There are lots of professional poker players out there, many of whom are earning very enviable salaries. However, for others, they stand out from the competition as ‘living the dream’ with the ability to earn millions of dollars. Many have climbed the poker ladder from a young age, honing their skills on not only the live casino table but the virtual one as well.

Which Poker Players Earn The Most?

Using the all-time money list for poker players, we have discovered the five highest earners, profiled their careers and found out what they’ve achieved along the way.

Bryn Kenney

$56,403,506 all-time winnings

Starting off his journey in the poker world back in 2007, Bryn Kenney soon began to win some impressive titles, along with the high earnings that go alongside them. Previously a ‘magic the gathering’ player, Kenney moved over to poker in 2017 when he won his first WSOP bracelet on a 10-game 6-handed event, winning a mere $1,000. Eventually, he managed to win as many as seven of these WSOP events, including the main event in 2018. Another impressive win was the Pokerstars Championship in April 2017 where he won $2 million. More recently, he won the 2020 Aussie Millions no-limit hold’em event, along with an impressive $20,563,324 one year earlier at Triton Million.

Justin Bonomo

$49,128,107 all-time winnings

Justin started his poker career at the young age of sixteen, where he managed to transform a mere $500 deposit into a mammoth $10,000 jackpot. A couple of years after this, he featured on a high-profile live poker event, giving him earnings of around $40,815. Other triumphs of his include winning the likes of the EPT grand final in 2012, and the 2018 WSOP big one for one drop, which pushed him to the number one spot of the all-time money list for a short while. Now taking second place here, this 32-year-old shows no signs of slowing down, more recently winning the Aria super high roll bowl $300,000 NLHE event where he won a further $5 million.

Daniel Negreanu

$42,053,307 all-time winnings

Previously named as the player of the decade between 2004 and 2013, Negreanu continues to uphold his consistent and robust reputation. Today, he holds seven cashes above the value of one million dollars. One of his largest winnings, however, was when he took home 8.28 million dollars for the big one for one drop at the 2014 WSOP. Being the only player who has taken home the gold bracelets in Europe, Australia and Las Vegas, he is now popularly referred to as ‘kid poker’ and even took pride of place in the 2014 poker hall of fame for some time. So why has he been so successful? As well as being able to read his opponents really well, he’s also renowned for his incredible accuracy, although the odd dead man’s hand thrown in for good measure also helps.

Erik Seidel

$37,748,126 all-time winnings

Erik Seidel was lucky enough to begin his career before the internet poker book took off. Being one of the veteran players in poker, he became particularly well known when he finished in second place at the 1988 WSOP main event, just behind Johnny Chan at the time. Things really started to take off for Seidel in 2011 when he achieved the success of being able to take home several million-dollar prizes from competitions in two separate continents. In 2010, this 52-year-old original player from New York’s Mayfair club was inducted into the poker hall of fame.

Dan Smith

$36,742,718

Despite not being a very vocal player, Dan Smith is slowly moving his way up the poker ladder. 2012 was very much a turning point for this up and coming professional when he achieved a win in the Aussie Millions Championship, winning $1.04 million in total. He also performed brilliantly at the PET-8 Monte Carlo event, winning a total of 3 events over just four days. More recent victories of Smith include winning $4 million in the 2018 WSOP big one for one drop, as well as achieving a third place at the triton Million, winning an impressive $8,765,628.

Bryn Kenney, Justin Bonomo, Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel and Dan Smith

The five poker players ranging from beginners to seasoned veterans who are living the dream and earning serious cash from major worldwide poker tournaments while also earning their place in the poker hall of fame to rightfully recognise their achievements.