The PokerNews list turned out to be so absurd that some thought it was trolling, others thought it was just stupid, but no one remained indifferent.
Doug Polk , who recently updates his channel daily, also could not pass up the chance.
– This is not our first day in poker and we understand everything perfectly. The topic of money is always of great interest. I myself have made several videos on this topic. PokerNews is one of the most reliable sources of information in the poker world. But this article...
In first place is Andy Beal, who generally earned his fortune from investments. Although there are indeed several professional players in the ranking, the general criteria are completely incomprehensible. Do we need to consider players who made their fortune in business and only then started playing poker? Where then is Bill Perkins or Haralabos Voulgaris? Guy Laliberte played poker for several years, I'm sure he should be on the list then too.
Some of the professional players in the rankings were simply listed by their tournament prizes. Of course, I am not an accountant and I am not aware of their financial affairs. But one thing I know for sure – Bryn Kenny is not a "super successful businessman." I would rather classify him as… an ordinary gambling addict.
Justin Bonomo's fortune, according to them, is $57 million, and the prize money for his career is $60 million. It will shock me if it suddenly turns out that Justin played all the expensive tournaments at 95% of himself.
In fact, everything is simple. The fact is that such posts collect clicks. For the same reason, I myself am now discussing this article. You did it, PokerNews, well done...
From the PokerNews editors on social networks, this news was posted by one of the site's most experienced and respected journalists, Chad Holloway.
Chad, honestly, was this article supposed to come out on April 1st? Brian Maicon couldn't hide his surprise.
“I don't even know,” Chad admitted. – I did not write it and did not see it at all before publication. I do not rule out that it has been collecting dust in the archives since April 2005.
Chris Moneymaker found a good option for betting:
– Can I bet "under" on all players from the list, except for #1 and #10?
“You forgot about online prize money,” DigitalWarfareR suggested, “Bonomo will then have more than $70 million.
“Next time, please make a list of the rich and single,” Veronica Brill asked.
Chris Hook was seriously upset by the publication of PokerNews:
– Awesome list. The complete misunderstanding of the question by the person who came up with this is striking. People write complete gags and pass them off as facts.
“Yeah, Sammy Farha, who grinds $5/$10 in Houston is definitely richer than Tony G, who fights Trueteller and Omaha4rollz in PLO 2k/4k,” Joe Harris echoed everyone's bewilderment.
Farha was recently mentioned on 2 + 2:
– I heard that he plays PLO every day in Texas. But this is only a shadow of the person we are used to from broadcasts on TV. He is silent all the time, and some players don't even know who he is.
“That’s not the case at all,” he replied. – We often play together. There are two Sammys. When he wins, he is the most good-natured person in the world, he chats with everyone and is very friendly. But as soon as he starts to lose, he turns into a grouchy brute who gets upset with dealers for any mistake. He is certainly not a silent man, and everyone knows perfectly well who he is.
Doug Polk did not limit himself to the video and brought the question up for discussion on Twitter:
Who do you think is the richest player in history?
The magic of the Phil Ivey name is still very strong, in the comments, which have already accumulated more than 300, he is mentioned most often. They also mentioned many famous businessmen who became interested in poker, having already earned their millions – Bill Perkins, Guy Laliberte, David Einhorn, Alec Gores, Tony Bloom, Jean-Noel Torel, and others.
Several people remembered Bill Gates, who, on the contrary, often played poker before he became famous – in the 70s with friends from Harvard. In the late 90s, Gates was also often seen at the poker tables at the Bellagio, and he always played the lowest limits. According to one urban legend, one day Bill spotted Doyle Brunson in Bobby's Room and asked him to autograph the book Super System. To which Doyle replied – only if you sit at our table.
Paul Phua was also mentioned in the comments, and Mike McDonald is sure that the richest of the players is the founder of Binance CZ.
Several commentators have provided really thoughtful answers. For example, Jason Wheeler, in a single tweet, came up with a more compelling list than the entire PokerNews team:
– People who have made their fortune playing poker are Vivek Rajkumar, Andrew Robl, Rick Salomon, Trueteller and Omaha4rollz.
Vivek is my idol. He won a lot of money and did it completely unnoticed. For several years he simply destroyed closed games on the West Coast. Of those who took off recently, this is definitely Laszlo Bujtas. Over the past three years, he has won $20-30 million in PLO.
– People who started in poker and then went into crypto – Jason Mo, Brian Pellegrino, Timex and a bunch of other players of varying degrees of fame who started cashing out to crypto very early.
– Successful in crypto/business – Igor [Kurganov], Tony G, Talal.
Hustler co-owner Ryan Feldman was also outraged by the absurdity of the list:
– It's hard to imagine a more crazy list. It's as if PokerNews just gave the first answers they came across from Google. There are several players on the list who do not even have a tenth of the money that they were credited with. Secondly, you can put hundreds of "poker players". If we mean the people who earned the most from the game, then there is no equal to Rick Salomon. This is confirmed by everyone who has at least some idea of closed games.