Put it this way, Andy Bloch is obviously in the list above Guy and below The Chairman. Bobby Baldwin is below Guy (using 2019 pre-Covid numbers and assuming Guy didn't blow a major percentage of his net worth supporting Cirque du Soleil), but he exceeds all but at most three pro poker players, and probably just one.

Perhaps not. But certainly well over a million by now, with multiple printings and new editions and a sequel. Still in print and available new in hardcover on Amazon for only $76. Paperback only $31 new and used copies available as well if you are not too flush.

Anyway my point is that he did not obtain the larger part of his rumored $60 million fortune at the poker table, but rather gained much (or most) of it through poker related ventures and endeavors.

Ah, to clarify, I don't know Baldwin's net worth and am assuming he made money off investments and didn't **** the bed.

Highly unlikely Doyle sold 1 million books.

100% he made more than $1 million from the books.

$1 million isn't remotely in the discussion here in terms of net worth of poker players. Doesn't make the top 10,000.

First, you were referring to books that they sold at $100. This was back in the 1970s (and perhaps early 1980s) and my understanding is that they didn't sell many at that price.

Starting in 2003 sales of poker books began to boom. But Doyle was with a publisher who paid a small royalty rate (compared to 2+2) and again, he didn't make anywhere close to what you think he made. Also, my guess for total sales would be closer to half a million (but I can't say for sure).

The hard cover version that you can buy through Amazon is the old version of the book. Also, Super System 2 is a separate book and should not be counted as part of sales for the original Super System.

Mason

Hi riverdog:

I think all of this is correct.

Mason

I discovered bitcoin in 2013 and considered buying some then when the price was about $50. Biggest regret of my life. To be fair, getting money onto the exchanges would have proved difficult.

I wonder who is the actual richest poker player. Someone who is a pro and not a businessman.

Look, I understand why a guy as challenged in the follicles as yourself would want to split hairs, but I was really just referring to the fact that the man has made the majority of his money away from the poker table.

If it will help at all I will take it back, the book might have sold a few copies but 2+2 titles and royalties are far superior and he probably got screwed by whoever did publish it and probably didn't make half of what he should have. No more than a couple of million$, and he made the other $58 million exploiting tourists in Bobby's room. Okay?

I don't know about richest poker player but Rick Salomon has to have won the most money playing poker right?

Such a great little thread going here .. and it all started with the goal of click bait. Does anyone actually read Post #1 when a thread gets this long?

Obv you need to clarify some thing when compiling a list ..

.. Who's won the most money playing poker? 'Won'? Probably Tom Dwan via the Macaw games. But he may also have lost the most as well .. it's all about 'net'

.. Who's won the most tournament $$ .. Easy, there's a list. But even that is questionable these days with so many Aria '$20K dailies' no reported and the fact that Magic Man won the majority of his playing one tournament (compared to Bonomo).

.. Who's 'made' the most money in poker related 'quests'? Obv the online 'owners' rake (pun intended) in by far the most. But you have to look at DNegs via the PStars sponsorship. How many BI per year were comped by PS? LOTS And now with GG, there's got to be a deal, piece of the pie, whatever. And it at least appears that he's kept some of it, unlike BGreenstien, Ivey (maybe), Elezrah and countless others.

And you certainly can't forget PHell, who is the 'brand' King. Was super smart to latch onto the Poker Brat name which helped him survive being part of the AP/UB problems. He was saying the other day that he's looking at one of the biggest deals he's ever signed and wanted to flaunt the 16th bracelet to them during the meeting.

.. The richest person who 'plays' poker is almost pointless .. I see one of the DorrDash guys is now playing 100/200 on Hustler streams (Billionaire)

.. We all knew it was probably happening, but with films like Gambler and Molly's Game shedding light on back room games, there's probably just as much if not more money won and lost in the back rooms than in the casinos .. which is exactly where some people 'need' to play to stay out of the limelight.

Such a simple list turns into a very integrated discussion. GL

Sorry you feel offended. But Doyle has also said he's done poorly in his business adventures. That doesn't mean he hasn't made money from other sources, but I don't think you can draw any conclusions as to where his financial success came from except that he was a dominant poker player at ultra high stakes for a long time.

Mason

Andy Beal is NOT a poker player.

Eh this is some super old reference I think. Not even sure if it works.

I think that the topic of Super System sales numbers came up during one of the seasons of HSP (probably 4, 5 or 6) and Doyle gave an exact answer on that.

I highly, highly doubt that there are more than 10k pro poker players that are worth 7 figures.

I think we can all agree on the first 2–after that is anyone’s guess

1. Andy Bloch
2. Tim Dawn

there's 0% chance of there being 10k pro players that are worth seven figures.

ITT the definition of a poker player is someone that plays poker. yes, there are over 10k humans with the aforementioned net worth that play poker from time to time.

It appears that ITT it's focusing on poker pros with Tony G being the closest guy on the list to not being a poker pro. Cary Katz, Paul Phua, Bill Perkins, and Rob Yong are guys heavily involved with poker (at least at times) who at one point were disgustingly wealthy who are notable exceptions from the list.

Lyle Berman

Hall of Famer
WPT Co-Founder
Plays in big game at Bellagio and has for years
3 Bracelets
Rich



If we are talking about actual poker players, Lyle always on the list and toward the top.

If we are talking about rich guys who have been seen playing poker... who knows... lots of them

Grossed 56M. no idea how much he actually earned. stakes/swaps/previous debt? How much did he blow on stuff vs how much did he keep and build assets to build wealth, aka rich. I know nothing about him other than I loved watching him play and rip up the robots and he seemed like a cool cat.

The question was richest not lifetime cashes.

If considering only money won directly from poker I think Berri Sweet deserves an honourable mention.

That guy won two HU battles against Dani Stern and RaulGonzalez for multiple millions. I think $7m from Raul alone if rumours are to be believed.

Also feels like he has been playing since pre-black Friday so must have accumulated a fair bit of wealth purely from online.

Daniel Negreanu – $50 Million. ...
Bryn Kenney – $56 Million. ...
Doyle Brunson – $75 Million. ...
Chris Ferguson – $80 Million. ...
Sam Farha – $100 Million. ...
Phil Ivey – $100+ Million. ...
Dan Bilzerian – $200 Million. ...

Its so hilarious when someone called Dan Bilzerian a poker player. He is a trust fund baby. Of course he can be the richest poker player in the world

IMO .. There's zero chance that Sammy's net worth, if accurate, came from poker. I imagine that since he's from Texas that there are much more lucrative sources of income in that state.

But yes, Sammy was a very large part of making poker popular and was a very early PLO crusher simply based on his playing style (ie, getting Players to fold by using a bet, bet and bet again mentality)

He can currently be found playing in the Texas card houses, but supposedly keeps very quiet and is hard to recognize. GL

Sammy is a cattle rancher?? Or in oil??