Favorite Player / Best Player...
 

Do you guys have favorite poker players? Who do you think the best player in the world is?

I used to think Phil Ivey was the best in the world, but they way Daniel Negreanu has been playing this year, I have to give him my vote... at least for tournament play.

Sorry, but my favorite had to still be Doyle Brunson, he is in fact the man.

The best right now had to be Daniel Negraneu, hands down running away with it.

Action Dan
 

For the best player, I'm going to to with Dan Harrington. Final table two years in a row with fields that large ... amazing.

i just watched gus hansen play last night and it seemed he always made the correct decisions

brunson is a kick as well

I used to love watching Phil play at the Taj before he moved to Vegas. What a class act and terrific player. He absolutely has no fear. Too bad he isn't a better tournament player.

I like the way Gus plays, because he's so unpredictable, but I respect Phil or Howard the most.

That was an incredible feat.

Phil Hellmuth and Daniel N

Best entertainment value : Phil hellmuth heads up with Sam Grizzle

Oh yeah I hate Annie Duke with a passion.

Daniel Negreanu
Howard Lederer
Phil Helmouth
Josh Arieh
Gus Hansen


they're my favorites for sure

-jB

Josh Arieh you gotta be kiddin' me.

hes a jackass, but you have to give him credit for his Helmouth-caliber reads

Contrary to how ESPN made him come off, Arieh is a very good player. He is a passionate player, and he certainly wears his emotions on his sleeve. That being said, I don't care if he's a smart ass or not. I like his attitude and his ability to read people.

Among the best in the world? No.

Harrington is the best player, by far. He has been consistently among the best for so long, he is a rock, and so patient it's scary.

Harrington?
 

I simply can NOT agree that Dan Harrington is among the best poker players in the world. He's good - certainly a lot better than me - and I think he plays very well, but I don't think he's in the same league as the Negreanus, Iveys, Hellmuths, and Lederers of the world.

He has had increadible success at the main event of the WSOP, and no one can ever take that away from him, but to make the final table in an event that big, you need to get very lucky, as he did this year and last. ANYONE needs to get very lucky to get there. I think being considered the best in the world requires much more consistent success, not just success at back to back WSOP main events.

Harrington has made exactly one final table this year:


Sorry, but no way is he one of the best in the world.

Favorite Player/ Best Player
 

For best player I would think it is Daniel Negreanu.
But If I wanted to play or be like someone, it would have to be Scott Fischman. He is doing pretty good this year, including those 2 bracelets at the 2004 WSOP. I think he has show that it was not a fluke. He has place in the final table around 10 times this year.

I know Scott. He's a friend of a friend. I know a lot of people don't like him because of the whole Crew thing (and him alling on the table when he won that one bracelet this year), but he's been nothing but nice to me. Him and Dutch both.

And let me tell you something - this kid is for real. He's one hell of a player. During the main event, I saw him pull off what may be the single best bluff I have ever seen. 4th row of pics on this page:

I hear scott's been getting worked on stars lately though

Daniel N and who was the black guy that came in second at this year's main event? I seem to have forgotten his name, but I liked his style. He reacts so quickly as if he hasn't thought his play out thoroughly, but hey, he made it to second. Something about him I just liked. Also would have been nice to see him become the youngest to win, but oh well.

David Williams I think.

I really like watching Gus Hansen on the Pokersuperstars. It seems like the other pros don't know how to handle his unpredictability. I also thought it was funny at the WSOP when the pros were complaining about the illogical plays being made by the internet players. WELCOME TO OUR WORLD - LOL.

Although he waits for good cards, he is certainly NOT a rock. You can't play successful multitable tournament poker without making moves sometime or another.

He has a great image though. It would be nice if my bets were that respected.

You talk about acting quickly.

From my perspective, unless you are either calculating pot odds or trying to get a read, people wait and wait for show. It's a mind game. I like David's style too, and he did very well at the Borgata Open this summer in Atlantic City. He was in the top 5, I believe, along with Arieh, and the event winner, D-Neg.

You just named the Top 3.

you really think williams is that good? he's a pretty strong tournament player but theres many better than him out there right now, no way he can be in the top 3

I should have been more clear - He just named the Top 3 finishers in the Borgata tourney he was referring to (he "thought" Williams finished in the Top 5). Not the top three in the world!

^I think he meant top 3 of the open- correct?

Edit: beat me to it

o thx for clarification

Marcel Luske - He's an excellent player and very entertaining.

Devilfish - Again one of the best players in the world and always great to watch.

Daniel N.

o crap i forgot marcel....

Did someone mention DevilFish?

I have watched him play at UB, and I must say he raises before every single flop, as Hellmuth says in his book. His stack is always up, down, up, down, up, down. Very loose pre-flop player that attempts to outplay after the flop. I like him too.

I like Farha as well, he really comes off as a nice guy on tv.

Dave "DevilFish" - is the most famous British poker player around. Not only has he an amazing personality always entertaining the table and making friendly banter but he's one of the best overall players in the world. He's a master at all forms of poker and wins lots of tournys around the globe. The thing is he does not enter most American events becuase of his hetic schedule but he did win a WPT event last year and I think came 60ish in the main WSOP this year.

I dont play on UB myself but woudlnt mind watching him play there just to try and learn from him. I do know he doesn't use his own money on UB and just goes on there to entertain the punters and promote the site. Hard life eh?

just from watching people play, and never having actually played at high enough limit sto bump into any of these guys, here is my two cents.

phil ivey - just seems absolutely ferocius at the table, always studying and calculating. fearless too.

negreanu - is obviously a very good player, but sometimes the table talk gets to be a little much.


i would love to see more live events, like the turning stone tounament earlier this year. you just get so much more insight into the game, whichthe pros probably hate, but i svery interesting for an amateur like me.

He is. It was great being able to watch him at the Taj when he was living in AC. I wish he didn't move to Vegas. This kid played EVERY game. Stud, Stud HL, HE, etc.

gotta be phil
 

Phil Hellmuth. Man i love this guy. He really is an awesome tournament player. I would drive 12+ hours to get him to sign my book. Im going to be in the 06 wsop and hope every day that i get seated at the table beside him.lol. I dont want him to take my $ bc i cant get over the fact he is sitting at the same table

i saw him play a bit at the bellagio the last time i was in vegas, and while i couldnt see everything that was going on, it was fairly obvious that he was the table captain. it wasnt exactly a weak lineup, either, john hennigan and a few other recognizable pros were in the game.

obviously i cant verify any of this, and it is basically all hearsay, there are reports that he has won in the range of 20 mil this year. not sure if that is true or not, but i would assume that he is making a very comfortable living right about now.

Layne Flack is definately my favorite player. I love the ultra-aggresive players, and drunk Layne is a pleasure to watch. Cant wait until this years UB Aruba tournament gets aired

take a nice picture of him when you're there, i know for a fact on day 2 you're going to get seated to his right... idono just wierd feeling that will happen haha

Disregarding probable bandwagon comments...Danny N rocks.

That being said, I am repeatedly impressed by how accurate Gus Hansens reads are...the dude seems to know exactly when he can get away with gambling a hand.

I have a goofy looking pic of me an Phil, both wearing our Oakleys. Maybe someday I'll post it...... or maybe not.

....dooooo iiiiiiit

best player - stu unger
best player alive - doyle brunson, howard l., phil hellmuth
fav player - phil ivey

Daniel N's accomplishments this year certainly make him a candidate for currently being the best. I also think that John Juanda's performance this year is hard to ignore.

For favorite, I enjoy watching and reading Paul Phillips. His live journal is often times very insightful on some key hands he's been in. He'll take you to task for being a moron, but other than that he's usually right on target with his poker discussions.

My favorite player is Phil Ivey, he just seems so intense in everyhand. Off topic, but I heard he used to be a professional Video game player, anybody know if it's true and if so what games did he play proffessionaly.

if he played video games for a living he probably played counterstrike or some other game at CPL. can anyone confirm this though? pretty interesting

I read that in a profile of him, I forgot where, but I also found it very interesting.

just curious, but how long do you think that we should look at to determine the best current player? with the extreme amount of luck involved in any single tournament, it is pretty easy for a top pro even to hit a long dry spell in tourneys. look at eric seidel and hellmuth. i believe that both of them are winless for the last year at least, yet they are widely regarded as two of the best tournament players out there.

i think that looking bigger picture is probably important here, and looking at much more than one years worth of results. with that siad, i agree with you that negreanu and juanda are two of the best around.

Very good question.

Poker today is different than poker was 3 years ago. And of course, the argument of who is the "best" will never be answered.

With that said though, I believe the most recent results are the most valid. I know variance and the sheer number of players entering tournaments have contributed to Hellmuth and Seidel being winless this year, as you've mentioned.

But so too has the style of play. Those that have been able to adjust their play like the Juandas, Negraneus and Hansons are seemingly having wild success this year. It will be interesting to see if their success holds up over time.

Exactly! The game of poker is all about adjusting yourself to the situation. Players who have played for years the same way and come out on top got a rude awakening a few years ago when poker changed, and they were forced to alter (or attempt to alter) their style to suit the new poker world.

Not only tourney to tourney, but hand to hand. Every hand is an entirely different game, and that's how people win tournaments. IMHO

Daniel Negreanu is my fav. Although he may not be Gary Carson's favourite.

The Lederer Mob
 

I like Annie Duke. I also like Howard Lederer. I have no idea why. I guess I like there style, and hey, Annie is cute! heh. BTW - She would kick my ass so hard in any game that it is not even funny.