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Daniel Negreanu Says Phil Ivey is the GOAT

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Phil Ivey - Sochi

Daniel Negreanu was again in the news recently, but this time for something other than a tirade. This time around, he was talking to NBC Sports Chicago about the greatest poker player of all-time.

Negreanu stated that Phil Ivey is the greatest player in the history of the game. While some will debate him, I am also one that believes that Ivey is the GOAT. Today, I will give my thoughts on some of the names normally on the shortlist for all-time greats, and where they fall on my list.

Chip Reese

Most poker players will bring up Chip Reese at the greatest player of all-time. In my first WSOP event ever, Erik Seidel told me that Chip would win the $50k HORSE in 2006. Chip proved him right. We’ve all heard the stories about Chip and his exploits and if we were talking exclusively about cash games, he would be the GOAT.

Reese had the ability to play all players profitably during all eras. He had the type of respect earned from the field of battle and still has that respect, even from Ivey himself. However, he never really focused much on poker tournaments. A bit more success in that realm, and there would be little reason to even have this discussion.

Daniel Negreanu

Poker fans don’t want to hear this but Daniel is probably the most popular poker pro, but far from the best. Negreanu is among the all-time greats but he has never proved to be consistently great. There have been periods where he has had gaps where he hasn’t performed well or had to really struggle to get back on par.

Let’s not forget that he had two or three years where he was a net loser despite winning millions in live poker tournaments. Having played him on multiple occasions, I never saw that elite greatness that you see in highlight reels. He is great at times, but not consistently great to be considered a GOAT.

Stu Ungar

Everyone wants to put Stu Ungar in the GOAT category for poker. If we were talking Texas Hold’em only, then you’d have an argument. We’ve all heard the stories about his savant-like abilities at the poker table. However, he isn’t the greatest all-around poker player.

In fact, there are some that will argue that he isn’t even the best Hold’em player. There are stories out there where Ungar was a fish in cash games and just a savant in poker tournaments. Also, you never hear him tearing up anything other than Hold’em. Poker is more than just a single game. Also, we never found out just how great he could become because of his drug addiction.

Doyle Brunson

Outside of Chip Reese, the only other player that deserves to be in the discussion of “Greatest of All-Time” is Texas Dolly, Doyle Brunson. He has played at the highest stakes against the top competition in the world for decades and continues to do so. There are many that aspire to be like Brunson, and for good reason.

If Doyle had taken tournament poker seriously during his entire career, there is a good chance that there would be no debate. However, Brunson focused on cash games for a good period of his career and ignored the WSOP. Despite this, he still has 10 WSOP bracelets. In my opinion, Ivey should be #1 with Doyle #2 based on total resume.

Imagine if Doyle was in his true prime during the start of the Poker Boom. We’d probably be talking about him being the GOAT and not Ivey.

Phil Hellmuth

My last name on this list is praised by many and ridiculed by others. I will admit that I would be against Hellmuth doing well in mixed games, and usually win. He has improved his mixed game play over the years, but there is no secret that his only goal is WSOP bracelets.

Phil is undeniably the greatest WSOP champion in history in terms of hardware. Outside of that, he falls in the lower tier of great poker players. You can’t deny his success but the reality is that it comes with a ceiling. He is the next tier down in terms of the GOAT debate when talking about well-rounded poker players.

Ivey is Still the Best in My Book

I’ve played against Phil, covered Phil as a tournament reporter, and even worked for Phil when he ran Ivey Poker. During all those times, he has been a winner. There have been downturns, but in almost every instance, he has managed to bounce back.

His legal troubles of the last few years impacted his poker, but he has still remained relevant. He has also shown recent flashes of greatness again and I believe that is the start of big things for him now that he has moved past his legal battles.

In my opinion, there are no players in the poker world that can top Phil in all-around ability and I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Should Ivey return to his previous form as I expect, we will probably never have a true debate on the GOAT in poker.

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