The 25 Greatest Poker Players of All Time, Ranked

Last Updated on August 1, 2026 by Bala Kumar

Ask ten poker pros to name the best poker players of all time and you’ll get ten different lists,  and honestly, that’s the correct outcome. Bracelet counts, live earnings, and win rates each tell a different story, and none of them alone captures who was actually hardest to play against. This ranking blends all three: documented results (bracelets, rings, money list position), longevity, and the harder-to-quantify factor of how much a player actually shaped the game itself.

A quick reality check before the list: this race is still being written. As of the 2026 WSOP, Michael Mizrachi, Shaun Deeb, and Benny Glaser have all climbed to nine career bracelets, pulling level with Johnny Moss’s long-standing mark, meaning at least one name near the bottom of this list could realistically move up before the year is out.

How We Ranked the Greatest Poker Players Ever

We weighted three things: tournament hardware (bracelets and rings), verified career earnings from live tournament databases, and cultural or strategic influence, players who changed how the game is played get credit even if their money-list position undersells them. This is why you’ll see cash-game legends with modest tournament totals sitting alongside modern high-roller specialists with eight-figure live earnings.

The Ranking: 25 Greatest Poker Players of All Time

1. Phil Hellmuth — The undisputed record holder with 17 WSOP bracelets, more than any player in history, plus the all-time records for final tables and cashes. Love him or hate his table antics, no one has out-lasted more fields.

2. Phil Ivey — Widely considered the most complete talent the game has produced, with 11 bracelets spanning nearly every variant except pure Hold’em, and a reputation as the toughest read in high-stakes cash games.

3. Doyle Brunson — The “Godfather of Poker,” 10 bracelets across six different game types, and author of Super/System, the book that trained an entire generation of professionals before his passing in 2023.

4. Daniel Negreanu — Eight WSOP bracelets, six WPT titles, and over $50 million in recorded live earnings, but his real legacy is turning poker commentary and hand-reading into a teachable skill for millions of fans.

5. Stu Ungar — Won three WSOP Main Events, a feat matched only by Brunson and Moss, powered by a natural card sense many still call unmatched. His tragic 1998 death cut short what could have been the greatest résumé ever built.

6. Johnny Chan — Back-to-back Main Event champion in 1987 and 1988, immortalized further by his cameo in Rounders, and one of only a handful of players with 10 career bracelets.

7. Erik Seidel — Ten bracelets and a Poker Hall of Fame induction, but perhaps best known for his 1988 Main Event runner-up finish to Ungar — a hand that introduced an entire generation to tournament poker on film.

8. Johnny Moss — The first-ever WSOP Main Event champion (1970 and 1971), later adding a third title in 1974. His 9-bracelet total stood as a benchmark for decades and is only now being matched.

9. Bryn Kenney — Sits atop the all-time live money list with more than $88 million in earnings, boosted by a record-setting $20.56 million payout from the 2019 Triton Million, still the largest single tournament cash in history.

10. Justin Bonomo — Held the all-time earnings record before Kenney, with over $65 million in career cashes and a reputation as one of the sharpest high-roller regulars of the last decade.

11. Stephen Chidwick — A consistent top-five all-time earner, known for grinding the international high-roller circuit with a discipline that’s produced remarkably few off years.

12. Jason Koon — Another perennial top-five money-list finisher, respected as much for his mental-game coaching work as for his own eight-figure tournament résumé.

13. Fedor Holz — Broke records as one of the youngest players to cross $30 million in live earnings before stepping back from full-time play, reshaping how younger pros approach high-stakes tournament selection.

14. Vanessa Selbst — Three WSOP bracelets and the highest career earnings of any woman in poker history, built on an aggressive style that dominated mixed-gender high-stakes fields for over a decade.

15. Chip Reese — The first-ever Poker Hall of Fame inductee and widely regarded as the greatest cash-game player of his era, with a reputation built almost entirely at the table rather than on tournament stages.

16. Antonio Esfandiari — Won the largest first-place prize in tournament history, $18.35 million, taking down the 2012 Big One for One Drop, on top of three WSOP bracelets.

17. Michael Mizrachi — “The Grinder” has claimed multiple Poker Players Championship titles and reached nine career bracelets in 2026, cementing his status among the era’s top mixed-game specialists.

18. Shaun Deeb — Also at nine bracelets as of 2026, Deeb built his reputation bridging elite online volume with live tournament results, a crossover few players have managed successfully.

19. Benny Glaser — The third member of the 2026 nine-bracelet tier, a UK mixed-games specialist who may be the next player to reach double digits.

20. Scotty Nguyen — Five WSOP bracelets including the iconic 1998 Main Event win, remembered as much for his charisma and “gentleman” table talk as for his results.

21. Amarillo Slim — 1972 WSOP Main Event champion and poker’s first true ambassador to the mainstream public, doing more to popularize the game outside casino walls than almost anyone of his generation.

22. Tom Dwan — Never chased tournament bracelets, but redefined high-stakes cash game aggression during the Full Tilt boom years, influencing how an entire generation of pros approaches preflop pressure.

23. Viktor Blom — Playing as “Isildur1,” Blom became an online poker legend for taking on the game’s biggest names heads-up at nosebleed stakes, part of the wave that pushed online poker strategy forward a full decade.

24. Patrik Antonius — One of the most feared high-stakes cash game players of the 2000s and 2010s, known for a hyper-aggressive, mathematically precise style years ahead of its time.

25. Berry Johnston — A three-time bracelet winner and Poker Hall of Fame member whose consistency across decades of WSOP play made him one of the most respected old-guard grinders in the game’s history.

Quick Reference: Bracelet and Earnings Leaders

Player	WSOP Bracelets	Notable Record
Phil Hellmuth	17	Most bracelets, final tables, and cashes ever
Phil Ivey	11	Most non-Hold’em bracelets in history
Doyle Brunson / Johnny Chan / Erik Seidel	10 each	Tied for third all-time
Bryn Kenney	2	All-time money list leader (~$88M+)
Vanessa Selbst	3	Highest career earnings of any woman in poker

Why This List Will Keep Changing

Unlike most “all time” sports rankings, poker’s greatest-ever conversation is unusually live. The 2026 season alone pushed three players to nine bracelets simultaneously, and the all-time money list has changed hands more than once in the past five years as high-roller events with eight-figure prize pools have become more common. Any list of the greatest poker players of all time written in 2026 is, by nature, a snapshot rather than a final word.

For more player profiles, tournament breakdowns, and platform reviews, browse the full library at pokerclubgames.com.

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