The more it stays the same…or so we’re told through the eons of mankind moving through the cycle of life. That thought kicked in as the current run of poker greats starts its move through the cycle.

Wondering what that cycle is? It’s a bit complex and let’s link this train of thought into the flood of humanity because even though I’m talking poker, it also applies to history and the cycle of what’s currently trending, whether it’s in government, style, war, economy, medicine, social, and all those little catchalls that mankind seems to top out in for a brief moment in time before the next cycle begins.

Obviously this isn’t about the development of humanity and if I lost you with where I’m going, it’s probably because I’m lost with it too. But it started like this — when I first stepped into the world of poker, it was in Missoula, Montana, and there were a few old timers that everyone knew. They were considered to be the ‘greats’ of poker in our area because they had survived the game for so many years and were still there to take a seat tomorrow. They had played in those insane games in the hideout basement poker room in the Oxford, some of them had dealt them and were good at being a ‘snatch artist’ and of course they had tales to tell. Tales that were worth listening to.

As more players started traveling a circuit and time moved on, the field of ‘greats’ changed. I heard of Hans “Tuna” Lunde, Ray Zee (mainly because he was in Montana and killed the games), Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Johnny Moss, Stu Ungar, Puggy Pearson, Bones Berland, Amarillo Slim, and a few of the original roadies that traveled and played poker. They were ‘the bigs’ back in the early days of my poker career as a dealer but I didn’t run into them until I started dealing tournaments in Nevada — Reno, Tahoe, and Las Vegas. Whenever anyone mentioned their names, everyone knew they were talking about poker greats.

My first encounter with Phil Hellmuth was a tournament in Reno, I didn’t deal to him although I was there to deal the tournament but I watched his behavior and attitude about himself and in those days he was a ‘no name’ player…just noisy and conceited. (Years later I find him to be quite entertaining, don’t ask me why, he just is.)

The landscape of poker greats changes as age and the strain of playing and bankroll constraints play a part in who remains on top and is continually in the news.

Back in the day of ‘past greats’ there was no social media, there were no online poker rooms to sponsor a player and take up part of the expense of being a ‘great’ and obviously no clothing lines or gear or memorabilia or opportunities to offering staking deals to the masses, etc. As they drift off into the poker time line, their poker stories and road travels are, IMHO, probably more entertaining and gripping than the trails and trials we find in today’s ‘greats’ — yah, a prop bet is fascinating as hell but imagine playing in a country feed store back room, winning all the cash, and trying to figure a way to get out of town with it in Bumfuck, Kansas back in the 30s or 40s!

Some of the poker greats of old and present day are/were a flash in the pan. They came in, ran over the game briefly, variance evened out, they went busto or took their wins and invested them and simply drifted out of the game. Upon occasion you see one of them drift back in but it’s uncommon for most.

Some of those old timers are still involved and in the mainstream, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan are the first names that pop into my thought, but two of the biggest headliners in today’s games are Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu. Selling his poker database to PokerStars and becoming a pro at PokerStars was huge for Negreanu and his move to the top of ‘poker greats’ was cemented by his ability to play and his ‘good-for-poker’ personality. Phil Ivey? Full Tilt Poker couldn’t have hurt his pocket book much every month when his divorce settlement showed that he made $920,000 a month from Tiltware alone…that isn’t including any other arrangements he had with Full Tilt Poker.

And this isn’t a ragout session on Ivey or Negreanu, they both can play poker. But think of the advantages of having a sponsorship from an online site or a clothing chain or one of those foodie places that help you foot the monthly nut…just think…

So what am I trying to say? The line of ‘poker greats’ are moving on through the poker time line. History is being made as many of the pros keep hitting the top of the charts but at some point in time they will slowly fade away and another will take their place and break all the old records and set new ones…and as the herd of lemmings moves on to the ocean, the next wave will establish itself.

And as I write this, I have to consider myself a poker great, not because of my playing skills, perhaps partly because of my dealing skills and interaction with about half the poker world of known greats, but mainly because of my vast experiences in poker that have hit the pages of Tango and helped record the history of the game and players.

It’s almost difficult to imagine how much easier the life of a ‘great’ is in today’s world in comparison to the lives of the past ‘greats’ of days past. And trying to picture what will be available in the world of poker in the future — and who the ‘greats’ will be then and what will have happened to the present ‘greats’ — makes me think it’s time to end this bit of brain twists that really started from nowhere and ended up nowhere…just talkin’ to myself.