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Famous Poker Players
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Poker has been one of the most popular card games in the world not just in terms of playing, but also watching it. It’s one of the few card games that could genuinely be considered something of a spectator sport. Among fans of poker there has always been a certain fascination with the game: from the early high stakes cash games to the live tournament circuit, to the online game.
In particular, many people enjoy following the top players and there are a number of poker players that have achieved celebrity status. This is usually due to their skills on the felt of course, but it’s often the personality of a player that elevates them above others in terms of fame. On this page, we have listed some of the most famous poker players of all time and provided a little bit of background information on each of them. Our apologies if we have missed out any of your personal favorites.
Johnny Moss
American Johnny Moss was one of the initial inductees into the Poker Hall of Fame and for good reason. Born in 1907 he was one of the greatest poker players of his time. He won the very first World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in 1970, when it was played in a cash game format. The following year, when it was played as a freezeout, he won again.
Moss continued to play in the WSOP right up until the year he died, 1995. He won the Main Event again in 1974 and won a total of nine WSOP bracelets overall. He also played in a number of other tournaments and was famous for regularly playing high stakes cash games. Moss was widely known as The Grand Old Man of Poker in deference to his stature in the game.
Amarillo Slim
Amarillo Slim is without question a poker legend. The American, real name Thomas Austin Preston Jr died aged 83 in 2012 having had a very colorful life. He was famed for not only his poker skills but a number of other gambling activities too. He won one of the early WSOP Main Events, back in 1972. Following that win, he’s credited with helping bring a wider audience to poker.
Preston was a really engaging character and his appearances on television and radio talk shows certainly generated a lot of interest. He was inducted in the Poker Hall of Fame and will be fondly remembered by poker fans for a very long time.
Chip Reese
David “Chip” Reese was an American poker player that has been described by many as the greatest cash game player that ever lived. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1991 and, at 40 years old, was the youngest player to have received that honor. In addition to his cash games skills he was a very proficient tournament player, with three WSOP bracelets to his name. He died in 2007, at age 56.
Doyle Brunson
When it comes to longevity in the game, few (if any) players can touch Doyle Brunson. The American was born in 1933 and at the time of writing he’s still playing regularly. He has twice won the WSOP Main Event, has a total of 10 WSOP bracelets and was the first player to earn over $1 million in tournament winnings. He’s a Poker Hall of Fame inductee and, in 2006, was voted as the most influential person in world poker by Bluff Magazine.
Chris Moneymaker
Chris Moneymaker is at the very least partially responsible for the huge boom in the popularity of online poker. In 2003, at the age of 27, he won the WSOP Main Event for around $2.5 million. What made his win amazing was that it was his first live tournament and he had qualified for the event at an online poker room. He had paid just $39 to enter a satellite at the PokerStars poker site.
Moneymaker gave poker players all over the world hope that they too could match his achievements. His win generated huge publicity and, it was what dubbed the “Moneymaker Effect”. There was a massive increase in the number of people signing up at poker sites after his win. While online poker would undoubtedly have become popular anyway, Chris Moneymaker definitely gave things a significant kick start.
Phil Hellmuth
Some people love him, some people hate him, but there’s no doubt that Phil Hellmuth is one of the best known poker players of all time. He has won a very impressive 13 WSOP bracelets, including the 1989 Main Event. Just 24 years old at the time, he became the youngest ever winner of the Main Event. Hellmuth has something of a temper, and he has been described as being brash and arrogant. Poker would almost certainly be poorer without him around though.
Vanessa Rousso
Vanessa Rousso is considered one of poker’s sex symbols and has appeared in a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. However, she is far more than that and is a very accomplished player too. Born in 1983, by the age of 30 she had racked up well over $3 million in tournament winnings and is one of the most successful female pokers ever. She is vocal about her pro-gambling stance.
Dan Harrington
Harrington is a very accomplished poker player and author of one of the most famous series of poker strategy books, Harrington on Hold’em. He has won the WSOP Main Event (in 1995), is an inductee to the Poker Hall of Fame, and has won over $6 million in tournament cashes. His nickname is “Action Dan”, which is somewhat ironic as he is known to be a tight player.
Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey is regarded by many as the greatest all around poker player in the game today. He has never won the WSOP Main Event, but he does have nine bracelets to his name. He is a feared cash game player and has shown time and time again that he’s willing to gamble it up. As a former member of the Full Tilt Poker team of pro players he could often be seen playing at the online poker room at the very highest stakes
Annette Obrestad
Annette Obrestad claims to have started her poker career online at the age of just fifteen. Playing underage isn’t something that we condone or recommend, but it seems to have worked for Obrestad. She is one of the best known female poker players and has a number of successes to her name. She states that she has never had to deposit any of her own money to a poker site as she built her initial bankroll entirely by playing in freeroll tournaments.
Viktor Blom
Viktor Blom is a high stakes online poker player from Sweden. He is better known as “Isildur1”, his online screen-name. He caused a huge stir on the online poker world in 2009, when he appeared seemingly out of nowhere and started playing at the highest stakes available. At this time, no-one knew who was behind the Isildur1 screen-name, but there was plenty of speculation on the matter. In early 2011, shortly after joining the PokerStars team of pro players, his identity was revealed.
Daniel Negreanu
Negreanu is a popular poker player with significant winnings in both tournament and cash play. He’s particularly well known for his ability to read his opponents and accurately determine what cards they are playing. Daniel has himself stated that his most important skill is being able to observe and remember what range of hands his opponents play in what situations, and how they play him. He joined Team PokerStars in 2007 and has appeared on many televised poker shows.
Liv Boeree
Female poker player Liv Boeree is from England and is well known for both her poker play and her TV presenting. She first appeared on the poker scene in 2005 when she took part in a poker based reality TV show where she was coached by leading players including Phil Hellmuth. Since then she has had a number of lead roles on poker based TV shows and has had great success at the poker tables.
Stu Ungar
Stu Ungar, who died in 1998, was one of the greatest poker players ever. He won the WSOP Main Event three times and was a top class gin rummy player. He was also a very skilled blackjack player and card counter, which led to him eventually not being able to play the game in Las Vegas casinos. He’s known as the “Comeback Kid,” because of his last WSOP win came 16 years after his previous one. During that time span he had hit rock bottom and experienced drug problems.
Tom Dwan
One of the best known players from the online poker era, Tom Dwan is famous for playing high stakes under the screen-name “durrrr”. He began online with $50 and started out playing sit and go tournaments before moving on to cash games. By building his money at low stakes and slowly moving up, he eventually began playing in the biggest online games. Such is the nature of poker he subsequently experienced massive swings, but he’s easily a winning player. Dwan has proved to have excellent money management skills and has not been afraid to drop down in stakes when required.
