There are plenty of great poker players out there; players who have won multiple WSOP bracelets, some who have been developing their poker career for decades, and so on.
But how do you know which of these players are considered the top online poker players of our time? Are we talking about the most profitable players? The rising stars that have been dominating the online and live tables? Or should we look at players with the highest global rankings?
The answer is thar we should look at all of the above. It is practically impossible to determine who is the best in such a diverse field, so as to cover all of our bases. Let's take a look at different stats and rankings to determine which poker players are at the top of their games!
Top Live and Online Poker Players
The Global Poker Index takes into account many factors when deciding which poker player is the best in the world, putting Bin Weng in the lead. Weng, an American poker pro, has been in the lead of the GPI pros list for more than 39 weeks, with 4,148.94 points. He has also been climbing the GPI Player of the Year ranking for 2024, currently occupying 32nd place.
Overall, Weng won $8,765,570 in recorded games, with his biggest win being a $2,227,054 cash prize at a WSOP event. The interesting thing about Weng is the fact he hasn't been playing poker for long, as his first official game dates back to 2015. Before that, he worked at a family restaurant, unaware of his dormant talent.
Next, let's take a look at Bryn Kenney at the top of the charts. The 37-year-old poker pro from America started playing poker more than 15 years ago, accumulating $65,195,990 in the process. While he only has one WSOP bracelet win under his belt, Kenney often scored big wins in major poker events. His largest win of $20,563,324 took place in the 2019 Triton Million for Charity Event, where he won second place. A few years back, Kenney was accused of cheating, which made him notoriously famous for a while, but it didn't stop him from launching his own poker platform.
But even though Kenney is leading on the all-time money list, 2024 has been particularly productive for Elton Tsang, who made $6,315,000 in only four months of playing so far. The Chinese Canadian poker player who now resides in Hong Kong won big in two Triton poker events in Jeju, adding to his overall winnings of $24,155.59.
But Tsang is not only famous for his latest wins but also for some great accomplishments. That includes founding and organizing the first live poker event in Macau and winning a part of the biggest pot in TV poker history (€2,090,000).
Before the successful poker pro and entrepreneur chose to focus on live cash games, he preferred to frequent online poker tables. While living in Canada he played Texas Hold'em on various platforms, and only after he returned to Hong Kong he realized that the game was relatively unknown in the region. That is when he saw the potential of introducing poker in Macau – and he succeeded in it!
Lastly, we'll talk about Daniel 'Jungleman' Cates, who is known in the online poker world as Jungleman12 or w00ki3z. He is considered as one of the best heads-up No Limit Texas Hold'em players, as his online cash wins were estimated to exceed $11,000,000 in 2014. According to Hendon Mob, he made more than $14,000,000 in live earnings throughout his career, with 2 WSOP bracelets and 2 World Poker Tour wins under his belt.
As an online poker player, Cates has been known for taking risks, which sometimes turned out well – and sometimes, not so much. He took part in the famous Galfond Challenge, even though the challenge wasn't completed. Also, he had some highly talked-about losses throughout his career. For example, he lost most of his bankroll to Viktor Blom in 2009, in addition to losing about $5,000,000 in a casino in Manila. But even though he had his ups and downs, Jungleman keeps making appearances at live and online tables, teaching his fans that you can't let any losses keep you down.