Who is dominating the Top 10 of the most talented poker players of all time?
It’s a familiar discussion with a twist – the GOAT poker player, but only looking at talent rather than results or money or titles – and the world’s best have different views of who should be on the Top 10 list! The intriguing discussion kicked off when Remko Rinkema tweeted his own top 10. Even though he miscounted a little and gave a ‘Spinal Tap’ 11 instead…
My highly scientific Top 10 Most TALENTED Poker Players of All Time! Discuss!
1. @philivey
2. Stu Ungar
3. @ViktorBlom
4. @junglemandan
4. @PhilGalfond
5. @benjamin_sulsky
6. @TomDwan
7. Chip Reese
8. @RealKidPoker
9. @CrownUpGuy
10. @TexDolly— Remko Rinkema (@RemkoRinkema) May 15, 2020
Quite a list, but ‘talent’ isn’t such an easy thing to agree on it would seem. There were plenty who felt some of the best were missing, and some who should be chopped from the list.
Germany’s former ‘wunderkind’ Fedor Holz deleted himself from the Top 10 quite quickly…
I don’t think I should be on there; there’s more talented players than me for sure
— Fedor Holz 🐧 (@CrownUpGuy) May 15, 2020
Luke ‘_fullflush1_’ Schwartz shared his version of poker’s greatest talents and gave UK poker an unexpected nod too with the inclusion of Matt ‘Mustafabet’ Ashton.
Blom
Bryn
Ivey
Sauce
Thuritz
D negs
Matt ashton
Galfond
Trueteller
( mericer , siever , rast )— luke schwartz (@__fullflush1__) May 16, 2020
Ashton, for those who don’t know the name, became the youngest -ever winner of the highly-esteemed Poker Players Championship title back in 2013, one of four WSOP final tables that year.
While the majority of non-pros were shouting loudly for the inclusion of Phil Hellmuth, with Daniel Colman one of the names many of the best thought should be a definite starter.
Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald has this to say: “Definitely gotta throw @DanielColman’s name in the ring. Rose from zero to #1 at HUSNGs in like 1 year?
“Then had one of the best MTT runs ever with very little MTT experience. If you watch through HHs of how he played he differed from the SHR status quo more than any other reg.”
Ryan Daut was another of Colman’s admirers. Although his own top 3 of Ivey, Ungar, and Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom proliferated an intriguing and enjoyable Twitter thread.
Some other honorable mentions I like for various reasons: Chip, Doyle, Seiver, Ike, Deeb, Genius28, Dan Colman, Seidel, and Sauce.
— Ryan Daut (@rcdaut) May 15, 2020
Several different generations of poker in the Top 10
The one common theme – apart from some of the names – was that many seemed to think that talent and hard work are completely different things.
Not so says Oliver Busquet, who was rather dismayed that modern-day phenoms such as Ike Haxton and Sam Greenwood could be excluded for such reasons.
— Olivier Busquet (@olivierbusquet) May 16, 2020
Rinkema came back with a ‘substitutes bench’ filled with more talents, but who to drop from the starting line-up was the big question.
I know. Take someone off. Here's my current "they should be on there" list:
Erik Seidel
Patrik Antonius
Jason Mercier
Timofey Kuznetsov
Isaax Haxton
John Hennigan
Bryn Kenney
Nick Schulman— Remko Rinkema (@RemkoRinkema) May 15, 2020
The generational argument was quite lively, those who felt Reese, Ungar and Brunson managed to excel despite there being almost no books on poker strategy, let alone modern software tools.
Others were shocked at Bryn Kenney’s absence, one of the most naturally-talented of modern-era players, in an age where solver work proliferates at the highest levels.
And what of the poker boom generation that saw players such as Patrik Antonius rise to the top and still struggle to make a top 10?
In the end, it’s an impossible task. However, for once it was a poker Twitter discussion that was kept 99% friendly and interesting. Now THAT takes talent!
