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Every year the poker community eagerly awaits the release of the Bluff Magazine Power 20, a list of the poker industry's most influential individuals.
The Power 20, which has been a yearly feature for the Atlanta- based magazine went through a little makeover this year. In the past, the list included both individuals and companies, while this year it intended to only highlight the industries top individuals. This proved impossible and Bluff said "given the murky legality involved in owning an online poker site, the top two names on the “2010 Power 20” both asked to have their names removed from this list and Bluff accommodated that request."
Topping this list this year were PokerStars coming in at number one, Full Tilt at number two, and Mitch Garber, the CEO of Harah's Interactive, who is rumored to be the main man at the World Series of Poker now since Jeffrey Pollack resigned. As for players on the list, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Mike Sexton were all on.
Some surprises were the addition of 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada at ten, and CardPlayer CEO Barry Shulman at 19, because of the two magazines' bitter rivalry. Also the omission of Phil Hellmuth, the World Poker Tour's Steve Lipscomb, and a few of the driving forces behind the PokerStars land based tours like John Duthie and Jeffrey Haas have raised some eyebrows.
The complete list is as follows, and can be found in the February issue of Bluff.
1. PokerStars 2. Full Tilt Poker 3. Mitch Garber 4. Howard Lederer 5. Ty Stewart 6. Doyle Brunson 7. Barney Frank 8. Daniel Negreanu 9. Tony G 10. Joe Cada 11. Phil Ivey 12. John Pappas 13. Mike Sexton 14. Mori Eskandani 15. Brian Balsbaugh 16. Lance Bradley 17. Joe Sebok 18. Barry Shulman 19. Matt Savage 20. Per Hagen
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