Poker is a contest of personalities and tallying results. Here is our catalog on the experts who’ve beat the world on both counts, the top poker participants of all time
Phil Hellmuth. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, it’s tricky to deny the reputation that Phil has gotten over time; eleven bracelets, nearly eleven million in tourny earnings, a W.S.O.P Main Event title, a NBC Heads Up Poker Championship title, and along with that, a marketing and advertising apparatus which has made him probably the most identifiable and polarizing figures inside the sport. Past that, however, Hellmuth’s play has allowed him to win bracelets in an eighteen year span, showing his adaptableness in the evolution of the experience itself. Clear of the Poker Brat personality is a shrewd, good poker player that appears to be winning titles for a few years to come.
Chip Reese. The hold em world lost a master in 2007, when Chip died. A fixture at the Bellagio, Chip was welcomed into the poker Hall of Fame in 1991, the youngest ever player to get inducted. Even with just three World series titles, Chip was a feared high stakes money game ninja, and amongst his 3 titles came inside the inaugural $50,000 WSOP players Championship considered by some to be the best award apart from a Main Event title at the WSOP. With $3.5 mil in tournament prize money, and tens of millions more made at Bobby’s Room, Chip’s legend will always be with players at the World series of poker; the Player’s Championship award will now be named the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.
Doyle Brunson. A fifty year trained poker player, the “Godfather of Poker” has molded how each one of us play the overall game with his poker strategy tome, Supersystem/Supersystem 2. Past the definitive book on hold em, he also carries a robust tourny and cash game record of his own; 10 wsop wins, a WPT win, nearly $6 mil in mtt income, and numerous televised big wins in high stakes cash games. He also is a constant figure at Bobby’s Room, and at 76, shows no signs of slowing down any day we can see. You can even get rakeback at the site that bears his name.
No list would be complete without Phil Ivey. Who else? Ivey is the all-time leader in tourny spoils at almost $13 mil, has eight wsop wins, has finished inside the top twenty five inside the WSOP Main Event four times in the modern era from 2002 on, is known for a WPT title, plays in Bobby’s Room and the nosebleed no limit games on the internet, and on top of everything, is merely 34 years old. When he plays it’s like poker free money. He has stated that, in his lifetime, he expects to win thirty bracelets. There are a lot players who may construct claims that appear outrageous and not viable to attain. But the man, Phil Ivey? I wouldn’t bet in opposition to him.
All poker-tips" title="Poker Tips, Techniques, and Strategy">poker pros have a very good game, but some talk a better game than some others. Here’s our list of the biggest trash talkers in hold em history.
One name the list wouldn’t be complete without: Tony G. “I’m going to rip you apart so hard!” Tony G has by no means been recognized for subtlety. Probably the most coarse mouths in the sport, Tony G has numerous video clips on Youtube that concentrate specifically on his spectacular celebrations and his aptitude to rebuke and demean any wretched opponent that busts out to him. Don’t be expecting to win or lose a hand with Tony G, despite the scale, and be expecting to escape one of his tirades. Against him there’s no such thing as poker free money – even his merriment leads to him insulting his opponent’s play, despite if he got it in fine or bad.
Several other people would only have Scotty Nguyen on this list and nobody else. “You call, it’s gonna be all over, baby!” Scotty’s frolics at the table used to be celebrated as side-splitting, conceited babble which was a part of the “Prince of Poker” and his character at the tables. After the 2008 WSOP Player’s Championship, though, Scotty faced a public hostile response at his drunken rambling at participants, staff, and railbirds alike. Thankfully, Scotty has went back to the less vicious chattering that made him a revered mouth in the poker world. Keep on playin’ on, Scotty baby. You still have fans.
Here’s a familiar one for fans of smack talk: Phil Hellmuth. “I mean, this guy can’t even spell poker!” Amazingly, for a while, Hellmuth was identified for his poker playing dexterity first and his extremely boastful table chat next. Once ESPN began televising the Poker Brat in battle, starting along with his 2003 breakdown after being out of action, cameras can’t get an adequate amount of his self proclamations and utter meltdowns. More often than not now, though, you hear more in relation to one of Hellmuth’s rants than you do his play, which is unfortunate. However, he’s certainly entertaining, regardless of where he plays, at what time he shows up, (late, usually) or if he’s tilted or extremely confident. Get rake back at Phil’s site. God bless the Brat.
How could we create this list without Daniel Negreanu? “I need some money. You got any money?” One thing is for certain if you watch “Kid Poker” play tournament poker; you’ll by no means get tired of watching. One of the most friendly and comical mouths of the hold em community, Daniel never appears to be lacking for chat. His talk isn’t just idle babble, in spite of this; he uses his table talk as a weapon to reap information. His capacity to describe hands and read opposing players out loud has been well publicized; he even does commentary work for Ps (where you can get a poker bankroll no deposit) tournaments and has developed into the unofficial “voice” of poker for the last few years as the most recognizable and pleasant personalities in the poker world.
One name the list wouldn’t be complete without: Mike Matusow. Mike once said: “I believe in my heart I’m one of the top five No Limit Holdem players in the World. It’s the only thing I do good. I’m an idiot when it comes to anything else.” With a nick such as “The Mouth” it’s tricky to envisage anyone else in this slot. The initial time I had heard of “The Mouth” was the 2004 World series of poker, where Mike notoriously told Greg Raymer that he had miniature cojones. Since then, Mike has been a permanent resident on televised hold em tournaments in addition to cash games, and he hasn’t failed to provide us some top-notch Mouthisms over the years. As he likes to exclaim, the kiddie game is down the street, when you’re matching wits against the Mouth.
During a live poker-tips" title="Poker Tips, Techniques, and Strategy">poker tournament my brother was playing in back in April, he had to ask himself should I raise or should I push all in. He held King King twice (he didn’t tell me what position he was in) and shoved in all his chips both times. On the first all in move he was called by someone holding Queen nine offsuit and the Queen nine offsuit outdrew him hitting two pair by the river.
The second time someone called him with three four offsuit and wound up making a flush on the river. The tournament buy in was $60 and everyone started off with 5,000 in chips, blinds starting at 25/50 increasing every 15 minutes. The problem with moving all in, especially against loose opponents who will call almost any raise is they see the all in move as either A) a chance to take you out of the tournament B) they think you’re weak and believe they have a legitimate chance of winning the hand, or just think that their two live cards can beat your two live cards OR C) they’re new and don’t understand odds. Typically with loose players who love to call raises they fall into the C category. I sure did when I started playing. All in moves turned into an excuse to call with something stupid like 73 offsuit because I had enough chips to risk and I loved telling stories of outdrawing opponents with terrible hands just because it made me laugh.
Making a minimum sized raise will not scare anyone away. Making your raise along the lines of 8 times the blind encourages the C group to try and beat you. According to many poker books the magic number is 4 times the big blind but then again that all depends on what kind of table you are sitting at. Loose players who love to call are only calling to try and build up chips quickly or wind up eliminated and move on to the next game.
They aren’t all the concerned with the fact that you hold a 4/5 shot of winning the hand. It’s tournament poker, not a table game so opponent’s moves will be quite different. Even at a table game opponents may make strange plays where they call your all in or outrageously large raise just to see if they can beat you. Keep your raises with Ace Ace, King King, etc somewhere in the 4x to 6x the big blind to keep your tighter players out of the pot because they know what kind of hand you’re holding and to keep the action players out of the pot because they don’t see enough money flying into the pot. If you wind up with 1 or 2 callers, all the better as the odds are in your favor, but then again the luck factor may give you a horrible flop for your hand. Poker is and always has involved an element of luck in the game and you won’t always win holding the best hand pre-flop.
But, knowing that your loose opponent only loves to call large raises and not 4x the big blind because its not enough action will keep you from LOSING a huge amount of your chips and anything that isn’t a huge loss keeps chips on your side of the table. Don’t go looking for huge pots every time you hold a monster hand. Pick up the blinds, maybe a few limper’s chips or even 1 or 2 caller’s chips pre flop, but try not to push your whole stack into the middle when you’re holding rockets as you can lose.
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