Poker pro w/ most business savvy

[Aquarian]

Lyle Berman

Aq.

[MarkD]

I get the impression that Ray Zee was able to take his professional poker playing into investment areas that have been very lucrative.

[Riverman]

I don't think anyone has mentioned Lyle Berman yet. That guy is loaded.

[Cancuk]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think anyone has mentioned Lyle Berman yet. That guy is loaded.

[/ QUOTE ]

lyle berman isn't a pro and didn't make his money playing poker.

[amulet]

Danny H and Bill B both posses tremendous business acumen. then there are the people who created other business prior to becoming pros, but i assume they don't count? examples of these are, lyle b, paul phillips, even phil gordon is surprising when you talk outside businesses. there are many others.

[TStoneMBD]

i think a better summary of what youre looking for is poker player who has done an excellent job of promoting their name. people are listing people who dont fall into this category.

phil gordon has done an ok job i suppose but its only because hes on celebrity poker showdown. hes pretty much an idiot imo.

noone comes close to hellmuth or negreanu, but i think hellmuth takes it by a pretty wide slandslide. he just has a distinguished and recognizeable image. daniel has done a great job because he is such a likeable guy and his wpt success certainly is helpful. i think daniel is getting more endorsements than phil is as of late which is probably the logical choice because daniel still has alot of room for image growth whereas phil really doesnt. daniel is a much better poker player and should outperform phil in the future even considering that phil stands to play more events. phil at least always has his wsop rings and wsop air time to fall back on. if daniel goes on a cold run of cards hell just become another gus hansen.

honorable mentions would have to go to mike matusow, gus hansen and chris ferguson. im sure matusow will have plenty of sponsorship deals in the future. he just has too much personality and household name going for him.

phil ivey has an insanely marketable name but he chooses not to cash in on it. you can also give mention to doyle brunson who has built extreme fame for himself. you might say thats only because of his success in the big games, but look at chip reese. his fame level is not anywhere near doyle's. doyle's name has sold books and he has his own internet poker room.

not sure if this is true or not, but doyle's name might have been the driving force in why mike caro has made so much money from poker... another guy whos done an excellent job in sustaining his name 10 years ago. his name is pretty much putty right now.

dont forget about dutch boyd. his name collapsed because he dropped off the poker planet but he had a real big run at making a huge name for himself with insane amounts of endorsements and such.

david williams has alot of potential if he has continued success and becomes a regular on the circuit.

[cwsiggy]

Howard Lederer will probably make more from Full Tilt this year than "most" top pros make in all cash games and tourney winnings combined. (He is President of Tiltware)

[kenberman]

TStone,
Creating a marketable name is only one aspect of having business savvy. Business savvy being what separates corporate execs, succesfull entrepreneurs, and savvy investors from the rest of the population: the ability to recognize and create value. Negreanu might be the most 'famous' poker player known to the masses, but if all his business deals (poker sites, merchandise, real estate, whatever) dont end up making him any money, he hasn't shown any business savvy at all.

[TStoneMBD]

the reason why i went out of my way to summarize el diablo's original thread to ability to create a marketable name is because going strictly by business savvy, daniel negreanu and phil hellmuth are nowhere near the most business savvy poker players and its not even close imo. the poker players who have the most business savvy are likely to be the ones that you wouldn't expect it from. daniel negreanu and phil hellmuth are just famous people who market their name. besides that they havent shown a propensity to know anything about business whatsoever.

[turnipmonster]

phil gordon is definitely positively really not an idiot.