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The Most Famous Poker Players Today
They are legends and provide role models for aspiring poker players. They make a living playing poker, and they are the most famous poker players in the world. It takes skill, guts and talent to play poker professionally- out of all who have ever played the game, these are the most famous.
Stu Ungar was born in 1953 in New York, and he won his first card tournament when he was 10. By the mid-70s, he was one of the state's best players, but he moved to Vegas due to high gambling debts. Once in Vegas, Stu Ungar won so many tournaments that some casinos barred him from entering. He went on to become the youngest WSOP champion ever, but he squandered his winnings on drugs and gambling, dying of an overdose in November 1998.
Doyle Brunson was born in Texas in 1933. He dreamed of becoming a pro athlete, but a knee injury encouraged him to forgo that dream in order to play poker. He began by traveling through Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas to enter tournaments. Brunson was the first player to ever earn $1 million in tournament play; he won ten WSOP tournaments. He still plays in some of the world's biggest tournaments, and he's won almost $5 million in his career.
Phil Helmuth was born in Wisconsin in 1964. He went to the University of Wisconsin for three years before he quit to start a poker career. He has earned the nickname "Poker Brat" because of his treatment of other players and his enormous ego. Despite his flaws, he's quite famous in poker, and he's considered to be the best Texas Hold 'Em player in the world. Helmuth has appeared on High Stakes Poker, and he was last a commentator on Celebrity Poker Showdown.
Johnny Chan, born in 1962 in China, moved to Arizona and then Texas, where his family opened a restaurant. Chan began gambling at 16, when he went to Vegas. He later dropped out of college to become a professional poker player; he enjoyed initial success because most players found him hard to read. He won two championships in the 80s, a feat that hasn't been repeated since.