For the past six months, the poker world has basically shut itself down (THANKS, COVID-19). Because of that inactivity, there has been little to no movement on the respective charts for all-time money winnings in poker. So, who are the leaders in the individual countries? We stopped to examine that issue (thanks to the stoppage in play), with the North American continent the first one to step up to the plate.
Bryn Kenney Holds U. S. Lead
To say that Bryn Kenney has played pretty much every High Roller event over the past five years would be a serious understatement. What isn’t an understatement is that he’s been able to do very well in that format. A simple look at the standings (courtesy of The Hendon Mob database) show that he should hold the top slot for U. S. players for the foreseeable future.
Kenney has racked up $56,403,506 in his 13-year poker career, which also puts him atop the all-time standings also. Even the second-place person on the U. S. list, Justin Bonomo, is more than $7 million behind him and third place Erik Seidel almost $20 MILLION behind him. The Top Ten for the U. S. lines up as such:
1. Bryn Kenney, $56,403,506
2. Justin Bonomo, $49,128,107
3. Erik Seidel, $37,748,126
4. Dan Smith, $36,742,718
5. David Peters, $33,737,541
6. Jason Koon, $31,101,729
7. Steve O’Dwyer, $30,471,475
8. Phil Ivey, $30,311,759
9. Dan Colman, $28,925,059
10. Cary Katz, $28,470,501
Daniel Negreanu Dominates Canada
Even though he now claims dual citizenship in the U. S., Daniel Negreanu is a born Canadian, so it is only natural that he be graded alongside his countrymen. It will also show that he has a dominant lead over his fellow Canucks and probably won’t be caught for some time. His closest competitor, Timothy Adams, is almost $18 million behind Negreanu and those two (along with Sam Greenwood) have separated themselves from the pack.
What is interesting with the Canadian list is the number of players who were graduates of the Internet Age in the Aughts. Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald, Sorel ‘Imperium’ Mizzi and Mike ‘Sir Watts’ Watson all came out of that era and made some serious coin in the live arena. Here’s the rundown of the Top Ten all-time money winners from the nation of Canada:
1. Daniel Negreanu, $42,053,307
2. Timothy Adams, $24,330,803
3. Sam Greenwood, $22,307,604
4. Jonathan Duhamel, $18,012,110
5. Daniel Dvoress, $15,607,625
6. Mike McDonald, $13,314,190
7. Sorel Mizzi, $12,700,539
8. Mike Watson, $12,117,331
9. Peter Jetten, $9,328,639
10. Mike Leah, $7,962,978
Mexico is Most Competitive All-Time List
The country of Mexico has arguably the most competitive Top Ten list for all-time earnings of the three countries in North America. While it’s leader, Juan Carlos Alvarado, is over the $4 million mark in earnings, the tenth place slot held by Christian De Leon is only at $320,070, surprisingly. Thus, if there is a youthful Mexican player – male or female – they can rocket up the Mexico leaderboard rather easily!
Here’s the Top Ten all-time money winners from the country of Mexico:
1. Juan Carlos Alvarado, $4,476,301
2. Luis Velador, $2,194,980
3. Angel Guillen, $2,010,092
4. Santiago Nadal, $1,057,762
5. David Cossio, $826,067
6. Jose Manuel Nadal, $746,370
7. Fernando Fraire Galvan, $495,570
8. Victoriano Perches, $382,106
9. Pedro Fernandez, $334,567
10. Christian De Leon, $320,070
We’ll continue with this series next week, moving on to Central and South America before heading to what should be an interesting battleground for poker – Europe. If nothing else, it will give some grist for the discussion mills while the COVID outbreak continues onward.
