Poker Player Pros: All Time Money List

Tracking the movers and shakers in the all-time tournament earnings list is always a fun thing to do. Who has jumped to an all-time high spot? Who is steadily dropping off the pace? Who is likely to challenge for those legendary top spots?

Here at PokerTube we’re going to look at the last six months of tournament play worldwide – from just after the November Nine payouts –and shine a light on the biggest movers in the tournament scene’s top 100.

Let’s start with looking at numbers 1 and 100: from Canadian Daniel Negreanu’s phenomenal $32,315,81 down to our new number 100 player, the Czech Republic’s Martin Staszko.

Negreanu stands head and shoulders above the rest. Even if Phil Ivey (in 5th spot with $23,856,035) were to take down the Main Event, he would likely still not catch his Canadian friend and foe!

Staszko, on the other hand, has climbed back into 100th spot on the back of a fine 2nd place worth $187,720 at EPT in the€1100 buy-in Eureka Main Event. As we’ll see, the ‘jumps’ lower down the lists are much easier to make – one big tournament win can propel a player dozens of spots up the list. So who has made the biggest jump in the top 100?

The Big Leaps Forward

Top of the movers and shakers list just has to go to Germany’s Fedor Holz, who has jumped from 547th spot up to 69th position since November, taking down the $100K buy-in Alpha8 High Roller at the WPT 5 Diamond in Vegas just before Christmas for $1,589,219, followed by an even bigger score in the $200K buy-in Super High Rollerat the WPTN in the Phillipines just after New Year for $3,463,500 making it a very festive season for the 22-year old sensation.

Next stop for the German whizz-kid? The top 50 is a mere $800,000 away – currently occupied by Conor Drinan, himself one of tha prime movers in the last six months having notched up $2,275,310 propelling him from 83rd spot.

One of the other big moves has been made by American David Peters –for some reason not a name I was too familiar with to be honest - who has leapt from 77th spot to 30th on the back of a $4million+ run, which now sees his lifetime tournament winnings stand at over $11,000,000!

His runner-up spot to Holz in the Philippines netted him a cool $2,309,000 in the Super High Roller, with a further $1.5 million coming from a string of high finishes from the Bahamas, Australia and Vegas in recent months, proving the globetrotter can win big everywhere! Joe Hachem's 20th spot in the list with $12,126,201 looks anything but safe if Peters can continue his superb form throughout the summer.

WSOP Main Event winner Joe McKeehen’s jump from 39th to 25th had me thinking it must have included his November Nine pot of gold, but actually the jump came after that massive win – the bracelet winner has since added over $1.7million in winnings and is another closing in on Hachem’s place in the list.

McKeehen’s 2nd place finish in the $100k Super High Rollerat the PokerStars PCA in the Bahamas for $1,220,840 has gone a long way to proving that his big WSOP win didn’t come out of the blue. He may not be the fans favourite, but he plays a mean game of poker!

Thomas Marchese, who we have reported on recently for his Aria High Roller exploits, has taken up residence in 16th position – up from 20th with an extra $1,135,024 in his hip pocket and $13,040,436 in the bank overall.

Rounding off the list of the main movers, special mention has to be made of Steve O’Dwyer, long considered one of the games’ best players.

The Colorado native, who turned 34 earlier this month, picked up close to $1million from each of his visits to the Prague EPT, the PCA in Bahamas and then the Aussie Millions in Melbourne, cementing his reputation as one of poker’s best tournament players of all-time.

Currently boasting $15,060,291 in lifetime tournament winnings, O’Dwyer will have 10th placed Jonathan Duhamel’s $17,592,802 in his sights come the summer WSOP run.

So much for the big winners – but what about those we might have expected to be heading up and haven’t?

With no movement either way for the top 9 on the list, we need to look slightly further down to see that Brian Rast has had a very quiet time of it on the circuit, netting a paltry $37,440 which sees him fall from 11th to 12th. Similarly, the aforementioned Duhamel has slipped from 9th to 10th with only $12,838 in earnings.

The top-grossing female tournament player of all time, Vanessa Selbst, may have pocketed $82,989, but with what we’ve seen from the movers this wasn’t even enough to stand still – dropping from 22nd to 23rd in the rankings.

Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald may have scooped $503,803 in the past half-year – but even that sees him slip from 15th to 17th, highlighting just how much a huge payday or two can have on these 50th to 10th spots.

Legends of the game such as Gus Hansen (33rd down to 38th), Erick Lindgren (34th to 39th) and Mike Matusow (43rd down to 48th) are all in danger of dropping out of the top 50 completely over the next few months to a year. Surprisingly, Justin Bonomo – who has brought in $546,111 since the last list, also falls a spot – from 42nd to 43rd – which must come as a surprise.

When it comes to legends of the game falling out of the top 100 soon, it doesn’t look too good for the likes of Patrik Antonius (now flailing around in 85th spot, down from 79th), back-to-back Main Event winner Dan ‘Action Dan’ Harrington (87th from 81st), Howard Lederer (89th from 86th) and the daddy of them all, Doyle Brunson (who is now ‘languishing’ in 98th having dropped from 96th).

That fate has already befallen Hoyt Corkins, who finds himself out of the top 100 all-time tournament earners for the first time – now at 102nd down from 98th.

Looking at the big picture, moving anywhere from outside the top 100 into the top 50 is a distinct possibility on the back of a single huge win, but who can possibly catch Negreanu at the top of the list?

The answer has to be – nobody! At least not in the foreseeable future. Even in a ‘bad’ year the Canadian legend rakes in well over $500,000 in tournament wins – and with his nearest rival Antonio’ the Magician’ Esfandiari trailing him by some $5.5 million it’s hard to see how he can be caught barring some extraordinary run or Main Event win by the other top 5 guys.

This list couldn’t have been compiled without the hard work of Thehendonmob.com crew (to whom many thanks) and their phenomenal database– and here is their top 100 list.