You don’t become a world-class poker player if you don’t like the action. Many big-name poker players have betting in their blood, and prop bets and sports betting often go hand in hand with players. Doyle Brunson claims to have lost millions on sports betting and golf. Gus Hansen is another notorious sports bettor who has dumped a large portion of his poker profit to the books.
Daniel Negreanu and his friends Eric Lingren and Gavin Smith spend their entire day dropping bets on just about anything that walks across their path. Prop bets (position bets) are played during cash games and can often move more money around than the poker game on the table.
These players have lots of money and are living the high-roller lifestyle. They live in a gaming environment, and one can understand why many players gamble at other games with their winnings.
With more prominent tournaments scheduled for the next couple of months, which players should we expect to see in the latter stages of these events? With so many events in Europe and Canada, young Scandinavian poker prodigy Annette Obrestad will be able to play because of the 18-year-old age restriction.
Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is always a dangerous tournament player and has had great success on the WPT. Daniel Negreanu is due to win an event; his last win came at Tunica in 2006.
The usual pro rank leaders are sure to be seen: J.C. Tran, Juan Carlos Mortensen, Nam Le and Gavin Griffin all seem to go deep into most of the events they play. Dan Harrington is one of the best tournament players of all time and if he decides to play in a lot of events he’ll surely end up in front of a camera at a final table.
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.
PokerStars has a new Grey Cup promotion where qualifiers go to the big CFL championship game and play a tournament for a million dollar prize pool against stars like Daniel Negreanu. PokerStars is also gearing up for the WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) which should once again prove to be among the biggest events ever played online.
PartyPoker has started qualifying players for its Million VI tournament next May. The cruise is an eight-day tour of the Mediterranean highlighted by an $8200 main event tournament. The $12,000 prize includes $1,100 in spending money.
Bodog has a new promotion that offers players the opportunity to launch their poker career a little early. Winning includes a cover story in Online Poker Pro Magazine and a buy-in to the tournament of the winner’s choice up to $10,000. The winner will be chosen from a random draw compiled of players that play in Player’s Choice satellite tournaments.
Daniel Negreanu has been the best tournament poker player in the world over the last 10 years. You can argue that if you want to, but the numbers don’t lie. He has won a staggering $9,664,208 in tournament play over the last 10 years.
Negreanu’s total take is third only to Jamie Gold and Joe Hachem, who both won most of their amounts at the WSOP Main Event over the last two years. He is first all-time on the WPT money list, which includes two Championships, and has also added three WSOP Bracelets to his trophy case.
He had been consistent each year since 1997, but in 2004 he dominated professional poker like no one before. That year he won two WPT Championships, a WSOP bracelet, and a title at the Championship Poker at the Plaza. He added 11 other cashes that year and won CardPlayer’s Player of the year honors.
He was so dominant that year that people consider Negreanu to be in a slump. But he has continued to cash in numerous tournaments over the last three years. Things have really picked up over the last seven months where he’s won $1.2 million in two WPT events, finishing second and third.
Negreanu is one of most hardworking players on the tour. He is constantly promoting one endeavor after another, and he is in front of the camera as much as any big-name pro around. His popular blog offers readers an accurate, candid, and honest look into the life of a high-stakes poker player in today’s Vegas scene. He loves prop betting and will try just about any game in which he’s able to compete.
He’s also another young pro that gets respect wherever he goes. Negreanu shares his abilities as well as his experiences, and has written numerous strategy articles for CardPlayer Magazine, and is about to release a much-anticipated poker book sometime this year. He is one of those players who conducts himself with dignity and a positive attitude, setting a good example for young players to follow.
