Best Game for major stars of poker

Matusow is the best Omaha 8 or better player in the world. Just ask him.

Any "pro" worthy of the name is competent at all forms of the game

Adam Friedman won the $10,000 Dealer's Choice Championship 3x in a row. Dealers choice is a mix of like 20 games... so my guess is him.

When no-limit hold'em is paying the mortgage, why bother learning archie or dramaha?

Maybe mixed game players don't need mortgages😀

This would seem to be the correct answer, especially depending on the definition of "major stars."

That said, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to learn that many successful players are pretty much NLHE specialists, simply because they came of age in the mid 2000s. Not that they don't play other variants, mind you, but two-card bet-big poker is the only form at which they excel. The Hendon Mob pages for people like Faraz Jaka and David Benefield, for example, suggest those two might be in that camp.

One guy that also comes to mind is John Monette, who seems to have a disproportionate amount of success in lowball games. It might be Baader-Meinhof at work, but I know in the WSOP, Angry John has made heads-up eight times, with five wins. Four of those instances (with two bracelets) have been in a 2-7 event, with a fifth being in 8-game.

Daniel Negreanu is the best in PLO

I purposely left the question vague to let the readers decide who the major stars of poker were.

never before in the history of poker has a game been so poorly named. We deal it once a month in my game and it’s called triple royal poker. I dont think thats the right name either but much better than archie, a character from before my time. I know what archie looks like but thats about it. maybe we can rename plo8 “ tom amd jerry” 🙄

learn all the games but dont try to learn too many.

Okay, but that definition does inform the answer.

If by "major stars" you mean the most visible and TV-famous, then many of them will be into NLHE or the big-best games in general because that's what makes the airwaves. For example, someone like Antonio Esfandiari is relatively famous among poker fans because he came up during the 2000s boom. But I don't think he makes most top 50 lists.

An almost extreme example is Doug Polk, who became the end boss is a specific form of a specific form of poker: heads-up NLHE. I think even he would admit he doesn't know most other poker games very well.

If by "major stars," you simply mean the best players, then your answer is sort of built into the question. For some people (myself included), the best players are by definition the ones who have mastered many forms of poker. This is why I personally agree with sixfour's answer.

In the archie comics its actually jughead that wearns the crown (if thats the reference)
What i think is more likely is that the reference is to the fact that Archie is the royal baby of Prince Harry of the UK & Meghan Markle

Archie is the real king of UK in my opinion. Archie could also be the future of poker but really its too advanced, like what if they spread magic the gathering at the casino? That would be a dream for me but Its just a bit too advanced to fit into a casino.

sixfour's position is bullshit, 110% pure "No true Scotsman" fallacy. Lots and lots of pros make decent livings without mastering all the games. No small number of them haven't even mastered no-limit hold'em, but they still make bank playing it.

Not going to disagree with you about that. There's certainly going to be players who have never played anything other than NLHE who are doing very nicely for themselves. That's fine. That said, if someone claims to be a poker professional but is that **** at other games that they either do not recognise much bigger edges at other games that are being spread, or are that bad that they cannot exploit said edges, then they are being misleading and are just a NLHE professional. Any good poker player who wants to go to something like the WSOP and wants to maximise their edge wouldn't put a single dollar in any NLHE event

It's not about being profitable, or professional, it's about Stars of Poker, and their best variant...

I'm the best at Stud8 😉

Should have some legs in this Thread but it's a topic that can get complicated in a hurry ..

NL CASH: Andrew Robl

NL 'deep stack' TOURNAMENT: Chance Kornuth

PLO CASH: ??? Not enough data .. but I could put Tony G in here if I watch more of his play somehow

PLO TOURNAMENT: Jared Bleznick

DEALERS CHOICE: Adam Friedman .. obv choice of game is part of strat

PPC: Dan Cates, Brian Rast .. must play all games .. in order

Do we need a PokerGo Studio Turbo category? DNegs, Koon, Winter, Soverel

Obv 'best' is very subjective and these choices are current. I've put Poker Players in the same category as Pro Golfers and I really think that the mental side of performance is influenced by motivation as well. From what I remember the Mizrachi Family ran into some financial trouble in the FL real estate market and came into a WSOP Summer very motivated to put some cash in the bank .. and they did. With Michael winning the PPC and Robert and others achieving multiple cashes.

Why are there so many hot streaks? Bonomo, Kenny, really Chidwick IMO, Foxen .. and then Stalworths like Seidel, Hellmuth, Haxton, Smith that are always in the mix and yet don't win as often?

Do these 'Regs' just lose a touch of mental motivation or is it just variance? Or are they figured out? Or do they out-think themselves in I-know-You-Know spots?

Is Phil Ivey not the best is every game? He's the GOAT, yes!

And NO, Hellmuth is not the GOAT for NL tournaments. While way above average, he has not adapted his game to include some of the polarizing plays (cash plays) that are incorporated by most of who are considered 'the best' in NL tournaments. He (and even DNegs a bit) are more in tuned to stack preservation than high variance chip movements. That being said, I would love to give Phil an opportunity at being the overwhelming chip leader in a tournament and see how he plays. It's just not going to happen very often without a sun run of cards and willing opponents. GL

PS .. And I went this whole post without mention the 'A's .. Arieh and Ausmus .. tournament cash machines ..