Michael Mizrachi
One of the top poker players in the world, Michael Mizrachi is only 33 years old. Based out of Florida, he is the state’s most successful poker player. Nicknamed “The Grinder”, he has been “grinding” away at tournaments all over the world for a decade. He has won four separate tournaments with first prizes of more than million dollars. His biggest payday was when he hit the $2.3 million jackpot for earning the fifth-place finish in the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event.
John Juanda
Indonesian-born Juanda has been in the game for two decades now and he is someone everyone dreads having at their table. He has consistently been winning six-figure amounts during his career. He usually plays in Macau, where he recorded his biggest ever win of $1.6 million back in 2012.
Phil Ivey
Known as the Tiger Woods of Poker, Phil Ivey has been playing since he was in his teens back in New Jersey. He won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 2000 and has kept coming back for more, eight more bracelets being added to his first one. He has won millions of dollars in prizes and has managed to win $3.5 million as his biggest win.
Daniel Negreanu
Daniel Negreanu is one of the best players in the world and he has proven this via his consistently good performances in the live arena. He has cashed in million dollar prizes six times, with his biggest win of $8.28 million prize in the World Series of Poker. He has also gone on to win World Series bracelets in Las Vegas, Europe, and Australia.
Antonio Esfandiari
Antonio Esfandiari is one of the most popular poker players on the live poker tournaments scene. He has been well-known in the poker since he first scored his first million dollars at the LA Poker Classic. Born in Iran, but now living in the US, he has won six figures every single year since 2004. He has three World Series of Poker bracelets to his name, proof of his undeniable skill. His biggest score was $18.3 million, which is a massive amount for a poker win.
Chris Ferguson
Chris Ferguson has had a checkered history. He was best known as the owner of Full Tilt Poker when it shut down while holding more than $300 million worth of player funds. This has led to him having a bad reputation in the industry. However, he has a solid playing history behind him, having won the World Series of Poker in 2000 and is 12th all-time at the Series in number of cashes. He also has $8.3 million in lifetime tournament earnings.
Erik Seidel
Erik Seidel started off in online poker and managed to crossover to RL poker with a second-place finish at the 1988 WSOP Main Event. This was immortalized in the classic movie “Rounders.” His best year was back in 2011. In that year, he earned million-dollar prizes in two continents, with the crowning achievement of taking home more than $6.5 million.
Dan Bilzerian
Dan Bilzerian is better known as a celebrity than a poker player. He has millions of followers on his Instagram account and has won and lost millions at the table. Right now, he is the face and celebrity endorser of several online and offline poker and gambling sites.
Sam Farha
Born in Lebanon but raised in the US, Simon Farha has become a regular in the US poker scene. His biggest win was back in the 2003 World Series of Poker main event, where he finished second to Chris Moneymaker for $1.3 million. He has then been consistently playing across the US, though he never managed to match his early big wins.
Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan has become a legend in his time. The Chinese-born poker player first managed to get into everyone’s radar when he won back-to-back World Series of Poker main-event championships in 1987 and 1988. He has consistently been a part of the main event since then. Officially inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1992, he has earned more than $6 million in winnings and is a high-stakes cash-game player.