Chris Moorman (left) and Chris Hunichen (right) are both in the $10M club, and Shyam Srinivasan (center) is hoping to join them soon. (WPT photo)

There seems to be a massive tournament series going on every week these days in online poker. The higher buy-in events create massive prize pools with huge money up for grabs, and one big score like that can catapult a player up the money lists. This past month saw Swedish legend Andreas ‘r4ndomr4gs’ Berggren become just the seventh player to hit that number.
But to get to the point where you’re grinding the high stakes takes years; sometimes a decade of hard work and consistent results. And with continued success come money earning-milestones, none more prestigious in online tournament poker right now that the ‘$10 million club’.

Chris ‘moorman1’ Moorman has long been the leading man in that scene. He was the first player to reach $10M in earnings back in 2013 after years of playing. Not even five years later and Moorman now has an astonishing $14,697,638 in cashes.

Only six other players have joined that club since: Nicolas ‘PokerKaiser’ Fierro ($11.3M), Sebastian ‘p0cket00’ Sikorski ($11.1M), Johannes ‘Greenstone25’ Korsar ($10.9M), Bryan ‘bparis’ Paris ($10.8M), Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen ($10.3M), and the most recent member: Berggren ($10.02M).

Who is next in line to reach the milestone and join the $10M club in 2018? Let’s take a look.

Top of the Class

Chris ‘Gettin Daize’ Oliver, who is playing from Costa Rica, is the only player on this list who is within $100K of reaching the $10M milestone. A former PocketFives world #1-ranked player back in 2010, Oliver has managed to sustain an incredible consistency in his performance over the years. He currently boasts $9,924,803 in cashes.

Playing under the PokerStars screenname ‘imdanuts’, Oliver’s largest cash came from a second place finish in the 2012 TCOOP $700 Main Event for $285K. He’s come close in plenty of SCOOP and WCOOP events too, finishing second in a 2012 SCOOP $2,100 event for $247K, third place in the same event a year later ($175K), and third place in a $320 WCOOP event for $67K in 2010.

Now just $75K away from eclipsing $10M in cashes, Oliver is highly likely to surpass that in 2018.

Almost $300K behind Oliver in the all-time rankings in Sweden’s ‘Sheater‘, but the volume this guy puts in could see him clear $10M sooner than you’d think. Ranked no.1 in the world in 2014, ‘Sheater’ remains 17th in the world rankings at the time of writing as a result of his excellent play and persistent grinding. ‘Sheater’ has $9,652,260 in cashes right now.

On the Horizon

Canada’s Shyam ‘s_dot111’ Srinivasan’ has been near the top of the online all-time money rankings for a long time. Known on PokerStars as ‘g’s zee’, Srinivasan has amassed $9,574,725, good for tenth all time.

That makes him $425K away from $10M, which is clearly a big mountain to climb. But Srinivasan has recorded upwards of half a million in cashes a year in seven of the past eight years, so although he’s had a slow start in 2018, it’s still very possible for him.

Just a stone’s throw behind Srinivasan on the list is Canada’s Jon ‘apestyles’ van Fleet; a PocketFives legend with $9,570,022 in career cashes. His six-figure scores date back to 2006, but his largest by far came in December 2017 with a win in the online partypoker MILLIONS for an incredible $1,027,000.

You wouldn’t bet against him joining the $10M club before December, especially when you look at the volume he’s putting in right now, even after such a huge score. van Fleet recorded almost $40,000 in cashes on Sunday (March 25), including a win in partypoker’s $100K-guaranteed High Roller for almost $22K.

The Backcourt

The next two players on the list closest to $10M could also be described as online legends.
Sweden’s ‘lena900’ is a staple of the world rankings top five, often jostling for the no.1 spot with his fellow countryman ‘C Darwin2’. His consistency in putting up huge scores is outstanding, and it’s those amazing results that him rack up $9,391,807 throughout his career.

What’s particularly impressive about that huge figure is that ‘lena900’ has only one six-figure score to date (a Super Tuesday win from 2014 for $104,500). And yet when you look at his results year on year, it’s still very possible he could tip $10M in 2018:

  • 2017 – $1,409,153
  • 2016 – $1,192,575
  • 2015 – $644,579
  • 2014 – $743,311
  • 2013 – $1,056,281

‘lena900’ has $682,789 in cashes from the past 120 days alone. Keep an eye on this one.
Rounding out the top six ‘most likely’ is another Canadian: Ami ‘UhhMee’ Barer. With multiple FTOPS, WCOOP, and SCOOP titles to his name, Barer has achieved a lot in his career to the tune of $9,249,522. He’s quickly building on that too; a quick scan through his most recent cashes shows he’s been on a serious grind of late.
Barer sits 13th on the online all-time money list, $750K away right now. As well as the players we’ve mentioned in this article, there are only three others who have over $9M in cashes, so special mention also goes to:

When will Oliver surpass $10M? Will someone beat him to it? Keep checking back with PocketFives for all the latest.