Most professional poker players spend the lion’s share of their playing time in live games. The big-name tournament players are famous because of the television coverage of their live play. Lots of these players play online, but it’s not like the live tournament scene. Most celebrity poker players are sponsored by an online poker site. They wear the site’s logo in live events and play on the site for periodic promotions or whenever they want to.
Full Tilt Poker has professionals Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Clonie Gowan, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen and Allen Cunningham on their team.
PokerStars has Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Barry Greenstein, Isabelle Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, Tom McEvoy, Victor Ramdin, Vanessa Rouso, and Humberto Brenes.
UltimateBet sponsors professionals Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Jim Worth, Devin Porter and Annie Duke.
There have been numerous big-name players who made a name for themselves winning on the WPT over the last five years. Until the WSOP brand started a circuit schedule, the WPT was the only big tournament schedule during the entire year. Here are the top five WPT players:
1. Gus Hansen has four WPT championship titles and numerous WPT cashes. Gus is 15th on the all-time WPT money list.
2. Carlo Mortensen is second on that list and has two WPT titles, including this year’s $3.9 million first prize at the $25,000 Five Star Classic.
3. Daniel Negreanu has two WPT championships and is atop the WPT money list because of his 10 WPT final tables.
4. Barry Greenstein has three WPT titles and comes in at 20th on the all-time money list.
5. Tuan Lee has risen to third on the all-time WPT money list by winning three WPT titles in just two seasons.
Whenever you see Barry Greenstein playing in a poker tournament you should be rooting for him. That’s because when Greenstein wins a tournament he’s not the only one that really wins. Charities also win.
Greenstein donates all his poker tournament winnings to charity, a majority of which goes to Children Incorporated. This philanthropy has earned Greenstein the nickname the “Robin Hood of Poker” and a reputation as one of the nicest poker players you’ll ever meet. Before making a living at the poker tables Greenstein was a software designer working for Symantec. He left Symantec in 1991 to play poker fulltime, and the world has been better off because of that decision.
Greenstein makes a living by playing in high-stakes cash games, but it’s his tournament play that gets him noticed. Greenstein has two World Series of Poker bracelets, having won the $5000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw event in 2004, and the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event in 2005. He’s also cashed in over 20 WSOP events.
Greenstein has also had plenty of tournament success on the WPT circuit. Greenstein has finished in the money a whopping 12 times in WPT events and that includes four final tables and two main event wins. Those two big wins came in the 2005 World Poker Open and the 2006 WPT Invitational.
If you ever end up at the same table as Greenstein at a tourney and you’re lucky enough to eliminate him, you’ll end up with a signed copy of his book Ace on the River. In every tournament in which Greenstein plays, he keeps a copy of his book under his chair. If anyone at the table is able to knock out Greenstein he autographs his book and often writes out the hand with which he has just been beaten.
