Controversies have surrounded the argument about the best poker players of all time. To settle this argument, is money not at the top of the list of the goals of most poker players? The simple answer to this question is yes, most poker players are in because of the money. So, for a poker player to make our list of best plays of all time, that player must have earned a significant amount of money. Follow us as we show you the 30 best poker players ever.
The year 2023 was one of the best years for Bryn Kenny, where he earned seven figures five times. On August 19th alone, he earned a whopping $20.5 Million in the Triton Million event. He is from the United States and has won big in several poker tournaments totaling $65 Million throughout his professional poker career.
Justine Bonomo is another poker player who had a good year in 2003. He has earned $60 million throughout his professional poker career. He has the record of being the first poker player to earn that amount, although another player from the US has since overtaken him.
Jason Koon is from the United States and ranked on the USA's all-time money list in West Virginia. His all-time best live cash is above $3.5 million, and he has earned $56 million as a professional poker player.
Stephen Chidwick is one of the best European poker players from the UK. At the young age of just 26 years, Chadwick earned 3 million dollars in an online multi-table tournament. It takes most professional poker players a lifetime to earn that much. He has earned $51 million, which is why he earned the right to be among the best.
Speaking about Canadian poker genius, that is who Negreanu is. He has made $50 million in total as a professional poker player. When he hit that milestone, he was among the only three poker players worldwide who had earned that much money through poker. He made his biggest money in 2022 when he won the three hundred thousand dollar Super High Roller Bowl with a total cash price of over $3.3 million.
Mikita Bodyakovsky is a Belarus professional poker player who has made $50 million. His best career cash out is $7 million, while his latest earnings came in December of 2023, where he made $1 million at the World Poker Tour Championship.
Erik Seidel is one of the oldest poker players who have made it big. At the age of about 65 years, Seidel remains relevant in the new-generation poker games, bringing his old-school style into play. The US professional poker player has earned $46 million in total. His biggest came back in 2015 when he won over $2.2 million in the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final.
Phil Ivey has earned $41 million in total poker earnings. In 2023, he earned over two million dollars in five tournaments. His highest earning for the year was on the 6th of August, when he earned over a million dollars. 2014, he hit his highest single career pay with over 3.5 million dollars. Ivey is from the US.
Dan Smith is another professional American player who has made it big as a poker player. He has earned $40 million in total. In 20019, he won his biggest tournament in the Triton Poker Million, making almost $9 million. The European tournament seems one of the best for him, having won 8 European Poker Tour Titles.
David Peters is an American professional player who has earned $40 million. He won his latest bracelet in 2022, for which he made $1.1 million.
Fedor Holz has been tagged as a German poker sensation who has earned $39 million. Holz is among the poker players who have won not just one but 2 world series of poker bracelets.
2023 will be one of the most memorable years for Isaac Haxton's playing career. He finally won his first WSOP golden bracelet for the first time in his career. Before then, he was among the few biggest poker players without a WSOP. He has earned $38 million, and he is from the US.
Timothy Adams is from Canada. He has earned $38 million. His latest earnings and career single highest came in August 2023 when he won the Triton London Main Event, earning over $4 million.
Cary Katz is a US poker player who has won $36 million in tournament earnings. They are the only world-class players who have not won a bracelet but have cashed out 58 times.
Adrian Mateos is a poker player from Spain. He has earned $32 million in tournament payout. Mateos became the youngest player to win 3 WSOP bracelets at just 22 and has won 4 of the titles in total. He is the first Spanish player to win the European Poker Tour.
As a college student in 2004, Steve O’Dwyer started playing online poker and has earned over $31 million. His highest earning came in 2015 when he won almost $2 million in the $100,000 NLHE Super High Roller.
Phile Hellmuth Jr.'s poker earnings are $29 million. This US poker star has hit it big on the table and was the youngest person to win the WSOP main event in 1989. And has gone on to win WSOP 15 more times, the last one coming in 2021.
Nick Petrangelo is a professional poker player from Massachusetts, USA, who has won two World Series of Poker. His highest single tournament career earnings are almost $3 million, and he has earned $29 million in total career earnings.
Daniel Colman is not a popular name in the poker scene anymore. He has not played any public tournament since 2017, but his earnings before stepping out of the game was $29 million. Six years later, his earnings are still in the top 30. His single highest career earnings was $15 million.
Christoph Vogelsang has not cashed out in many tournaments, but he gets it big when he does. He has earned $28 million, most of which came from the $300,00 Super High Roller Bowl, where he won $6 million. This guy is truly one of Germany's finest poker players.
Antonio is an Iranian-American poker player best known as “Magician.” Today, the magical poker genius has earned $27 million, over half of which came in 2012 when he won $18.3 million in the Big One For One Drop Tournament.
John Juanda is from Indonesia but is now based in the US. He is among the top professional poker players with up to five WSPs. He has earned $26 million since playing professionally, and the biggest earnings came in 2012, with over $1.6 million earned in the No Limit Hold’em Soper Hih Roller Main Event.
Scott Seiver has earned $26 million and has won 15 tournaments with 169 total cashes. Only in 2022-23 this US poker player earned cash 17 times.
Jake Schindler is one of the most controversial top poker players from the US, mostly because of accusations of cheating. Before being banned from participating in some tournaments, he had earned $25 million as of the end of 2022. That year, he made $3.2 million in the Super High Roller Bowl Europe Tournament.
Paul Phua is a Malaysian professional poker player earning $25 million in tournament earnings. He is the oldest professional poker player on this list, bringing the old generation A game into this present generation. His highest earning came in April 2019, when he earned almost $2.6 million.
Brain Rast has accomplished a lot in his career. He has a Super High Roller Bowl with several bracelets in his name, earning $25 million through that journey, making $5 million in the 2016 Las Vegas Super High Roller Bowl.
Sam Green is another Canadian poker player who is doing his country proud. He has earned $23 million winning the 2018 No Limit Hold’em EPT Super High Roller in Monte Carlo.
Rainer Kempe is among the few Germans hitting it big on the world poker stage. He has earned $22 million.
Sam Trickett is one poker player you must discuss when you mention UK poker players. The soccer player turned gambler has earned $21 million. The highest coming was a ten million dollar earning for coming second.
Williams Alex Foxen has earned $17 million from poker. He is from the US, has won five WPT Championships, and has a lifetime cashes of 33 in the WPT with the biggest earning of about $1.7 million.
The world has seen many poker players since its existence, and this article is about bringing them to light. The US dominates the world's top earners, with some couples from Germany, Canada, and the UK. The topper most earners are Bryn Kenney and Justin Bonomo, who have earned a combined $125 million throughout their careers. Kenney alone has earned over $65 million.
