The world’s greatest athletes have all gathered in Paris, France for the Summer Olympics and while poker isn’t an Olympic sport – or maybe even a sport at all – WPT.com couldn’t help but take the opportunity to imagine what it just might look like if some of the world’s best poker players were representing their country in Paris.
In the true Olympic spirit, each country’s “organizing committee” was tasked with filling a five-person roster consisting of a specialist in each of the following:
- No Limit Hold’em Tournament
- Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
- Mixed Game Tournament
- Heads-Up No Limit Tournament
- No Limit Hold’em Cash Game
The five players would also be accompanied by a coach from their country. Each player would compete ONLY in their respective discipline, earning not only individual glory – medals available for each event – but also team points that lead to gold, silver, and bronze medals for the top-performing country.
With that in mind, we’ve put together teams from Canada, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Great Britain, and the United States with insight from some of the top journalists in poker. Today, we present to you the 2024 Canadian Olympic Poker team with insight from esteemed poker writer Paul Seaton.
No Limit Hold’em Tournament
Chris Moorman
In the history of No Limit Hold’em tournaments, you may be hard-pressed to find someone who has played more in their career than Chris Moorman. The former #1-ranked online player in the world and the first person to ever reach more than $10 million in online earnings, Moorman has an insatiable, unwavering grind of NLHE tournaments, making him an MTT legend.
He has just over $9 million in live recorded earnings including a World Poker Tour title in the 2014 Los Angeles Poker Classic for more than $1 million and a World Series of Poker gold bracelet win in the 2017 $3,000 NLHE for just under $500,000. His live resume is littered with massive six- and seven-figure scores, all of which come as an NLHE specialist, and have lifted him to a spot on the UK’s Top-10 All-Time Money List.
“If there is anyone more consistent, more successful, or more focused than Moorman, we can’t see it. If you want more, you go with Moorman. He’s the online tournament crusher and no one has likely played more NLHE tournaments than he has. Plus, he’s added in some serious live clout in recent years and has made a mark as a sponsored pro. He’ll thrive under the pressure,” Paul Seaton.
Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
Stephen Chidwick
As one of the most respected and accomplished poker players in the world, Stephen Chidwick from Deal, England, would be a top choice for any squad no matter the poker variant. The GPI Award Winner for “Toughest Opponent” is third on poker’s All-Time Money list with more than $59 million in earnings, a good chunk of which he’s amassed by crushing PLO tournaments. Case in point, he won his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet in 2019 in the $25,000 PLO High Roller for $1.618 million, the third-highest score of his career.
He also holds Pot Limit Omaha titles from 2019’s PokerGO’s U.S. Poker Open and the British Poker Open as well as finishing in third place in the 2023 $100,000 PLO Super High Roller Bowl for $570,000. While Chidwick is perhaps known more for his NLHE talent, he’s proven that he’s just as good with four cards in his hand as he is with two.
“Chidwick won his first WSOP bracelet playing a $25k PLO event when he admits he didn’t know the game as fully as he does now. So what kind of threat does that make him now? Who would want to sit across from the man with the most fearsome table image in poker with a gold medal on the line?” said Seaton.
No Limit Hold’em Cash Game
Sam Trickett
If Sam Trickett were to take up the cash game cause for the UK, it would be a return to the felt after deciding to spend more time with his family in 2021. But prior to that time, Nottingham’s Trickett was not just known as the runner-up in the inaugural $1 million buy-in Big One For One Drop (for more than $10 million) but a cash game savant who would routinely battle in the biggest livestreamed games in the world. From the nosebleed games in the PokerGO Studio to the partypoker-sponsored Sam Trickett Invitational High Stakes livestreamed cash games, Trickett’s reputation shifted from a tournament crusher to a cash game specialist.
“Tricky may have semi-retired to Ibiza over the past few years but don’t let that fool you. He’s still the master of maximizing his edge in a single cash game pot and plays with a freedom of expression that Simone Biles aspires to!” Seaton said. “Tricky will make things tricky for any opponent.”
Although he’s been out of the spotlight for the past few years, he showed up to Rob Yong’s Friday Night Poker holiday livestreamed cash game at the end of 2023 to prove that he’s still got it.
Mixed Game Tournament
Benny Glaser
“If there’s a better mixed gamer in recent years, I haven’t met them,” said Seaton. “Glaser is a WSOP god and would strike the fear of God into God himself unless the big man upstairs has been brushing up on his Eight Game. Glaser is perhaps the greatest modern mixed game tournament player.”
There doesn’t seem to be a single game in poker that Benny Glaser is not elite at. At 35, Southampton’s Glaser has amassed nearly $8 million in live tournament earnings, including a runner-up finish at the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas for a career-high $2.8 million score. While that was in No Limit Hold’em, Glaser has shown that he equally excels in Mixed Games, where he’s captured all five of his World Series of Poker gold bracelet.
Nine of Glaser’s top ten career scores are in a variant other than NLHE, including final tables in the 2018 and 2021 $50K WSOP Poker Players Championship. He has six-figure scores in Razz, Omaha 8, 2-7 Lowball, PLO, and H.O.R.S.E. He had 11 cashes at the 2024 WSOP, ten of which were in a variant other than NLHE and three final tables. Glaser currently sits 10th on England’s All-Time Money List and should continue to dominate mixed games, not just at the WSOP but wherever they are being offered.
Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em
Darius Samual
Sometimes you just want to ride the hot hand and that’s exactly what Team UK would be doing in the case of Darius Samual. The story goes that Samual essentially got off the plane in Las Vegas this summer for the 2024 World Series of Poker, put up half his bankroll to enter the $25K Heads-Up Championship, and blasted his way through an elite field to capture the bracelet and a career-high score of $500,000.
Samual proved he has the chops to compete with the best taking out James Chen, 2023 WSOP Player of the Year Ian Matakis, Matthew Wantman, John Smith, Artur Martirosian, and Faraz Jaka en route to the win.
“The recent WSOP winner of the $25k HU Championship couldn’t be in better form,” Seaton said. “Sure he has less experience than some but he has no fear! He’s a wild card but I’d be confident he could do some real damage!”
It’s true he doesn’t have a lot of documented experience, with his first Hendon Mob cash recorded in 2023, but he did cash nine times at the World Series of Poker and clearly has a knack for heads-up action.
Coach for Team Great Britain
Barny Boatman
A legend of UK poker and one of the original members of the actual Hendon Mob, Barny Boatman has seen it all and done it all when it comes to the game of poker. The 68-year-old proved that he continues to have what it takes to compete with the best when he bested a field of 1,224 entries in the 2024 EPT Paris Main Event for $1.38 million. But more so, Boatman has plenty of wisdom to share in all the games.
While his biggest scores are in No Limit Hold’em, his career is rife with mixed game scores including one of his two World Series of Poker bracelets coming in PLO. One is unlikely to find anyone in the game of poker with as much experience as Boatman, with nearly $5.5 million in live tournament earnings, his first recorded result dates back to 1998 – and he has recorded results every year since (with the exception of 2020 for reasons outside of his control most likely). A true grinder and ambassador for poker, he’s earned the respect of the entire poker community.
“There’s no one better to lead the way than Barny,” said Seaton. “A PokerStars Team Pro he literally invented the Hendon Mob. Everyone in poker respects Barny Boatman and each and every British player would crawl over broken flush draws for him!”
stats courtesy of The Hendon Mob/GPI