Duh...Johnny Chan. He won back to back
wsop main events and was on track to win the 3rd in a row!!!, when he was derailed by a 24 year old nobody named Phil.
One might also check out Stu Unger and Johnny Moss from poker's past. Two incredibly gifted players from before poker went commercially glitzy and became "legitimate".
In the cash table world its Todd Brunson. The most winning and coolest player at cash games. He certainly doesn't look cool but I believe if you scoped him during the most intense moments of play you'd find his heart rate and BP might actually tick down a smidgeon.
I'll have to paraphrase about when he was asked what was his secret?
He said you can't think of it as
real money. That when you do is when you will make the wrong decisions out of a fear of loss. Brilliant.