Who is the best Holdem player?

[1ofTheFellas]

Whomever said Johnny Chan has lost their mind! At one point he was great but he today would prob NOT even be in my top 200!! And I'm not exaggerating.. There are so many great poker minds these days, its hard to say who is THE BEST... So many online guys have made huge splashes... Chris Moorman is awfully good...

 

[imafish]

Phil Ivey. He's proven his greatness at all forms of poker, not just Hold'em.

 

[A2345Razz]

I don't get the question...

Do you mean all around holdem....HU NL?

LHE?

SHLHE?

LIVE NLH?

ONLINE SH NLH?

TOURNAMENT NLH?


etc. etc....

No one is at the top in every format.

All around I suppose Ivey must be considered the top player....PH a top tournament NLH player....Haxton the top HU NLH player (over time)....Someone like Lee Markholt might be a surprise FR live player....its hard to say a lot of top guys are in Macau gambling in up live now, so who knows.

 

[BomTombadil]

Viktor Blom is one that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread yet, but I think he's one of the best.

 

[robhimself]

Ivey is still by far the biggest winner in online cash, so I'll give it to him. Other players like Antonius, Jungleman and Isuldur1 are up there as well. I wouldn't put Dwan on there anymore after how badly Jungleman was crushing him in the months leading up to BF.

If we look at just tourneys, I think there are just way too many that are so close and the only difference between them is how they run in the LOLSAMPLESIZE that is live tournament poker. Even online, you'll never get a great sample of Sunday Millions in your lifetime, so it's pretty tough to compare without having played the players individually.

 

[grandpajesse]

A lot of the online guys are sickos. Isaac Haxton comes to mind, he's a beast

I would agree that Ike is top . All these standard DN, Durr, and Ivey votes are nothing but "Seen them on HSP" answers. Another good answer would be Moshin Charanea. I know I butchered that name... sorry. 0_o I think that some of the best NLHE players are mostly unknown by amateur players. Another great cash game player is John Hennegen. I like Scott Seiver a lot as well. Just too difficult to pin someone down as being "the best"
Edit* Forgot to mention John Juanda. He is very sick as well. Perfect balance of old school live grinder with moves like Jagger.

 

[Dragonbol79]

Daniel Negreanu I believe is good reader but Phil Ivey is a more serious and good player.

 

[Yoshimiii]

I think it's Johnny Chan, because he had 2 first place, and a second place all back to back world championships!!! I doubt very much if anyone ever matches that, let alone beats it.

He achieved that when the player pools were alot smaller and weaker yes?

Anyway, it's still good.

 

[Flsnookman]

Yes the field sizes were smaller when Chan won 2 and Stu won 3, but there were far less weak players too. I realize that the smaller fields mean less mines to dodge but it was the best in the world so no fish to feed on either. Also, I am pretty sure they call the 8 game championship trophy at the wsop the Chip Reese trophy because when he died he was considered by the games greats to be the best all around player.

 

[joker131]

seen them all in mtt on tele, they dont do anything special.example ausi open . neg went all in 10 10 came up against kk final table and hit the 10. plenty off cash to enter the tornys and the odd bit off luck . any off the players

 

[Maksimus771]

Ivey, Hellmuth, the grinder, тhey have immunity to shock!

Element defines the best of luck!

If you stop by AA and some sort of crazy rolls with your Aces with 68 such as experience shows that a pair of 72 hits harder, what it turns out that he is the best?

 

[Flsnookman]

If luck is such a big factor how come the same 50-100 people end up winning most of the time?

 

[ScottishMatt]

. . . Thread is derail . . .

 

[rocket316]

No one has mentioned Sam Trickett. He's not an online baller like dwan/isildur/haxton etc but in terms of high stakes live tourneys and cash games he has crushed them all

 

[Daniel72]

In Live Poker: Phil Hellmuth, he has the most cashes and also the most bracelets.
(But he does things the online players dont approve LOL)
Online: there are too many players, cant say it.

 

[Marginal]

Cyril Mouly

 

[Boocha]

There are way too many amazing players nowadays and most of us have only experienced them on tv/internet. Not to mention the definition of "best". This question is akin to asking what is my favorite song.

 

[Abedin120]

Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu.

 

[dudemanstan]

After looking more into this I am now leaning towards Antonio Esfandiari. He thinks about hands exactly the way I do.

 

[Enzo1089]

When it comes to the best player, my vote is a toss up between Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, and Phil Hellmuth (if I had to cast a definitive vote, it would be in that order).

Another that I haven't seen mentioned much on this thread is Tom Dwan. He is my personal favorite poker player to watch, just because he is so unpredictable at the table.

 

[A2345Razz]

After looking more into this I am now leaning towards Antonio Esfandiari. He thinks about hands exactly the way I do.

ROFLMFAO, no.

Guy was like a 10/20 reg before the boom.

I am sorry, no one who has only proved themselves in tournament poker for the most part (im sure he was profitable in cash, but not even close to the highest levels) can be considered a "top holdem player"...

Same goes for PH...I don't even think he could beat some tough 5/10 lineups these days in cash....just not a good cash holdem player.

Also was a fish in HU LHE online where he dumped zillions to top Limit players and whined a lot in chat in the process.