Poker Players |
The list below is a list of some of the greatest poker players throughout time. Below are listed a small biography of each of the previous winners of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). The WSOP has developed from a small tournament into a major million dollar poker tournament with thousands of entrants. Most of the previous winners are poker professionals but a few are just amateurs who were lucky enough to take home the prize.
1. Berry Johnston - WSOP Winner
Quiet and unassuming are two words that are not, usually, associated with a WSOP winner. Especially, for someone who has finished in the money as many times as Berry Johnston. Yet, those are two wo...
2. Bill Smith - WSOP Winner
Some people will say of themselves that they can, actually, perform better when they have alcohol in their system. Bill was one of those players who really did play their tightest games when he was ...
3. Brad Daugherty - professional poker player
At first when you think of Brad Daugherty you may think of the first-round draft pick and Hall Of Fame basketball star that played for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 1986-1994. But there is another Br...
4. Carlos Mortensen - WSOP Winner
Carlos Mortensen is known for his loose play and for being a bluffer. This doesn’t mean that he’s easy to beat - he won the WSOP in 2001 and has over $3 million in live tournament winnings. He does...
5. Chris Ferguson - WSOP Winner
Chris Ferguson may look like a stereotypical poker player, but behind his cowboy hat and beard lurks a finely honed mathematical mind. He holds a PhD from UCLA in computer science and both his paren...
6. Chris Moneymaker
Chris Moneymaker’s rise to World Series of Poker 2003 Champion was nothing less than amazing. The 27 year-old accountant was far from the favored player in the tournament but he managed to knoc...
7. Dan Harrington - WSOP Winner
Dan Harrington’s nickname, “Action Dan”, can be seen as a bit of a joke. He is known as one of the tightest and most conservative players on the tour. He is also a busy man, he is a backgammon cham...
8. Greg Raymer
It is very easy to underestimate someone who looks like Greg Raymer. After all, he looks more like a person who ambles through life enjoying the little pleasures, the least of which food. Raym...
9. Hal Fowler - WSOP Winner
In the world of Poker anyone, literally anyone, can play and win. Hal Fowler was anyone. He was, also, an unknown player and yet he was able to win the 1979 WSOP tournament. His win of the bracele...
10. Hamid Dastmalchi - Professional Poker Player
Hamid Dastmalchi is not that well known in many poker circles, and if his name is mentioned, it is only because of his 1992 World Series of Poker win. This is surprising, because he is #6 on the all...
11. Huck Seed - WSOP Winner
Huck Seed is one of the most enigmatic poker players on the circuit today. Little is known about him, but what is known is very impressive. There may be a lot people don’t know about him, but they ...
12. Jack Kellar - WSOP Winner
Jack Kellar was known in the poker world as The Murderous Player. Winner of the 1984 WSOP bracelet he was an aggressive, sometimes too aggressive, player in almost any game he played. So the answer...
13. Jack Strauss - WSOP Winner
When a discussion about poker turns to the art and nuances of bluffing then the conversation has to include Jack “Treetop” Strauss. At 6’6’ the moniker of “treetop” was well placed as he played coll...
14. James Woods
High on the list of Hollywood's award-honored performers, James Woods has earned the highest respect of the people who know acting best: Other actors. His intense and nuanced perfor...
15. Jim Bechtel - WSOP Winner
Not that much is known about Jim Bechtel, which is surprising, considering the success he has enjoyed at the poker table. He did very well in the late 1980’s, finishing in the money in the World Ser...
16. Johnny Chan WSOP Winner
Tied only with Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan has won 10 WSOP titles. The most recent being in 2005 and two of which, 1987 and 1988, were back to back. So amazing was his back to back wins that Jerry Bu...
17. Joseph Hachem
Joseph Hachem’s ascent to 2005 World Series of Poker Champion is as storied as any other. Born in Lebanon in 1966, Hachem moved to Australia in 1972. His Lebanese blood would be a hurdle that ...
18. Mansour Matloubi - WSOP Winner
Though not as active in American tournaments, Mansour Matloubi was the 1990 WSOP winner. What’s notable about his win of $895,000 was that his final hand wasn’t the death knell of his opponent, Tuna...
19. Noel Furlong - WSOP Winner
Noel Furlong is not your typical poker player. In fact, he’s not a poker player. He’s a businessman who runs a 100 million dollar a year business in Ireland. Amazingly, the first time he entered ...
20. Robert Varkonyj
Robert Varkonyj won the 2002 World Series of Poker as an amateur entrant. His victory was a surprise to just about everyone, especially Phil Hellmuth, a commentator at the event. Hellmuth stated th...
21. Russ Hamilton- WSOP Winner
Russ Hamilton has been playing poker for a long time. In fact, he started when he was 7 years old. However, it was in 1984 that he really started to take the game seriously, and he moved to Las Veg...
22. Scott Nguyen
It can be said that Scotty Nguyen was born to play poker. Due to a birth defect, one of his hands was curled into a fist. When the doctors managed to pry it open, he says there was a little deck ...
23. Stu Ungar - WSOP Winner
Stu Ungar was a poker playing whiz kid. Occasionally, a child with an IQ like Stu’s makes the news. It’s usually for getting their doctorate in physics from MIT at 13. Ungar made the news, but not...
24. Vince Van Patten
Vince Van Patten, one of Hollywood Poker’s leading stars, has played in some of the biggest cash poker games and tournaments in the world. Nicknamed “King of the Hollywood Home Games”, Vince is the c...