There was a surprising name at number two on the list. Not that surprising if you’ve been reading this blog for some time as we profiled him here and here.The kid told ESPN’s Andrew Feldman that 3rd place in the rankings was his ceiling–apparently not. Who is he? Jason Mercier.

Evaulating a poker player’s ability to the point that you can rank them is a hard thing to do. How do you quantify it? Career earnings? Not likely as cash players struggle to put a number on those wins not only with their wife and the IRS but with their peers. Tournament players have huge numbers but nobody subtracts their buy-ins and it’s obvious a guy like Jaime Gold isn’t as good a player as Phil Ivey despite at one time out earning him. What about success in different variations of the game like Stud, Omaha, or Razz? So much more money in Texas Hold’em.

The media voting is not a bad idea. They probably see great players who run bad just as well as great players who run well. Of late Tom Dwan is running well but as recently as last year him running bad almost had him falling off the list. Dwan rose up form an 8th place ranking to a third place ranking. So who’s first? Not so, fast dear reader. We’ll get to him or her.

In fourth place is Daniel Negreanu, who more than anybody is probably living off his TV time. ESPN cites his 66th in the Los Angles Poker Classic and a 32k from the Premier League tournament. That doesn’t make you the fourth best player in the world. Negreanu may have the keenest poker mind facilitated by banter of any player in the world. That translate great to TV but results are the most important thing.

In fifth place Patrik Antonius. Again, a guy who has been running bad, but his credentials perhaps merit inclusion. Maybe even more so than Daniel, Patrick is a bit of a surprise. He’s been losing big amounts online and even if it’s his dose of bad luck, after running so good previously, this is a shocker. When you consider Dwan’s rise and fall on the list you have to wonder why Antonius is immune. Maybe they have sympathy for a guy getting crushed by Dwan in the Durrrr Challenge. Poker is a game of right now, and right now Patrik’s results don’t merit inclusion in the top ten list.

In sixth place, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, who is holding serve. The kid who killed it last year has been spotted making phenomnal play after phenomenal play so perhaps that is worthy of inclusion. He plays poker sometimes at a different level then everybody else and unlike Antonius his dry spell isn’t to the tune of millions of dollars of losses.

In seventh place is Daniel Alaei. This is a guy who could and probably should be ranked higher. He’s been putting up tournament results and maintaining his legacy as a feared cash game (one-time) specialist. Eric Baldwin won a player of the year title and has played well since so him being ranked eigth is no real surprise or controversy.

In ninth place, Cole South represents the antithesis of Patrik Antonius of late. Nobody has run better online and South has been banking over two million since that start of the year. He’s also been around periphery of the Isildur1 scandal implicated in hand sharing and data mining. South seems to have an edge on a lot of his opponents of late. Like Alaei South is probably too low on the totem pool.

Rounding out the top 10 is a guy who has two big cashes at high-roller 25k buy-in events. Scott Seiver has been running hot in 2010 and it’s hard to question his ranking in the top 10 of ‘10. Of the names that were mentioned as close but not close enough you got to figure the tournament success of Dwyte Pilgrim for better than two years now is more deserving of higher recognition. Pilgrim is truly and up and comer. Perhaps, he’s due for a profile, like the guy in second place.

First place on the list? If you don’t know, we’ll state the obvious. Phil Ivey. Nothing needs to be said about that guy or his ranking.