Poker Players' Nicknames

  Doyle Brunson is also known as Dolly Brunson. Don't think there is some serious reason for it. Once Brunson's name was misread by Jimmy The Greek Snyder as Dolly and after that... it was impossible to forget it. That is how Doyle became Dolly, Texas Dolly.


  Mike Caro - the Mad Genius of Poker. He was a madman and a genius all rolled in one. And that what made him famous.


  Phil Hellmuth.


  Chris "Jesus" Ferguson - just look at his face! Can you think out a better name for him?


  Barry Greenstein - "The Robin Hood of Poker" named so because he donates all his tournaments earnings to charity. A very kind and generous guy. A really nice face of poker.


  Phil Hellmuth - "Poker Brat"... bad boy. But that didn't mean he is a bad player. :) Just a bad boy. If you see him playing you know why "Poker Brat" is his nickname.


  Yevgeny Kafelnikov, one of the best tennis players in the past, and a promising poker player now, has a very aggressive nickname Kalashnikov (that is the name of the Kalashnikov machine-gun inventor). These two Russian names are so complicated that nobody really sees the differences between them.


  Martin de Knijff. They call him The Knife due to his playing style. By the way, his family name sounds like the Sweden word kniv which is translated exactly as knife.


  Howard Lederer is also known as 'Professor'. Just 'Professor'. No comments.


  Marcel 'The Flying Dutchman' Luske comes from Holland. He is a very unusual guy, thats why he has chosen such funny but absolutely unexplainable nickname.


  Chris Moneymaker. Friends call him just Money. An excellent nickname for a guy who has won 2.5 million bucks.


  Men The Master Nguyen began giving poker lessons many years ago. One of his students once called him the young master. Im not young! Nguyen argued. Since then his students began calling him just The Master.


  Julius Oral Popwell was one of the most famous poker players from the first half of the 20th century. He was 5'6" tall and weighted over 300 pounds. Thats why they called him Little Man.


  Amarillo Slim Preston. He spent his childhood in Amarillo, Texas. He is older than 70 now but still is slim like a ballerina. Not a usual situation for a poker player.


  Greg "Fossilman" Raymer. Named so because of the fossils he uses. Nice card protectors! :)


  Kenny Smith, a chess player, whose hobby was poker, used to rise from the table and lift his hat yelling What a player! every time he won the pot. So everybody called him Whatta Player Smith.


  Dave Devilfish Ulliott received his nickname long ago when he was playing against a Chinese guy. You are a devilfish, arent you? he said after losing a big pot to Ulliott. 15 years after Daves friend recalled this event while Ulliott was playing against Men The Master Nguyen at the Horseshoe casino. On The Devilfish! he cried. David was a winner that evening. Devilfish devours The Master, read the headlines the next day.


  Stu "the Kid" Ungar. He looked so young, like a kid, that nobody could believe that he was over 18. Sometimes he even couldn't buy himself a Rum and coke. And it's a true story!