Who are the top poker players in the world 2020?
It has been a strange year for poker, with a lot of the top tournaments having to be held online rather than in-person as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Perhaps this has led to more surprise results than ever before, with the difference in online and offline play making it even more challenging to take prize pots for some players. While it has been a struggle for some of the top names in the sport, others are thriving in the unusual conditions poker has operated under during 2020 due to the pandemic.
Here, we pick out some of the top poker players in the world right now.
Alex Fowen
It was actually at the end of 2019 that Fowen produced one of his major breakout performances, taking a prize pot of more than $1.5 million for winning event 22 at the World Poker Tour – WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas. Fowen’s form continued into the early weeks of 2020, though, banking over $1 million AUD thanks to coming second at a tournament in the 2020 Aussie Millions Poker Championship.
The American followed that up with another strong showing at the Australian Poker Open in Gold Coast, while victory at the World Poker Tour – WPT L.A. Poker Classic in March saw the 29-year-old bank a further $249,950.
Fowen, who won on his World Series of Poker debut at the age of 21, has not seen any similarly big wins for the rest of the year but he is a hugely popular and influential player on the tour.
Timothy Adams
Canadian poker star Adams has continued to be a dominant figure in the poker world in 2020. Scooping $243,988 at the partypoker 2020 Poker Masters high stakes tournament series is one of the reasons why this year has been such a successful period for the 34-year-old. Adams went on a stunning run of form at the poker table during the first six months of the year, banking in the region of $6 million.
One of his biggest wins of the year came at the 2020 Super High Roller Bowl in Sochi, where he won $3,600,000 after claiming the tournament’s top pot for the second time in his career. Adams is now in the top 20 in the world in terms of total money he has earned as a result of playing poker.
Kahle Burns
Consistency has been key for Burns over the course of 2020, helping to ensure he is one of the top poker players in the world for the year to date.
The Australian has a string of top-10 finishes under his belt, while his major successes include claiming victory at one of the top events in January’s 2020 Aussie Millions Poker Championship. Unfortunately, the 2021 event is currently on hold as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
Burns went on to finish fifth in the partypoker MILLIONS Sochi Super High Roller Series, where he banked another substantial sum to confirm he is one of the best players to watch right now.
Paul Phua
Some people within the sport believe poker to now be a young person’s game, but Paul Phua is proving that is not necessarily the case. The veteran player is still one of the best in the world thanks to some huge performances in Sochi earlier in the year.
Phua claimed second spot in the $25,500 No Limit Short Deck Hold’em event, which was part of the partypoker MILLIONS Sochi Super High Roller Series. He then went one better to take the prize pot in the $100,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, which won him $1,512,000.
Incredibly, just a few days later, Phua was celebrating again after winning the $50,000 No Limit Hold’em, taking another $620,000 to push his earnings for the week beyond the $2 million mark.
Mikita Badziakouski
Completing our list of some of the top poker players in the world in 2020 is Mikita Badziakouski, who started playing his first live tournaments at 18 but is still getting better a decade later. The Belarussian, like Phua, enjoyed a fine run of form at the Sochi Super High Roller Series earlier in the year, banking over $2 million in winnings at the Russian event.
Badziakouski took the top prize of $765,000 at the event’s $51,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, which he then followed up by finishing third in the $250,000 No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller Bowl, earning another $1,600,000.
Now featuring in the top 15 most successful poker players ever in terms of total money earned, Badziakouski will be hoping to turn a great 2020 into future success at the World Series of Poker, where he is yet to claim his maiden bracelet.
