Fri, 03/25/2011 – 20:37 – PokerPages Staff

#5 – Erik Seidel
Seidel is a native of New York who now lives in Las Vegas.  He began by playing backgammon tournaments, before moving into playing the stock market and finally poker.  Seidel has 21 first place finishes.  He has acquired eight WSOP bracelets.  His total career earnings are $11,530,256.

#4 – Phil Ivey
Ivey is an ambassador for new generation poker players.  He has 22 first place finishes to his credit.  He has also managed to earn eight WSOP bracelets.  His total career earnings are $13,745,806.

#3 – Doyle Brunson
Brunson lives in Las Vegas.  He is married and has three children.  He has 12 first place finishes.  Brunson has also earned 10 WSOP bracelets.  His total career earnings are $5,556,481.
 
#2 – Johnny Chan
Chan was born in Canton China.  In 1968, his family moved to US.  They owned restaurants in Houston Texas.  There Chan attended the University of Houston.  At the age of 21, he dropped out of college and moved to Las Vegas to become a poker player.  Chan has 13 first place finishes.  Chan has also acquired 10 WSOP bracelets.  He has amassed total winnings of $6,116,297.

#1 - Phil Hellmuth
Phil is from Palo Alto, California. He dropped out of the University of Wisconsin to make poker his career.  He has had a phenomenal run since 1988.  Hellmuth has had three back-to-back first place finishes.  He has also won three WSOP bracelets in the same year.  He has earned a total of 11 WSOP bracelets.  Hellmuth has had 20 first place finishes.  His total winnings are $9,236,617.

An honorable mention, it seems unfair that a poker legend like the late Johnny Moss is cut from the list even though he also holds eight WSOP bracelets.  He is not in the top five because his total first place finishes also total eight.

2011 January 14, Mickey Doft, Rich Ryan

$25,000 High Roller

Day 1 of the $25,000 High Roller at the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure welcomed 151 entrants into the ballroom here at the beautiful Atlantis Resort and Casino, nearly double the 84 players that participated last year.

After eight levels, Ryan “toetagU” Fair bagged up 217,200 in chips and will enter Day 2 as the chip leader. Fair won the 2010 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker $10,300 Main Event for $1,162,350 back in May and has over two million in career earnings on PokerStars alone.

The defending champion, William Reynolds, had a very solid day on the felt as well. He bagged up 170,800 in his title-defense run. Joining Fair and Reynolds towards the top of the pack will be Ty Reiman (205,400), Kyle Julius (173,500) and Team PokerStars Pro Leo Fernandez (167,600).

The event saw plenty of big names come and go including Bertrand Grospellier, Viktor Blum, Jonathan Duhamel, John Duthie, Justin Bonomo and Shaun Deeb. There were plenty of survivors though including both Jason Mercier and Joe Hachemwho had rollercoaster days, but finished with 75,600 and 55,500, respectively.

Play resumes tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. EST with Day 2 as they play down to the final table of eight players. Make sure you follow the PokerNews Live Reporting Team for the remainder of the 2011 PCA!

$5,000 NAPT Bounty Shootout

Play resumed in the 2011 PCA $5,000 NAPT Bounty Shootout Saturday where 36 players returned in two flights to play down to a final table. Andrew Chen, Shaun Deeb, Michael Binger, Marko Neumann, Scott Baumstein and William Pilossop all won their heats and have a seat locked up at Sunday’s final table.

There were a handful of notables who entered the day looking to advance including Amnon Filippi, David Baker, Darren Elias, Jeff Madsen, Brandon Adams, Faraz Jaka and Nick Binger.

Team PokerStars was well represented by Greg Debora, Barry Greenstein, Dario Minieri, Ville Wahlbeck and George Lind III, but none of them were able to win their respective heats. Wahlbeck was the closest, finishing runner up when Pilossop cracked his aces heads up.

Perhaps the most intriguing story of the day was that Nick and Michael Binger sat next to each other at their table. Michael even eliminated his brother when Nick shoved with . Michael had him dominated with and held when the board ran .

Chris Klodnicki took the worst beat of the day when he flopped a full house with on a board. His opponent, Neuman, flopped trips with and after the turned the river brought the . Over 90,000 chips went in the middle, Klodnicki was left with only 1,500 and busted the very next hand.

The final table is set for Sunday at 12 p.m. local time. The remaining players have all guaranteed themselves $40,000 and will be fighting it out for both the $200,000 first-place prize and the $25,000 prize for most knockouts.

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