Bloggers / Matthew Pitt / 06 October 2009 / Leave a comment

Whilst he may have suffered the heartache of narrowly missing out on his fifth World Series of Poker bracelet when he lost heads-up to Barry Shulman in the recent WSOPE Main Event, Daniel Negreanu can console himself to some degree with the knowledge that he is officially the most successful tournament poker player in history.

Up until the early hours of Friday 2 October it was Jamie Gold who lead the all-time money list, having won $12,198,041 in his career. His position at the top of the charts was massively skewed by the fact he won $12,000,000 when he won the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas. But after winning £495,589 ($817,035) for his heart-breaking second place finish, Negreanu's total career cashes totalled $12,427,047

Since winning a $200 Fixed-limit Hold'em tournament at the 1997 New Orleans Open for $1,050, Negreanu has notched up an impressive 172 cashes in ranked tournaments. What is even more staggering is that 133 of those cashes have been as a result of reaching the final table and of those final tables he has won 35 of the tournaments. A truly remarkable record by anybody's standards.

Negreanu's number one spot has been helped along the way by 42 cashes at the WSOP including winning four bracelets, the latest in the 2008 $2,000 Limit Hold'em Event. The talkative Canadian also finds himself as the number one in the all-time World Poker Tour money list, having won $5,519,657 on the tour to date.

According to his blog, overtaking Jamie Gold was Negreanu's number one goal for 2009 though his reign could be short-lived as there is a certain Phil Ivey who currently has career winnings of $12,096,302 which means if he finishes 5th or higher when he returns to The Rio in November to complete the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, he will become the number one all-time money earner in history.