Why Winning a Poker Tournament WILL BE the Most Special Moment in Gambling9 Great Poker Pros Who Will Be Remembered for the incorrect ReasonsTheComparing Online Casino Sites for Web Gamblers
Of all of the thrills gamblers can experience, winning a poker tournament might just be the most exhilarating.
Just watching this old clip from the 1989 World Group of Poker (WSOP) Main Event still gives me goosebumps each time.
Pay attention to the two 2:58 mark, right because the pivotal 6 of spades on the river cinches poker?s World Championship for a baby-faced Phil Hellmuth.
As soon as the ?Poker Brat? sees he?s dodged the deck ? fading 13 outs to dethrone two-time defending champ Johnny Chan ? he thrusts his arms skyward in pure exultation.
Granted, winning the largest poker tournament of them all at 24 years young tends to have that effect, but that first-place feeling continues to be a thrill regardless of what stakes you play.
Phil Hellmuth Celebrating 1989 WSOP Win
Unlike other casino staples like blackjack and roulette that offer a singular return ? betting, sweating, and seeing the effect happens within the span of a minute ? winning a poker tournament requires a ton of commitment.
Whether you?re grinding a nightly No Limit Texas Hold?em event at your neighborhood casino, a three-day bracelet tournament at the WSOP, or even just a quick 10-handed Sit and Go surfing, you?ll need to decipher hundreds and even thousands of decisions.
Which cards to play before the flop. Just how much to wager together with your opening raise. How to proceed if an opponent plays back with a three-bet in position. When you should keep chasing that flush or draw, or just fold to live and fight a later date.
These are all the decision inflection points a tournament poker player encounters while sorting through only a single hand. Add up a few hours or several days of grueling play against opponents who want nothing more than to bust you and add your chips with their stack, and the poker term ?grinding? becomes entirely appropriate.
That?s why navigating the minefield posed by 100+, 1,000+, as well as 10,000+ player fields and actually laying claim to every last chip in play is this type of surreal feeling. Everybody began the journey with exactly the same buy-in and the same starting chip stack, but somehow, you emerged from the pack to defeat all comers and collect the lion?s share of the prize pool.
Oh yeah, I haven?t even mentioned the amount of money, either.
When Hellmuth took down Chan to win the 1989 WSOP ? then your biggest tournament on the planet when it comes to prize money ? the eventual 15-time gold bracelet winner earned $755,000 for his efforts.
Some 30 years later, Hellmuth has parlayed ?cashes? in live tournament play into $22,861,742 in career earnings, along with his best score a fourth-place run for $2.64 million in a tournament that cost $1 million just to play.
And for all that dough, Hellmuth is ?only? 19th on the Hendon Mob database?s all-time tournament earnings list, with leader Justin Bonomo doubling up at $45 million and counting.
Suffice it to say, capturing the crown in a poker tournament ? any poker tournament ? can be an accomplishment coveted by players of every caliber.
Just ask these four professional poker players who tried their best to encapsulate what tournament victory really feels like ? even for elite talents who take action all the time.
The Pros LET YOU KNOW What Winning a Tournament Is Really Like
After bursting onto the poker scene during the ?boom? days of 2003 through 2006, Mike ?The Mouth? Matusow fell on crisis. A drug arrest and subsequent incarceration took him off the tournament circuit for an extended spell, but he returned with a vengeance in 2013 at the 2013 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Mike "The Mouth" Matusow At Heads-Up Poker Championship
That year, after carving through a stacked bracket featuring one-on-one duels, Matusow squared off against none other than his ?frenemy? Hellmuth. With $750,000 on the line, not forgetting bragging rights between your pals and occasional nemeses, Matusow finished up in the winner?s circle.
You can watch the entire Finals matchup, but here?s the undeniable money shot.
With Hellmuth already having raised all-in, Matusow held only 8-6 of diamonds for a flush draw on the turn. Hellmuth had the top pair, but Matusow decided to go for the kill, telling his crazed supporters on the rail, ?I?m going for the win!? as he committed the calling chips with authority.
You?ll need to watch to see exactly how the river card comes down, but let?s allow ?The Mouth? to accomplish what he does best by letting you know how his big win really felt:
?I hadn?t won one since 2008. I have only played about 40 since then, and these guys play about 40 weekly.
I?m along with the world at this time. You'll find nothing that feels better than winning a tournament. Nothing.?
In a far more recent example, high-stakes cash game pro Nick Schulman ? who's no slouch on the tournament felt either ? took home the title at the 2019 U.S. Poker Open?s $25,000 8-Game Mix Championship.
Nick Schulman Holding 2019 WSOP Gold Bracelet
After defeating 19 of the most proficient poker players in the overall game today, adding $270,000 to his bankroll in the process, Schulman told PokerNews how sweet tournament victory tastes.
?It feels damn good.
There?s nothing beats winning a tournament, whatever the field size. It feels great, and obtaining a clear first is exciting.?
Tournament wins don?t have to can be found in the flesh to feel crazy good, either.
Veteran pro and Team PokerStars rep Lex Veldhuis took down $55,000 for winning the $1,000 buy-in Thursday Thrill last year. And also after winning countless tournaments both online and live, Veldhuis told the PokerStars Blog that having a Twitch live streaming audience on hand to provide support made the win especially gratifying.
?Winning a tournament is a crazy feeling.
Winning a tournament on Twitch feels as though becoming Olympic champion. There is so much support on the way, and folks really sweat it hard.
Whenever there is a bad situation, they give you support after. Whenever you will find a large amount of tension, people say they actually can?t watch.?
Finally, even with winning not one but two gold bracelets at the 2006 WSOP, pro, Jeff Madsen still felt in the same way passionate about tournaments more than a decade later.
Jeff Madsen Wearing Two Gold Bracelets
Talking with CardPlayer Magazine about his intention to never retire, Madsen alluded to the ever-present urge to win tournaments as his prime motivation:
?Tournaments are always exciting, since it?s an all-or-nothing situation.
You can win a life-changing amount of cash, or lose it all on the first hand. And, there?s also just something great about winning a tournament.
You can win big in a cash game, and then you lose everything back the very next day, and it?s enjoy it never happened. But in the event that you win a tournament, in case you eventually lose all of that money, they can?t take the title or the trophy from you.?
Even the very best Players on the globe Have Trouble Winning Consistently ? Or at All
It could seem natural to assume that poker?s elite talents haven't any difficulty playing their way to a first-place finish. In the end, these are the game?s most skilled practitioners, professionals who put food up for grabs through their success in tournament play.
But as it works out, actually winning a tournament outright ? not settling for a runner-up finish or perhaps a prize money ?chop? at the end ? is incredibly difficult. The truth of tournament poker, and all gambling games for that matter is that statistical variance can wreak havoc on short-term results.
Over the course of a year or perhaps a decade, no quantity of volume is enough to balance out the result of random variance.
That holds true for the most highly skilled players, too, although to a lesser degree.
Take six-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu because the perfect example.
Before ?Super High Roller? trend starting to tilt the all-time money list towards those players in the last few years, Negreanu was the reigning leader for a decade running. Right now, his nearly $42 million in tourney earnings makes ?Kid Poker? #2 on the all-time leaderboard behind Bonomo.
As one would suspect from such gaudy numbers, Negreanu is no stranger to winning tournaments.
Daniel Negreanu Laughing
Or shall I say, he was no stranger?
Between your years of 1997 and 2013, Negreanu took first-place honors within an astounding 45 events. That list includes everything from $120 buy-in nightlies at the Commerce Casino to his six titles at the WSOP.
But because variance is inevitable for all of us, Negreanu hasn?t experienced the thrill of tournament victory whatsoever in almost six years. That?s right; his last win came in the past in 2013 at the WSOP-Europe ?25,600 buy-in No Limit Hold?em (High Roller) event.
Naturally, Negreanu has ten runner-up finishes to his credit during the drought, but as he would be the first to inform you, nothing short of victory is acceptable.
In an interview with PokerCentral ? conducted shortly after Negreanu came agonizingly close to his seventh gold bracelet at the 2017 WSOP with a second-place finish ? Negreanu discussed his seemingly inexplicable winless streak of late:
?It?s been sort of crazy that I haven?t won one in Vegas in an exceedingly long time.
I was hoping by now to have probably nine or ten bracelets, but at this point in my own career, I only have six.?
The recent spate of second-place runs suggests Negreanu should get off the proverbial schneid at some point soon, but at nearly six years now, his winless streak is proof positive that variance may be the only sure part of tournament poker.
Despite all of his success on the WSOP stage ? where he leads the all-time race by way of a mile with 15 gold bracelets ? Hellmuth is experiencing similar drought when it comes to World Poker Tour (WPT) titles.
Here?s the way the ?Poker Brat? has performed on the WPT circuit, widely considered probably the most prestigious of the year-long global tours.
Phil Hellmuth?s WPT Stats
Career Earnings = $1,568,116
Cashes = 17
Final Tables = 5
Titles = 0
You read that correctly. The poker world?s most decorated figure in terms of WSOP gold and glory is 0?fer on the WPT.
That career-long drought could be because of Hellmuth?s singular concentrate on the bracelet chase, but he?d undoubtedly let you know that five final tables tend to be more than enough opportunities to obtain over the hump.
After coming torturously near ending the drought in 2017 when Hellmuth was the runner-up at the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event, he returned last year to make two consecutive deep runs.
The 7th and 15th finishes in $10,000 buy-in WPT Main Events will need to have fueled his passion to finally scratch a Tour title off his bucket list, because for his 2019 poker goals, Hellmuth listed a couple of victories.
Another successful pro who knows the sting of extended winless streaks is East Coast legend Will ?The Thrill? Failla. With over $5.6 million in live tournament earnings, including 18 wins out of 244 in the money finishes, Failla is not any stranger to success on the felt.
But he certainly felt like one back in 2016 when coping with his second straight disaster of a WSOP summer. In 2015, after cashing only one time while playing a complete 50-event schedule, Failla found himself with only a lone cash 60 events through the 2016 WSOP campaign.
But after notching a badly needed final table run and fifth-place finish in the $ 1,500 No Limit Hold?em Bounty tournament, best for $71,049, Failla was on cloud nine. That?s what he told CardPlayer Magazine within an interview entitled ?The Curse Has Been Lifted? that ran right after the final table run:
?You see, that?s one thing so in love with tournament poker. It is possible to go ice cold for just two years.
I understand some guys who went 2.5 years without winning anything, despite grinding their asses off.
Then boom, you win a tournament, and you also forget about it. You knew it was there, nevertheless, you forgot about it thanks to one tournament.?
Will The Thrill Failla Winning Foxwoods World Poker Open Main Event
Asked about how he finds a way to push through the invariable losing streaks every poker player must deal with, Failla told CardPlayer that the imagine winning a title provides all the motivation he?ll ever need:
?I run right thru it, around three or four miles a day. And every day throughout that jog I tell myself, ?This may be the bracelet event. This may be the bracelet event.?
I am hoping and try, and hope and pray, and hope and try, and listen, I know one thing: It?s going to happen. I simply don?t know when. Hopefully, it?s likely to be soon.
I keep grinding and churning, and I?m inside it.?
With dedication like that, it?s no wonder Failla found himself back at another WSOP final table nearly one year later to your day.
And although that opportunity in the $1,500 No Limit Hold?em Monster Stack event ? which awarded a lot more than $1 million to the eventual champion ? produced ?only? a ninth-place finish, Failla continues to be out there grinding in search of his poker dreams to this day.
Winning the whole lot Is a Tournament Player?s Lifeblood
On a final note, whether you?re a star pro or an aspiring grinder, the sheer mathematics of poker tournament play makes outright victory a necessity.
In a brutally honest article entitled ?Why You?ll Never EARN A LIVING Playing Live Poker Tournaments? published in 2014 by Deadspin, poker player and writer Darrell Plant explains in exacting detail just how difficult sustained success in tournaments really is.
Plant begins by using an outlier example by introducing Chris Moorman, the reigning king of internet poker tournament earnings.
Chris Moorman Representing 888poker
As Plant tells the tale, Moorman?s online tourney tracking data showed a seven-year span comprising a lot more than 14,000 entries recorded. And over that timeframe, Moorman made the money between 11-17% of that time period, while generating a profits on return (ROI) percentage of 26.5%.
Plant goes on to posit that even if you were as good as Moorman ? which, sorry to say, none folks are ? you?d still need to put in nearly 25 % of a million dollars? worth of annual entries just to create a decent living.
?To make $60K with a 25% ROI, it is advisable to play tournaments with a combined buy-in of $240,000. Nearly a quarter of a million dollars of buy-ins every year to make what is a little above average income in the US.
If that appears like big money, it really is. It?s also plenty of poker playing.
$240,000 of tournament entries per year is $20,000 of tournament entries every month, or around $5,000 per week for 48 weeks of the year (with four weeks off for good behavior). $1,000 per day, five days a week, if you want a weekend.?
Plant continues on to sort through the all-time tournament earning database before crunching the numbers to reveal that just a scant 0.5% cross the precious profitability threshold over their career.
The upshot of most these numbers is plain as day, with Plant providing the ultimate commentary on precisely how important those top-heavy first-place payouts really are.
?Of the slightly significantly less than a third of the best players who make money, five out of six are just profitable because of a single, large cash.?
Knowing these stone-cold facts, those iconic shots of Hellmuth ? and every other major tournament winner ? thrusting the arms up and jumping for joy begin to make much more sense.
One big win could make the difference between an absolute and losing year, a single peak serving to sustain players through the long valleys ahead.
Ask any athlete who excels at tennis or golf about their most remarkable moments in life, and you?ll likely hear the phrase ?when I won the tournament? thrown in along the way.
The tournament format, whether in the athletic arena or at the poker table, distills competition right down to its purist form. It?s every player for themselves, and he or she who is able to outwit their opponents and survive every brush with elimination rightfully has a right to be crowned champion.The poker world has seen many great players through the entire years. These pros have earned their fame by winning huge tournaments and/or beating the highest cash-game stakes.
Unfortunately, many of these same pros have grown to be better known for negative reasons.
They?ve done from cheating online players to failing to repay debts over and over.
Nobody wants to live in infamy if they are/were an extremely successful player. But the nine pros discussed below experienced their poker careers overshadowed by controversial exploits.
1 ? Scotty Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen was once one of the most beloved poker players in the game. His thick Vietnamese accent and iconic sayings like ?nut, nut? and ?baby? made him an instant star during the poker boom.
Scotty Nguyen Soundboard Sayings
Nguyen backed up his infectious personality with several stellar poker results, including winning the 1998 WSOP Main Event ($1 million). But beneath the winning and boisterousness was a severe drinking problem that would be exposed at the 2008 WSOP.
Scotty made a deep run in the 2008 WSOP $50k Player?s Championship, which was created to honor the late Chip Reese. Nguyen grabbed an enormous final table lead and ran away with the function, earning a $1.99 million prize for his efforts.
But the ?Prince of Poker? was not during the final table, as he guzzled numerous alcohol consumption and berated both players and cocktail waitresses.
Michael DeMichele drew the majority of Nguyen?s anger.
The young poker player celebrated after he won a particular pot, which launched Scotty right into a profanity-laced tirade.
Nguyen also tried soft-playing Erick Lindgren at one point during three-handed play. But Lindgren bet back, which caused Nguyen to obtain angry and exclaim he was trying to help him.
Scotty issued an apology following tournament. He cited many excuses for his poor behavior, including everything from exhaustion to DeMichele celebrating a winning hand.
Nguyen later dropped the excuses and stopped blaming others for his shameful display. However, his reputation has never recovered out of this incident.
2 ? Chris Ferguson
Chris ?Jesus? Ferguson became probably the most iconic poker players through the boom years from 2003 to 2006. Jesus was easily recognizable because of his trademark cowboy hats and appearances on High Stakes Poker.
Chris Ferguson Appearing On High Stakes Poker
He also has plenty of poker accolades to his name, including winning the 2000 WSOP Main Event and capturing six gold bracelets overall.
For good measure, he may also cut fruit in half with a thrown playing card and has completed one of the insane bankroll challenges ever.
Ferguson is quite most likely the only player apart from Annette Obrestad to run a bankroll up from $0 to $10,000.
He used freerolls to earn his initial bankroll and then took these small winnings to $10k.
Jesus? success on the poker table allowed him to make a sizeable investment completely Tilt Poker. He served on the board of directors and became one of the biggest beneficiaries from Full Tilt?s rise to prominence.
However, Ferguson?s reputation came crashing down alongside Full Tilt following Black Friday (April 15, 2011). He was among four Full Tilt executives who have been indicted by the united states Department of Justice for the money laundering and bank fraud.
Full Tilt Poker was forced out of the US market and exposed for not being able to cover some $350 million in player deposits. Many wondered how the execs could pay themselves tens of millions of dollars as the company only had $60 million in assets left over.
Jesus proved he could walk on water after negotiating a sweet deal, whereby he forfeited a bank-account (unspecified amount) and another $2.35 million in order to avoid jail time.
However, he couldn?t make an impression on the poker community like he could the courtrooms.
Ferguson remained a pariah along with other Full Tilt execs, including Howard Lederer and Ray Bitar. He finally surfaced in the poker world again, competing in the 2016 WSOP. He?s proven he can still play after cashing a record 17 times in the 2017 WSOP.
Up to now, Ferguson has managed to play in live tournaments and succeed without any major harassment. But the main poker community still views him in a poor light because of his heavy involvement with Full Tilt.
3 ? Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey should be remembered among the, or even the, greatest poker players of all time. He?s won in every way imaginable throughout his career.
Phil Ivey Waving At WSOP Table
Ivy has earned 10 WSOP bracelets, won numerous other tournaments, and beaten the highest stakes in both live and online cash games. Given these accomplishments, it?s no wonder why he was previously referred to as the ?world?s greatest all-around poker player.?
Unfortunately, all he?s been known for lately is his various lawsuits.
It all started with Full Tilt Poker, which Ivy had a sponsorship deal with and an investment in.
He was receiving millions of dollars every year to represent the entire Tilt brand. The payouts apparently stopped coming after Black Friday, of which point he leveled case.
Ivey claimed that the motivation behind suing Full Tilt?s parent company, Tiltware, was to operate for the players who lost their funds. But most eventually found believe that it was only self-serving litigation.
The truth is, the lawsuit did more harm than good considering that Full Tilt already had enough trouble repaying players. However the poker community largely overlooked this incident and instead focused their anger on Ferguson along with other execs.
In 2014, Ivey launched another lawsuit against London?s Crockfords Club Casino. He beat them in punto banco (baccarat) to the tune of $12 million utilizing an advantage-play technique called edge sorting.
However, Crockfords refused to spend on the grounds they felt Ivey went beyond normal advantage play. His lawsuit was eventually trashed because the judge believed that the techniques he used bordered on cheating.
This case gave Atlantic City?s Borgata casino all of the confidence they had a need to level an incident against Ivey. They sought $10.1 million in damages.
The poker pro earned $9.6 million against them through edge sorting and used some of the money to win an additional $500,000. The Borgata also won their case against Ivey, who was supposed to repay the $10.1 million amount.
But he?s since been dragging his feet and claims he doesn?t have the funds. The Borgata, meanwhile, has permission from the judge to explore Ivy?s Nevada assets and potentially recoup what they?re owed.
In contrast to a number of the pros on this list, Ivy isn?t universally hated by other poker players. He may have brought a self-serving lawsuit against Full Tilt, but this isn?t enough to put him in the same category as, say, Russ Hamilton (discussed later).
He?s simply becoming better known for his court cases than what he?s done on the felt. Ivy has been the main topic of numerous mainstream news headlines within days gone by five years, which are all centered on his edge sorting cases.
4 ? Stu Ungar
Some think that Stu Ungar was the best poker player to ever grace the tables. Despite having a comparatively short career, he won three WSOP Main Event titles and beat some of the world?s top cash-game players.
Stu Ungar Wearing Sunglasses
Ungar can be in the running for the greatest gambler ever. After all, he was so excellent in Gin Rummy that the best pros wouldn?t even give him action.
This lack of action is what pushed him to use up poker. Of course, most people would?ve taken a long time to get acclimated to a new game ? especially at the highest levels.
However, not Ungar, who quickly made a name for himself by beating Billy Baxter out of $40,000 in a heads-up match. He'd then continue to win back-to-back WSOP titles and become known as one of many game?s best players.
Unfortunately, Ungar was plagued by drug problems throughout most of his poker career.
He started using cocaine on the advice of other pros in order that he could stay awake longer during long sessions.
But ?A CHILD? overdid it and frequently went on coke binges. His poker career eventually flamed out by the early 1990s.
He made a comeback, though, by winning the 1997 WSOP Main Event. Ungar stayed up the entire night prior to the tournament and started to raise funds for the $10,000 buy-in.
Baxter backed him beneath the condition they split any potential winnings. Ungar had difficulty staying awake on the first day, given that he didn?t have any sleep.
However, a tongue-lashing from Baxter motivated him to create it through the initial day. After a good night?s sleep, he dominated the second day and never look back on the way to winning the $1 million prize.
Following a $500,000 split with Baxter, he seemingly had a large enough bankroll to reignite his gambling career. But Ungar spent a lot of the money on drugs and losing sports bets.
He died just one single year later in a seedy Las Vegas motel room. He had a heart attack that was due to his a long time of cocaine abuse.
Instead of being remembered for the fantastic poker player and all-around gambler he was, Ungar instead serves as a cautionary tale on drugs and bad bankroll management.
5 ? Annie Duke
Annie Duke was one of the trailblazers for ladies in poker. Her brother, Howard Lederer, encouraged her to get into the game in the first 1990s.
Annie Duke At WSOP
She started playing in Montana, where she and her ex-husband lived at the time. Following a strong showing at the 1994 WSOP, Duke moved to NEVADA to become full-time pro.
She?s since earned numerous notable cashes, including a $2 million score for winning the 2004 WSOP Tournament of Champions. Annie also won a gold bracelet exactly the same summer in a WSOP $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split event.
But few people talk about Duke?s wins or her $4.3 million in live tournament winnings nowadays.
Instead, they focus on her association with UB Poker and a failed run as the Epic Poker League (EPL) Commissioner.
Duke was one of the primary players sponsored by UltimateBet (a.k.a. UB). That is significant when considering that UB was not only involved in a massive cheating scandal (see Hamilton) but would also go offline with players? money following Black Friday.
It?s unclear exactly how much Duke knew about the operational side of UB. However the inescapable fact that she was featured in many of these promotions was enough to hurt her reputation.
Nevertheless, Duke survived her negative association with the scandalous poker site and would stay in the overall game. She eventually became the EPL commissioner in 2011.
The EPL was made to be something of a professional sports league of poker. Each tournament was televised on TV, and many of the same players were invited to compete at each event.
The inaugural EPL season was supposed to be highlighted by a $1 million freeroll by the end of the entire year. However, financial difficulties forced the league to close early and renege on the $1 million freeroll.
Pros were outraged and directed a lot of their anger at Duke. After all, she was the commissioner and had a significant say in the league?s direction.
She?s since appeared on NBC?s The Apprentice and has landed high-profile speaking engagements. But Duke certainly won?t be welcomed back into the poker world anytime soon.
6 ? Erick Lindgren
Erick ?E-Dog? Lindgren is another poker pro who experienced quite a bit of success during the boom years and beyond. He?s won over $10.5 million and has captured two WSOP bracelets and two World Poker Tour (WPT) titles.
Erick Lindgren Holding WSOP Gold Bracelet
Thanks to his highly successful tournament career, Lindgren became one of many faces of Full Tilt Poker. He?s rumored to have been paid $3 million monthly for his sponsorship deal at one point.
But hiding under the surface of his success and lucrative sponsorship deal, Lindgren had a serious sports gambling problem. E-Dog?s problem first surfaced in poker forums when players began bashing him for not repaying money he either borrowed or lost.
Fellow pros weren?t the only ones he owed money to.
Lindgren was sued by Full Tilt Poker for failing to repay $2 million that has been accidentally credited to his account.
He eventually arrived and admitted his gambling problem, promising to pay people back when he could. But after two bankruptcies and limited winnings within recent years, it?s doubtful he?ll ever have the ability to honor most of his debts.
7 ? Chino Rheem
David ?Chino? Rheem has always been a somewhat controversial player. But through it all, he?s were able to carve out a successful poker career which includes $10.8 million in live tournament winnings.
Chino Rheem At World Poker Tour Champions Table
He?s still going strong, having won the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event along with $1.57 million. Hopefully, he is able to use a few of this money to pay back debts he owes to fellow players.
After all, Rheem is one of the most notorious pros when it comes to owing people money.
He's got the social skills to secure backing from many players, but he doesn?t usually come through when it?s time to settle debts.
Rheem has been accused of bilking players like Joseph Cheong, Will Molson, and Tom Dwan. He once secured a $111,111 stake from Guy Laliberte for the WSOP One Drop tournament, only to blow the amount of money on high-stakes baccarat.
Nobody doubts Chino?s poker talents, as he?s been able to win several big tournaments over his career. However, many have come to doubt him pertaining to repaying debts.
8 ? Russ Hamilton
It?s somewhat of a stretch to call Russ Hamilton an excellent poker player. However, he fits the criteria so well for someone who will undoubtedly be remembered for the wrong reasons.
Russ Hamilton Playing Poker
Hamilton began his poker career by playing in Detroit?s underground cash scene. He was pursuing an electrical engineering degree, but a professor convinced him a poker career will be his best path to success.
The professor?s advice was good because Hamilton has had a fairly successful career that?s seen him win the 1994 WSOP Main Event ($1 million). He was also a highly skilled blackjack player at one point.
Russ went from player to businessman when he invested in UB Poker.
He helped consult executives on how best to run the site and in addition convinced numerous prominent pros to play at UB.
One might believe he was just trying to make certain his investment turned out well by recruiting these pros. But Hamilton had a much more sinister plan in mind.
He had access to various ?superuser? accounts that allowed him to see other players? hole cards. Hamilton used this insider knowledge to make at least $20 million off other grinders.
It?s unknown how many other UB execs/workers had usage of the program. But the Kahnawake Gaming Commission?s report claims that Hamilton is solely responsible for the cheating.
He?s been the biggest pariah in every of poker since. Hamilton may be the only WSOP Main Event champion to possess his picture taken off the Rio?s wall of champions.
9 ? Prahlad Friedman
Prahlad Friedman is really a fitting follow-up to Hamilton because he was the largest victim of the UB cheating scandal. He?s estimated to have lost around $3 million to Hamilton?s superuser accounts.
Prahlad Friedman And Phil Hellmuth World Series Of Poker
That said, Friedman should be remembered as a cheating victim. He should also be thought of as one of the biggest high-stakes online players of all time.
Friedman was one of the earliest internet poker stars, having won huge amount of money at the Prima Network and UB.
He routinely played against other high-stakes studs and contains been called internet poker?s ?original end boss.?
But in more recent years, he?s become more known for his lame rapping skills, a WSOP incident with Jeff Lisandro, and shilling UB poker.
As for the rapping, he belted out several verses during ESPN?s airing of the 2006 WSOP. You will get an idea on how this went from the next lines: ?Poker is fun for everyone, except my opponents. They ought to?ve practiced avoidance.?
Concerning the WSOP incident, he claimed that Lisandro didn?t pay his ante. This sparked a huge debate between your two, which prompted Lisandro to threaten, ?I?ll take your head off, buddy!?
The WSOP production later replayed the incident and showed that Lisandro did indeed pay his ante. A third player who wasn?t mixed up in argument failed to put their ante in.
Again, Friedman was one of the primary UB Poker victims. However, he made a shocking decision to represent their brand in '09 2009 after they repaid a portion of his cheated funds.
They assured him that UB was under new management, which he preached to fellow players. However, UB duped Friedman once again and fully crushed his reputation if they went offline after Black Friday.
He now spends his time playing in live cash games round the LA area. He also raps along with his girlfriend, Aida, within the group Pragress and Aida. However, it?s doubtful that his rap group can ever attain exactly the same success he had in online poker during the early and mid-2000s.
Poker offers gamblers easy and simple path towards fame and fortune, but being in the public eye has backfired for a few players.
Scotty Nguyen was a feelgood story who immigrated from Vietnam to the US and finally became a poker success. Unfortunately, he destroyed his image after playing the ultimate table of the 2008 WSOP Player?s Championship in a drunken rage.
Chris Ferguson used his unique look and poker skills to become one of the most popular pros, but his reputation was permanently damaged when Full Tilt Poker couldn?t repay customers.
Phil Ivey hasn?t done anything overly shady in his career. However, he?s becoming more known for his lawsuits against casinos than anything he ever did in poker.
Stu Ungar could?ve possibly end up being the best player in history. He?s instead best known as a cautionary tale on avoiding drug use.
Annie Duke could have once been a poker idol to women, but she tarnished her reputation by shilling UB and running a failed poker league.
Erick Lindgren once had a lucrative sponsorship deal and a lot of success on the felt. Unfortunately, he?s now known as the guy who is able to?t repay his debts.
Add Chino Rheem to this same category. Despite his continued poker success, Rheem continues to take heat for borrowing money that he doesn?t pay back.
Russ Hamilton is really a player who needs little introduction. After all, he?s referred to as the biggest poker cheat ever after bilking UB players out of over $20 million.
Prahlad Friedman might have been known as a victim first because of Hamilton, but he'd later shill exactly the same site that cheated him in what ended up being a terrible career move.
These players won?t function as last greats to systematically crush their reputations.
However, they?ll continually be among the most infamous to do so.Poker is an popular game for myriad reasons. Celebrities are simply like the rest folks, so it should come as no real surprise that a amount of celebrities enjoy playing the overall game, too.
Some celebrities just try it out when learning for a job, while others have even gone so far as to play in big-money poker tournaments. Several have made appearances at the planet Series of Poker, the planet Poker Tour, and much more.
All five of the next celebrities have enjoyed a substantial amount of success at the poker table. Some play for real cash, while others seem to appreciate it for fun. Who are probably the most successful celebrity poker players?
Matt Damon
The famous actor, producer, and screenwriter has found himself drawn to poker through the entire years. Matt Damon starred in ?Rounders? in 1998 as a poker player known as Mike McDermott.
Damon has gone to play in several real poker tournaments over time, including the World Group of Poker. His biggest tournament was in this year's 2009 World Group of Poker FORK OUT for Africa Charity event.
Damon even won a WSOP bracelet this year 2010 in a $5,000 no-limit hold?em event. Damon?s success has brought some extra attention to poker throughout the years.
Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon will be linked, so that it?s no real surprise to see them pop-up together with this list. Affleck has also played a role of a poker player in 2013?s ?Runner Runner?. The Boston native in addition has showed up at a number of poker events over the years.
Affleck?s biggest known success at poker is in 2004 at the California State Poker Championship. He won the no-limit hold?em championship, where he walked away with a cool $356,400.
Affleck in addition has shown up for multiple FORK OUT for Africa tournaments and contains even earned an area on the planet Poker Tour.
Jennifer Tilly
The star of multiple movies in the ?Chucky? franchise and in addition known as the voice of Bonnie on ?Family Guy?, Jennifer Tilly is also known on her behalf success at the poker table.
In 2022, Tilly was inducted into the Ladies in Poker Hall of Fame. The actress has amassed over $1 million in lifetime earnings at the poker table, which means this is more than just a hobby for her.
Tilly found lots of success back 2005 when she won the $1,000 ladies no-limit hold?em tournament through the World Group of Poker. She also won the ladies? invitational tournament on the globe Poker Tour later for the reason that year.
Tobey Maguire
Tobey Maguire could be Spider-Man by night, but he?s spent many each day at the poker table. Many people know about Maguire?s understanding of poker through the movie ?Molly?s Game?, which detailed the real-life underground poker game that Maguire and Molly Bloom used to perform for many Hollywood celebrities.
Maguire was later sued for his part in the underground game, and he was forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars within an eventual settlement.
Maguire has also played in multiple major World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker events. He won the Phil Hellmuth Invitational no-limit hold?em event back 2004.
Maguire has made quite a bit of money at the poker table, especially in the ?Molly?s Game? days. Maguire won around $225,000 in his major tournament appearances back in the early 2000s.
Gabe Kaplan
Gabe Kaplan started off as an actor, but has arguably gained more fame from his amount of time in the poker industry. Kaplan starred in the 1970?s show ?Welcome Back, Kotter?, but subsequently turned to playing professional poker.
He also found some fame as a Poker commentator for ?High Stakes Poker? on PokerGO. Like others on this list, Kaplan in addition has enjoyed quite a bit of success at the planet Series of Poker. He has finished top multiple times throughout the years and contains totaled about $2 million in winnings throughout his time at the poker table.
However, Kaplan never won a global Series of Poker bracelet or World Poker Tour title. Kaplan has since retired from poker and announcing.
Final Overview
Even though many celebrities play poker or end up at a casino at some point, few are successful at it. Don't assume all celebrity makes a scene every time they play poker, however when they play in bigger events, it brings focus on the game.
Celebrities have helped to bring poker in to the mainstream. These celebrity poker players do a great job both at playing and bringing focus on poker.
If you are seeking to get into poker aswell, there are various online casinos offering poker games. Whether it is a live dealer game, video poker, or perhaps a different table game, many online casinos offer everything you are looking for.
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