There are some players who just have something about them; they are a notch above the competition. These are the types of players who could, one day, be regarded as the best ever. There are only a handful of players who fall into this elite category, and they have proven their abilities over very significant sample sizes.
Many of today’s poker stars, particularly younger players, are products of the online poker generation. Perhaps online play allows players to think on a deeper level, or maybe the ease of access to online play has exposed the game to a larger player base. The most likely scenario, though, is that great players are formed as a combination of the two. Sure, online play makes analysis easier, but without exposure to the game, some players would have never known fold equity from their home’s equity.
Players like Phil Ivey are not on this list because they have already solidified their place in poker history. You would be hard pressed to find any true poker player who doesn’t identify Ivey as one of the best ever. The same goes for other living legends like Doyle Brunson and Barry Greenstein. There are so many great poker players, but reaching the levels that these players have is a great feat.
What separates these players from the rest is often an unanswerable question. In many cases, it seems like the talents are intangible. Knowing when to lay a hand down, on occasion, is nothing more than natural instinct. These types of things just can’t be taught.
Aside from this, the best players in the world have incredible emotional control. This is why you see Phil Hellmuth losing and Phil Ivey winning. It is very rare that someone like Ivey would be visibly tilted, and when they are, they probably had a really good reason. Emotional control is extremely underrated in poker, but it is one of the most important characteristics for a poker player to have.
#1- Tom Dwan
Tom Dwan broke onto the poker scene in 2006. Most of his experience was in online play, though, so the poker playing public had little idea who he was. As he grew up and was able to participate in live poker games, his reputation began to grow. It wasn’t so much a reputation, really, as it was an aura.
Dwan is a unique player for a number of reasons. His super aggressive approach to the game was, and remains, the very definition of solid online play, especially in the nosebleed games. Passive and tight players are regularly crushed in these games, so Dwan brought a special style to the table that no one has been able to figure out.
This is something that all great athletes and minds possess, the ability to do something just a bit differently. Now, you could argue whether poker is a sport, and whether Dwan is truly an athlete, but that is hardly the point. What is the point, however, is that Dwan is just a cut above the rest. For now, anyway.
#2 – Phil Galfond
Phil Galfond, better known as OMGClayAiken in the online games, is one of the most unknown, yet dominant players in the game. Tom Dwan has become somewhat of a star in the poker world, whereas Galfond just isn’t quite there. The primary difference between Dwan and Galfond is that Dwan is (mainly) a Hold’em player.
This isn’t to say that he doesn’t win in some very tough Omaha games, because he does, but that is not his specialty. For Galfond, crushing the Omaha and Hold’em games comes with equal ease. He is able to absolutely kill any game he sits down in, no matter the player or the limits. Galfond is largely out of the public eye, but it is a near certainty that his time will come.
#3 – Viktor Blom/Ziigmund/etc.?
There is no shortage of nosebleed players who are more than capable of ruining any of the other players mentioned in this article. They aren’t worthy of their own mentions, though, because they haven’t proven enough at the tables. Players like Dwan and Galfond have posted major earnings with remarkable consistency, where many other players haven’t been able to achieve this. A true mark of greatness is in the consistency that a player has, not a flash in the pan type existence. If a nosebleed stake player emerges as a long term winner, he (or she), too could become one of the best to ever play the game.
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Written by Jonathan Wanchalk on January 19th, 2011