Bluff Power 20 Released
Wicked Chops has the intro and the detailed breakdown … and they provided the actual list:
1. PokerStars
2. Full Tilt Poker
3. Mitch Garber
4. Howard Lederer
5. Ty Stewart
6. Doyle Brunson
7. Joe Cada
8. Barney Frank
9. Tony G
10. Daniel Negreanu
11. Phil Ivey
12. John Pappas
13. Mike Sexton
14. Mori Eskandani
15. Brian Balsbaugh
16. Lance Bradley
17. Joe Sebok
18. Barry Shulman
19. Matt Savage
20. Per Hagen
The only name I don’t recognize is Per Hagen. I’ve since learned he’s a major Norwegian agent who runs the company PokerIcons. (Their stable of players include the much heralded Annette15 , the lesser heralded Layne Flack, and underheralded Kathy Liebert, among others.)
Interesting to see PokerStars and Full Tilt there as entities not individuals. With that in mind, some might wonder where the names Isai Scheinberg (head of PokerStars) and Ray Bitar (honcho at Full Tilt) and Chris Feguson.
Some other notable omissions include Jeffrey Pollack — probably the most notable drop off the list — and Jack Effel, who most anticipate will be the on-the-ground face of the 2010 WSOP way moreso than Ty Stewart and Mitch Garber plan to be.
If you’re gonna include groups, though .. you gotta wonder about:
the WSOP
PartyPoker/WPT
the Department of Justice
Annie Duke also, to our surprise,didn’t make the cut — even though she did more to reperesent the game (for better or worse) in 2009, has more to do with poker’s Hollywood connections than just about anyone, and has raised more money for charity than just about anyone in the industry save for maybe her UB cronie Phil Hellmuth. But she has arguably taken a huge role resurrecting one of the largest online poker sites from the abyss … a role that Phil Hellmuth has taken no pulic part in.
Kevin Mathers says:
February 4th, 2010 at 7:29am
Think Cada’s rated a bit too high at #7?
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 7:33am
yeah, he didn’t even make my list. rising star for sure … but too young and unproven to be part of the Power 20, imho.
Brian Townsend should go before him (not that high though) and even Paul Leggett if you’re going less player heavy.
Kevin Mathers says:
February 4th, 2010 at 7:37am
I was asked to come up with a list, then never got around to emailing it. Here’s some names I would have had on the list that aren’t in the top 20:
Barry Hearn
Norman Chad at #20
Adam Pliska
Jeffrey Haas
John Duthie
Seems if you get on a lot of mainstream shows for a couple of weeks, that automatically gives you top 10 status.
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 7:49am
here was my list. i forgot to include Tony G and Kevin Mathers … and I misspelled the #1 choice:
1. Isai Steinberg
2. Howard Lederer
3. Mitch Garber
4. Barney Frank
5. Phil Hellmuth
6. Steve Preiss
7. Dan Michalski
8. Mori Eskandani
9. Mike Sexton
10. Annie Duke
11. Daniel Negreanu
12. Phil Ivey
13. Matt Savage
14. Brian Balsbaugh
15. Paul Leggett
16. Drew Lesofski
17. John Pappas
18. Brian Townsend
19. Joe Navarro
20. Jim McManus
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 7:49am
who’s barry hearn? i’ve heard that name before … someone connected to PartyPoker and Europe?
Kevin Mathers says:
February 4th, 2010 at 7:55am
Barry Hearn is with Matchroom Sport, who does several poker tournaments in the UK such as:
World Poker Open
Premier League Poker
Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge
Full Tilt Poker Million
PKR Heads-Up Poker Challenge
Matthew Parvis says:
February 4th, 2010 at 7:59am
Not sure how your list did not get copied and pasted directly into the magazine Dan…
Matthew Parvis says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:00am
Mots notably the dude in the #7 spot.
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:07am
right … i think i’ve met barry hearn — actually played a sit-n-go with him in Leyton. I believe he was the owner of the Leyton Orient at the time.
@Parvis … I may or may not have overestimated my own self-importance. but hey … was trying to stand up for the independent media. and i was the WSOP-Dream Team Poker team champion.
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:10am
p.s. @parvis when we actually win in texas … don’t forget who’s been working on that 3-year plan for five years!
Matthew Parvis says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:17am
Ah, Dream Team Champions Count? Does that make me eligible for the list?
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:18am
sorry dude, you were like sooo 2008.
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:20am
@mathers i like your inclusion of norman chad. think pliska is still too much in the same boat as joe cada. know who duthie is, but don’t see his power quotient. and jeffrey haas … that’s another one i don’t recognize.
Lara says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:26am
Can you guys explain to me how poker agents made the list? I’m not being a smart ass here, I really am curious. Unless they are bringing in a ton of mainstream endorsers that I don’t know about, I just don’t get it.
Mean Gene says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:27am
Where’s Jon Kyl?
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:31am
@meangene ah, see that;s my whole point/shady justification for self-inclusion. that won’t become a story until the blogosphere runs with it.
@Lara i think some agents — like PokerRoyalty — are powerful because they not only bring individual opportunities to individual players, but they help the industry get into certain markets and media. and they get so cut-throat around the final table, which makes them seem powerful.
Lara says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:38am
@Dan Makes sense, perception is everything. I disagree about the media part though 😉
Matthew Parvis says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:43am
Jeffrey Haas is one of the driving forces behind the expansion of the PokerStars backed tours like the EPT, NAPT, APPT and LAPT. In my opinion he should certainly be on the list. Although with the exception of a few, it is a very US centric list.
Lara says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:45am
@Matt it seems as though the ones that stay behind the scene, that most people have never heard of, are the driving forces behind the growth of poker. Which makes them all the more deserving IMO.
Lara says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:46am
How about Lotus Pr for PokerStars? They have done a ton of mainstream work to getStars out there.
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:48am
ahh, learn something new. that’s the guy i was looking for when i was thinking about pokerstars at the top … didn’t know his name though, so just went for the super head-honcho.
i think that’s the one problem with this list. there are people who deserve the credit, but don’t get the recognition. that’s wy i included drew lesofski from the PPA. people now pappas, but i’m sure even he’d attest to hat an important role lesofski plays. likewise from the poker royalty camp. balsbaugh is the boss, but that doesn’t mean he’s the most influential person within their own business. (no offence to pappas or balsbaugh, just thinking some of their help deserves mad props as well.)
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:49am
re: lotus pr … i think the lists would be very different if you separated out individuals from organizations.
Lara says:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:52am
Agreed, they aren’t exclusively with Stars though, which is the reason I thought of them.
Matt Savage says:
February 4th, 2010 at 11:37am
I like Dan’s list better 🙂
Andrew says:
February 4th, 2010 at 12:25pm
Interesting Power 20 for sure…here was my take:
Ty Stewart
Doug White/Jamie Horowitz
John Pappas
Barney Frank
Mitch Garber
Steve Lipscomb
Daniel Negreanu
Brian Balsbaugh
Lance Bradley/Eric Morris
Phil Ivey
Joe Cada
Howard Lederer
Mori Eskandani
Barry Shulman
Wicked Chops
Chris Capra
Matthew Parvis
Joe Sebok
Cliff Josephy/Eric Haber
Tom Dwan
Andrew says:
February 4th, 2010 at 12:27pm
And yes, I have a very US-centric list. Jeff Haas is definitely a glaring omission of mine.
Matthew Parvis says:
February 4th, 2010 at 12:57pm
Here was my ballot. Looking at it, I would change a few things as I obviously missed Mitch Garber. I had Pollack on there, as I think a lot of his initiatives and ideals for poker were still influential in today’s poker landscape. I probably also would have included some of the other online gaming CEO’s also if I had to do it again. And yes, I through myself in there as a joke. I believe that the poker media does not hold a lot of power in this industry, which is why you see none of them on my ballot. The industry is controlled by the sites, the players and the television producers IMO.
1. PS
2. FTP
3. Doyle
4. Howard Lederer
5. Mori Eskandadi
6. Daniel Negreanu
7. Mike Sexton
8. Tony G
9. Barney Frank
10. Jamie Horowitz
11. Jeffrey Pollack
12. John Duthie
13. Brian Balsbaugh
14. Steve Lipscomb
15. Ty Stewart
16. Jeffrey Haas
17. Jon Miller
18. Annie Duke
19. Joe Sebok
20. Matthew Parvis
Kevin Mathers says:
February 4th, 2010 at 1:23pm
Should Steve Lipscomb really be on the list, especially since he’s no longer part of the WPT?
Matthew Parvis says:
February 4th, 2010 at 1:34pm
Probably correct on that Kev. Probably why he was left off the actual list.
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 3:08pm
I think the individuals who didn’t make the master list but got a few votes are probably some of the more interesting people in poker. Though I think all of our lists have arguably a flaw or two … which is what I guess the collectiveness was supposed to, and for the most part did, effectively filter out. Good job on all us voters who put some real thought into it.
I’m mostly intrigued by the names I don’t recognize.
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 3:18pm
And extra good job by Lance for creating this concept and pulling it all together. I still plan to make a little fun of him on the Radio for his ranking though.
Kevin Mathers says:
February 4th, 2010 at 5:51pm
I got my copy of Bluff today, and for whatever reason, their list of the Bluff 20 has the following:
7. Barney Frank
8. Daniel Negreanu
10. Joe Cada
There was also an editor’s note is that the real 1 and 2 requested that their names not appear on the list.
DanM says:
February 4th, 2010 at 6:26pm
maybe some second-print revisions? any inaccuracy drops Chops down on my list, lol.
regarding their names not being included … that’s a huge sigh in and of itself. i don’t think it should be their choice when they reach a certain level!
either you’re afraid of going to jail in this world or you’re not!a) why would they be hiding? are they that altruistic that they don’t want credit for their good deeds.
b) why do they have any say in what bluff publishes?
kudos to bluff for putting this list together, but i hope they extorted at least a nice raise for lance out of letting their “winners” alter their original editorial concept.
powerful people without a public face is what makes people nervous in this industry or any others.
Jess says:
February 4th, 2010 at 7:36pm
Reading everyone’s ballots makes me want to hunt mine down, but that would require effort, something I am in short supply of today. I am very surprised I am the only one with Jim Ryan (PartyGaming CEO) on my list though. I know they aren’t the biggest site around anymore, but now that they own WPTE and are signing ppls left and right it certainly seems like they have big plans on the horizon.
Dave says:
February 5th, 2010 at 6:39am
This list is a joke….
Joe Cada 7th??, beating Negreanu??? Where’s Patrick, not to mention Durrrr…
Try again Bluff Magazine
Chris 'Homer' Hall says:
February 5th, 2010 at 6:06pm
At first I was going say there would be a collective ‘yawn’ from Europe as we laugh about the American power list. But then I thought about it and was actually struggling to think of that many Europeans who would actually make the list and other than Thomas Kremser I was struggling. The problem is that the list lacks creditability without any Europeans in it, but to put them in would skew the list as well, so the only solution would be to have an American list and a European list as well, with maybe some names like Tony G able to cross both.
Personally, I’m not a fan of these subjective things, I kinda think they’re all silly but I subscribe to Matt P’s viewpoint that no-one in the media should be in the top 20. The Bax/Sheets staking group is so huge that they would have to be in there now too.
A European list would hold much more interest to me as 2010 is going to be pretty interesting in terms of poker tours. There’s all the Stars tours going around plus Chilipoker now have a mini-tour, the Unibet tour has been going strong for a couple of years now (even having 400+ players when it clashed with an EPT) while Betsson and Betfair have the occasional tournaments as well. Add a few WPT’s in as well and you can see how packed the European schedule will be.
Haley says:
February 5th, 2010 at 8:37pm
I thought the list was 75% good and 25% high comedy.
Haley says:
February 5th, 2010 at 8:45pm
And no, Lipscomb shouldn’t be on the list, but Lyle Berman should. Also, whoever is the director of sports programming at ESPN these days gets a top 5 spot. Also LOL at Per Hagen getting a mention with his partial repping of Annette and a stable of otherwise second-rate Eurodonkeys. The Bax/Sheets comment is apropos, meaning #7 should have been “Joe Cada’s backer”.
Parvis’s commemt re: poker media is one of the few things I agree with him on. As long as poker media outlets cling to an increasingly antiquated affiliate system as their primary revenue stream, they have no real power.
Eric Morris says:
February 7th, 2010 at 9:57am
Peeps,
there is always going to be controversy when a list gets printed, which is a good thing in my opinion. Reason being, is it gets people talking about the poker industry and where it has and will be going in the future. I myself believe there were some worth people left off the list, but at the end of the day we published the results from people involved in the poker industry. The list was not subjective at all. Good or bad the list is made up from many of your respected peers.
On a side note, PD Parv no one at Bluff even cracked your top 20? Perhaps we were 21 after you?
Matthew Parvis says:
February 8th, 2010 at 10:56am
No offense Eric… Here was my quote that went along with my ballot.
“And yes, I through myself in there as a joke. I believe that the poker media does not hold a lot of power in this industry, which is why you see none of them on my ballot. The industry is controlled by the sites, the players and the television producers IMO”.
DanM says:
February 8th, 2010 at 11:01am
Are you serious? I thought this industry was controlled by Twitter.
Eric Morris says:
February 9th, 2010 at 7:53am
PD, you know I was just giving you shit. Its all in fun!
Vern says:
February 9th, 2010 at 2:46pm
This just in, Lance Bradley ranks Lance Bradley 16th most influential person in poker.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just kinda funny.
JamesDaBear says:
February 16th, 2010 at 10:10am
anybody have an idea who the top two were going to be?
DanM says:
February 16th, 2010 at 10:32am
don’t know for sure, but conventional wisdom says Isai Scheinberg (PokerStars) and Ray Bitar (Full Tilt).