The 5 most overrated tournament poker players
This list is going to be controversial from the get-go, considering I have listed five of the best-known poker players in the world on this list. So let me explain what criterion I have used to determine who the most overrated tournament players are:
Basically I have looked at a player’s performance since the poker boom, and even more importantly what they have done over the past five or so years, Being on this list doesn’t necessarily make someone a poor poker player (or indicate that they are a losing player), this list is meant only to determine who the most OVERRATED players are.
#5 — Phil Hellmuth
I almost want to take Phil off this list based on his last two WSOP campaigns (of course he goes and wins bracelet #12 while I’m writing this!), but when viewed as a whole the Poker Brat’s accomplishments in recent years have been far less than his reputation would lead you to believe. Hellmuth has been playing virtually every WSOP tournament since the late 1980’s, so his now 12 bracelets are not quite as impressive as one would first think.
Remember, this is an overrated list!
#4 — Johnny Chan
One of the greatest tournament poker players of the 1980’s and 1990’s, Johnny Chan hasn’t quite lived up to his mythical Rounders’ billing during the poker boom years. Over the last 10+ years most of Chan’s winnings have come via invitational events, and the poker legend has never really seemed to take his game to the next level during the boom years.
#3 — Men Nguyen
Men Nguyen is the poster-boy when it comes to being a “prolific” tournament player. Basically Men “The Master” and the rest of the people on this list really cashed in by playing a as many tournaments as they could, especially during the early years of the poker boom.
#2 — Humberto Brenes
Humberto’s attention-whoring persona when the cameras are nearby has made the Costa Rican far better known than his poker resume warrants. Humberto’s last significant cash came back in 2007 when he finished 3rd in a WSOP $5k PLH event, and the only other cash that can be considered “newsworthy” was a min-cash of $200k in the 2011 PCA Super-High-Roller tournament.
In my opinion Humberto needs to drop the “get me on camera with my PokerStars patch” act, and go back to being the Humberto of the early 2000’s, who was a pretty likable and respected guy.
#1 — Mike Matusow
“The Mouth” has somehow parlayed a poker career with very few accomplishments into a reputation that gets him invited to Tournament of Champions and other exclusive events. Mike’s resume does have three WSOP bracelets on it, with only one coming after 2002, but it also lacks anything in the way of a legitimate major victory, despite Mike being one of the most active tournament players during much of the poker boom.
If it wasn’t for Matusow’s remarkable 2005 run, where he finished 9th in the Main Event for $1 million and followed that up with a $1 million TOC victory, he would have likely been written-off years ago.
