The Five Biggest Winners at the 2010 WSOP

Tournament poker is a funny thing. One year you can be on top of the world and the next you could be broke. If you don’t run hot, there is little you can do. It’s impossible to force the action, so players need to more or less let it come to them. This can be a frustrating task when you are min-cashing or not even cashing in event after event.For the following poker pros, however, the 2010 WSOP was a major success from every viewpoint. The notable exception to this list is, of course, Michael Mizrachi. He would have been the obvious number one, but isn’t a place in the November Nine a big enough award? Mizrachi went from broke to swimming in cash over the course of this summer’s World Series of Poker. So, yes, he is the clear winner of this list, but these other five players are the epitome of consistency.Tom Dwan is one of the biggest winners when looking at overall earnings in actual play, but the fact is that he narrowly missed winning several million more. His name is the most deceiving on this list because, unless he pulls off a miracle at the World Series of Poker Europe, he will have lost what amounted to millions of dollars in potential prop bets.Dwan bet a number of high profile players that he would be able to secure a bracelet in this year’s World Series of Poker. Though he was not successful in this mission, he did manage to come very close when he finished 2nd in a NLHE event. It spoke volumes for Dwan’s credibility in various forms of NLHE. This was one of the biggest sub-plots to the 2010 WSOP, and Dwan did all he could to keep things exciting.#1 John Juanda +$548,296John Juanda is one of the youngest old school poker pros. He has been a big name in the poker world since Moneymaker won the Main Event in 2003. Juanda regularly competes in a variety of nosebleed stake cash games, but he is more than an exceptional tournament player as well. With innumerable deep WSOP runs to his name, Juanda is always a heavy favorite to walk out of a WSOP year in the black.2010 was no different than prior years, as Juanda was able to profit over half a million dollars. Despite making a number of final tables this year, Juanda was unable to claim another bracelet. He did, however, reassure poker fans worldwide that he can still compete with, and beat, the best. Juanda is definitely a cash game specialist, but he is also one of the best tournament players alive. This year and years prior, Juanda has let his results speak for themselves.#2 Allen Kessler +$294,733Allen Kessler is hardly a household name, even amongst the poker community. On the Two Plus Two forums, however, Kessler is all the rage. “Chainsaw” posts on the forums just about as much as anyone else, and he prefers to stay in the News, Views, and Gossip area. He is known for his numerous complaints regarding tournament structure and his undying ability to start up every gossip thread imaginable. It seemed like he went from slightly disliked to a major superstar overnight.This is what will happen when you finish second in a WSOP event. Kessler, for the second time, came very close to earning his first WSOP bracelet. While he did not come home with the win, he did continue what resulted in his most successful WSOP ever. Kessler’s hot streak didn’t end there, though. He would later go on to earn over $100,000 in a slots tournament. Yes, you heard that right, a slots tournament. One thing is for sure, Kessler is far from a one tournament trick pony.#3 Gavin Smith +$198,162Gavin Smith, the man from Canada, posted some very solid results at the 2010 WSOP. Smith is one of the more popular players in the game, but he isn’t exactly known for his ground breaking strategy. Always the very straightforward player, perseverance paid off for Smith in 2010. Smith is often seen in a drunken stupor when he is on TV, so this year was a very nice change of pace. If he really wants to, there is little reason that Smith couldn’t continue these earnings on a consistent basis. No one ever really doubted Smith’s ability to play well in tournaments, so this year’s success didn’t come as a major surprise to all that many people.#4 Tom Dwan +$181,649Tom Dwan may have lost a fortune in prop bets (see intro), but he was able to prove that he can navigate more than the high stakes poker games on Full Tilt. Dwan played in so many events that he was sometimes registered for two active tournaments at the same time. The reason for this play was obvious, he wanted to ensure that he had the best chance possible of winning a WSOP bracelet.Dwan even played a number of events where he admittedly had little to no clue what he was doing. If he got a little lucky it wouldn’t have been an impossibility for him to win a Stud tournament or something along those lines, so it was more than worth the risk. The fact that Dwan had mounting buy-in fees but was still able to remain very profitable is a victory in and of itself, even if his bankroll took a hit.#5 Phil Ivey +$116,819Phi Ivey is commonly regarded as the best poker player in the world. He can play virtually any type of poker and he can play it better than just about anyone else. Ivey put his talents on display again in 2010 when he won his 8th WSOP bracelet in a H.O.R.S.E. event. Few events require players to have more dynamic skill sets than mixed game tournaments. Though Ivey won close to $330,000 for his first place effort, he still profited “only” $116,819 for the entire series. If nothing else, Ivey showed that you can’t win them all, even if you are the best in the world.It is one thing to luckbox a single event, but it is major skill when you find a way to be profitable almost every single year. There are certainly many years where some of the players on this list will lose a boatload of money, but it is obvious that they win a whole lot more than they lose. This is the mark of a truly great poker player. Of course, take out five coin flips, and this list might very well be completely different. Nevertheless, the following players deserve a lot of credit for their performances in this years series.