There are millions of poker players around the world. And among those players, some stand out as the greatest of all time — the GOATs of poker.

It is difficult to determine the world’s best poker players in absolute terms. There are players who excel in cash games, tournaments, or both. They play classic games like Stud and Draw Poker or today’s popular games like Hold’em and Omaha. Some players compete in mid-stakes environments while others play at the highest stakes. And today, there are both famed live poker players and online poker legends. 

How, then, do we label any of them the best poker players in the world?

Determining the Very Best Poker Players

Since there are so many aspects of poker, such a variety of games and modes of play, not to mention decades upon decades of poker history and the evolution of the game, it is virtually impossible to name one person as the world’s best poker player. 

Naming the very best poker players ever requires setting aside some of the legends of the game. Historic poker figures like James “Wild Bill” Hickock, Doc Holliday, and Alice Ivers come alive from Wild West tales and notable writings. Poker legends like Johnny Moss, Nick Dandolos, and Jack Strauss were limited in scope by the era in which they played poker.

Setting them to the side as historical greats, we can narrow the “best poker players” category to those who have played in the past 50 years. This takes from two decades of poker and allows for crossover between live and online poker, cash games and tournaments, classic and new game variations, and the evolving meaning of high-stakes poker.

Who Are the Best Poker Players?

Check any list of the top poker players in the world, and there are five constants, in no particular order:

• Doyle Brunson
• Phil Hellmuth
• Daniel Negreanu
• Phil Ivey
• Stu Ungar

Many lists will or should include two more names:

• Erik Seidel
• Johnny Chan

All of these players accumulated poker accolades in the form of wins and tangible successes, as well as industry-wide respect for their poker skills. All of them have answered the question “is poker skill or luck?” by showing in no uncertain terms that they succeeded in poker over a sustained period of time through skill.

Doyle Brunson: The Godfather of Poker

A quintessential poker grinder, Doyle Brunson traveled his home state of Texas to play the best games he could find until he found his way to Las Vegas. Tex Dolly (or Texas Dolly) was one of the first players to compete in the World Series of Poker, and he was one of the few to earn 10 WSOP titles throughout his poker career. He won other titles as well, but his wins didn’t define his career.

Brunson became known as the Godfather of Poker for his authorship of “Super System: How I Made One Million Dollars Playing Poker,” the first significant poker book, one full of insider strategies and lessons that tested the notion of sharing such information. All the while, he continued to win tournaments but mostly be a consistently successful player in the largest cash game in the world. That ongoing $4,000/$8,000 mixed game grew but continues to put the best in cash poker in Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio on a regular basis.

Decades after starting to play poker, Brunson continued to compete. He also owned an online poker website called Doyle’s Room, authored other poker books, played online and live tournaments and cash games, and even represented the World Poker Tour in his 80s. He garnered the respect of the poker world until his death in May 2023 at the age of 89. 

Phil Hellmuth: The Poker Brat

This longtime poker player has been a record-setter since his early days in the game. Phil Hellmuth Jr. became the youngest poker player to win the WSOP Main Event in 1989 when he was 24 years old. He was the face of a new generation of poker players at the time. He is now the one with the most WSOP titles, as he won his 17th in 2023. 

While he did play cash games, Hellmuth was known for his tournament skills, having won titles in numerous game variations and buy-in levels. He was also known for his many televised poker appearances and winning numerous heads-up poker matches through the years. His online poker career was highlighted by his representation of the UltimateBet poker site for many years.

He became known as the Poker Brat for his rants at poker tables about competitors’ play, often pacing about, talking to himself, and complaining about his greatness being unrecognized. Hellmuth did co-author several books about poker, most notably and ironically “Positivity” in 2017. 

Daniel Negreanu: Kid Poker

When this longtime poker player first began showing up in poker rooms, he looked even younger than he was. He also became the youngest winner of a WSOP bracelet in 1998, so “Kid Poker” fit. Daniel Negreanu accepted it and his place in Las Vegas, where he moved from Toronto, Canada, to pursue a gambling lifestyle.

Poker quickly took the place of any other gambling, as the skill component captured his spirit. He learned multiple poker variants, ultimately specializing in Hold’em but winning WSOP bracelets in Pot Limit Hold’em, SHOE, Limit Hold’em, and – most recently – the nine-game mix that is the Poker Players Championship. He also captured two WPT titles in his decades of playing professional poker, earning a total of more than $50M in live tournament poker alone in his career. He has also played in the highest of high-stakes mixed cash games in Las Vegas for many of those years. 

Negreanu is a fan favorite, known around the world for his skills and outgoing personality. He has been a brand ambassador for different poker sites and has also written poker books, appeared on numerous televised poker specials, and even appeared in poker films and music videos.

Phil Ivey: Tiger Woods of Poker

Nicknamed “No Home Jerome” while growing up in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Phil Ivey began playing cards in his teens. He was a soft-spoken young man, so when he began making waves in poker, he was noticed purely for his skills. His stare at the poker tables is legendary, as is his ability to read his opponents. 

Ivey won his first WSOP bracelet in 2000 and won three in a single year in 2002. His penchant for everything from mixed games to high-stakes poker and gambling took him to the top of the popularity charts during the poker boom, at which time he became a member of Team Full Tilt. As he set himself apart from others in the game, and was notably a somewhat rare Black man in many poker scenarios, he became known as the Tiger Woods of poker. 

While Ivey has lived in Las Vegas, traveled the world, and lived in Asia to be close to the highest stakes in poker played in Macau, he is revered for his all-around accomplishments. With nearly $50M in lifetime tournament earnings to date and a near-record 11 WSOP bracelets, Ivey is often referred to as the GOAT – greatest of all time.

Stu Ungar: The Kid

Widely considered one of the original young guns of poker, Stuart – mostly called Stu – Ungar grew up in the gambling world of New York City. Gin rummy was his specialty at a young age, winning his first tournament by the age of 10, and he quit school early to earn a living and care for his mother. He was believed to have a genius-level intellect, an ability to learn, analyze, and calculate in a way that made him an ideal card player and gambler.

Ungar was extremely competitive, earning money early in underground poker games in New York City but eventually moving to Las Vegas. He transitioned to poker when gin rummy games became tougher to find, and specialized in heads-up poker. After winning the World Series of Poker Main Event in 1980 and 1981, Ungar struggled through the following years due to gambling problems and drug addiction. 

Ultimately, Ungar died in 1998 at the age of 45 of a heart condition brought on by unhealthy living and substance abuse. He is believed to have earned tens of millions of dollars in his life but lost it all. His daughter, Stefanie, keeps the memory of her father alive.

Erik Seidel

Widely considered one of the best players to ever compete in Hold’em poker games, Erik Seidel has 10 WSOP bracelets, WPT and EPT titles, and more than $46M in lifetime live tournament earnings to date. Even so, he is often overlooked by poker fans because he is quiet at the tables and never involved in controversies.

Seidel was a professional backgammon player in his younger years, stock market trader in his early adult life, and a professional poker player for the majority of the last several decades. He famously played in the Mayfair Club games in New York City and became a member of Team Full Tilt Poker during the poker boom.

Seidel has been famous for finishing second at the 1988 WSOP Main Event to Johnny Chan, as seen in the poker film “Rounders.” Most recently, Seidel took “New York Times” best-selling author Maria Konnikova under his wing and taught her how to play for her book “The Biggest Bluff.”

Johnny Chan

Born in China and raised partly in Hong Kong, Johnny Chan and family moved to the United States in the late 1960s. A penchant for gambling took him from Texas to Nevada – Las Vegas, to be precise – in his early adult years. 

Chan found success in poker, winning his first WSOP title in 1985 and then famously winning the 1987 and 1988 WSOP Main Events. The latter became well-known to fans of the film “Rounders,” as a scene features Chan.

After winning his 10th WSOP title in 2005, Chan has become less of a fixture in poker tournaments but continues to be present in the world of poker, most recently as partial owner of poker rooms in Texas.

Now that we’ve run down the list of exceptional poker pros, remember, it’s never too late to start your own poker journey. The best poker players of yesterday and today paved the way for the legends of tomorrow. Play poker now at BetMGM Poker online to get started.