Famous Poker Players

TheGeneral+ · Jul 13, 2003

< &'Amarillo Slim' Preston

Amarillo Slim, Poker Ambassador and non-stop source of Tall Tales, has been competing in WSOP events since their inception, with a number of bracelets to his credit. Some very lively memories in this shares a few of his favorite Slim stories. Ken Adams tells us what it's like Shooting the Bull with "Amarillo Slim" Preston.

Johnny Chan

Rising to international recognition with his WSOP main event victory in 1987, and again in 1988, Johnny Chan continues to be one of the most recognized names in poker.

T.J. Cloutier

One the last of the great road gamblers, T.J. was the first player to win over $1 million at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) without winning the main event.

Phil Hellmuth

Phil is a well known character in the poker community. He has 6 WSOP Bracelets, including the 1989 WSOP No Limit Hold'em Main event which made him the youngest-ever WSOP winner at age 24.

Interviews with Phil abound on the internet. He talks about the hand that still haunts him from the 2001 WSOP.

Thuan "Scotty" Nguyen

Nicknamed "The Prince", Scotty took the WSOP championship title in 1998 and is among the highest earning players of all time.

Doyle Brunson

Nicknamed "Texas Dolly", Doyle has 8 WSOP bracelets to his name and has already been inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Stu Ungar (deceased)

Stu Ungar is considered by many to be the greatest No Limit Hold'em player of all time, with three WSOP championship titles to his credit. This fascinating article by Mike Sexton chronicles his life. It offers an incredible tribute to "Stuey" via many moving posts by those who knew him (including Mike Sexton, Nolan Dalla, Todd Brunson, and Doyle Brunson) and those whose paths crossed with him but briefly. It also offers a compelling portrait of the "tortured champion". His last days are described both in the Las Vegas Review Journal and with an extremely tragic quote from his then-16-year-old daughter that she had encouraged him repeatedly to get help for his cocaine addiction.

Roger Moore

Roger is considered to be among the legendary Southern gamblers, named in the same breath as Doyle Brunson.

Eric Seidel

Eric is a highly accomplished player and placed second to Johnny Chan in spectacular form during the 1988 WSOP championship event.

Johnny Moss

Johnny Moss is known as the "Grand Old Man" of poker. He has won the World Series of World Championship three times.

http://pokermag.com/managearticle.asp?C=90&A=22

GreenDoberman · Jul 24, 2003

There is a movie coming out about Ungar called "Stuey", it previewed here in Vegas a while back.

TheGeneral+ · May 24, 2004

Phil & Eric head to head matchup at Pinny today.

WildBill · May 24, 2004

These are just a handful of the legends of the game, but today it is mostly dominated by guys not on this list, guys like Ivey, Lederer, and Flack. Not that these guys cant play, but I am definitely joining the camp who thinks that age does play some factor in a poker players ability. Almost like golf, the guys in their 40s are still strong, start slipping in their 50s and just muster up one good round in their 60s and beyond. Used to be guys who could dominate the game in their 20s and 30s were rare and true stars, but now guys in these brackets pretty much own the game with a sprinkling of 40s holding their own.

Matt24 · May 24, 2004

Doyle Brunson is pumped up to 120,000 chips, he may make a run, would be great to have him at the final table.

Fishhead · May 24, 2004

I think the same holds true for sportsbettors too believe it or not.

Fishhead · May 24, 2004

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Matt24:
Doyle Brunson is pumped up to 120,000 chips, he may make a run, would be great to have him at the final table.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would love to see that!

BaseballGuy · May 24, 2004

So you think your the most active poster? lol.

DarrylParsons · May 24, 2004

Back in my poker glory days I had a hand against Phil Hellmuth at the Orleans Open.

It was 9-handed no-limit holdem, blinds were 150-300. I had about 7000 in front of me which was a bit more than average. Phil Hellmuth was on the big blind with about 6500. Two guys fold to me, I have KQ off and make it 800. Everyone folds to Hellmuth who thinks, takes a deep breath and goes all-in. I think for about two minutes and consider how he's been playing fairly conservatively up to that point, but he'd been getting restless of late and at the start of the hand (before getting his cards) he had taken a deep breath and corrected his posture as if to say "ok, time to make things happen now". Anyway, based on this last thought I decided to call.

He flips over two nines and the dealer turns over five blanks, giving Hellmuth the pot. That pot was worth about $5000 in EV. I lost my remaining 500 a few hands later. Oh well, life sucks and then you die.