Top 10 NL Holdem Heads Up players in the World

November 1st, 2009

Top 5 NL Holdem Heads Up players in the World

Heads up NL holdem poker is extremely volatile and not for the faint of heart. I made a hybrid top ten NL holdem players in the world which is a combination cash game / tournament list. This list is comprised of the best heads up NL holdem players of the last few years. I ranked cash game heads up players higher, and tournament players lower. Cash game players have to play thousands of hands and avoid going on tilt on a daily basis, where as tournament players are less likely to lose their roll in one day do to variance or tilting. Also, keep in mind that this is just NL Holdem and not PL omaha or limit poker.

1. Tom Dwan screen name durrrr –

Tom Dwan Vs Gus Hansen

Tom Dwan loves heads up NL play so much he created his own million dollar challenge. He simply could not get any action at the high stakes games he was playing. Patrik Antonius accepted the million dollar challenge, but has been taking a beating in that challenge (down 700k) . Tom Dwan is simply the most successful heads up online player in the world. And since online is where most of the heads up action is, I
rank Tom Dwan as the number one heads up NL Holdem player.

2. Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey is the most feared player at any poker table. Undoubtedly, Phil Ivey is the best player in the world, and the best all around heads up poker player, but I place Tom Dwan above Phil Ivey, because I believe Tom Dwan can beat Phil Ivey over a large number of hands online. However, if they were to play live, I think Phil Ivey would be the winner.

3. Adam Ewenstein screen name Skilled Sox – Skilled_Sox has been dominating heads up sit and gos for over a year now. He has over 800k in online earnings and over 300k of that is just heads up sit and goes. Adam’s results are promising, and this should carry over into live heads up tournaments. Adam is the highest ranked player on Sharkscope.com from Pokerstars.

4. Phil Galfond screen name OMGCLAYAIKEN

Phil Galfond is said by some to be the best online player, while others say is Ivey or Dwan. One thing is for sure, Phil Galfond is someone you don’t want to take on heads up or short handed. Phil plays mostly cash games but sometimes plays tournaments.

5. Alec Torelli – Alec Torelli is a highly skilled tournament NL heads up player. Alec took second in the 2008 WSOP heads up championship, then second in the 2009 Australian heads up championship. Alec was heads up twice in three days for a MTT title at the Lago Classic with Johnathan Little and took it down both times. This gained the attention of Doyle Brunson, who quickly indoctrinated him into the Bobby’s room game with millionaire tourists. Doyle later signed him to his poker room, and has made him one of the Brunson 10.

Here he is on PokerNews.com

6. Di Dang and Hac Dang screen names Urindanger and trex313 aka Dang Brothers. The Dang Brothers share a bankroll, and so I’m listing them together. Di and Hac make my top ten lists all the time because they are sick sick poker players. They are good kids, and take care of their family with their winnings, but on the felt, they are sickos. Di and Hac have made a living taking on the best in the world and winning.

7. Olivier Busquet screen name livb112 – Olivier Busquet is one of the most feared heads up online players in the world. Oliver recently won the World Poker Tour Borgata. The thing is, Oliver was down to a 20 to 1 deficit in chips. Instead of panicking, Oliver used the years of online heads up experience and recovered.

Olivier Busquet interview here

8. Yevgeniy Timoshenko screen name Jovial Jent

Yevgeniy is definitely a poker prodigy of Phil Ivey proportions. Yevgeniy is regarded as one of the best heads up players by his peers. He play online constantly and has been playing in live multi’s recently. When he makes it short handed in the live MTT’s , he usually finishes first because of his aggressive play. Because of his heads up experience, he rarely finishes second.

9. Chris Ferguson

Chris Ferguson is one of the best live heads up players at NL Holdem in the world. He finished 2nd in 2 National Heads Up tournaments on NBC. The National Heads Up tournament is the most prestigious of all the heads up tournament s and Chris finished 2nd in 2 of them. Chris makes it difficult for people to get reads on him with his large cowboy hat, long hair, beard, sunglasses, and most importantly his timed movements at the poker table. Chris is constantly covering his mouth, and his 2 arms are at an angle which makes it hard for anyone to see his neck pulse or breathing patterns. His mathematical ability, lack of visible tells, bankroll, experience, and knowledge of odds, makes Chris one of the top ten heads up players.

10. Nick Rampone screen name PureCash25
Nick Rampone dominates the heads up sit and go rooms at Full Tilt Poker. Purecash25’s chart is ridiculous:

Nick started without depositing money into his poker account, he won $5.00 in a freeroll at Full Tilt and never looked back. Truly amazing story and you can watch his interview here: