No Joke, huge amounts of people strive to be the next "star" in poker, but here is a short list of four of the more well known "great players" of poker. Granted "nice" is associated with their names when you are sitting accross the table from them it’s "no more Mr. Nice guy" up until they have put you out of the competition!
Daniel Negreanu
In 2004, his competition earnings amounted to more than $4.4 million and he won two immensely admired awards in the World Series of Poker Player of the Year and Cardplayer Magazine’s Competition Player of the Year. In Feb 2006 he was named Card Player’s Preferred Poker Player. He even still has the humility to talk to his fans about how they will be able to boost their own game.
Howard Lederer
Known as "The Professor" and brother of fellow poker professional Annie Duke. His success has allowed him to make an educational poker video called "Secrets of No Limit Hold’em" and co holding a tournament poker show for Fox TV. As of Two Thousand and Five, his total life earnings surpass 2.7 million dollars.
Scotty Nguyen
Scott is one of the busiest players in professional poker and from 2000 to Two Thousand and Four he finished in the money in well over one hundred events. He is notorious for saying "yeah baby" during poker games and also coined the term "that’s poker baby" when alluding to a particularly bad beat. As of Two Thousand and Six, his life time winnings are just about 6 million dollars.
Chris Ferguson
Chris has captured five WSOP titles with 2 of his successes coming in 2003. Has the alias "Jesus" due to his trademark long hair and beard, that, and along with his ability to toss cards fast enough to slice through bananas and pickles. As of 2005 his total live poker tourney winnings exceeded $5 million.