Online poker is a global game with players logging on and grinding from every part of the world. Every country has a #1-ranked player and here we take a look at some of those that lead the way in their home countries.

Pim ‘joppiesaus’ de Goede – Malta

It should be no surprise that Pim ‘joppiesaus’ de Goede soared to the top of the rankings in Malta after his historic chop in the 2018 partypoker MILLIONS Online. He took home a massive $2.3 million for what will officially go down as a runner-up finish. Obviously, that is far and away a career-high cash for de Goede, one that will be very difficult to surpass (online or live).

The score helped him not just to the #1 ranking in Malta, but also sent him screaming up the rankings to a career-high ranking of #12 in the world. He bypassed both the $4 million and $5 million badges to now sit at a lifetime total of $6.276M in total earnings.

For de Goede though, this was not simply a lucky run of cards. He’s been a PocketFiver since January 2010 (coming up on nine years) and is a true grinder with nearly 6,000 cashes in his career. One might think that after a life-changing score like in the MILLIONS Online, a break would be in order. Not for de Goede, who has been racking up cashes throughout the month of December including a 1386th place finish in the partypoker Sunday Bounty Hunter for $8. That’s not going to move the needle like his fourth-place finish in the December 14 edition PokerStars High Roller Club for over $11,000 but it does go to show that even after a $2.3M score, a grinder’s work is never done.

Roman ‘Romeopro’ Romanovsky – Ukraine

Despite taking a major part of 2018 off, Ukraine’s Roman ‘Romeopro’ Romanovsky has remained as the #1 player in his county and a mainstay at the top of the worldwide rankings.

With impressive performances on 888poker all year long, Romanovsky has emerged as the PocketFiver with the most earning on that site in 2018. Case in point, he took down December 2 edition of the Sunday $50,000 Whale for $26,250 as a part of his over $400,000 worth of earnings on that site.

That victory came after taking nearly two months off late in the year, having not recorded an online cash in the months of October or November. Prior to that, Romanovsky earned $187,000 for his win in the 888poker XL Eclipse $1M Main Event.

However, if Romanovsky cares to keep his #1 status in Ukraine, he won’t be able to take much more time off as Ukraine’s #2, ‘Palyaaa’ is right behind him in the standings, less than 300 PLB points away.

Sam ‘pudge714’ Greenwood – Canada

When not traveling the world competing in biggest buy-in tournaments he can find, Sam ‘pudge714’ Greenwood spends his time crushing online.

He’s currently the #1-ranked online player in Canada as well as ranked #20 in the world, a career-high ranking for the accomplished player.

Greenwood’s uptick in the rankings is directly correlated to his participation in the PokerStars High Roller Club events. Greenwood has been packing on the PLB points with deep finishes in these events all month long. His highlights include a runner-up finish in the December 2 edition of the $530 Sunday 500 for $26,891 and 296.52 PLB points and an outright victory in the December 3 edition of the $530 Daily 500 for another $14,273 and 260.77 PLB points. Both of those results were after the month of November when he picked up another seven PLB qualifying cashes.

Greenwood also his a new major milestone, surpassing $6 million in lifetime online earnings to go along with his over $12 million in live earnings. He may be able to hold the top spot in Canada until the end of the year as he holds a 700 PLB point lead over former top-10 ranked Connor ‘blanconegro’ Drinan.

‘DamageAP’ – Latvia

2018 has been a good one for Latvia’s #1-ranked ‘DamageAP’. Not only did he climb to the top of his country but he crashed the elite ranks of the worldwide top-10 and is currently sitting at a career-high ranking of #4 in the world.

‘DamageAP’ is name-checked as one of the best in the world right now. One look at his results paints a picture of why. He is constantly in the mix in the biggest buy-in tournaments online and consistently putting up big-time results. Take for instance his day on October 28. At the same time, he finished in fifth place in the PokerKing Million Dollar Sunday Encore for $57,000 and also binked a runner-up finish in the $530 Bounty Builder High Roller on PokerStars for another $26,000.

Since that time ‘DamageAP’ has posted eight five-figure cashes, including a runner-up finish in the December 17 edition of the PokerStars High Roller Club $530 Daily Supersonic for over $12,000.

He’s closing in on his $5 million badge (roughly $250K to go). He trails the #3-ranked ‘hellohellohello’ by roughly 1200 PLB points, but holds a massive 3800 PLB points lead in the country of Latvia over Guntis ‘lovefee’ Aleskins, so it’s unlikely he will be losing that title anytime soon.

Arturs ‘Artschgamble’ Scerbaks – Germany

Another player enjoying new career highs in Germany’s #1-ranked Arturs ‘Artschgamble’ Scerbaks. Scerbaks not only takes over the #1 spot in his country from ‘nilsef’ but is currently sitting at #30 in the world.

It goes to show that good things happen when you win a tournament like the PokerStars Sunday Million, as Scerbaks did on December 2. The $154,532 first place prize is another career-high for the German and the 1,069.67 PLB points helped him rocket up the rankings.

Scerbaks recently has been playing as a mid-stakes grinder but has also taken some recent shots at the high buy-ins pay off recently. He scored a victory in the November 24 edition PokerStars High Roller Club $530 Bounty Builder for $13,805 + bounties and also picked up another nice score in the December 5 edition of the PokerStars $1,050 Daily Cooldown for $8,941.

The Sunday Million cash helped push Scerbaks up over $2 million for his career.