No Joke, huge amounts of players strive to be the next "big-time thing" in poker, but here is a short list of 4 of the more noteworthy "great guys" of the game. Even though "nice" is connected with their names when you are facing them it is "no more Mr. Nice guy" up until they have put you out of the competition!
Daniel Negreanu
In 2004, his tourney payouts amounted to in the region of $4.4 million and he captured two immensely admired awards in the World Series of Poker Player of the Year and Cardplayer Magazine’s Tourney Player of the Year. In Feb 2006 he was appointed Card Player’s Favourite Poker Player. He still has the decency to talk with his admirers about how they can boost their own game.
Howard Lederer
Known as "The Professor" and brother of fellow poker professional Annie Duke. His accomplishments have allowed him to make an instructional poker video called "Secrets of No Limit Hold’em" and also hosting a tournament poker show for Fox TV. As of 2005, his total life winnings exceed $2.7 million.
Scotty Nguyen
Scotty is one of the most active players in professional poker and between Two Thousand to Two Thousand and Four he finished in the money in more than one hundred competitions. He is notorious for saying "yeah baby" throughout poker games and also credited with the term "that’s poker baby" when referring to a particularly bad defeat. As of 2006, his career winnings are almost $6 million.
Chris Ferguson
Chris has captured 5 World Series of Poker titles with two of his wins coming in Two Thousand and Three. Chris has the alias "Jesus" because of his trademark long hair and beard, that, and along with his ability to toss cards fast enough to slice through pickles and bananas. As of Two Thousand and Five his total live poker tourney winnings exceeded $5 million.