Texas Hold’em Poker. The most popular card game played in Casino’s and online poker rooms across the world. A game where the individual plays their two cards along with the five ‘community’ cards that are dealt. It may sound relatively simple, on the contrary, this game is regarded as one of the most challenging games that requires skill, patience, strategy and most importantly the ability to ‘read’ an opponent. So why has it become so popular, and who are the top 10 poker players in the world and why? Well, your about to find out.

In determining a top 10 of poker, there is a need to take into account a range of different variables. Does the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) each year determine who the top 10 players in the world are? Is it the results of live tournaments from the World Poker Tour (WPT) European Poker Tour (EPT) or the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT)?Is it the amount made online in some of the high stakes rooms? or is it simply a combination of all of these?

If we were to judge the top 10 of poker based on results the WSOP 2008 then we would find the top 10 went in this order:

1. Peter Eastgate
2. Ivan Demidov
3. Dennis Phillips
4. Ylon Schwartz
5. Scott Montgomery
6. Darus Suharto
7. David Rheem 
8. Kelly Kim
9. Craig Marquis
10. Dean Hamrick

If we based the top 10 of poker on results from the WPT, EPT and APPT, without taking away from their excellent achievements, I think it’s fair to say that there are SOME names that don’t feature all that regularly on a global scale. I have included below names of people who won a tour event in each respective tour throughout the 2008/2009 season:

 
Playing poker online has become increasingly popular over the last few years and many professional players are now choosing to play online more for a number of reasons such as its accessibility, your ability to multi-table and possibly the main reason could be because it can be played from the comfort of your own home. There has been a large increase in the amount of poker rooms available to people as well, with Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Betfair hosting some of the biggest tournaments and cash games online. Its important to note this as many high stakes players may chose not to take part in as many live tournaments which obviously affects their status as ‘tournament’ players. However, if we were to judge the top 10 of poker based on the highest online money winners during 2008 then we would find the top 10 went in this order:

*Table courtesy of High Stakes Online Data Base highstakesdb.com

Having looked at the results based on those three areas, I still find it very hard to determine a ‘Top 10’ of Texas Hold’ em Poker. One notable player who doesn’t appear on any of those lists shown above is Phil Ivey. Here is a man who has won an amazing seven World Series of Poker Bracelets, amassed over $10 million in live tournament earnings not to mention a significant amount of online winnings over the past few years.

What about a player like Allan Cunningham? 5 WSOP bracelets, over $10 million in live tournament earnings and someone who consistently cashes at big tournaments around the world.

The same can be said for a player like Chris Ferguson. 5 WSOP bracelets, made 25 WSOP final tables, cashed more than 40 times at the WSOP tournament and earnt the respect as one of the most difficult opponents to face in a game of poker.

As you can see, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine exactly who makes up the top 10 of Texas Hold’ em Poker. One thing that I have found is that there are so many different components that must go into making a decision as to who this list would include, simply making a large amount of money or making a couple of final tables, does not necessarily mean automatic inclusion in the top 10. It is also a game of many highs and lows, where players can lose significant amounts of money one week and then make double what they lost the next. Its also hard to put a price on the finer skills of poker and being able to make the right ‘reads’ on a player at the right time and be able to set traps to take chips off other players.

Making any decision on who the top 10 of Texas Hold’ em poker is always going to be difficult for the aforementioned reasons. It is also a list that I believe is evolving and one that could change quite easily. It is also a personal choice and I do not expect everyone to share my views on the top 10.

So finally I get to my list of top 10 players of Texas Hold’ em poker:

• Doyle Brunson
• Phil Ivey
• Chris Ferguson
• Phil Helmuth
• Allen Cunningham
• Daniel Negreanu
• Barry Greenstein
• Peter Eastgate
• Tom Dwan
• Joe Hachem

These are all extremely talented poker players, many of them changing the face of Texas Hold’ em poker on a global scale and Id be interested to see how many of these names would appear in a top 10 of poker in 10 years time. Time can change everything.