From the old Texas road gamblers of the ‘50s and ‘60s, to the Internet phenoms of the 21st Century making millions online from their bedrooms, poker has thrown up a range of fascinating characters.

Most of today’s poker geniuses are more comfortable in a hooded top and sneakers, sucking on Dr Peppers and getting in a few hours of Call of Duty than slipping on an expensive tailor-made suit and hitting the Copa.

But that doesn’t mean the modern poker player isn’t as cool as the game’s old-timers. Today’s players earn millions – thanks in part to the online ‘nosebleed’ games – and the playboy lifestyle often follows. With them comes respect from their peers, insane bar bills and even crazier boys’ toys – from sports cars and penthouse suites with internal slides to private jets and diamond-encrusted knuckledusters.

Let’s take a look at some of the coolest players to have ever graced the game (and one of the uncoolest…)

5. DAVE “DEVILFISH” ULLIOTT
Nationality: British
Career Winnings: $6.1 million
Most Likely to Buy: Customized Humvee
Cool Factor: 7

Let’s start with one of the classic old-time gamblers and poker players. Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott was a safe-cracker in his native England before discovering he had a way with the cards. After a stint in the slammer, Ulliott travelled to the World Series of Poker in the late 1990s and duly took down his first WSOP gold bracelet. It was there that he acquired his famed moniker after a fellow player described him as “as dangerous as a Devilfish”. The nickname stuck and Ulliott went on to win WPT titles and over $6 million in career earnings.
As famed for his diamond-encrusted knuckledusters with the words, ‘Devil’ and ‘Fish’ emblazoned on them, as he is for his quotes (“’I’d swim across shark-infested waters with a pork chop hanging around my neck in order to play the best poker players in the world”), the formidable Brit always has a cheeky wink for the ladies, and despite his advanced age is never without a young girl on his arm.
The Devilfish can still mix it up with the best youngsters the game can throw at him, and he continues to take down big prizes to this day, whether dressed in his trademark dark suit and shades (Cool Factor: 10) or his Ed Hardy tee (Cool Factor: erm, more like a 2).
Check out Devilfish’s 2010 autobiography, the modestly-titled Devilfish: The Life and Times of a Poker Legend – it’s one of the funniest poker books out there.

4. SAM TRICKETT
Nationality: British
Career Winnings: $19.8 million
Most Likely to Buy: Audi R8 V10
Cool Factor: 8
Young, attractive, with a model girlfriend, sports cars in the garage, and soccer star friends: it’s fair to say that British poker pro Sam Trickett pretty much has it all.
A serious injury put paid to a promising soccer career in Sam’s native England, and during his recuperation in bed Sam discovered online poker. Quickly his natural aggression and gambling nature saw Sam win – a few pots here, a few pots there. After a big poker title in the UK, Vegas beckoned, and in 2010 Sam broke the record for the most No Limit Hold’em cashes at one World Series of Poker.
More was to come, however, when in 2012 he came 2nd in the $111,111 buy-in Big One for One Drop event at the WSOP, winning $10 million. It took his career earnings to close to $20 million. Even though Sam can pay cash for a $3 million house (as he did recently) most of Sam’s time is taken up crushing Chinese businessmen in the million-dollar cash games of Macau.
Fiercely proud of his Manchester United club, Sam counts many of their stars as close friends, and he’s usually seen rocking a new watch every time he takes down a major tournament. However, despite also being pictured rocking some very uncool pink tees at various poker events around the world, he’s certainly worthy of a place in our list.
3. SAMMY FARHA
Nationality: Lebanese
Career Winnings: $2.8 million
Most Likely to Buy: Italian suit
Cool Factor: 8
A clash of poker cultures came in 2003 when amateur player Chris Moneymaker, the accountant from Atlanta in dorky shades and cap, took on the old-time poker pro in the sharp suit – Sam Farha.
Moneymaker would prevail that day to kick-start the ‘Moneymaker Effect’ and prove an inspiration to thousands of casual players around the world.
But what if Farha had won? Would we all be sitting in front of our laptops grinding those $10 tournaments in open-buttoned shirts and slick-back hair?
Originally from the Lebanon, Houston-based Farha is a mainstay of the high roller cash games in Las Vegas, and his famed read of other players is only matched by the unlit cigarette prop he has hanging from the corner of his mouth when he plays.
“I like to dress well – it’s important,” Sammy said in an interview once, pointing out that his tailor-made Italian suits cost in excess of $5,000 a time.

Sammy is so cool, he even got a speaking part alongside Eric Bana in the 2007 film, Lucky You (earning him a bunch more Cool Points), and as long as he keeps playing, there will always be a torch for the old-school gamblers.

2. ANTONIO ESFANDIARI
Nationality: Iranian-American
Career Winnings: $25.5 million
Most likely to buy: Anything he damn wants
Cool Factor: 9
Being a magician is pretty cool; playing strip poker with five of the hottest girls in the world – yeah, that’s up there in the cool stakes; and winning a record-breaking $18 million poker prize – well, that kinda seals it.
The richest poker pro of all time – with a career haul of over $25 million – Antonio started out as a magician in his adopted home city of LA before discovering he was pretty damn hot at poker too. One of the ‘Second Generation’ of poker pros who emerged after the boom of the early 2000s, Esfandiari has been a mainstay of poker TV shows like Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker but still knows how to mix it with the young, aggressive breed of online pro who have emerged over recent years.
In 2012 Esfandiari took down a first prize of $18 million – yes, EIGHTEEN – after beating Sam Trickett heads-up at the WSOP Big One for One Drop. Whether it’s bagging multi-millionaire pots, chilling with pals like Michael Phelps (himself a keen poker player) or partying with covergirls (see link), life’s pretty sweet for The Magician right now.
1. GUS HANSEN
Nationality: Danish
Career Winnings: $11.2 million
Most likely to buy: Condos in Malibu for his whole family
Cool Factor: 10

While most online poker pros probably wouldn’t get near a Top 10 Sexiest Men list even if their own girlfriends were putting it together, ‘The Great Dane’ is an exception to the rule.

One of the breed of poker pros who emerged from the first televised poker tournaments like the World Poker Tour (he won the very first WPT event in 2002), Gus earned himself a reputation for being calm, cool and hugely aggressive.

And while some of his contemporaries stuck to the live game that had made their fortunes, Gus soon found his aggressive skills perfectly suited to the fast-paced online game. A regular on the ‘nosebleed’ cash tables of poker site, Full Tilt, Gus could win or lose millions in a single session.

Famed for his looks – he works out daily – Gus is probably the only poker player to have featured in a list of the sexiest men in the world, named ‘Sexiest Card Shark’ in People magazine’s list of Sexiest Men. Even actress Mimi Rogers was inspired to comment: “He’s incredibly smart and buff. Combined with the Danish accent, it’s pretty enticing. And there’s an element of unpredictability that makes him sexy. He’s a dangerous player.”

If rumors are to be believed, Gus’s aggression at the poker tables is only matched by his way with the ladies. One famous story tells of a poker journalist who turned up at Gus’s hotel room for an interview, only to discover his entire room floor covered in condoms.

With an easy Cool Factor of 10 and poker skills only a few players can match, Gus makes our No. 1 spot. You can find him playing cash games for millions online, and you want to try playing poker like a pro, guides like www.pokersites.com show where you can sign up to an online account and play poker like Gus.

And the uncoolest player….

Greg Raymer

Greg Raymer
OK, he may have won the 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event, but the lawyer from North Carolina wouldn’t be cool if you shoved him in a deep freeze for 12 hours. Even a recent sting operation at a brothel (Raymer was found not guilty) couldn’t disguise the fact that for intelligent conversations on the state of poker legislation he may be your man; for double-teaming on a bar crawl, probably not. And those lizard shades have to go, man.

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