Despite the controversy surrounding his name, Jamie Gold’s big win at the 2006 World Series of Poker earned him a record-setting $12-million prize at the Main Event.

He may not be well-liked, he may not have tons of poker experience, but he does have a playing style all to his own. If you’ve seen him at the table then you know that Gold’s style is unique in that he has a knack for pressuring his opponents to playing their entire stack (especially when he’s playing position or last to bet) .

Anyway, enough about Jamie Gold. Here are your top 10 all-time money winners:

Jamie Gold - $12,161,719
Joe Hachem: $10,394,659
Daniel Negreanu: $9,450,425
Allen Cunningham: $9,079,706
T.J. Cloutier: $9,064,951
Phil Ivey: $8,949,083
Juan Carlos Mortensen: $8,339,895
Jerry Yang: $8,251,324
Phil Hellmuth Jr. $8,248,841
Erik Seidel: $7,480,553

For the complete list of money winners, check out this site.

When Brandon Cantu won his first WPT title at the 2008 World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Stars he neglected to leave a tip for the dealer. Naturally, that caused a big stir and all of a sudden Cantu’s being labeled a bad guy for cheaping out on the staff. In his defense, here’s what Cantu had to say:

“In this specific situation, I simply assumed that a percentage of fees were withheld for all appropriate staff, as this practice is common amongst most major tour tournament events,” said Cantu in a statement concerning the issue.

A lot of the time it isn’t made clear what the rules are in the case of tipping the dealer after winning a major poker tournament.

Shooting Stars director Matt Savage explains it this way: “It is unfortunate the way this issue came out publicly. I feel really bad, and I think he is a great player. I am happy he won, and I believe that tipping is a personal choice,” said Savage. “I do, however, want to make sure that my staff is taken care of, because they are all so deserving. Nobody has been paid yet, because the club is trying to find a way to make it right.”

What do you think? As a suggestion, it should be made clear prior to every major tournament that tipping is appreciated. Or not necessary. Whatever. How hard is it to dish out a few bucks after taking in a huge haul?

1. Have enough money to support yourself. I don’t recommend moving to Vegas to play poker unless you’ve been able to accumulate a sizable bankroll to live on.

2. Get a sponsor to fund part or all of your play. Even someone willing to stake you is good, but you have to pay them a share. Any sponsor wins are all yours.

3. Have a Plan B. Many professionals have had to try a couple of times before they were able to win enough to survive. Have something to fall back on just in case.

4. Study the game and practice thousands of hours of play. You need to be an experienced player who understands the game at all levels, or you’ll go broke fast.

5. Promote yourself at every opportunity. Recognizable poker players get sponsorship deals. Promote yourself by teaching, writing or making television appearances whenever possible.

There will always be young guns out there looking to become the next big thing in poker. The beautiful thing about poker is that age simply doesn’t matter. The young players can come up and try to make their mark, but it’s not like they knock old players out of the scene.  This isn’t boxing or an athletic sport; Doyle Brunson can play with the best in the world on any day, and he’s in his mid-seventies. A poker player gets better with age, as long as they’re in command of their mental abilities. Experience is the key.

Young players like Hevad “Rain” Khan, who finished sixth in the WSOP Main Event last year, are not intimidated by the older pros they face on the tables. Nineteen-year-old European poker prodigy Annette Obrestad has a WSOP circuit event bracelet, and she has been dominating online for a couple of years now.

When it comes to the ladies, the poker scene is mostly dominated by the professional players. There are far more amateur men playing per capita then there are amateur women on tour. Hopefully the new WPTL will change that and bring more new female players to the game. But for now at least, it’s tough to state that an amateur player will be able to win against the female professionals today.

The only way that amateurs will play a major role in the event is if the professionals don’t bother with them. Many female pros don’t bother with these female-only events because the prize pools are smaller than the regular events. Few top pros play the WSOP female championship because there are other events in which they can win more. If the top pros shun these events then an amateur may certainly win, but I doubt that will happen.

David “The Dragon” Pham had 16 cashes in 2006, including six final tables and three wins. After a year like that, no one expected David to do what he did in 2007. Last year he improved to 17 cashes, 11 of them final tables, with four of them being wins. He won over $1.8M in tournament play, and was the CardPlayer Player of the Year for 2007.

David is a cousin to poker star Men “The Master” Nguyen. He came to the country as a refugee aboard a boat fleeing Vietnam when he was 17. His lifetime stats are as impressive as his 2007 stats, with over $7.2M in tournament earnings in the last seven years. Always a contender for Player of the Year, Pham won the prestigious award in 2000 as well. He has two WSOP bracelets and five WPT final tables, but has not won one yet.

1. David Pham won his second Player of the Year honor and $1.8M in earnings this year.

2. J.C. Tran was second in POY standings and earned $2.9M this year.

3. Jonathan Little earned $2.5M in tournament winnings including a WPT win in May.

4. Tom Schneider earned $733,589 including 2 WSOP bracelets in 2007.

5. Scott “BigRisky” Clements won over $2.2M and finished fourth in the POY standings.

6. Scotty Nguyen won over $800,000 and had seven final tables this year.

7. William “Bill” Edler won over $2.7M including a WSOP bracelet and a WPT championship.

8. David Fox won almost $700,000 including a WPT Finals event in November.

9. David “Devilfish” Ulliott has won over $1.2M this year including two WPT wins.

10. Jerry Yang won the WSOP main event and over $8M, he makes the list because he becomes the second-largest tournament prize winner in history.

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.

1. Erik Seidel has to be the man. He has eight bracelets, four of them in the last six years. He has won over $7M in tournament play, plus his cash table earnings.

2. Allan Cunningham has five WSOP bracelets in the last six years, including three in a row. He has earned over $8.7M in tournament winnings.

3. Scotty Nguyen consistently cashes wherever he is. He cashed six times at the WSOP 2007, including an 11th-place finish in the main event.

4. Phil Ivey is one of the top players today. He has five WSOP bracelets in the last seven years, and two big wins in Monte Carlo in 2007.

5. Tom Schneider won two WSOP bracelets last year, one in Seven Card Stud Hi/Low 8 or Better, and also in Omaha/Seven Stud Hi/Low 8 or Better. He also made the final table of the $2500 HORSE event.

The top candidates for player of the year would have to be J.C. Tran, William “Bill” Edler, Jonathan Little and David Pham. They are at the top of just about every professional ranking list out there right now, all within a few hundred points of each other. Pham leads the CardPlayer Magazine standing with 5,410 points with 10 final tables. He is third on the PokerPage’s ProRank 1 list with 25,378 points.

J.C. Tran tops the ProRank 1 list (27,044 points) but is in fifth place (4,458 points) on CardPlayer’s. Bill Edler is second on PR 1 (25,446 point) and fourth on CP (4,777 points). Jonathan Little is fourth on PR 1 (24,477 points) and second on CP (5,272 points).

That makes the race for the best player up in the air at this point. There’s not many events left in the year, but my money is on J.C. Tran to win.