One small step for Moorman; one giant leap for mankind. That certainly seems appropriate when discussing the all-time leading money winners in online tournaments.

It was back in 2013 when Chris ‘moorman1’ Moorman became the first player in history within touching distance of $10 million in career earnings – a feat he’d accomplish fairly soon after. At that time, the Brit had won $3 million more than the player in second place (Jon ‘PearlJammer’ Turner – who had $6.9 million in 2013). And yet here we are, more than three years later, and Moorman still has an incredible $3.8 million in winnings more than his closest rival. No one except for Moorman, who currently has $13.75 million, has reached eight figures.

That’ll soon change, though. With the PokerStars Turbo Championship of Online Poker currently in full swing, it’s the perfect time for a player (and one player in particular) to join the exclusive $10M+ club. Here’s a closer look at the movers and shakers in the race to $10 million.

Next in line

With $9.95 million in earnings, Bryan ‘bparis’ Paris is currently leading the pack approaching the $10 million mark. The Californian, who lives in Amsterdam and also has $711K in live winnings to his name, took down a big score this week improving his chances even further.

Paris finished in second in Event #27 of the TCOOP – the $215 NL Six Max Hold’em Sunday Supersonic special edition. That great result added $52,766 to his career earnings, meaning he’s just $50K away from becoming only the second player in history to edge over the eight-figure milestone. Saying “just $50K” would seem uncouth in most areas of life, but with a variety of online poker festivals throughout the year with big buy-ins and scores available upwards of what Paris made this week, that means he’s essentially one great score away.

He’s no stranger to five-figure cashes, as you’d expect from such a successful online presence. With two Super Tuesday wins, a Sunday Brawl victory and runner-up finish, a Bigger $109 bink, and WCOOP and now TCOOP final tables on his resume, Paris is the clear favorite to leap over $10 million in 2017.

Hot on the heels

While Paris currently sits at no.88 in the world rankings, the man at #10 is also the next guy along in the race to ten milly. Chile’s Nicolas ‘PokerKaiser’ Fierro, is a former #1-ranked player who currently has a poker resume boasting $9.831 million in online earnings.

It’ll take him another $169K before he peeks over that elusive peak, but with five cashes of over $100K to his name, that’s by no means impossible in 2017. In fact, his biggest ever career score came just a few months ago in September 2016, when he took down the Winning Poker OSS #72 – Million Dollar Sunday event for $211,060, besting a 1,442-strong field.

He also has a WCOOP title, a Super Tuesday win, and several large FTOPS results rounding out his top cashes. So while Fierro has a bigger distance to run than Paris, his higher world ranking suggests that he’s been putting in more volume and getting more results of late.

The back of the pack

The only other player who could realistically move over $10 million soon is Sebastian ‘p0cket00’ Sikorski. Another former #1, Sikorski, who lives in Canada, has $9.774 million. He has three Super Tuesday wins and many final table appearances, as well as a SCOOP final table, a win in the 888 Super XL Whale, and recently a Sunday Grand victory. He’ll need to rack together a few of those wins as soon as possible if he’s to accumulate the $226K he needs to win the race.

While he’s some way away right now, it’s Shyam ‘s_dot111’ Srinivasan who rounds out the five runners. The Canadian has $9.329 million in winnings right now, which may leave him needing a miracle run to overtake Paris, but almost guarantees you’ll see him move over $10 million over the next couple of years. His incredible and consistent results over time speak for themselves.

So, the race is well and truly on and entering the home straight. Can Paris continue his hot TCOOP streak this week to become the second player in history to reach $10 million in earnings?