Friends I have seen that they refer to Phil Ivey as the best player in history, how true do you think he is? He has won 10 WSOP bracelets, he was one of the best high stakes players. Do you think there is a better player?

Not certain if he is the best to have played the game. Definitely my favorite.

I do not manage the ranking of the best players or if there are criteria for this, but in my opinion he is the best poker player

and what should be the criteria for ranking

In my opinion, Phil is one of the best when it comes to offline.

You wouldn't be wrong in saying Phil Ivey is the best poker player alive, as he plays all the games and his WSOP track record as well as other major tournament series, as well as high stakes cash games demonstrate his ability.

Many will say Chip Reese, when he was alive, was perhaps the best player too. He played high stakes against the best, stood the test of time, and is revered by many as the best.

There's so many great players, there may be no real correct answer, but these are two that come to mind for me at least.

Well, no doubt he is one of the best. In my opinion it is very hard to tell which player exactly is the best, meaning that he is better than everyone else. Really difficult task. As other people said, he may be the best alive offline player.

I think hat he is one of the best 10 players in the history.
Sometimes I couldn´t understands his plays to bumfuzzle us.
But, he´s logical than me.

I can say that he is the best Omaha player for this time!!

In my opinion, if several professional players play against each other, then 90% of the outcome depends on the cards. Therefore, despite the fact that someone wins more often than others, there are really good players who, unfortunately, drop out of the tournament earlier than the final table.

For me he is the best player, but who I am to tell

Yes, I think he is one of the best players in history. He deserved this status.

In my opinion he was never the best player in the world. He is a good poker player but not the best. Nowadays many players from the old one are losing space to new players who are destroying the senario of live and online poker. Poker is always catching up and these older players who are already very good are not being able to catch up and keep up with new poker players.

Hello, for me he is the best poker player nowadays, including many people when he started playing, many players wanted to play against him. His ability to play poker is impressive.

no way. phil ivey is not so good.

It is difficult to figure out who really is the best player. Opinion will have to suffice I guess. Mine is that Ivey is up there with the best, maybe the very best. Though I feel like it is hard to tell with poker.

The game is constantly evolving and it is never possible to say exactly who was the strongest poker player.

At different times, there were different techniques and strategies, many factors were not taken into account. And always any game style can be exploited. Phil Ivey is a legend and one of the best players in the world, but I think it will Never be possible to single out one as the best.

at first glance Ivey might look like a good candidate for best poker player, possibly also due to all the publicity his name is associated with. but I tend to feel his game is a bit outdated. I know some people might argue that, and thats fine. I love Ivey, but after watching Bryn Kenney play I think he is the most up to date, allround-player alive today. also its kinda hard to ignore he has almost doubled what Ivey made playing poker with nearly 60 million in winnings. poker trends have changed alot throughout the years. for me today its Bryn, who knows who it will be tomorrow?

The best poker player is the player who earns the most money from poker. By that standard, many insiders say that Chip Reese was the best poker player. Although he was hardly a household name, Reese gained a legendary reputation from playing high stakes cash games.

The most accurate sign for greatness is the number of years when you play at the top level and highest stakes. Players like Doyle Brunson have done that for more than 50 years. If Phil manages to do the same he will be considered one of the greatest.

Phil Ivey is one of the best poker players. But his style is old. Currently, there many new poker players such as Ben Sauce123 or Timofey Trueteller. They're very talented, I hope they will play live more.

A few people are saying Ivey's playing isn't up to date. But, how do you know? Isn't he mostly playing cash games in Macau? There aren't streams or any real information of the money he is or isn't making. Or how people are reacting to his game, or even just if he sits down.

Originally Posted by Drumsound

A few people are saying Ivey's playing isn't up to date. But, how do you know? Isn't he mostly playing cash games in Macau? There aren't streams or any real information of the money he is or isn't making. Or how people are reacting to his game, or even just if he sits down.

like i said i love Ivey because he is one of the people who turned millions to poker, but one cannot just turn a blind eye to the negative 9 million dollars dip he has this decade playing in poker stars and full tilt. that alone says alot. for me, it clearly shows its not easy for him to dominate his opponents like in the past and some are just plain better then him. now about Macau, I dont blame him going to play there. he definitely has an edge there because mostly he is up against rich business-men looking to slash some cash. totally different philosophy imho. in any case it would be cool if his winnings/loses are documented there, but they are not. but that goes for everyone. we can only go by the statistics and info we have and that shows him on a downward trend. I would love to see him make a legit comeback though.

Originally Posted by ramdon p358

Friends I have seen that they refer to Phil Ivey as the best player in history, how true do you think he is? He has won 10 WSOP bracelets, he was one of the best high stakes players. Do you think there is a better player?

he is a truly master and no one can doubt him 10 I win teneeeez

Best? Maybe. But I sure love to see him play cards.

Isnt phill ivey burried in lawsuits ammong other controversies? Last time i heard of him he was playing smaller stakes. Sad to see it

Originally Posted by shinmenkami

Isnt phill ivey burried in lawsuits ammong other controversies? Last time i heard of him he was playing smaller stakes. Sad to see it

He just settled them. Look for him to be more active this year.

The problem is how can you say who is truly the best. I dont think there is any possible way of saying who is the best of all time. Look at the cardplayer player of the year. Some of them are there year after year and make 20+ final tables and winning millions. They must be some of the best but when you look deeper into there final tables, many are the high roller events with 40 to 50 people. Other players like Phil Helmuth or Phil Ivey are not on there, why? They are not playing as many tournaments or just playing high roller events. Events Helmuth plays each year have several hundred to thousands of players in the events he plays. Making a final table where say 1 in 5 make the final table is a accomplishment and I wont take it away from them but making one final table a year where the average players are 800 or 900 would be much more of a accomplishment.

Lets look at players who have won big and compair.

Phil Ivey has won 10 WSOP events and WPT.

Doyle Brunson won 2 straight main events and 10 WSOP and a WPT event.

Phil Helmuth has 2 WSOP main event titles MAIN event and WSOP Europe main event. No WPT.

So who is better? Doyle won 2 straight but how many players were there in those days. Ivey has no main event wins but Phil Helmuth has no WPT wins. Helmuth only win the WSOP and cant win on the WPT, How can you decide.

The problem with tournament poker is how often do the best players win. You could actually be the best player in the world and by far and still never win one. Money cant be used as you many win 2 or 3 events with 3000 people in it and not even come close to the amount 2nd place wins in a high roller event. I just don think it possible to say who is best.

What I do think is possible is to define some of the best players ever, I just dont think you could ever say someone is the best ever.