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The Wizards of Poker
Posted: Tuesday, June 30, 2009
By Michael Kaplan
Phil Ivey, known as the Tiger Woods of poker, once won $16 million in three days playing heads-up against Texas billionaire Andy Beale.
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Like any elite athletic endeavor, high-stakes poker is a game in which the greats are only fractionally better than the really goods. It’s the difference between winning the World Series of Poker with mediocre cards and finishing 10th. Big bluffs, spectacular reads and good old-fashioned solid play are all in a day’s work for the game’s top practitioners. Thanks to hole-card cams and YouTube, we can relive moments of Daniel Negreanu getting a perfect read on Sammy Farha, Doyle Brunson correctly calling a $300,000 bluff with just two Aces, and online poker whiz Phil Galfond winning his first World Series bracelet.
Negreanu, Brunson and Galfond rank among a first-rate core of players, squeezing the luck factor out of poker and deploying skills that assure profitable results. Starting July 3, they join thousands in Las Vegas for the 2009 World Series of Poker and its 40th annual Main Event.
Given the timing, we see this as an auspicious moment for singling out the most lethal players on earth, each of whom excels at a particular facet of poker—whether it be tournament play, live cash games or multi-tabling online. In the latest issue of Cigar Aficionado, we list the 10 people you don’t want to confront across an expanse of green felt or on the Web. Play against them at your own risk.
To read the rest of this in-depth analysis of the best poker players of today, be sure to pick up the August Cigar Aficionado, featuring the cast of Entourage on the cover.
For a list of tobacconists who carry Cigar Aficionado, click here.
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