In the world of poker, there is only one scoreboard that matters – how much money have you won? With this fact in mind (and before the start of the 2025 World Series of Poker), Poker News Daily has headed over to The Hendon Mob poker database with a critical question: Who are the all-time money leaders by state? We put up Part One of this series last week, so let’s keep it going with the state of Colorado (and continue alphabetically afterward).
Colorado
This is a tricky one because several qualified players from Colorado have performed well in tournament poker. Chance Kornuth has nearly $20 million in career earnings – but he is not the one who sits at the top of the heap. The player who has the #1 spot in Colorado’s rankings is a player who has basically disavowed his past for a comfortable life far from the Rocky Mountains.
The #1 player on the all-time money earners list for Colorado is…Steve O’Dwyer, who has taken to living in his ancestral home in Dublin, Ireland. O’Dwyer, however, was born in Colorado Springs, which means that his career achievements count towards their history. Here are the top three players in Colorado poker history (at least by money earned in tournament poker):
1. Steve O’Dwyer (Colorado Springs, CO), $46,416,053
2. Chance Kornuth (Denver, CO), $19,914,534
3. Pratyush Buddiga (Colorado Springs, CO), $6,456,300
Connecticut
From the tenth through second place positions, the battle for supremacy among Connecticut poker players is quite close. Only $700,000 (or thereabouts) separates tenth-place Gregory Jensen from the player in second place, Ryan Eriquezzo. They have their work cut out for them if they are going to make any run at the top of the rock.
Vastly outpacing the rest of the field in Connecticut is Stephen Song, who has used a mixture of “normal” tournament action and “High Roller” play to reach over nine million in career earnings. You can add together the second through fifth place players and they barely have more earnings (slightly more than $9.4 million) than Song has compiled. Here are the top three players in Connecticut poker history (at least by money earned in tournament poker):
1. Stephen Song (Greenwich, CT), $9,191,112
2. Ryan Eriquezzo (New Haven, CT), $2,550,318
3. David Stefanski (Waterford, CT), $2,372,526
Delaware
The state might not even have a million in population, but there are some familiar names at the top of their all-time money earners list. Taking the top slot is Isaac Kempton, with nearly six million in career earnings built through the “High Roller” circuit. The man in second place is an “old school” player who rarely ventures from his home turf just north of the First State.
Of Abraham Korotki’s ninety official career finishes, 82 of them have happened in Atlantic City poker rooms, just a short jaunt from his home in Bethany Beach. If Korotki is to catch Kempton, however, he is going to need some bigger scores…here are the top three players in Delaware poker history (at least by money earned in tournament poker):
1. Isaac Kempton (Newark, DE), $5,597,759
2. Abraham Korotki (Bethany Beach, DE), $1,935,774
3. Edgardo Rosario Figueroa ($725,432)
District of Columbia
Never say that The Hendon Mob isn’t anything but thorough! 409 players from DC have made the list, and they are all looking up at one man, Jim Collopy. What is interesting about Collopy’s numbers is just how many “High Roller” events make up his poker resume, especially in the last couple of years. Since the start of 2024, Collopy has 35 cashes in PokerGO Tour (PGT) events; while that might seem like an enormous number, compare that to the more than SIXTY finishes outside of PGT competition Collopy has earned – it is obvious this man will play ANYWHERE.
The other players who make up the DC list are noteworthy in that they are multi-millionaires from playing poker, but it is tough to see them catching Collopy. Here are the top three players in the District of Columbia poker history (at least by money earned in tournament poker):
1. Jim Collopy (Washington, DC), $11,616,156
2. Carlos Chadha Villamarin (Washington, DC), $3,219,342
3. Steve Silverman (Washington, DC), $3,211,075
Florida
As one of the country’s largest states, you might think the battle for the top slot in Florida is a contentious one. Surprisingly, it isn’t a close race, as Sean Winter has put himself on the top rung of the Florida ladder (and in the Top 25 in OVERALL poker history). Winter is a player who has benefitted primarily from the PGT and other “High Roller” events, racking up over $34 million in career earnings.
There are plenty of players behind Winter, however, who could mount a charge. The six players atop the standings all have eight figures in career earnings, and two more are bubbling under the $10 million mark. Depending on the action over the next few years, this is a top three that could change massively. Here are the top three players in Florida poker history (at least by money earned in tournament poker):
1. Sean Winter (Jacksonville, FL), $34,998,068
2. Sam Soverel (West Palm Beach, FL), $24,658,800
3. Jason Mercier (Port Charlotte, FL), $21,282,538
Only forty states to go (OK…forty one)! We will continue to examine the top all-time money earners in poker history by state in Part Three in a couple of days, starting with Georgia…who do you think will be there?
