Wed, 09/28/2011 – 06:57 – PokerPages Staff

5. Robert Wang– Total Career Earnings of $213,114
Auckland based poker pro, Robert Wang has made over $200,000 at the poker tables, with his career highlight coming in the Aussie Millions of 2008. In the No Limit Hold ‘em tournament, Wang came second and scooped up $105,000.

4. Phillip Willcocks– Total Career Earnings of $370,035
Phillip Willcocks has only been playing serious poker since the end of 2008, and since then, he has amassed close to $400,000 at the tables. A total of seven cashes, with no first place finishes yet, Willcocks’ biggest win came at the PokerStars APPT Melbourne in July 2011, where he walked away with $218,000.

3. Graeme Putt– Total Career Earnings of $510,813
Nicknamed ‘Kiwi’, Graeme Putt has achieved 79 cashes and four first place finishes at the poker tables. Although none of Putts cashes have been above $50,000, he has earned over half a million dollars at the poker table.

2. Simon Watt – Total Career Earnings of $907,665
Simon Watt has 14 cashes, two first place finishes and a WSOP bracelet to his name. Arguably a highlight of any player’s career, Watt’s WSOP success came in 2010 in a No Limit Hold ‘em tournament.

1. Lee Nelson – Total Career Earnings of $2,552,161
By far the most successful Kiwi player of all time, Lee Nelson has earned more than the previous four men combined. Poker veteran Nelson has earned himself the nickname ‘Final Table’ for his dogged determination at the tables, and the fact that he usually winds up in the final throes of tournaments.

Thu, 09/22/2011 – 08:05 – PokerPages Staff

5. Kirill Gerasimov – Total Earnings of $2,566,822
A cool and collected player, Kirill Gerasimov first tasted success at a poker tournament in 2001, winning the princely sum of £2,075 for coming fourth in a Russian event called the Winter Tournament.  Since then cashes, wins and dollars have been rolling in handsomely.

4. Alexander Kostritsyn– Total Earnings of $3,125,515
Born and raised just outside Moscow, Alexander Kostritsyn’s ambition is to make Russia a force to be reckoned with in the poker world.  Kostritsyn’s biggest win at a poker table has been the $1,735,198 he picked up at the Aussie Millions Main Event in 2008.

3. Alex Kravchenko– Total Earnings of $3,533,954
Former businessman Alex Kravchenko has been playing poker seriously since 2000.  In that time, he has achieved 95 cashes, seven first place finishes, and a solitary WSOP bracelet, winning the Limit Omaha Hi/Lo in 2007.  Kravchenko’s biggest haul was at the 2007 WSOP Championship, where a 4th place finish netted him $1.8 million.

2. Vitaly Lunkin – Total Earnings of $4,178,567
Double WSOP bracelet winner Vitaly Lunkin is the second most successful Russian poker player of all time.  In his ten year career, he has achieved 38 cashes and 4 first placed finishes.  The highlight of Lunkin’s career so far would have to be picking up $1.8 million and his second WSOP bracelet for winning the No Limit Hold ‘em in the 2009 series.

1. Ivan Demidov – Career Earnings of $6,726,063
A born and bred Muscovite, Ivan Demidov is the most successful Russian Poker Player of all time, with career earnings approaching $7 million.  Since he began playing poker in 2006, Demidov has won only a single tournament, but scooped a massive $5.7 million coming second in the WSOP No Limit Hold ‘em Championship in 2008.