No Joke, millions of players strive to be the next "big-time thing" in poker, but here is a short list of 4 of the more well known "great players" of poker. Even though "nice" is associated with their names when you are playing them it is "no more Mr. Nice guy" until they have put you out of the game!
Daniel Negreanu
In Two Thousand and Four, his competition winnings added up to in the region of $4.4 million and he won 2 immensely admired awards in the WSOP Player of the Year and Cardplayer Magazine’s Competition Player of the Year. In February Two Thousand and Six he was named Card Player’s Preferred Poker Player. Daniel still has the humility to talk to his admirers about how they will be able to advance their own game.
Howard Lederer
Known as "The Professor" and sibling of fellow poker pro Annie Duke. His accomplishments have allowed him to make an instructional video called "Secrets of No Limit Hold’em" and also hosting a tournament poker show for Fox. As of 2005, his total life time earnings surpass 2.7 million dollars.
Scotty Nguyen
Scotty is one of the busiest players in poker and between 2000 and 2004 he ranked in the money in well over 100 competitions. He is notorious for saying "yeah baby" during poker games and also credited with the term "that’s poker baby" when referring to a particularly bad defeat. As of 2006, his career earnings are almost 6 million dollars.
Chris Ferguson
Chris has earned 5 WSOP titles with two of his wins coming in 2003. Has the alias "Jesus" due to his characteristic long hair and beard, that, and along with his ability to throw playing cards quick enough to slice through bananas and pickles. As of Two Thousand and Five his total live poker tournament winnings exceeded 5 million dollars.