The National Hockey League has Lord Stanley’s Cup.

The National Football League has the Lombardi Trophy.

The point of the two preceding statements is that there is always one thing that the players in the respective sports all shed their blood, sweat and tears for. Poker has a crowning achievement that has been awarded to a select few. But, in recent history, the luster of a World Series bracelet has been dulled down a bit. Now, the way most people accredit a pro player’s resume is to see how many bracelets that player gets. Is this the real way of measuring success? Or do we need to look to other ways of validating the success of a player?

Yes, making it through a large field of poker players is not an easy task. Yes, the World Series of Poker is just that...The World Series. That is the easy part of the equation. The hard part is distinguishing between the different bracelets that each person holds. Someone needs to make the distinction clearer in order to see the truth behind the hardware.

Doyle Brunson is our first guinea pig in the search for truth. Doyle was playing in the WSOP in its infancy, back when the field was small enough to play at one or two tables. His first bracelet came in 1976 in the Main Event. Since then, he's managed to win nine more in a variety of games such as Seven Card Stud, Razz, Deuce to Seven Stud and H.O.R.S.E. This must mean he's proficient in all poker games. The only drawback to his bracelets would be the small size of the field.

Johnny Chan attained his first bracelet in 1986 by winning a Limit Hold'Em event. Chan went on to win back-to-back Main Events in 1987 and 1988, two Seven Stud tournaments, three Omaha tournaments, and two more Hold'Em tournaments. His positive would be the amount of time it took to accrue them (10 years, less time than Doyle), but his negative would be the same as Doyle's, in that the fields were microscopic in comparison to today's events.

Phil Hellmuth is a different story in one big way. Phil has managed to win 11 bracelets in the past 18 years, which is faster than the other two players. He hasn't been able to muster up back-to-back Main Event wins like Johnny, but he has won more money than both Doyle and Johnny. The fundamental flaw with Phil would have to be that he's won all of his bracelets in Hold'Em, no Seven Stud, no Omaha -- just Hold'Em.

All this being said, when we do look at the true measure of poker greatness, we might need to stray away form the bracelet race and look to find the player who can do it all: Win in big fields, while at the same time being proficient at different types of games. The true measure of the greatest poker player, in my eyes, would have nothing to do with a trophy or jewelry.

Another big factor that has to be brought to the forefront is that we are only speaking of the WSOP. What is to be said of the World Poker Tour? European Poker Tour? Even Cash Games could conceivably come into play. The point is still the same. Who comes out on top with the most “street cred”.

We know that the WPT has their own points system to determine who are the best players for that year. We also hear about the player of the year points given out by other media outlets. We even have a player of the year system here at Rounder. Of the three players I’ve mentioned, not one of those players have received the top honors from the player of the year races. Doyle is the only one of these to win a WPT event, even though Phil has made numerous final tables.

Let’s also throw in the fact that some of the greatest players of our time have yet to get any hardware from the WSOP. Gus Hanson has yet to get his gold as well as Erick Lindgren has yet to get the bracelet. The list could go on for quite a long time.

If you are like me, then your head is spinning just thinking about the massive amount of number crunching you’d have to go through just to figure out which player is deserving of the moniker “legend”. Hopefully, this will open your eyes to the fact that winning a WSOP bracelet may not mean that that person is the best player. Winning your fourth, fifth, etc. would be a great measure of greatness. But, the overall best player may never be known.

If you have any questions or comments for Brian, you can reach him at brian@roundermagazine.com.