Q1 of 2018 in the tournament world

Some names are no surprise, but there are some you wouldn't have put your money on before the start of the year for sure. It's hard to tell who are the best tournament players in the world.

The total earnings can be highly misleading, even though, a lot of people rely simply on this measurement, when it comes to the world of MTT's. What the poker fans often don't realize however is, how much the top players spend on the buy-ins, how much of their action they sell, not to mention the markups. It's for sure a complicated question, so we don't even try to make a ranking here, but the list of the biggest winners of the year so far can be an interesting topic anyway.

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Here they are:

10. Cary Katz - $1,738,980

Widely regarded as the best non-professional, Cary has amassed almost $14 million in total earnings, grinding the highest buy-in tournaments around the world. As a successful businessman - the owner of Poker Central and PokerGo - Cary still finds the motivation to battle against the best and it apparently pays off very well. Only this year, Cary made six times, he managed to cash in four events at the USPO but his biggest score came from the Bahamas, where he took down the $100K PCA Super High Roller for $1,492,340.

All he does is win

9. Toby Lewis - $1,787,442

Toby "810ofclubs" Lewis is currently having his best year in the live circuit. The champion of the 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event and the runner-up of the 2018 WPT L.A. Poker Classic amassed more than a third of his total earnings ($4,983,725) comes from this year, as his best year before was 2013 when he won $585,749. However, Toby is not a newbie by any means, he's been a successful online grinder for years. We wouldn't be surprised if 2018 would be the breakout year for the WCOOP- and TCOOP-champion.

The champion of Melbourne

8. Isaac Haxton - $2,026,500

Longtime live and even longer time online crusher, Ike Haxton is certainly not a shocking name to see on this list. Haxton's been a stalwart of the high-roller community for several years now, constantly bringing huge scores. However, considering that his best year in the live field was 2014, with the total cashes of $3.7 million, Ike has a good shot to surpass that. His biggest score of the year came from the Super High Roller Bowl China, where finished 8th for $927,515. Will he be able to cross the $20 million line in total earnings? He needs less than $3 million to do so.

7. Dominik Nitsche - $2,184,717

One of the most successful members of the "German crew", Dominik has managed to amass more than $13 million in total cashes, which is certainly a ridiculous number for a 27-year-old. Similarly to Haxton, Nitsche's biggest score of the year also comes from the SHRB China. Dom managed to finish in 4th place for $1,669,527. He also has a six-figure score, which he hit back in February in Rozvadov by taking down the €10,300 High Roller for $374,392.

Dominik in Rozvadov earlier this way

6. David Peters - $2,187,025

The 30-year-old American grinder is a consistent winner in the high-rollers, which puts him to the 15th spot on the All-Time Money List. David has already crossed, the $20 million line in total earnings, but he's apparently looking for more, as he doesn't seem to take a day off ever. Surprisingly, his also reached his biggest payday in Macau, where he finished 7th in the SHRB China for $1,113,018. He was also one of the biggest winners at the 2018 USPO, with more than $600K in total cashes there.

To find out who are the top five winners of 2018, come back tomorrow!