No Joke, millions of players want to be the next "big thing" in poker, but here is a short list of 4 of the more noteworthy "great players" of poker. Granted "nice" is connected with their names when you are sitting accross the table from them it is "no more Mr. Nice guy" until they have removed you out of the game!
Daniel Negreanu
In 2004, his tournament payouts amounted to in the region of four and a half million dollars and he came away with two immensely respected awards in the World Series of Poker Player of the Year and Cardplayer Magazine’s Competition Player of the Year. In Feb 2006 he was chosen Card Player’s Favourite Poker Player. Daniel even still has the decency to speak to his admirers about how they will be able to boost their own game.
Howard Lederer
Known as "The Professor" and sibling of fellow poker pro Annie Duke. His accomplishments have allowed him to make an educational video called "Secrets of No Limit Hold’em" and also hosting a tournament poker show for Fox TV. As of Two Thousand and Five, his total life time winnings exceed 2.7 million dollars.
Scotty Nguyen
Scotty is one of the busiest players in professional poker and between 2000 to 2004 he ranked in the money in more than one hundred tournaments. He is notorious for saying "yeah baby" during poker games and also credited with the phrase "that’s poker baby" when referring to a particularly bad loss. As of Two Thousand and Six, his life time winnings are just about six million dollars.
Chris Ferguson
Chris has won 5 World Series of Poker titles with two of his successes happening in Two Thousand and Three. Has the alias "Jesus" due to his characteristic long hair and beard, along with his ability to toss playing cards quick enough to cut through pickles and bananas. As of Two Thousand and Five his total poker tournament winnings exceeded 5 million dollars.