Dan Colman Calls Ryan Riess Out On "Best Player" Comment

The one thing that seems to get Dan Colman’s goat more than anything is when a player claims to be the best in the world and then shamelessly goes about bringing the message to as wide an audience as possible. In tournament poker, for instance, no one is more renowned than Phil Hellmuth for making a show and dance about the amount of WSOP bracelets he has won, and this month Colman let Hellmuth know in no uncertain terms what he thought of his antics.  To be fair, after he labelled Hellmuth as “truly pathetic”, “spineless”, and “a cancer to this world,” the 2014 WSOP Big One for One Drop winner did backtrack somewhat and admitted to being “too harsh” on Hellmuth, who “didn’t deserve that hateful of a message.”
At the same time, Dan Colman underplayed his own incredible achievements in a year in which he has won an unbelievable $22,389,481, accounting for all but $504,699 of his total tournament winnings since 2008. According to Colman he has simply “godmoded a few live tournaments,” which might explain why he has since turned his attention to 2013 WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Reiss (photo), who famously announced after winning the $8,361,570 top prize that he was now the “best player in the world.”
After Colman originally attacked Hellmuth, Riess subsequently offered his support to Hellmuth, and in a dig at Riess, Colman has now called out the former champ on his behaviour, writing:
“Look to the new main event champ, Martin Jacobson, unlike the last champ, he doesn’t have to go around saying he’s the best in the world after winning. He plays phenomenal poker and carries himself exceptionally well, so his peers are happy to do the talking for him.”
Following his WSOP victory, Ryan Riess naturally drew some criticism for his immodest comment about being the “best player”, but one player that didn’t seem the least offended at the time was Jason Mercier, who wrote:
“It’s about time someone wins the main event and not only claims to be the best, but actually may think it. Confidence is everything guys! That being said, claiming to be the “best in the world” after winning one tournament- ya, obviously not true.. Don’t be so short-sighted and offended by one kid “disrespecting” the game. I see positive in that his confidence will help grow poker!”
For his part, Ryan Riess seems to have quieted down his own claims to be the world’s number one, but then again Riess admitted recently that while 2014 has been “fun”, one thing it hasn’t been is profitable. This year, for instance, Riess has managed seven tournament cashes for just $57,900.