Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 31 October 2008 / Leave a comment

This is a question in poker that seems to create a huge amount of debate. Who really is the best? Is it Phil Hellmuth, with his record number of bracelets? Is it Doyle Brunson, with his years and years at the top of the game? Or is it players like Phil Ivey or Barry Greenstein, who are some of the biggest winners in the world at the moment?

The answer is extremely complicated and open to debate. A great example of this is the late Stu Ungar. Stu Ungar was arguably the greatest tournament hold'em player that ever lived - his record is truly astonishing. Yet he had not only demons with drugs, he also used to haemorrhage money on all types of gambling that was not profitable for him (particularly sports betting - which he lots millions betting on). As a result, he died with less than $1,000 on him, despite having been rumoured to have won over thirty million dollars in his playing career.

So, although being a superb poker player at the table, in terms of actually being a long term winner, he was not a very good poker player - he simply had too many leaks with tilt and bad habits. Compare him to a mid stakes grinder online, who has made over a million dollars playing $5/$10 for the last three years and closely guards their money - which of these is actually the 'better' player?

This also holds true for bracelets. Although Phil Hellmuth has eleven, most of them come in low buy in, small field no limit hold'em tournaments - many of which the big game players do not bother to enter (the cash games are too lucrative to waste time in these sort of events). Many of the big game players are extremely sceptical of his ability in the big cash games, due to his proneness to tilt, yet some would say he must be the best because of the number of bracelets he has won. Personally, I do not agree with this, as I think that to ever say that you were the best poker player in the world you have to have been continually beating all games, at all limits, for at least ten years - as yet Phil Hellmuth has not achieved this.

The answer probably just lies in the money. The person with the most money is the best poker player - it is really the only way to measure it. Although bracelets bring fame, the real money in poker is in the big cash games - and there are many players who have been quietly making millions in this that are relatively unknown to the public, yet are truly great players (Chau Giang springs to mind as a particularly good example of this sort of player). We will probably never know who the greatest poker player ever was or is, although I think we can narrow the range down to a select few by looking at long term all around success. Keep playing and improving and we might some day be considering you for the list...

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