Ever wondered what a professional poker players salary looks like?
No matter what sport it is, people always want to know who the best player is and how much they make.
We wanna know who the GOAT is.
Who the true untouchable is.
Poker has achieved semi-mythical status over the last few years thanks to the large sums of $$$ involved. Because of the monumental payouts, it seems that everyone wants to give it a go.
If you’re good at poker, you’ve got a chance of winning millions and turning yourself into an overnight professional poker player star.
But before any of that happens for you, let’s find out who the top 10 poker players are – and what a professional poker player salary looks like.
Warning: These figures might make your jaw drop.
Here's a list of top 10 poker players of all time: 10. BARRY GREENSTEIN 9. DANIEL NEGREANU. FB: TWITTER: https:/. Poker is usually a sociable game played with great spirits and friendly competition. However, that's not always the case. Sometimes you'll meet another pla. My highly scientific Top 10 Most TALENTED Poker Players of All Time! @junglemandan 4. @benjaminsulsky 6. The WSOP is one of the most prestigious series to be involved in and arguably the most lucrative. Here are the top ten highest earning poker players in the world.
The Best Poker Players
Daniel Negreanu – Best High Stakes Poker Player
Estimated earnings: Approx $33,000,000
Nicknamed Kid Poker by his legion of fans, Negreanu has achieved legendary status over the years thanks to winning more money on a live poker tournament than any other player.
He’s also the two-time WSOP player of the year (the only person to have won this award twice), and he’s collected a pair of WPT titles and 6 WSOP bracelets in his time. This all makes him one of the best poker players of all time.
Jason Koon – Best Poker Player 2019
Estimated earnings: $30,000,000
Jason Koon is the Triton Poker ambassador, and he’s totally killed it in 2019. So far this year, he’s won over $6,000,000 and continues to be an omni-presence on the Triton high roller tournament scene.
Many of the other top players in this list – including Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Antonio Esfandiari – have nothing but love for him, with many feeling that this dude has what it takes to be the GOAT in years to come.
Daniel Coleman – Best Young Poker Player
Estimated earnings: $29,000,000
Still under thirty-years-old, rising star Daniel Coleman has a big future ahead of him if he continues to play high stakes poker. He’s already defeated Kid Poker, kicking him out of The Big One For One Drop and taking home the $15,300,000 himself.
He’s also got a WSOP bracelet in his locker and is chasing his first WPT title.
Big things are expected of the man once known as mrGR33N13.
Thank God he ditched that nickname, eh?
Antonio Esfandiari – Best Poker Player of 2018
Estimated earnings: Approx $28,000,000
The Magician is a man of the people. He plays poker for big cash on television, but he likes to play with the man on the street, too.
Perhaps you’ve played with him yourself!
And if you haven’t – it’s best if you stay clear. He’s known as The Magician for a reason, bruh.
2018 was his year but his stash is continuing to roll as he picks up more winnings. He once held the world record for scooping $18,300,000 in one single payout, which was the biggest at its time. He’s one of the best poker players of all time and has a very handy professional poker player salary.
Dan Bilzerian – Best Celebrity Poker Player
Estimated earnings: Approx $50,000,000 +
If you got into poker in the last few years, the chances are that it was Dan Bilzerian who got you into it. Although he doesn’t play anymore, he’s that brash, gun-touting, womanizing Instagram star who lives the Scarface lifestyle more than anyone else. With 28 million Instagram followers, he’s one of the most famous poker players on the planet.
Back in 2013, he won $10,800,000 from one night of poker and has since amassed over $50,000,000 from the game.
He still plays with his buddies but no longer plays against professionals. I guess there’s no point if you’re already one of the richest poker players and you’ve got all the women you ever dreamt of. As such, while his poker income might be low these days, but he’s turned himself into a full-on entrepreneur who has his finger in many pies.
Jamie Gold – Best Mid-Stakes Poker Player
Estimated earnings: $12,000,000
Professional poker player Jamie Gold wins and loses heavily on the poker circuit, so much so that his antics have earned him the nickname Comeback Kid.
He’ll lose – but he’ll make sure he gets it all back.
He’s been doing the rounds on the tables for several years, winning his first (and only) WSOP bracelet in 2006.
His winnings for that particular event were an astonishing $12,000,000. That figure is even more astonishing when you consider the buy-in was just $10K.
Fun fact: Jamie Gold was a talent agent before he was a poker player, and “discovered” Jimmy Fallon. You’ll either love him or hate him for that one.
Phil Ivey – The Best All-Round Poker Player
Estimated earnings: $100,000,000
Love Phil Ivey or hate Phil Ivey (and most people hate him), he’s the top dog when it comes to poker. One of the best poker players of all time, the man can do anything he tries his hand at, and it’s small wonder his fans call him the Tiger Woods of Poker.
Unlike Jame Gold, who won a single WSOP bracelet, Ivey has won ten.
He’s also bagged himself a WPT title and is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.
Greg Merson – Best European Poker Player
Estimated earnings: $11,000,000
You won’t see guys like Dan Bilzerian tackling the European Poker Tours, but for professional poker player Greg Merson, this is his bread and butter.
For a guy once known as Gregy20723, poker has become a way of life. He’s still young, he’s still cool and the money keeps on piling up.
Stephen Chidwick – Best High Roller Tournament Poker Player
Estimated earnings: $31,100,000
Everyone who faces off against Stephen Chidwick gets a little scared. Everyone. This Englishman is one of the most feared faces on the high roller tournament scene, and he’s spent more time than most at the summit of the Global Poker Index player rankings.
He won his maiden WSOP this year, he’s one of the richest poker players on the scene, and big, big things are expected of him in the years to come.
Bryn Kenney – GOAT Poker Player
Estimated earnings: $55,500,000
It’s very hard to pick the GOAT in poker, and no doubt folk will disagree with our choice here.
But Bryn Kenney is having a sensational 2019, recently topped off by a mammoth $20,500,000 payout for a tournament in August.
And he came third in that one.
He’s been playing live poker since 2007, steadily stacking up the cash and winning WSOP bracelets along the way.
And he’s probably got one of the best bluffs we’ve ever seen. He’s one of the most famous poker players around and he’s great to watch.
Final Word on the Best Poker Players
Professional poker is the dream career for many men (and women) who love to strategize, gamble, and make big bucks.
The best poker players in this list have all earned a sizeable poker income thanks to being at the top of their game at one time or another.
Keep an eye out for next year, too – things rarely stay the same in this game.
Who are the World’s Richest Professional Poker Players?
Poker players come and go, with many rising stars disappearing as their 5 minutes of fame expires. This list of the best players features those who have stood the test of time. Most of them made the spotlight thanks to their tournament results.
There are plenty of cash game players, grinding out many millions in profit in the biggest games around. These players are not in the public eye anywhere close to as much as those who win televised tournaments. The list of the top 10 professional poker players includes the big names which have hit big scores year after year. This is a mix of the biggest names in the game – along with some more recent stars who also happen to be the richest poker players in the world.
Below you will find a brief history of the following poker superstars:
There are many more names which could have been included. These include the late Stu Ungar, Bobby Baldwin and high-stakes pro Patrik Antonius. The best thing about the world of poker is that new stars are breaking through all the time!
#1 Doyle Brunson
- Lifetime Earnings:$6,176,737
- Net worth: 75 Million USD
Doyle recently retired from the World Series of poker – making the final table of a 2-7 draw tournament as a fitting farewell. Nicknamed ‘Texas Dolly’, Brunson has a career spanning more than 50 years. He started in the infamous (illegal) Texas road games, before moving to Las Vegas.
With 10 WSOP bracelets, including wins in the Main Event, his record speaks for itself. Doyle Brunson is no stranger to cash games, appearing in the biggest buy-in games for many years.
He is best known for his book ‘Super System’. This bought the thinking of a poker pro to the masses at a time when this type of information was not readily available. Brunson also made a foray into online poker. His site ‘Doyle’s Room’ was a success, though he stepped away after the legal situation for online poker changed in the US. The room was renamed America’s Cardroom and still runs, though Brunson is no longer involved.
Though officially retired, I am sure that Doyle Brunson will continue to be known as the ‘Godfather of Poker’ for many years to come.
#2 Daniel Negreanu
- Lifetime Earnings: $39,656,196
- Net Worth: 50 Million USD
Source: PokerStars.com
Behind the ‘likeable’ and media-savvy personality of Daniel Negreanu is one of the sharpest poker minds around. He was recently passed in the all-time money list by Justin Bonomo – though still has an amazing $39,500,000 in tournament cashes to his name. Negreanu has won multiple WSOP bracelets, WPT titles and major online events. He competes at the highest levels in both cash games and poker tournaments.
Daniel Negreanu would go broke on several early trips to Vegas from his native Toronto before finally learning how to beat the games. He is the author of several books, including ‘Power Hold’em’, and contributed a chapter to Doyle Brunson’s Super System 2. He is known for popularizing ‘small ball’ poker. This involves keeping pots deliberately small over several betting streets, to allow you to maximize your skill edge.
While not in the biggest Las Vegas games, Daniel is the face of PokerStars. He also has some acting credits, including as a mutant in a recent X-men movie and he’s very active on Twitter. With a competitive instinct like his, I would not bet against him returning to the top of the all-time prize money list sometime soon!
#3 Phil Ivey
- Lifetime Earnings: $26,267,284
- Net Worth: 100 Million USD
Top 10 Poker Players 2020
10 times WSOP bracelet winner and feared opponent in cash games at the very highest stakes – Phil Ivey is considered the best all-round poker player in the world by fellow professionals. Unlike many big names in the game, he does not seek out publicity – preferring to keep his private life and poker separate. Ivey was inaugurated into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2017.
Ivey broke through at the 2002 WSOP – winning three bracelets. This tally would eventually reach 10. While many opponents specialise in No-Limit Hold’em, Ivey has won bracelets in events as diverse as PLO, Stud and mixed-game poker. He also has a World Poker Tour title – taking down the LA poker classic in 2008 for more than $1.5 million.
For many years Phil Ivey was the face of Full Tilt poker. He was also a regular feature on the televised ‘Poker After Dark’. More recently, he has been in the news for activities outside of poker. A legal dispute with a London casino concerned ‘Edge Sorting’. This is a method of identifying cards using the diamond patterns on their backs.
#4 Tom Dwan “Durrr”
- Lifetime Earnings $3,166,253
- Net Worth: 12 Million USD
Source: PokerNews.com
While most of the big stars of the poker world have tournaments to thank for their success, Tom Dwan shot to fame playing the highest stakes cash games online. During the poker boom years, his online screen name ‘Durrr’ as followed by millions of aspiring players.
Things reached fever-pitch in 2009, when he announced a million-dollar challenge to anyone that would face him heads-up at high-stakes. This challenge was in the nosebleed stakes of either No Limit Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha. Two challengers stepped forward, Patrik Antonius and Daniel Cates. Unfortunately, the temporary shut down of Full Tilt Poker in 2011 interrupted the challenges – which were never completed.
While Dwan has tournament cashes to his name, he has yet to win a WSOP bracelet. These days he can be found in Asia, playing in the highest stakes live cash games around.
#5 – Fedor Holz
- Lifetime Earnings: $32,550,884
- Net Worth: Unavailable
Compared to the big names that share this page, Fedor Holz is a young upstart. I have included him as a great example of a new generation of players who compete at the very highest stakes. The biggest cash of this German pro was in the $1 million buy-in ‘Big One for the Drop’ event in 2018. Holz finished second, getting $6 million – propelling him to 4thin the all-time earnings list. When you consider he was born in 1993, that is already a spectacular achievement.
Holz is involved in funding start-up companies, as well as competing in high-roller events around the world. His wins include many big money events in Macau and around Europe. He has one WSOP bracelet at the time of writing – though I expect that tally will grow. Holz also has wins in WPT and EPT events.
#6 – Antonio Esfandiari
- Liftetime Earnings: $27,685,058
- Net Worth: 23 Million USD
Source: Pokerfuse.com
No list of the best poker players would be complete without the winner of the biggest tournament prize — Antonio Esfandiari. Esfandiari took down the 2012 ‘Big One for the Drop’ at the World Series for a staggering $18,346,673. This score alone took him (temporarily) to the top of the all-time money list.
A regular on television shows featuring high stakes games, Esfandiari is nicknamed ‘the magician’. He trained in magic before discovering poker. Though bought up in California, Antonio hails from Iran. He changed his named to Antonio as it was better suited to a magician!
Proving that the One Drop was no one-off, Esfandiari has two more WSOP bracelets, as well as two World Poker Tour titles. For a while he was the face of ‘Ultimate Poker’, though this site has since closed down.
Top Earning Poker Players
#7 – Phil Hellmuth
- Lifetime Earnings: $22,817,318
- Net Worth: 20 Million USD
While Phil Hellmuth is best known for his ‘poker brat’ persona – there is little doubt about his skills. Hellmuth tops the all-time WSOP bracelet rankings, with a staggering 15 wins – including the Main Event. His title came when he defeated Johnny Chan heads up in 1989, denying Chan a record 3rdwin – and becoming the youngest ever winner at the time.
With more than $20 million in career tournament cashes, there is more than enough proof that those early WSOP wins were no fluke.
Hellmuth is a prolific author. He has written several strategy books over the years. More recently he produced an autobiography titled ‘poker brat’. This takes you from his early years playing bar games around Wisconsin, to his first attempts at beating the Vegas games, though to the present day. While it is clear from this book that Phil is not ‘shy’, it does manage to bring out a more thoughtful side of this larger than life character.
#8 – Gus Hansen
- Lifetime Earnings: $10,258,051
- Net Worth: 15 Million USD
Source: Pokerfuse.com
Danish poker Pro Gus Hansen was a fixture at the ‘nosebleed’ stakes during the online poker boom years. Hansen is reported to have lost more than $20 million on Full Tilt to fellow high stakes poker pros. These days Gus Hansen is out of the public spotlight. He can still be found playing at the highest stakes – in Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
He also appeared on TV shows regularly and was a brand ambassador for Full Tilt poker (along with Phil Ivey and many other pros). Gus Hansen has fewer tournament scores than many other big-name pros. These include a WSOP bracelet won in Europe in the high-roller heads-up event in 2010.
Hansen has a book – called ‘Every Hand Revealed’, which was released in 2008.
#9 – Johnny Chan
- Lifetime Earnings: $8,710,953
- Net Worth: 10 Million USD
Chinese-born poker pro Johnny Chan almost pulled off 3 WSOP Main Event wins in a row. After winning outright in 1987 and 1988, he was defeated heads-up by Phil Hellmuth in the 1989 event. This takes nothing from Chan’s record as one of the toughest players ever to compete in the game. With 10 WSOP bracelets and accolades from many other events, Chan plays cash games at the highest levels too.
He also has acting credits. These include playing himself in the popular poker movie Rounders (during a flashback scene). Like many poker pros, Johnny Chan has released books. These are ‘Play Poker Like Johnny Chan’ (2006), and ‘Million Dollar Hold’em’ – which focused on the then popular fixed limit version of Texas Hold’em.
#10 – Justin Bonomo
- Lifetime Earnings: $42,979,591
- Net Worth: Unavailable
Source: PokerCentral.com
Bonomo might not be as well-known outside of poker than many other names on this page – though he fully deserves his spot in the top 10 list. After winning the 2018 Aria Super High Roller tournament, Justin Bonomo became the all-time money winner from poker tournaments. With more than $42 million in cashes to his name. He overtook Daniel Negreanu, who has been grinding out live tournaments for a lot longer than Bonomo – who was born in 1985,
This player was known as ‘ZeeJustin’ online for many years. He was involved in controversies, including multi-accounting at Party Poker. With 3 WSOP bracelets and countless high-roller cashes already under his belt, Bonomo is one to watch.