You must have caught our series of articles about the ranking of the fifty best poker players over the past 50 years. With the help of a refined key and the votes of the public, the editors of Card Player have formed a discussed ranking full of poker icons, of which we have already managed to introduce you three quarters, but today we are left with the last names of this elite group. Did you find your favorite among them?
![The 50 Greatest Poker Players of the Last 50 Years [3.]](https://old2.spadepoker.tv/20220706090328_4acf70237c638744b9febf069e95d281.jpg)
Scotty Nguyen
After escaping from the war in Vietnam, when he spent almost a month trapped at sea, young Scotty successfully sailed to the USA, where he started a new life. He first made a living as a poker dealer, from which he gradually became a successful poker player. He has the 1998 WSOP Main Event title, the WPT title and 4 other bracelets, including the one from the $50k Poker Players Championship in 2008. In total, the 59-year-old legend's live tournament account resume currently shines at $12.7 million.
David Peters
If you're looking for someone who consistently beats the biggest stakes over a long period of time, you definitely have to stop at the name David Peters. The native of Ohio won three WSOP bracelets in his career, fought for the title of player of the year every year for the last decade, and also won the title of U.S.Poker Open champion back-to-back. The 34-year-old pro's rich poker resume includes eleven 7-figure jackpots worth a total of $41.4 million, which currently ranks him 4th in the worldwide ATML.
Nick Petrangelo
When looking at American players crushing high roller tournaments, it is really difficult to choose one name - we can mention, for example, names like Jake Schindler, Sean Winter or Alex Foxen. Despite this, the editors of CardPlayer chose Nick Petrangelo for this position, who has already managed to win almost 25 million dollars. He also has two WSOP bracelets, an online WPT title and many beautiful results from online nosebleed cash games.
Doug Polk
Polk himself decided to create his own subjective list of the best players in history, but that doesn't mean he doesn't belong on ours. Currently, the 33-year-old native of California is rightfully considered one of the best NLH heads-up players, which he proved last year in a long-awaited match with Daniel Negreanu, whom he robbed of $1.2 million. In addition to three WSOP bracelets and almost 10 million dollars in live tournaments, Doug is also known for his videos and podcasts, in which he is not afraid to discuss controversial and unpleasant topics from the world of poker.
Brian Rast
A successful and always smart student, he got a taste of poker at Stanford University and from that moment there was no turning back. One success followed another, and Rast managed to win five bracelets, including the one from the elite $50k Poker Players Championship. He scored his biggest hit in 2015, when he won the half-million SHRB, where he took home a record 7.5 million dollars.
David „Chip“ Reese
As a 6-year-old, his mother taught him to play poker, and already in the second grade he was robbing the lunchboxes from the boys from the fifth grade. After successfully graduating from Dartmouth University, he was going to study law at Stanford, but at that moment came the first big win in Vegas, which definitively decided his life direction. Over the next 30 years, Chip established himself as one of the most respected poker players and a regular participant in the biggest cash games. He managed to take home three bracelets from the WSOP, including a win in the very first $50k Poker Players Championship, thanks to which his name carries the trophy from this tournament. Sadly, Chip left us too soon when he died in his sleep of heart failure in 2007 aged just 56.
Nick Schulman
Young Nick got into poker through online platforms, from which he gradually moved to the live circuit after turning 21. As a 21-year-old, he won the WPT Finals for $2.1 million, but it didn't take long for him to become a regular at the legendary Bobby's Room in the Bellagio. In addition to playing, Nick also began to devote himself to poker commenting and moderating, to which he also added three bracelets and 14 million dollars.
Huck Seed
Like Doyle Brunson, Huck started a successful basketball career in high school, but it went sideways after he discovered poker. Huck quickly became part of the elite group of players at Bobby's Room, where he became famous mainly for his popularity in various crazy prop bets. In addition to winning the Main Event in 1996, he also won three more bracelets or the title from the National Heads-up Championship.
Erik Seidel
No other representative of the old school has gained as much respect in the community of young high stakes regulars as Erik Seidel. He proves his enormous qualities decade after decade, despite his 62 years. Before playing poker, Seidel was a backgammon player and stock trader, and while the movie Rounders will forever remind us of his heads-up loss to Johnny Chan, Erik was able to heal that blow with nine bracelets and a WPT title in total value of more than 40 million dollars.
Scott Seiver
In this list, Siver is definitely one of the most versatile players, as his resume demonstrates. A long-time participant in Bobby's Room games, he is a feared opponent in online waters as well, but he won't be lost in live tournaments either, where he won three WSOP bracelets, a WPT Championship title or a record $5.2 million cashout when he finished second in SHRB behind Brian Rast.
Vanessa Selbst
Even though names such as Kathy Liebert, Maria Ho and Kristen Bicknell are gradually coming forward from the female representatives, they are still far behind the legend Vanessa Selbst. The leader of the women's ranking has 12 million dollars on her account, among which we can also find three WSOP bracelets. Even though she is now, so to speak, retired from poker, she still remains the only woman in the ATML top 100 worldwide (74th place).
Dan Smith
Even though he's only one of two players on this list without a WSOP bracelet to his credit, he certainly deserves his place here. The native of New Jersey was a chess prodigy from an early age, who gradually made his way to poker through horse racing betting. Over the course of his career, he won more than $38 million, including nine seven-figure payouts, led by an $8.8 million cashout from the London Triton.
Stu Ungar
It is difficult to imagine how the career of the legendary Stu Ungar would have developed if he had not died in 1998. The New York prodigy gradually shifted from the best Gin Rummy player in the world to poker, where he is still considered by many to be one of the most naturally gifted players of all time. He is the only player in history (not counting Johnny Moss, who was once voted the winner by his opponents) to win the WSOP Main Event three times, and everyone surely remembers his incredible comeback, when even completely broke and addicted to drugs he managed to win the tournament of all tournaments.
Anthony Zinno
Another of the poker chameleons closes the announced fifty players. Originally a lawyer from Rhode Island, Anthony Zinno found his purpose behind the poker tables, where he won three WPT titles and four WSOP bracelets, all of his bracelets coming from non-Holdem disciplines. Zinno currently has almost $11 million in his live tournament account and with it a reputation as a player you don't want to play against in any discipline.
