Sep 02 2008
Poker Pros Who Haven’t Won A Big Title
Whenever you watch golf on TV, and in particular during the grand slam events, you hear the commentators refer to some player with this line, “he might be the best player in the game today who hasn’t won a major”. Phil Mickelson had this label undisputed for a few years. Let’s look at a few poker greats you could say the same about in their game.
In golf there are four grand slam events, called the majors. What is a major event in poker? Over the years this has been defined as any tournament with a $5,000 buy in, and over 100 players. Many WSOP bracelets are earned in events that aren’t considered major poker events. So, let’s list a few of the best who haven’t accomplished this feat.
Number three on our list is Patrik Antonius. Perhaps the biggest reason that Patrick is stuck on this list is that he, like some others, is much more of a cash game player. But, with over $2 million in tournament, and some close calls in big events, he is no slouch in tournament poker.
He flirted with winning a major event in 2006. At the WSOP he finished a close 3rd in the $10,000 buy in World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha. He really is a monster cash game player, playing the biggest games he can find, both online and live.
Next, we need to look at Todd Brunson, son of poker legend Doyle Brunson. Todd is also a cash game expert. It is rumored that he has won countless millions playing in huge cash games.
Todd has proven his tournament skills as well. He has a WSOP bracelet for his efforts, but the buy in wasn’t large enough to qualify it as a major win. Todd can win a major event. There is no doubt about that. He just needs to get away from the cash games, and focus more on tournament poker.
David Pham probably stands alone as the best player never to have won a major poker event. “The Dragon” has won well over $7 million in his career. He, unlike the other two, is primarily a tournament player. He plays a very high volume of tournaments every year.
He has won nearly 30 tournaments in his 15 years of playing. Last year he had a huge year, winning four times, and making close to $2 million. Why he hasn’t gotten this monkey off his back is hard to figure out.
The dragon has been playing a high volume of live tournaments for a long time. This fact makes him the Phil Mickeleson of poker. Before Phil won his first major, he was number two in the world, he was probably the best golfer of all-time, that hadn’t won a major. Perhaps David is nearly the same story in the poker world. Phil got his, and then some. The same should come to the dragon.
In some respects it will only get easier to win a major event. This is because there are more major events to play. On the other side, most of the poker tournaments these days have much bigger fields than in the past.
With the fields increasing in size you have less of a chance to win, no matter how good you are. The amount of luck it takes to actually win the event, as it grows in size, reduces the impact of your skills. That, along with the fact that the competition is better, makes winning one particular event harder than ever.