The Best Poker Players Don’t Need Cards To Beat Anybody!

All players start with equal chances of winning – 52 cards, 4 suits and thousands of combinations. If you’re dealt with the strongest hand, it’s a walk in the park to win the pot, but let’s be honest – how often will this happen? Poker requires a lot of analytical thinking and calculating your odds is always important, but there is one factor that can blow away all strategies and mathematical approaches – skill. The poker professionals know that cards don’t matter that much, but rather how you play them is more important. That’s why sometimes you might hold the best hand and you might need to doubtfully fold it. This is an art which mainly the top poker players practice on others. However, how can we determine who is worthy of making it on our list? Without further ado, let’s see how we choose who are some of the best poker players of all time!

The Best Poker Players in The World – How Have We Chosen Them?

Thousands of poker professionals have an excellent skillset, as well as tons of experience, which earn them a living through this exciting game. However, the best poker players in the world stand out by certain criteria. Just like the Poker Hall of Fame, we are aware of the top poker podcasts and we made up our own set of requirements by which we’ve listed our top poker professionals. Our chosen players fulfil the following criteria:

By now you know how we’ll choose our players and what types of poker professionals we prefer. The points are pretty self-explanatory and do a great job of narrowing the range of choice immensely. Let’s not waste any time and see who we’ve chosen as our first pick among the poker greats!

Phill Helmuth

Regardless of the poker list, no poker player article can be complete without the presence of ‘The Poker Brat’. For the past 30 years, Phil Hellmuth has been a dominating force across the poker landscape. By entering multiple tournaments and countless cash games at some of Las Vegas’ flashiest casinos, Phil has amassed a fortune through his vast experience and great poker skills. Needless to say, Mr. Hellmuth is no stranger to all types of limits and poker variations – the record-holding 15 WSOP bracelets he’s won speak louder than words and prove our point! We also shouldn’t forget his one of a kind table presence which makes him all that more exciting to watch!

Doyle Brunson

Past high-rollers, poker champions of today and even future Hall of Famers give credit to ‘Texas Dolly’ and classify him as one of the all-time greats. Widely considered as The Godfather of Poker, Doyle Brunson is familiar with all the poker phrases and he has contributed immensely through his poker publicity and media attention. With more than 50 years of high-roller experience across legal and not-so-legal games at first, Brunson knows the game inside and out, and surely has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Apart from amassing huge wealth over the years, ‘Big Papa’ is also a holder of 10 WSOP bracelets.

Phil Ivey

As a player who stares right through you and makes you wonder whether he can actually read your mind, Phil Ivey is one of the most feared and aggressive players to ever sit on a poker table. His days as a minor when he used a fake ID to enter casinos are long gone, but his passion for the game grew with time. This led to the development of a complete, fearless poker player who was able to win 10 WSOP bracelets and a wealth of close to a hundred million dollars. An Interesting fact is his participation in the biggest poker cash game in history. A banker, named Andrew Beal challenged a group of some of the best players in the world in a heads-up match. The pro’s lost millions of dollars in the course of a couple of years of play. In the end, Phil Ivey was called to the rescue, where it’s said that he won more than 10 million dollars back in a couple of days’ time.

Tom Dwan

While some might classify Tom Dwan as not worthy enough to be among the best poker players of all time, he certainly was a dominating force in online poker. Not only has he beaten some of the best online poker players, but he also participated in numerous tournaments and TV shows such as ‘Poker After Dark’ and ‘High-Stakes Poker’, where he mostly dominated some of the best cash game players. His loose style of play and incredible bluffing intuition has gained him the respect of the poker community and earned him a spot not only in our list, but a future seat in the Poker Hall of Fame as well! Currently, Tom Dwan prefers playing short-deck no-limit cash games and travels around the world, seeking new poker adventures.

Johnny Chan

‘The Orient Express’ is a true living legend among poker players and here are the reasons why this is an unquestioned fact. Similar to Tom Dwan, Johnny Chan dropped out of university to pursue a career in poker and proved to make the right decision. It seems that his future wasn’t in the family business of running restaurants, but the 10 WSOP and millions of dollars won have given him a flashy career and have earned him the utmost respect from other poker professionals. Johnny Chan is also considered one of the best cash game players of all time.

Do You Want To Be The Next Great Poker Player?

After observing some of the numerous accomplishments of our best poker players, it’s doubtful that somebody will have such a big influence over other players. There are many other great places from where you can learn more about poker, such as the Daniel Negreanu video blog or from some of the best poker podcasts in the world. The massive accomplishments of those professionals make you think that it’s impossible to gain such wealth and popularity nowadays, but remember – those players were also unknown grinders in the past! Being consistent in your craft is important, but knowing the basics of the game is crucial. If you feel that poker is your calling, make sure to check our best online poker sites in the UK as this article will give you a great head start in the game! We wish you the best of luck with your poker activities!