WSOP Top 10 Tuesday - from the World's Greatest Unknown WSOP Historian

Azerbaijan surprised me. Ramin Hajiyev has 14.7M in cashes but his best WSOP score was 5th fir 196K in 2024 5K NLHE 8-H. Another fellow had a 4th & 5th in 2021 Online.

Going down the list it seems these guys mostly prefer to stay in Europe. Understandable for many reasons including the flight from Baku being long miserable & expensive.

Long before poker was invented, 1,400 years before we even had playing cards, Confucius had some words of wisdom that apply perfectly to our favorite game:

Best Confucius Quotes That Apply to Poker

• 10. The wise man desires to be slow to speak but quick to act.
  
  
• 9. The noble man is calm and serene, the inferior man is continually worried and anxious.
  
  
• 8. Isn't it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned?
  
  
• 7. I was not born with knowledge but, being fond of antiquity, I am quick to seek it.
  
  
• 6. Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
  
  
• 5. To err and not reform may indeed be called error.
  
  
• 4. When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.
  
  
• 3. See a person's means (of getting things). Observe his motives. Examine that in which he rests.
  
  
• 2. In all things success depends on previous preparation, and without such previous preparation there is sure to be failure.
  
  
• 1. When the mind is not present, we look and do not see; we hear and do not understand; we eat and do not know the taste of what we eat.
  

All of the above quotes are from Analects except for #2 (Doctrine of the Mean) and #1 (The Great Learning).

Happy Lunar New Year! Happy Year of the Horse {That's me... looking forward to the WSOP Super Seniors in June!}

They say, "History only remembers the winners," but I consider it part of my job to celebrate those who just missed because, after all, they did beat everyone else. Here are the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills of the WSOP:

Players Who Just Missed

• 10. Famous players who just missed the money in the Main Event include Jack Keller (28th in 1995), Chris Ferguson (28th in 1997), and Dewey Tomko (226th in 2004).
  
  After being the chip leader at the end of Day 2 with twelve players remaining, Gabe Kaplan finished 6th in the 1980 Main Event when only five players got paid.
  
  
• 9. Famous players who have bubbled the nine-player Main Event final table include Annie Duke (2000), Phil Ivey (2003), Marcel Luske (2004), and Carlos Mortensen (2013). Honorable mention to Daniel Negreanu, who finished 11th in 2001 and Scotty Nguyen, who finished 11th in 2007.
  
  
• 8. Not one but two women just missed the final table of the 2012 Main Event. Elisabeth Hille exited in 11th and Gaelle Baumann in 10th.
  
  Baumann became the fourth woman to just miss the Main Event final table after Barbara Samuels (1994), Susie Isaacs (1998), and Annie Duke (2000). Considering that no women played in the Main Event until 1978, that's four final table bubbles in 35 years (women make up under four percent of the field, but that's 11.4%).
  
  
• 7. When England's Barry Clayton finished 4th in the 1982 $1,000 No-Limit Hold 'Em for $9,600, he missed becoming the first foreigner to cash in the WSOP by just one event and three days. Greece's Dennis Zervos had become the first, finishing third in the $1,000 Limit Hold 'Em for $20,200.
  
  Hugh Todd (South Africa) and Noli Francisco (Philippines) would become the third and fourth just three days later. Four non-Americans cashed in three tournaments in five days after zero had cashed in the first 108 events in twelve years of the World Series of Poker.
  
  
• 6. Three players have [url=https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=58820925&postcount=200]reached heads-up four times without winning a bracelet[/url]: Allen Kessler, Eric Drache, and Jason Stockfish.
  
  
• 5. On July 1, 2005, Doyle Brunson won his tenth bracelet a mere four days after Johnny Chan became the first player to reach double digits. Phil Hellmuth, who had started the bracelet race in earnest after becoming the last of the group to get to nine on May 16, 2003, would catch them both the next year before pulling away.
  
  
• 4. Crandell Addington was the 1974 Main Event runner-up (unpaid), 1978 runner-up ($84,000), and 1983 bubble boy (10th place). He also finished 7th in 1979 when five places were paid.
  
  
• 3. In 2000, T.J. Cloutier reached heads up in the Main Event for a second time, fifteen years after he lost to Bill Smith. He fell short again, this time to Chris Ferguson.
  
  
• 2. The very next year, Dewey Tomko reached heads up in the Main Event for a second time, nineteen years after he lost to Jack Straus. He fell short again, this time to Carlos Mortensen.
  
  
• 1. Phil Hellmuth has been runner-up for the WSOP Player of the Year award a remarkable four times without ever winning. He lost to Jeff Madsen in 2006, Ben Lamb in 2011, Greg Merson in 2012 (when only a Main Event victory would do the trick), and Josh Arieh in 2021 (despite setting a record with seven final tables).
  
  Shaun Deeb is the only other player with multiple runner-up finishes (2019 and 2023), but he did win the award twice (2018 and 2025). His 2019 loss was the second closest ever (Robert Campbell beat him by 1.1%), behind his 2025 victory (1.0% ahead of Benny Glaser).
  

I recall her name being Barbara Samuelson not Samuels…?

I have always felt that between Enright & Leo, women’s results in the ME have been below expectation, perhaps well below, but I wouldn’t know how to verify that.

11 second table finishes, 0 final tables in 29 years seems low. How many men have made the final 9 multiple times from 1996-2024?

Huck
Harrington
Newhouse
TJ
?

Honorable Mention - Michael Ruane - finished 4th in 2016 then 10th in 2017.
Ben lamb, 14th in 2009 and 3rd in 2011. Yeah 14th is 5 away from final table but still impressive for the field sizes.

Lamb deserves hon mention, as of course does Ivey. Carlos Mortensen has a first & 10th. Hasan Habib has a 4th & 14th

I knew I’d forgotten at least one other double FTer—Jeff Shulman. Edit: Mouth also. Were it not for a sickening beat, Raymer almost certainly would’ve done it.

Grinder doesn’t technically qualify but certainly has to be mentioned.

You are correct of course. Don't know how I made that typo.

I posted a

https://www.nolandalla.com/how-do-we-explain-the-lack-of-women-at-wsop-main-event-final-tables/

Nolan Dalla

How Do We Explain the Lack of Women at WSOP Main Event Final Tables? - Nolan Dalla

From 1995 to 2025, 2 final tables = just 0.7% of the spots, quite low compared to about 3.5% of entrants.

But expand that just ONE year and TWO places to the top eleven since 1994, and it's a more respectable 7 women = 2.0%.

Yeah, still relatively small sample sizes. Baumann & Hille could’ve finished 7-8th as easily as 10-11th.

And nobody could’ve foreseen Foxen openly smoking crack and shotgunning vodka Red Bulls once she got a giant chip lead with 15 to go.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see five female finalists over the next three years.

I would be (albeit quite pleasantly surprised). That's 18.5% with the field roughly 4% female. ONE in the next three years is almost exactly the expected number.

I'm reaching here a bit, but with Nick the Greek's relationship with the first WSOP champion Johnny Moss, I thought I would throw out this Nick the Greek trivia question to see if anybody might get the answer. I know the answer from first hand accounts of people gambling with him in the early 50s in LV.

What was Nick the Greek's favorite non-alcoholic drink?

Obviously, many female poker players have gotten married and taken their spouses last names, but several male players have also changed their names for various reasons.

Here are the top players who aren't who they once were (vaguely sorted by how different the names are and how famous they are):

Players Going By Different Names

• 10. Jan Vang Hansen changed his last name from his dad's to his mom's in 2002, becoming Jan Sorensen after he won his first bracelet, the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha for $185,000, and before he won his second, the 2005 $5,000 7-Card Stud for $293,275. He was the first Dane to win a bracelet.
  
  Similarly, 2005 Ladies Champion, Jennifer Tilly, was born as Jennifer Ellen Chan but switched to her mom's last name after her parents' divorce.
  
  
• 9. Mike Harthcock, who won four bracelets and finished second in the 1986 Main Event, was born as Michael Ivan Hart, took the adopted last name Harthcock, then legally changed it back to Hart when he had kids.
  
  
• 8. Hui Chen-Kuo became famous in the poker world as Kitty Kuo.
  
  
• 7. Gustav Jacobsen made his fortune in backgammon and poker as Gus Hansen.
  
  
• 6. Jamie M. Usher became Jamie Gold when his mother got remarried to Dr. Robert Gold.
  
  
• 5. Rafael Pervoskin Americanized his name to Ralph Perry before he won the 2006 $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha for $207,817.
  
  
• 4. William Pappaconstantinou got tired of writing his 17-letter last name and shortened his moniker to Billy Pappas before he became the top-rated, world champion foosball player and reached the 2014 November Nine where he finished fifth for $2,143,174.
  
  
• 3. Amanda Thompson won the 1998 WSOP Ladies Championship for $40,000 as [url=https://www.wsop.com/players/mandy-commanda/]Mandy Commanda[/url] and later became Mandy Thomas.
  
  
• 2. Yup Son is listed by the Hendon Mob as the fifth place finisher in the 1984 WSOP Ladies event but had already won the 1981 event as Ruth Godfrey (the name WSOP.com uses for both results).
  
  
• 1. Joanne Bortner first started making waves in the Bay Area poker community in 1996, but you know her as J.J. Liu (she was once married to Daniel Bortner and used his last name for roughly a decade).
  

Honorable Mention: Anna Wroblewski doesn't make the list only because I don't know her given name (she was adopted from a Hanoi orphanage).

Name changes are also very common in Hollywood (e.g., Marion Robert Morrison); actually required if your name is already taken (like Michael The-J-Isn't-Short-For-My-Middle-Name Fox). Back in my trivia days, I wrote hundred of these types of questions.

Didn't know that, although a lot of people go by their middle names (his is actually Jojuan).

I didn’t know Belle’s middle name was Jojuan instead of Joseph until yesterday. Getting tagged “Joey” is straight out of BNB2 when the new coach says to Ahmad “let’s just make that ‘Andy’, son”.

The English musician William Perks had a RAF buddy in the mid 1950s named Lee Whyman.

IIRC, that's similar to how Johnny Chan got Americanized. His restaurant boss couldn't pronounce his name (Jinhai according to Wikipedia and Google Translate).

David Chiu, David Chew, and David Tsui all chuckle knowingly.

That must’ve been from Chan’s Arthurian days of clocking out and going straight to the poker room, still wearing his apron.

Speaking of which, perhaps the oddest name change of them all was the

I’m guessing he told whoever he wanted it a certain way and it got inevitably garbled by the time it got to whatever intern finally put them together. I can imagine some battered coffee-stained End Credits manila folder with a smudged Post-It about how Chan wants his name listed.

You could compile a 5000 page oral history of stories about what was supposed/promised to be in movies, books & records.

Sounds like an awesome thread! I’m excited to dive into the analysis and hear your insights on the WSOP bracelet events. It’s always fun debating underrated or overrated moments. Looking forward to seeing the factoids and corrections too—especially the little-known details that can really change perspectives.

Following up on my Olympics list, 11 of the world's 30 most populous countries, including three of the top ten, have yet to win a World Series of Poker bracelet.

Here are the top ten (Wikipedia world rank and population in parentheses):

Most Populous Braceletless Countries

• 10. Sudan (#28, 51,662,000)
  
  
• 9. Kenya (#26, 53,330,978)
  
  
• 8. South Africa (#24, 63,100,945)
  
  
• 7. Tanzania (#22, 68,153,004)
  
  
• 6. Egypt (#15, 107,868,296)
  
  
• 5. Ethiopia (#14, 111,652,998)
  
  
• 4. Congo, Democratic Rep. (#13, 112,832,000)
  
  
• 3. Bangladesh (#8, 169,828,911)
  
  
• 2. Nigeria (#6, 223,800,000)
  
  
• 1. Pakistan (#5, 241,499,431)
  

Eight of these countries are in Africa, but two of the top three are in Asia. Together, they represent 14.6% of the world.

Myanmar just missed the list, ranking #29 at 51,375,327), while Chile (#64, 20,206,953) was the top country outside of Africa and Asia.

The overlap between the lists is low because of a lack of Olympic medals. Kenya, Egypt, and Ethiopia are the only three countries that made both lists.

South Africa is a bit surprising.

Nice catch! Norman Keyser and Michael Clacher have bracelets. Sorry about that (probably made a typo during my search).

Move Myanmar into the top ten.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

I had a friend and roommate in college who was named Patrick because of his birthday, but as far as I know, none of these top-performing Patricks is celebrating a birthday today.

Best Players Named Patrick

• 10. Patrick Pezzin finished 2nd in the 2009 $10,000 World Championship Limit Hold 'Em for $285,195 and has 4 final tables and 22 cashes for $638,111.
  
  
• 9. Patrick Truong finished 2nd in the 2009 $1,000 No-Limit Hold 'Em for $162,170 and has 6 final tables and 59 cashes for $749,479.
  
  
• 8. Patrick Flanagan won the 1991 $1,500 Limit Ace-to-Five Draw with Joker for $106,800.
  
  
• 7. Patrick Bruel won the 1998 $5,000 Limit Hold 'Em for $224,000 and finished 2nd in the 2002 $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha for $100,580. The French singer/songwriter/actor could have been the Last Celebrity Standing in the 2015 WSOP Main Event (237th for $34,157) but was already considered to be a poker pro then.
  
  
• 6. Patrick Moulder won the 2024 $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball for $177,045 and has 3 final tables and 21 cashes for $331,792.
  
  
• 5. Patrick Bueno won the 2024 $2,170 Eight Game Mix for $47,996 and has 4 final tables and 11 cashes for $446,376.
  
  
• 4. Patrick Kennedy won the 2020 GGPoker $840 Bounty No-Limit Hold 'Em for $245,448 and has 7 final tables and 31 cashes for $716,380.
  
  
• 3. Patrick Leonard won the 2022 $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold 'Em with Espen Jorstad for $74,042 and has 9 final tables and 77 cashes for $1,635,639.
  
  
• 2. Patrick Eskandar won the 2022 $500 Super Turbo No-Limit Hold 'Em for $37,489 and has 117 cashes for $917,924.
  
  
• 1. Patrick Poels is the only Patrick with two bracelets. He won the 2005 $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo for $270,100 and the 2006 $1,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo for $172,091.
  

Honorable Mention: No player whose last name is Patrick has won a bracelet, but one finished second: Brian Patrick was runner up to Ethan Yau in the 2020 Online $500 Grande Finale No-Limit Hold 'Em ($101,669) and has 7 other cashes.

Note that "Paddy's" is preferred over "Patty's" because the original Irish name is Padraig, so also honorable mention to Padraig Parkinson, who finished 3rd in the 1999 Main Event for $489,125 and 3rd in the 2006 $1,500 No-Limit Hold 'Em for $203,139.

Does Patrik Antonius not count since he spells his name different? 😀

Deserves an honorable mention just for being who he is

but he doesn’t really have many WSOP cashes, relative to all the WPT & Euro high rollers.

I play fast and loose with the "rules" on all of my lists. In this case, I had plenty of people named "Patrick", so I didn't even need to expand to "Pat", even though many of them were probably born as "Patrick".

Antonius would certainly have made the list if I needed him ;-)

Tyler Patterson has two bracelets. 😉