Sometimes Winning Poker Players Are Losers
In golf for years Phil Michelson carried the label of best golfer never to win a major. Now that he has won perhaps Sergio Garcia carries that label today. So let’s take a look at who are the best poker players never to win a big event.
Poker isn’t like golf. There aren’t four defined majors. So, how is a major defined in poker? For most experts the standard is a $5,000 event that has at least 100 players. So, even a WSOP bracelet isn’t enough to get you off this list. Ok here’s our list of the top three players never to win a major poker event.
Patrik Antonius fits on this short list easily. Many consider him as one of the best high stakes cash game players around. He started playing some tournaments in 2005. In a short time, he has collected over $2 million in cash.
He had a near miss in one major event. This was the 2006 WSOP pot limit Omaha World Championship, where he finished a close 3rd. Patrik spends most of his time playing for big bucks at high stakes cash games in Las Vegas, and online.
Todd Brunson is another very strong player who has never gotten that major event win. Todd is a real cash game expert. He has had some legendary big days in cash games. The story of his exploits in one such game is told in the book The Professor, The Banker, And The Suicide King,
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.
The dragon has won 2 WSOP events, 29 overall, and has cashed in well over 150 events. 2007 was a huge year for David, with four wins and over $1.8 million in earnings. How is it possible that he hasn’t won a major level tournament?
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 one way it’s getting easier to win a big one. As poker entry fees increase, there are more and more opportunities to win a major event. But, making it more difficult is the size of the fields in these events. Also, as the money has increased, a lot of very good players are fighting for these prizes.
With bigger fields, everyone is less likely to win. This is why you don’t see the top pros winning every WSOP event. With thousands of players to get through to get a win, you are up against big odds, no matter how good you are.