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The Top 10 Poker Players in the World According to ESPN

February 10, 2010

espnpokerEvery month the American sports site ESPN.com is rating who they think are the top 10 poker players at that moment, this ranking list is called “The Nuts”. The fact that Phil Ivey is topping the list comes as no surprise to anyone that knows poker. That Phil Ivey is dominating this list becomes very clear when reading the following statement from ESPN’s poker writer, Andrew Feldman. “I wonder what kind of month the other players need to have in order to be able to take Ivey of the first place on this list”.

In second place we find Patrik Antonius, even though he has suffered some huge losses the last couple of weeks. “Still one of the best players in the world with a constant presence at the high stakes tables”, was the motivation for the second place listing.

The third spot, or the second runner up if you prefer that is also a bit more unexpected. The third place listing was given to Jason Mercier who is really starting to show some results at the poker tables lately. Two final tables during the WPT Southern Championships probably contributed towards his place on the list.

There are two other surprising things on this top 10 list. The first one is that Tom “Durrrr” Dwan is fa down the list, in 8th place actually. The other big surprise is that Daniel Alaei is in front of him with his 7th place on this top 10 list.

ESPN goes on to refer to Daniel Alaei as the most underestimated player on the whole list. He is a very skilled cash-game player and the WPT victory in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Poker Classic during December last year probably helped him a lot. But to the equation we also have to add two WSOP bracelets and $4.000.000 in life time tournament winnings.

As always with these types of top 10 lists it is the live tournament results that is the biggest factor.

Below is the complete top 10 list:

  1. Phil Ivey
  2. Patrik Antonius
  3. Jason Mercier
  4. Daniel Negreanu
  5. Eric Baldwin
  6. Yevgeniy Timoshenko
  7. Daniel Alaei
  8. Tom Dwan
  9. Bertrand Grosspellier
  10. Jeff Lisandro

At the ESPN website they also mention some players that are close to making the list but didn’t quite make it this month. These players are Cole South, Jeff Madsen, Dan Shak, Anette Obrestad and Ty Reiman.

Written by Maria · Filed Under Poker News 

Comments

2 Responses to “The Top 10 Poker Players in the World According to ESPN”

  1. JBM on February 10th, 2010 4:48 pm

    Anrew Feldman sucks Alaei’s Cock. and lisandro is just an Italian meat head.

  2. Frank Scapa on February 13th, 2010 6:26 pm

    The top 10 is close to being correct now weather or not in that order well maybe.

    First this is list is the best poker players not the best ” Online ” Poker Players.

    There are so many other Poker player’s that may not be house hold names because they don’t play every Televised Tournament and that is just about the only way to become a ” Famous ” Poker Player.

    But I have been playing poker since 1967 played in just about every casino in the U.S. and 100’s more in other Countries believe it or not, and I am a action junky a pure Gambler so I am always on the look out for a high-stakes game either in a casino, a home game, a pool hall, bars social clubs you get the point.

    And I must be honest these young phenom players are completely reckless when it comes to money there has been so many times that i cant even count in the last 3 years the poker sessions i played in we were not playing poker we were playing as if we were playing roulette but like i said I am a action junky and always wanting in the biggest games I can find.

    But there is a difference between sitting at a poker table and playing poker and sitting a poker table and doing ” flips” for 10k a hand meaning everyone at the table is forced to go all-in pre-flop, I remember the first time i was asked if i was O.K. and if I wanted in This was in a back room in a well known pool hall well being the gambler I am I said bring it, 4 hands later about 2mins later I was stuck 20k now i could have went to Fox woods casino that was only a half hr away and played blackjack for 10k a hand or whatever but it was not like no one put a gun to my head but I’ll never do that again it wasn’t even fun 3 people in that game lost everything they had.

    But as I was trying to get to As I started out saying it was not to long ago I was playing in a $2k/$4k PLO game with a $400 antie this was in a private game and all the years playing poker and I have played with just about every pro. and famous poker player there is, at this game there was 2 famous players and the other players I have never played with they were in there late to young 30’s this was the absolute toughest group of players I have ever and remember I been playing for over 40 years now so when i say these young kids were top notch poker players. We played a 15hr session and usually after say 20 hands or so you start to pick up curtain reads,tells or leaks in your opponents that’s why it is always important to feel the table out before you get heavily involved and remember the other players are doing the same.

    Anyways after about 6hrs of playing I still was unable to pick up any type of tells or leaks in these kids, they played poker the purest best I honestly can say I have ever seen not One mistake did they make now playing Omaha its hard to believe I know if i wasn’t in the game I would never believe it myself.

    I hope they don’t get mad for name dropping but there were 8 of us playing 2 you already know so no sense of saying there names but the other 5 players there were 3 don’t get me wrong the other 2 played flawless also but something about these 3 players stood out

    Nick Sirio

    John ”Doeboy” not sure of his last name but everyone was calling him ”Doeboy” I asked what his real name was he told me John…

    and this player who everyone was calling ” Bats ” I believe his first name is Vinny he’s only 18yrs old he’s well known at Turning Stone Casino where you can be 18yrs old to play , but when he turns 21 and decides to play in any Televised Tournament he will be ” Famous” quick

    I have Played with the Likes Of Tom ”Durrrr” Dwan and other players that were under 21 this kid by far is the best I have seen!

    So those would be my top 3 that’s for sure..

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