Poker and the best players in the world
James Bond was also his Majesty’s best poker player. This game is loved by the actor Ben Affleck and the singer Jiří Korn. In 2016, more than 3 million dollars were won by 20 players, 2 million by 45 players while 104 players earned a million dollars or more.
Poker in the World: Fedor Holz’s $ 23 million
One of the most successful tournament players in recent years, 24-year-old Fedor Holz, even has his own documentary mini-series entitled “In the Life of a Champion”, which captured his backstage view during the five high-rollers of Poker Masters. He has earned more than $ 23.3 million in tournament winnings.
Domestic Poker: Champion Vojtěch Růžička
In the Czech Republic, cca. thirty people can make a living by poker and hundreds of other people are also making good money from this game. Vojtěch Růžička, who in the nine-player final of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas in the US was amongst the top five players, won at least 47.4 million crowns. He started playing poker at college when he was twenty and at the beginning it was just a hobby.
“When I talk today with young guys, 23 years old perhaps, they say they started when they were fifteen playing at school under the desk,” says Růžička, who considers a good knowledge of mathematics as being one of the biggest pluses in this game.
Vojěch Růžička ranks amongst the 25 best-earning Czech athletes. There are 17 hockey players, 3 tennis players, 2 footballers, 2 basketball players, and in 23rd place there is Vojta Růžička with his earnings of 56.5 million crowns. And what does Růžička have to say about poker?
“It's neither a sport nor gambling, but a game of skill in which coincidence frequently plays a more significant role.”
While Nick Petrangelo reigns in the world of poker, this year was more favourable for Bryn Kenney. The leading Czech is Vojtěch Růžička, but Michal Mrakeš has ranked amongst the top 100 players during this year.
A world full of poker players
Poker is no longer dominated only by Americans, although the winner of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) was the American Jamie Gold. The sharp rise in the number of players has also extended to the former Soviet Union, Scandinavia and Asia. In the final of the luxurious WSOP, players from Vietnam, Great Britain, Denmark, Laos, South Africa, Russia and Canada also appeared. The prize of $ 8,250,000 was won by 40-year-old Jerry Yang of Laos, who has only been playing poker for two years and to win he needed only $ 225.
Poker is not only a game for men
According to the experts, the development of luxury games on the Internet is behind the growing interest of women in poker. Many top pros do not enjoy meeting top player Annie Duke, who became the world champion at the WSOP event that took place in Las Vegas in 2004. She learned this card game from her brother, the well-known poker player Howard Lederer. Over the last thirteen years, this uncrowned queen has won nearly $ 4 million. The nineteen-year-old Annette Oberstand from Norway is on her heels, however She won the European version of the luxurious WSOP event and thereby earned two million Euros.
The 10 biggest wins in 2016
Rick Salomon – $3.3 million – $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop
The former husband of Pamela Anderson has only two tournament placements from the last five years, but in both cases it was at the Big One for One Drop tournament. Of the total tournament winnings of $ 6.3 million $ 6.1 million comes from the Big One tournaments.
Cliff Josephy – $3.45 million – WSOP Main Event
For Josephy it was not the first win of the final table of the WSOP Main Event. In 2009 he was the backer of its champion Joe Cady.
Fedor Holz
– $3.46 million – $200,000 NL Hold’em Triton Super High Roller Series
– $3.5 million – $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl
– $4.98 million – $111,111 One Drop High Roller WSOP
In this year’s One Drop High Roller WSOP, this talent from Germany obtained not only his first golden bracelet but also the highest prize. After his success, he also announced the end of his professional poker career. This however did not prevent him from making another $ 3 million in tournament winnings by the end of the year.
Gordon Vayo – $4.66 million – WSOP Main Event
Gordon Vayo will remain in the minds of many viewers as the one who was beaten by this year’s champion Qui Nguyen, but it is hard to say how much he will mind because he took the sixth highest prize of this year, i.e. $ 4.66 million.
Rainer Kempe – $5 million – $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl
Anatoly Gurtovy – $5.98 million – $1 Million Big One For One Drop
Qui Nguyen – $8 million – WSOP Main Event
An American of Vietnamese origin, a baccarat lover, a gambler, and the former owner of the nail studio surpassed all his 6736 rivals and took the unofficial title of the World Poker Champion of 2016.
Elton Tsang – $12.48 million – $1 Million Big One for One Drop
Although he is among the amateur players, Tsang has already had some interesting victories before this tournament. The $12.5 million prize catapulted him to the top of the Chinese tournament ranking, however, and thereby to 23rd place in the world.
The TOP 10 World Players in the GPI ranking
1. Nick Petrangelo
2. David Peters
3. Fedor Holz
4. Bryn Kenney
5. Justin Bonomo
6. Jasun Mercir
7. Adrian Mateos
8. Steve O’Dwyer
9. Rainer Kempe
10. Jason Koon
The TOP 10 Czech Players in the GPI ranking (world ranking)
1. Vojtěch Růžička (200)
2. Michal Mareš (383)
3. Martin Staszko (464)
4. Martin Kabrhel (515)
5. Jiří Horák (844)
6. Dzmitry Rabotkin (1072)
7. Petr Šubík (1114)
8. Jan Nakládal (1243)
9. Antonio Duda (1252)
10. Petr Targa (1380)
