World Series of PokerAnyone who’s a serious fan of playing poker online is going to be keeping an eye on the World Series to see how the competition is playing. It’s an arena where the biggest names in poker come from all over the world to square off to see who’s going to walk away with a bracelet and a couple million. Over the years there’ve been plenty of winners from the main event who’ve managed to make a major impression on the world scene, but have you ever wondered what their background is like? Let’s go through the list and have a look!

Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu is one of the biggest names in Poker, with six world series bracelets to his name and two world poker tour championships under his belt. Negreanu came from humble beginnings, born in Toronto, he travelled to Vegas at 22 for his first stab at poker glory but came up short and needed to go back home to rebuild his bankroll. Since then he bounced back and achieved numerous impressive titles, but what about the man himself? Well, he’s a renowned philanthropist who’s organised many charity events and also a noted vegan since 2006. He’s also a streamer, regularly streaming games of poker on Twitch. Besides poker, he’s also been known to stream Hearthstone games as he’s a massive fan of the game.

Phil Ivey

Often known as the Tiger Woods of Poker, Phil Ivey is famously one of the best players to have ever sat at the table with his skills having him tied with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan for second most all-time bracelets won. Much like Negreanu, he’s made several charitable donations with his impressive winnings and has also competed in the inaugural world series of golf (making his nickname a tad more ironic). His play has landed him in hot water though, most notably in 2012 where a casino accused him of cheating through his use of edge sorting. The high court backed the casino and so his winnings weren’t provided.

Phil Hellmuth

With the current record for World Series of Poker bracelets, Phil Hellmuth is infamous for being both exceptionally skilled and having a strong temper. Better known to some as ‘the poker brat’, Phil Hellmuth has used his skills to their maximum advantage with various poker related tv shows and owns his own publishing company known as Phil’s House Publishing. But the thing about Hellmuth that most people know is his attitude, often going off on rants and landing reprimands for his berating of fellow players (most famously his rant at Cristian Dragomir, though both Ivey and Negreanu have been on the receiving end of a rant too) when he’s looking at a loss. But beyond his tirades lurks a keenly observant figure whose skill at poker is primarily down simply to his excellent ability to read people.