The PocketFives Rankings are all about showcasing the best online poker players in the world, but if you look beyond the worldwide rankings and focus on the race for #1 in individual countries, the races are often times a lot closer.

In the debut edition of The Number Ones, we take a look at the top-ranked players from Argentina, Belgium, Japan, Germany and Greece.

Argentina – Ramiro ‘Ramiro’ Petrone

Sitting atop the Argentina rankings, Ramiro Petrone has quietly become one of the most dominant players in the world. With 8,845.56 PLB points, Petrone has almost 3,500 more than his next closest countryman.

On April 11, Petrone put together series of cashes to solidify his position inside the top 10 of the Worldwide Rankings. He won $20,000 Mega Deep on 888poker and then posted third place finishes in the Six Max Wednesday High Roller and the Bounty Hunter High Roller on partypoker for nearly $25,000 and nearly 470 points.

He capped all of that off by taking down the partypoker Super Sunday Main Event (High) for $28,426 and 410.49 points on APril 16.

Belgium – Gary ‘quiditbear’ Hasson

Playing exclusively on PokerStars, Gary ‘quiditbear’ Hasson has managed to put together a 1,255 point lead over the next highest-ranked player in Belgium, ‘oempaloempah‘.

Hasson has picked up only two qualifying cashes in April, but in March he picked up the biggest PLB score of his career thanks to a runner-up finish in the PokerStars High Rollers Event #12. He added 433.63 points to his total and $64,422 to his bankroll. In fact, his eight best PLB scores have all come inside the last six months.

Currently ranked #32 in the world, Hasson has been as high as #22.

Germany – ‘nilsef’

Of the 932 PocketFivers in Germany, the player at the top is ‘nilsef’. With $6.46 million in career earnings and 533 MTT wins, the Schleswig-Holstein resident is head and shoulders above the rest of his homeland.

‘Nilsef’ puts in volume at all buy-in levels and has already cashed 218 times in April alone. That includes 24 wins, 41 podium finishes and 94 top 10 results. His best result of 2018 came on March 20 when he finished just off the podium in the PokerStars High Rollers Series Event #8 for $14,110 and 177.34 points.

He’s now 1,322.82 points ahead of #2-ranked ‘Grozzorg‘ and almost 1,500 points ahead of #3-ranked ‘SmilleThHero‘.

Greece – ‘sinkedshrimp’

If things continue on their current path for Greece‘s #1-ranked player, ‘sinkedshrimp‘, some time in early 2019 he’ll hit the $1 million earnings milestone. In the meantime though, he’s going to be challenged to hold on to the #1 spot. With 4,849.03 PLB points, he’s just 35.12 points ahead of #2-ranked ‘apostolis20’.

The end of March was a good time for ‘sinkedshrimp’. He picked up three qualifying cashes on March 29. He finished third in a $215 Six Max NLHE event on PokerStars, then had finished second in the PokerStars Fat Thursday and in the partypoker Bounty Hunter High Roller. All told he pocketed over $22,000 and 468 points.

Japan – ‘Lestatdiego’

There are just 36 Japanese PocketFivers with the #1 spot belonging to ‘Lestatdiego‘. He solidified his grasp on that spot on April 25, beating out 1,370 other players in the $22 Bounty Builder on PokerStars for $2,069 and 117.09 points. Four of his five best PLB scores have come in 2018.