The 10 best tournament players in poker history Part 2

For this series I will take a look at a player’s earnings as well as the number of major titles they have under their belt. These raw numbers will then go under the microscope where I will adjust the results based on how many entrants the tournament had, adjust prize-money won for inflation, and examine how prolific the player was compared to their results. What I was really looking for was the following:

• Consistency
• Major Wins
• Recognized as the best among their peers

Some players were left off for a variety of different reasons –Johnny Chan, Mike Mizrachi, and John Juanda all received consideration—but in the end I was very happy with how the list shaped up.

#5 — Erik Seidel

Erik Seidel is the owner of eight WSOP bracelets, but it wasn’t until an incredible 2011 tournament season that Seidel started to receive the widespread recognition he deserved –even getting a new nickname and a theme song “Seiborg”.

On top of his WSOP success –8 bracelets and a runner-up finish in the 1988 WSOP Main Event—Seidel also has a WPT victory, a 4250k Super-High-Roller win, and an NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship on his resume. In all, Seidel has pocketed over $17 million, good enough for 5^th on the all-time money list.

#4 — Carlos Mortensen

Carlos Mortensen is my choice for the most overlooked poker player in the game. Mortensen only has two WSOP bracelets, but one of those is the 2001 Main Event, widely considered the toughest final table in poker history.  Mortensen’s resume is almost unparalleled:

• Three seven-figure wins
• 2007 WPT $25k Champion (a three-time WPT Champion)
• 2001 WSOP Main Event winner (a two-time WSOP bracelet winner)
• 16^th on the all-time money list with over $10 million
• #4 on the all-time money list for European players

#3 — Stu Ungar

It’s unclear just how good a tournament player Stu Ungar was or could have become, but what we do know is that Stuey entered 30 tournaments with a $10,000 buy-in in his career and he won 10 of them! Three of Ungar’s win were the WSOP Main Event, and recent tapes that have surfaced show that Stuey was the first LAG player in tournament poker history – A man truly ahead of his time.

#2 — Daniel Negreanu

Daniel’s current image as the jet-setting high-roller doesn’t really describe him over the course of his poker career. Before his rise to fame, Kid Poker was one of the hardest working pros on the tournament trail, and one of the most prolific tournament players. So if your image of Daniel Negreanu is one of a guy who only plays high-roller events and televised tournaments you need to do some research, Negreanu was a tournament dynamo for a decade before the poker boom made him famous.

• 2-time WPT Champion
• Five WPT 2^nd or 3^rd place finishes
• Three $1 million cashes
• 4 WSOP Bracelets
• 6^th on the All-Time Money list with over $16 million

#1 — Phil Hellmuth

In the past few years Phil Hellmuth has cemented his place as the greatest tournament player in poker history. Hellmuth owns virtually every major WSOP record (bracelets, final tables, and cashes) and has finished second in the WSOP Player of the Year race three separate times, including the past two years.

Hellmuth is the only player in poker history to win the WSOP Main Event and the WSOPE Main Event; he has three $1,000,000+ cashes in his career; won the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship; and has four top-seven finishes in WPT events. Hellmuth’s real claim to fame are his record 13 bracelets, three more than Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson.

Read Part 1 HERE: /blog/the-10-best-tournament-players-in-poker-history-part-1/