Beyond a doubt millions of players are trying to be the next "big-time thing" in poker, but here is a short rundown on 4 of the more well known "great players" of poker. Granted "nice" is associated with their names when you are at a poker table it is "no more Mr. Nice guy" until they have put you out of the competition!
Daniel Negreanu
In Two Thousand and Four, his tourney payouts amounted to in excess of four and a half million dollars and he came away with 2 highly 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 chosen Card Player’s Favourite Poker Player. Daniel even still has the humility to speak with his fans about how they will be able to improve their own game.
Howard Lederer
Known as "The Professor" and brother of fellow poker pro Annie Duke. His accomplishments have allowed him to make an instructional video named "Secrets of No Limit Hold’em" and co hosting a tournament poker show for Fox TV. As of 2005, his complete life time earnings exceed 2.7 million dollars.
Scotty Nguyen
Scott is one of the most active players in professional poker and from Two Thousand to 2004 he ranked in the money in well over one hundred events. He’s notorious for saying "yeah baby" during poker matches and also coined the term "that’s poker baby" when referring to a particularly bad loss. As of 2006, his life time winnings are just about 6 million dollars.
Chris Ferguson
Chris has won five World Series of Poker titles with 2 of his wins happening in 2003. Has the alias "Jesus" because of his characteristic long hair and beard, along with his ability to toss cards fast enough to slice through pickles and bananas. As of 2005 his total poker tourney earnings exceeded $5 million.