP NL Holdem 1991 – 1^st

• WSOP NL Holdem 1976 – 1^st

Doyle Brunson is by far the most established and recognized poker player in the world. Everyone who plays or watches poker knows exactly who Doyle Brunson is and can even put a face with the name. Doyle who was born in 1933 in Texas was once expected to become a basketball star, but a knee injury made him turn to poker. Doyle learned to play poker as a young child, but didn’t start taking it serious until he suffered a knee injury at work, which ended his college basketball career. He was once in the top five basketball players in Texas and would have surely made it to the NBA. Looks like the knee injury was a blessing from above though as he’s had plenty of success at the poker table. Doyle has four children with his wife and sadly one passed away when only a tender age of nineteen.

Brunson has been playing poker longer then anyone out there and has the most WSOP Bracelets along with Chan. Once Doyle was finished with his master degree he started travelling the country attending all of the poker tournaments that he possibly could. On top of having 10 WSOP Bracelets, Doyle also has the record for being the first poker player to win over $1,000,000 in one tournament.

You can find Doyle playing high stake NL Texas Holdem games either live or online in his poker room. He is one of the only poker players who have a poker room of their own and it’s definitely a wide choice for someone with such a branded name. Everyone knows of Doyle which makes his poker room an attraction for many online poker players. If you’re looking to meet Doyle then your best bet would be in his online poker room.

Doyle apart from being a poker legend at the tables is also a well known poker author and almost every poker player has read at least one of Doyle’s books. His most popular book that has been widely read by poker players is his book titled “Super System” which happens to be one of the best poker books of all time. Being written by someone with as much experience as Doyle you can bet that it’s worth the price and that you’ll benefit from reading the book.

There is no poker player with as much experience as Doyle and as much fame as Doyle and I doubt one will come along. There are some young players such as Phil Ivey that are becoming larger then life in the poker world, but noone can compare to Doyle yet. Maybe in a couple more decades we’ll have someone more experienced and established as Doyle Brunson is right now, but we’ll have to wait and see until then Doyle is the king of poker.

Chris Moneymaker Biography

February 10, 2009

Quick Facts

• Chris Moneymaker was born in Tennessee, USA.

• Chris currently resides in Nashville, USA.

• Moneymaker can be found playing online in the Poker Stars poker rooms.

Career Highlights

• WSOP Main Event 2003 – 1^st

• San Jose Bay Shooting Star 2004 – 2^nd

• WSOP Pot Limit Omaha 2004 – 10^th

• WPT Aruba 2004 – 18^th

Chris Moneymaker was born in Tennessee, USA in 1976 which makes him still fairly young with some years left in him. Currently Chris is living in Nashville with his wife and daughter and has been taking on the family role more so lately then the poker role. I believe this is a good choice as he already won plenty of money to last him a lifetime, and spending time with your family can’t last forever especially with young children as they grow up quickly.

Moneymaker was never known on the poker circuit until he came out of nowhere in the main event of the 2003 WSOP. Chris battled in one of the stiffest poker tournaments in history and managed to come out on top winning a healthy 2.5 million. The WSOP main event was the very first live tournament that Chris had ever played in which makes his story of winning even more remarkable. Many people over the years called it beginners luck and that the cards fell for him, but he did showcase some very nice poker skill throughout that main event. His aggressive style put off many players because noone knew who he was and he was able to get lucky near the end to win the tournament.

Since becoming famous in the poker world Chris has taken online poker more seriously and is apart of the Poker Stars team. He competes online in tournaments all the time and makes good money doing so on the website. It allows him to play poker at home and spend time with his family, which is one great thing about online poker. You will regularly see Moneymaker playing online at Poker Stars.

Before winning the WSOP main event in 2003 Chris was just your ordinary guy, but after winning he was famous. Chris won a seat into the tournament off of a $39 online satellite tournament, which he won which means he basically went for free. It shows you that anyone with some skill in poker and a bit of luck can go all the way in the biggest tournament of the year. You don’t need to be a professional player in order to win on any given day so make sure if you’re a young player trying to establish yourself you think of Moneymaker. He started playing as a hobby online and it turned into a million dollar ride over a couple years of poker.

Moneymaker has somewhat died down since his rush back in 2003-2004, but he is still a feared player online at Poker Stars. I haven’t seen much of him in any live tournaments lately though and I don’t know if it’s because he’s not there or if it’s because he’s making early exits. Either way he has definitely died out of the live tournament action and now solely focuses on playing online and raising a family.

Chris Ferguson Biography

February 10, 2009

Quick Facts

• Chris Ferguson was born in Los Angeles, California, USA.

• Chris currently resides in Pacific Palisades, California, USA.

• Ferguson plays online poker at Full Tilt so if you’re looking to watch him, go there.

Career Highlights

• WSOP Half Stud / Half Holdem 2003 -1st

• WSOP Omaha Hi/Lo 2003 – 1st

• WSOP Omaha Hi/Lo 2001 – 1st

• WSOP No Limit Holdem 2000 – 1st

• WSOP Seven Card Stud 2000 – 1^st

Chris Ferguson who is more commonly known to most people as “Jesus” due to his appearance is one of the best poker players in the world. As you can see from his career highlights he has already won five WSOP Bracelets, which is among the top out of all poker players. Chris is very easy to spot out in a large group and stands out amongst any other poker player. His long hair, cowboy hat, and sunglasses are all trademarks of the Chris Ferguson look which has become so famous over the years.

Ferguson was born in 1963 in LA and ever since he was a young boy he was playing poker with friends. He learned how to play poker way back in the fourth grade and since then has mastered all variations of poker. As a college student Ferguson would spend his weekends winning money in Las Vegas and then attending class throughout the week.

He got his nickname Jesus because of his long hair and beard which resembles Jesus himself. Ferguson is one of the most feared players too meet either in tournament play or heads up and has one of the stiffest poker faces out there. It’s impossible to get a tell from such a solid poker player and that’s one of the reasons he’s been so successful over the years.

Over Chris’s long poker career he has made money playing both live and on the internet and to this day continues to play both. He has made millions of dollars on the poker table and made a career out of it. He did have an amazing degree to fall back on if poker didn’t work, but poker not working for Ferguson was out of the question. From the date of writing this biography Ferguson has made a total of 25 final tables and 42 money finishes which are stellar stats to add to a wonderful career.

Ferguson had a large part in the making of online poker software and with his extensive computer background it’s clear why he was involved. Chris is a pioneer of poker and will be remembered by all poker players for years and years to come. If you’re young and looking for a poker role model there aren’t many players that are a better role model then Ferguson at the poker table. He has excellent poker etiquette, one of the smartest players in the circuit and has had a lot of success at the poker table. If you ask me it can’t get much better than this as a poker player and I would love to see the success in poker that Chris has.