Tuesday's Top 10: 10 Best No-Limit Hold 'Em Players in the World

We're coming up on one of the Gatorade Dump's favorite times of the sports year. It's not the first day of the college basketball season. It's also not the first day of the NBA season. It's also not the first day of the NCAA Tournament, the first day of the NBA Playoffs, the first day of the NFL season, or even the beginning of the MLB World Series.

Alright, so maybe it doesn't crack the Top 5 sports days of the year. Still, the day of the first World Series of Poker episode is an exciting day for us here at the Gatorade Dump. Not only are both of us relatively serious players ourselves (well, at least Ron is), but we're pretty big fans of the game. Unlike the many people that tune in to laugh at Norman Chad, we're pretty excited to see how all these tournaments play out.

So in honor of the first episode of the 2006 World Series of Poker, today's top 10 focuses on the 10 best Texas Hold 'Em players in the world. We considered many factors in this project. First of all, we tried to weigh tournament and cash game results equally. We may not know the results from every single cash game the pros play in, but we do have a general idea of who's a good cash game player. Secondly, we're focusing only on no-limit hold 'em. While Ron claims that figuring out the 10 best all-around players in the world is an easier task, it would take an analysis of too many factors to compile a list like that. Finally, recent results are weighed more heavily than past titles. Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan may both have 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, but they merely are honorable mention because of a lack of consistent recent results.

One important thing to keep in mind is that while we thought very hard about this list, reasonable people can disagree. We're very interested in seeing how you guys would do this differently. So please, give us your thoughts in the comments section.

Onto the list!

Honorable Mention: Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Mark Seif, Freddy Deeb, Erick Lindgren, Michael Mizrachi, and the star of the first episode tonight, Gavin Smith.

10. Barry Greenstein

Known as "The Robin Hood of Poker," Greenstein is one of the many on this list who are much better than they seem on television. He is widely known as a better cash game player and has been doing very well in the big game for quite some time. However, unlike other top cash game players like Chip Reese and Shawn Sheikan, Greenstein has fared fairly well in tournament play. He's not the type of player that will get Mike Sexton to start gushing about power poker or get Vince Van Patten to jump out of his seat in the WPT booth. But there are few players who are as consistent as Greenstein over the long run. For that consistency, Greenstein deserves a spot in the top 10, and I'd personally rank him higher.

So why is he ranked here? A lack of firsts in big tournaments as compared to the rest of the Top 10. Neither of Greenstein's World Series bracelets are in Hold 'Em. He has two World Poker Tour wins in his career, but one was in the WPT Invitational, which doesn't really count as a big win. Ultimately, while Greenstein may be the world's most consistent player, he doesn't have the wins to match the top 9 on this list, so we're sticking him here.

9. John Phan

The best player nobody's heard of. Quick, who's made more money playing poker, John Phan or Antonio Esfandiari? Who's won more tournaments, Phan or Greenstein? The answer to both questions is actually John Phan. The only time most people have probably seen John Phan on TV was in the 2005 World Poker Tour Championship, where he finished in 4th place. However, Phan has been tearing up the poker world over the past few years. He's won a number of smaller tournaments and has been tearing it up so far at the World Series of Poker, with a second place finish under his belt already. Save for Phil Ivey, Phan may be the toughest player in the world to read. His crazy style has earned him the nickname "The Razor," and has really helped him become a great professional. Keep an eye out for his name when the rest of the World Series of Poker episodes are released.

8. Jennifer Harman

Not only is Harman the top female player in the world, she is one of the top players in the world, male or female. She doesn't have the tournament results that the rest of the top players have, but part of that has to do with her kidney ailment that plagued her for the better part of 2003 and 2004. Add that up to the fact that she plays much fewer tournaments than other top professionals, and it's no surprise that she doesn't have the tournament results of the rest of the Top 5. She's a phenomenal cash game player that consistently wins in the big game, making tournament results that much more unimportant. Her best poker quality are her remarkable instincts, which has allowed her to make calls and folds that almost nobody else can make. Most importantly, if you ask any professional where Harman ranks among the best in the world, she'll almost certainly make the top 10. Respect from one's peers is ultimately what propelled Harman to 8th on this list.

7. John Juanda

A player without a weakness. I don't think I have ever seen Juanda misplay a hand, and I have watched a ton of poker in my life. As much as television would have you believe that hold 'em is about calculating odds and counting cards, it all really boils down to reading players while simultaneously making it hard for others to read you. Juanda may be the best in the world at mastering those two factors. He is impeccable at reading players and also is nearly impossible to read. He's an aggressive player that is an expert at changing gears to fit the situation. Two things hold him back from being #1. First, his cash game results leave a little to be desired. As good a tournament player as Juanda is, his style is not very suited for cash games. Second, compared to the top 6 on the list, he doesn't have a big splash in a big tournament. Each of the top 6 players has either multiple World Poker Tour titles, a Tournament of Champions victory, or 5+ World Series bracelets. Therefore, he belongs here.

Tied for 6th/5th: Mike Matusow and Phil Hellmuth

It's only fitting that these two antagonists are here. Neither are quite as good as they think, but they really aren't too far off. Matusow is probably the better player right now, but it's impossible to not weigh Hellmuth's 9 World Series Hold 'Em bracelets heavily. Hellmuth may be one bracelet behind Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan for tops all-time, but nobody can match Hellmuth's 9 Hold 'Em bracelets or his 52 World Series cashes. So far this year, Hellmuth has appeared to regain his mojo, with 4 cashes and one second already in the World Series. He's only this low because he sucks in cash games, but Hellmuth is unquestionably the best tournament hold 'em player of all time. Matusow has impeccable instincts and seems to have gotten his famous "Matusow blow-up" under control. He has made deep runs in the main event each of the last two years and has a Tournament of Champions victory under his belt. Matusow reads players better than almost anyone in the tournament, and is aggressive enough to make himself impossible to read. Now that he's gotten his brain farts and personal life under control, there's nothing stopping Matusow from being #1 in the future.

4. Men "The Master" Nguyen

Probably the world's most unique player. Men has admitted many times that he has never read any books or consuled any outside sources with his playing style. It's such an effective style, considering his status in the poker world today. Nobody is more consistent when it comes to tournament success. Men has won multiple Player of the Year awards and is always among the leaders in tournament cashes. Men is also easily the world's best short-stack player. I can't tell you how many times we've seen Men last forever with a short stack. He simply has an amazing ability to know when he should push to double up and when to push to steal blinds. Most importantly, Men is simply impossible to read. Nobody knows how he plays, even after all these years. Even top professionals can't figure this guy out. He's probably not as dynamic a player as any of the top 3, but I can confidently say that Men is the trickiest player in the poker world.

3. Daniel Negreanu

Such a solid all-around player. Negreanu has been lacking a bit in recent tournament success, but he still is one of the best cash game players in the world. That's not to say he has been doing poorly in tournament recently. After all, Negreanu has made more money playing tourmanent poker in his career than any other individual. It's just that he has only one win since 2004. Honestly, once the biggest nitpick against your poker ability is that you have only one big win since 2004, you're doing pretty well as a poker player.

Negreanu really has no weaknesses as a poker player. He reads players better than anyone in the game. His instincts are impeccable. Negreanu can call with anything if he feels he is best and can lay anything down if he thinks he is not. He can take advantage of amateurs and still be strong enough to beat the best. He can change gears to fit any table he's at and can be the table captain even with the most aggressive players in the game.

The only reason Daniel isn't #1 is the other two guys are better than him. Ironically, these two, Negreanu, and Juanda were once part of a crew that took the poker world by storm about 6 years ago. That makes Daniel the third-best player among his buddies. Now THAT is a real poker crew.

2. Allen Cunningham

Juanda may be the smoothest, Negreanu may have the best instincts, and the #1 guy on this list may be poker's most imposing player. But when asked last year in separate ESPN interviews who they believed to be the best poker player of the group, all three said Allen Cunningham. More than anything, that propelled Cunningham all the way up here. After failing to cash at all in the 2004 World Series, many forgot about Cunningham. It didn't matter that Cunningham was the youngest player to ever win a World Series bracelet in history, his 0 for 2004 made people believe that he lost his edge. But if 2005 was any indication, Cunningham, and not the #1 guy on this list, may win the most WSOP bracelets all-time. He won a bracelet and finished as the Toyota Player of the Year. This year, he has already won one event and is gunning for more. Nobody has more poker sense that Cunningham. He makes such great decisions and is always aware of where he is at any time when he's playing. He may not be as well known, but he's clearly #2...

1. Phil Ivey

...But he's not number 1. Ivey is the best by a longshot. There are many stories out there that speak to the dominance of Phil Ivey. One player, upon facing him last year, trembled when Ivey stared at him. This happens sometimes with amateurs when they're playing against big-name professionals, but Ivey wasn't even in the hand! There's also his claim that he wants to win 30 bracelets, which is 3 times as many as Doyle and Chan have now. But this is probably my favorite one.

Remember the World Series of Poker circut event that Ivey lost last year? The one where he seemingly self-destructed and blew a huge chip lead heads-up against Jeffrey Lisandro? Ivey went on the record and said that he was tired and just wanted the tournament to end. Winning the tournament didn't even matter for Ivey. He was legitimately bored playing heads-up for nearly a million dollars and a WSOP circut ring. Once you've won so much money that you're bored playing for that type of money, you deserve to be #1 on this list. End of story.