The Top 10 Money Winning Professional Poker Players — The Best Online Casino Articles - TheBestCasinoGuide.com

Professional poker has become a major phenomenon in recent years. Tournaments are played constantly in land based casinos, on television, in online casinos and in online poker rooms. Along with the rapid growth of tournaments, there has developed a solid cadre of professional poker players. They come from all walks of life and have wide and varied backgrounds. Many have legions of devoted fans and top of the line sponsorship deals. Some pros are backed by professional gamblers and many are backed by the online poker rooms. Due to the explosive growth of professional poker, many of these professional players have career earnings in the millions of dollars. Who are the top earning pros? Let’s take a look at the top ten earning professional poker players and find out who they are.

1. Daniel Negreanu – Tournament Winnings: $12,500,000

Daniel Negreanu is a superstar in the world of poker. He is the all time money winner in the WSOP and he is also the leading money winner on the WPT circuit. Daniel was born is Toronto, Canada in 1974 to parents who escaped the communist regieme in Romania. He has gone on to claim more than 30 tournament wins worldwide, including four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour Championships. Known in the poker world as "Kid Poker", Daniel is one of the most visable promoters of the game of poker. He is an active tournament player in both land based and online poker, a successful poker author and has been in many videos on professional poker. He is one of the leading players on Team PokerStars, the poker team of the world’s largest online poker room, PokerStars.com. Daniel has appeared in several big budget Hollywood movies including X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Grand as well as on many television shows on poker. Daniel is a witty, funny, opinionated and well liked spokesman for the world of professional poker. Daniel lives in Las Vegas and he is a major hockey fan, often seen at the poker table wearing a Toronto Maple Leaf’s jersey.

2. Phil Ivey – Tournament Winnings: $12,400,000

Called the "Tiger Woods of poker", 33 year old Phil Ivey is one of the leading members of the new generation of young, professional poker players. With seven World Series of Poker bracelets, Ivey is currently tied with Billy Baxter in sixth place for the most WSOP bracelets. In November 2005, Ivey won the $1,000,000 first prize at the Monte Carlo Millions tournament. The next day, Ivey won $600,000 for first place in The FullTiltPoker.Net Invitational Live from Monte Carlo. Phil puts a big focus on cash games, often playing in the $4,000-$8,000 mixed cash game at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas. In 2006, he won over $16,000,000 from Texas billionaire Andy Beal playing $25,000/$50,000 heads-up Limit Texas Hold’em. Phil is a member of FullTiltPoker.com’s professional poker team. Outside of the world of professional poker, Phil is a big fan of the L.A. Lakers and Houston Rockets. He spends much of his free time enjoying his hobbies of golf, video games and prop betting. Phil lives in Las Vegas with his wife, Luciaetta.

3. Jamie Gold – Tournament Winnings: $12,200,000

Jamie Gold is both the third all time money winning professional poker player and a successful entertainment talent agent. Jamie comes from Malibu, California and was born in 1969. He won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2006. His $12,000,000 first prize for winning the 2006 WSOP accounts for the vast majority of his winnings. This win was not without some controversy due to Gold’s habit of telling his opponents what he had in his hand during the play, which is technically against the rules. Although Gold was never called for a rules violation and he wasn’t always telling the truth about what was in his hand, he did succeed in confusing his opponents. He caused one player to fold his superior hand after Gold showed one of his hole cards to the other player. Jamie claimed his win was due to eating blueberries while playing. He said blueberries were his brain food and he happily walked away with the largest winner’s share of the WSOP main event ever. Since his big win, Jamie has divided his time between making television production deals and playing mostly in charity poker tournaments. Jamie is dedicated to using his poker skills to raise money for a number of worthy charities.

4. Peter Eastgate – Tournament Winngs: $11,000,000

Born in Denmark in 1985, Peter won the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. At the time, the then 22 year old Eastgate, was the youngest winner ever of the WSOP main event. (In 2009, the record was broken by 21 year old 2009 WSOP Main Event winner, Joe Cada.) Eastgate won the first prize of $9,152,416 for winning the title. Since winning the WSOP, he has cashed at the European Poker Tour (EPT) PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event and won the $5,000 side event for $343,000. Eastgate won £530,000 by finishing second in the 2009 London EPT. In the 2009 WSOP main Event, Eastgate lasted until day 6. He was the final previous winner left in the tournament and finished in 78th place. Peter is a member of Team PokerStars, the poker team of PokerStars.com. Look for more exciting wins from this young man in the future.

5. Joe Hachem – Tournament Winnings: $10,850,000

In 2005, Joseph Hachem defeated 5618 players, to win the WSOP Main Event and a first prize of 7.5 million dollars. 43 year old Joe Hachem hails from Lebanon and now lives with his family in Australia where he is a citizen. Before taking up poker as a professional, Joe worked as a Chiropractor until a rare blood disorder affected his hands and forced him to give up his original profession. After several years of gaining experience as an amateur player, Joe became of poker pro in 2000, playing in tournaments at the Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex in Melbourne where he found great success. In 2005 he became the first Australian to win the WSOP Main event, happily draping the Australian flag over his shoulders after his victory. At the 2006 World Series of Poker, Hachem finished second in the $2,500 short-handed no limit hold ‘em event, winning over $250,000. In 2006, Joe won $2,207,575, while winning his first World Poker Tour title, in the Bellagio Casino’s Five Diamonds Poker Classic. Joe has won several television poker tournaments including the World Series of Poker Champions II tournament on NBC’s Poker After Dark. Joe has been married to his teenage sweet heart since 1989 and has four children. When he is not playing poker, Joe runs his mortgage company and can be found enjoying his hobby of golf. Joe is a member Team PokerStars, the poker team of PokerStars.com. Joe is known as an all around good guy. To quote his friend Matt Damon."Poker can bring out the worst in people, but when you see somebody who’s just winning with grace and class and dignity, it’s nice."(Quote courtesey of Wikipedia, the Online Encyclopedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)

6. Scotty Nguyen – Tournament Winnings: $10,700,000

Scotty was born in Vietnam and settled in the United States at the young age of 14. His early years were spent in underground poker games and he had some problems with drugs and alcohol. He built up his bankroll to a million dollars in the mid 1980’s before losing it all due to bad luck and bad habits. Scotty managed to turn his life around and bounced back to win the 1998 WSOP Main Event and 5 WSOP Bracelets. Sadly, the day after he won the WSOP Main event, his brother in Vietnam was killed. For this reason, he does not wear his main event winner’s bracelet. In 2008, he won the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship for a first prize of $1,989,120. He has won many other tournaments over the years, further establishing his reputation as a top player in the professional poker world. In 2009, Nguyen won the first LA Poker Classic $10,000 H.O.R.S.E World Championship for a first prize of $339,743. Scotty has come along way from his start as a dealer in Harrah’s poker room and $3/$6 stud poker games. He has appeared on many tv programs including Poker Superstars International, NBC’s National Heads Up Poker Championship, Poker After Dark and Late Night with Conan O’ Brien. Known for his wit and great sense of humor, Scotty remains popular with fans and other players alike.

7. Allen Cunningham – Tournament Winnings: $10,400,000

American Poker Pro Allen Cunningham was born in 1977 and studied civil engineering at UCLA before dropping out to play professional poker. On his way to winning over 10 million dollars, Allen has earned 5 WSOP bracelets. He is a member of the team of poker pros at FullTiltPoker.com. Cunningham’s largest tournament winnings were at the 2006 World Series of Poker with a fourth place finish in the Main Event for a prize of $3,628,513. Allen has also has success in television poker tournaments including winning the $300,000 Mega Match on Poker After Dark in 2007. With 41 money finishes in the WSOP and another 12 money finishes on World Poker Tour, Allen is one of today’s top young poker superstars. He lives in Las Vegas with his girlfriend, Poker Pro Melissa Hayden and their dog named Muffin.

8. Erik Seidel – Tournament Winnings: $9,750,000

Born in New York City in 1959, 50 year old Erik Seidel comes from a varied and interesting background. Erik was originally a tournament backgammon player at NYC’s famous Mayfair Club where poker pros Howard Lederer and Dan Harrington also played. After 8 years of professional backgammon, Seidel played the stock market before starting his career in professional poker. Over the years, Seidel has won 8 WSOP of poker bracelets and was runner-up in the 1988 World Series of Poker main event to Johnny Chan. He also finished 4th in the 1999 WSOP main event. Erik has placed second twice in Aussie Millions tournaments while winning 1.6 million dollars in the 2 tournaments. Known for playing in a wide variety of poker games, Seidel has won bracelets in 5 different types of poker games, including Hold’em, Omaha, and Deuce to Seven Draw. He is a member of FullTiltPoker.com’s professional poker team. He resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

9. T.J. Cloutier – Tournament Winnings: $9,700,000

T.J. Cloutier was born in 1939 and hails from Albany, California. After attending UCAL, Berkeley on a 2 sports, athletic scholarship and a stint in the U.S. Army, he played football in the Canadian Football League for Toronto and Montreal, before an injury ended his career. While working on oil rigs afterwards, T.J. realized he was making more money playing poker in his off hours. He then quit the oil rigs to play poker full time. T.J. enjoys playing in poker tournaments and was runner up in the WSOP Main Event in in 1985 and 2000 on his way to a total of 4 top 5 finishes. He ranks 5th in WSOP cashes with 55 and 2nd in WSOP final tables with 39. T.J. has a total of 6 WSOP Bracelets and is the only player in the history of WSOP play to win events in three types of Omaha. All told he has won a total of 60 tournaments worldwide. T.J. has written many books on poker and lives with his wife, Joy, in Richardson, Texas.

10. John Juanda – Tournament Winnings: $9,600,000

John Juanda was born in Indonesia. He came to the United States in 1990 to attend the University of Oklahoma. He went on to earn an MBA from Seattle University and even sold bibles door to door, before becoming a poker professional. He won the first of his 4 WSOP Bracelets in 2002 and has made 6 World Poker Tour final tables along the way. John is in 9th place for WSOP cashes with 49. In 2005 he earned nearly $500,000 in Monte Carlo by winning the Monte Carlo Millions Consolation tournament, a sixth place finish in the Monte Carlo Millions Main Event, and finishing second in The FullTiltPoker Invitational Live from Monte Carlo. In 2006, John won the $732,901 first prize in the Crown Australian Poker Championship speed poker event. In 2009, John won the World Series of Poker Europe £10,000 No Limit Holdem Main Event, earning $1,580,096. John is known for his calm and gentlemanly behavior at the poker table. He resides in Marina Del Ray, California and is a member of FullTiltPoker.com’s professional poker team. John is quoted as saying if he ever gives up poker he would like to become a doctor.

There we have it; the top 10 money winning professional poker players. Combining many years of experience among them and many thousands of exciting hands of play, these 10 outstanding players are among the all time greats of professional poker. Respected by their peers and with dedicated work ethics, these players have had the pleasure of playing with the greats in the history of the game and in numerous, exciting tournaments. There are many other great players among their ranks who have also won millions of dollars playing tournament poker. We welcome our readers at http://www.thebestcasinoguide.com/ to post their comments and tell us about their favorite poker professionals. As always, remember to gamble for fun and within your limits. May all your bets be winners.