"The Nuts" is a monthly feature that takes a look at the best poker players in the world. This feature aims to produce a list of the best players of the moment. Our panel includes ESPN.com's trio of poker contributors (myself, Gary Wise and Bernard Lee), ESPNDeportes.com poker editor Nahuel Ponce, Bluff magazine editor-in-chief Lance Bradley and senior writer Jessica Welman, PokerNews editor-in-chief Matthew Parvis and tournament reporter Don Peters, and Poker Road's Court Harrington.

The 2010 World Series of Poker was simply amazing. The nonstop action for nearly seven weeks created a buzz in the industry regarding the success of familiar faces and the crowning of new superstars. With only the final table of the 2010 WSOP main event remaining, the panel had a chance to reflect on all the action in Las Vegas. It's been nearly two months since our last rankings, and now that we've had a chance to digest what took place at the felt, we're finally back to analyze the best poker players in the world.

As I'm sure you've already guessed, the top spot in the rankings is locked up by Phil Ivey. Just when many of us were starting to wonder how long it would be before Jason Mercier overtook him for the top spot, Ivey won his eighth bracelet midway through the Series, which should basically end that debate. If another bracelet victory wasn't impressive enough, Ivey would bust out from the main event and head over to the Bellagio for the World Poker Tour stop and finish third. Ivey's two-month tally includes five cashes for more than $700,000.

Many of the players in this month's rankings are the same ones from the last edition in June, but the placements of those individuals are different. The panel, which ranked Michael Mizrachi No. 10 after his $50,000 Players' Championship victory, reacted to the rest of his Series by giving him the second spot. Not only is Mizrachi No. 2, but he holds that spot quite comfortably with a significant gap between him and Tom Dwan.

Two players fell off the list this month: Daniel Negreanu and Scott Seiver. Negreanu pulled in four cashes during the WSOP, including a 11th-place finish in the $25,000 six-handed event. He also had an amazing month online, but he finally fell out of the rankings. Seiver's WSOP wasn't a bad one at all with four top-20 finishes (one final table), but he still found his way to the rankings bubble.

Daniel Alaei's respect this month is much deserved after he won his third bracelet. He now has an amazing stat: Each of his past six live tournament cashes were for at least six figures. Many readers and responders called John Juanda the most glaring omission from this list in the past few months. We pretty much agreed, and now Juanda occupies the seventh spot in the rankings. The final new member of the list is Alexander Kostritsyn who has finally, and fully, become a superstar after his performance this Series.

The next month will include some major tour stops around the world. With those results, along with the daily cash games online, these rankings will continue to evolve. Here's a look at August's top 10 and, of course, feel free to leave your feedback and reactions in the comments section below.

"The Nuts": Poker's best in August 2010

PLAYER (NO. 1 VOTES)		RANK (LAST)	RECENT SUCCESS	COMMENT
	Phil Ivey (9)	1 (1)	Ivey won his eighth bracelet in the $3,000 HORSE event for $329,840 and took third in the Bellagio Cup VI for $363,650.	Another year, another bracelet for Mr. Ivey. Not like he needed the win to hold on to the top spot, though. (Welman)
	Michael Mizrachi	2 (10)	Won the $50,000 Players' Championship and made the final table in the 2010 WSOP main event.	Four final tables during the WSOP (all in events of $10,000 or more), including a win in the $50,000 Players' Championship and also a ticket into the November Nine. Another win, especially in the WSOP main event, and he will begin challenging Ivey for his No. 1 ranking. (Lee)
	Tom Dwan	3 (3)	Just another month online for Dwan who pocketed over half a million in July on the virtual felt.	He didn't win those bracelet bets (yet), but he's still the name on everyone's lips when they're not trying to pronounce "Mizrachi." (Wise)
	Jason Mercier	4 (2)	Five WSOP cashes, including a 463rd-place finish in the main event for $27,519.	It may not have been the summer Mercier was hoping for, but he's still one of the best players in the game. (Peters)
	Daniel Alaei	5 (9)	Won $780,599 and his third bracelet in the pot-limit Omaha world championship at the WSOP.	He may have had only two cashes during the 2010 WSOP, but when the two are seventh in the $50,000 and a bracelet win in a $10,000 event, Alaei cannot be disappointed. (Feldman)
	Eric Baldwin	6 (4)	59th in the WSOP main event for $138,285.	Four cashes at the WSOP kept Baldwin's name on this list. He's had an amazing 18 months, and had he faltered on poker's biggest stage, he would have seen his stock fall off here completely. Don't believe me? Ask Faraz Jaka. (Bradley)
	John Juanda	7 (NR)	Five WSOP cashes that included four final tables (4th, 5th, 4th, 3rd).	His spot on this list is long overdue. Juanda's unbelievable WSOP didn't yield him a bracelet, but he did remind everyone that he is one of the best all-around players in the game. (Feldman)
	Patrik Antonius	8 (6)	Nearly $500,000 in online earnings over the past 30 days.	Antonius looks to be back in his online form with another upswing last month. He wasn't seen much at the WSOP, but that's because he was at the Bellagio for all the nose-bleed games where he finds the real money is made. (Peters)
	Sorel Mizzi	9 (5)	Three WSOP cashes, including a sixth-place finish in a $1,500 seven-card stud event.	Despite only bagging one final table at the WSOP, Mizzi still leads the BLUFF Player of the Year race by more than 500 points. Mizzi's first half of '10 was so good that Mizrachi winning the main event still wouldn't cost him the POY lead. (Bradley)
	Alexander Kostritsyn	10 (NR)	Three six-figure scores during the 2010 WSOP, including a 52nd-place finish in the main event for $168,556.	The unknown superstar has made more than $1.6 million online and was one cold deck away from being the Day 7 chip leader in the main event. Instead, he fell short in 52nd. (Wise)

On the bubble:

This was a really tough vote for the panel. With so much to take in and consider, a lot of players who had made their mark in Las Vegas failed to make the cut here. Frank Kassela, the 2010 WSOP Player of the Year (which could be a co-POY if Mizrachi wins the main event), is the best example here. He may have won two bracelets and finished third in the $25,000 six-handed event, but the majority of the panel just couldn't vote him into their top 10. … Negreanu's fall was discussed earlier and perhaps his results this summer did warrant another month on the list. … Carlos Mortensen's solid year continued and the panel debated, and concluded, that his sixth-place finish in the $10,000 HORSE world championship wasn't enough to get him back in the rankings. … Other players who fell on the bubble include Dan Kelly (the $25,000 six-handed champion), Justin Smith (five WSOP cashes, second in the Bellagio Cup), Phil Galfond (141st in the main event) and Vladimir Shchemelev. We witnessed the Russian's ability on ESPN during the Players' Championship, and if he continues to make appearances on the circuit, expect to see him in this space very soon.

Final thoughts:

Bradley: Mizrachi's rise to No. 2 on this list comes as a bit of a surprise if only because prior to the WSOP he probably wasn't in the top 250 of any of our voters. He sets the record for quickest ascension, but should he bust out in seventh in November and not record any other deep runs in the coming months, he'll probably break the record for quickest decline as well. It's worth noting who's not on this list.

• Daniel Negreanu's lackluster WSOP finally caught up with him in the voters' eyes, and he's gone for the first time since the rankings began last December.
• Faraz Jaka suffered the fate of every WPT Player of the Year at the WSOP - that is, little success.
• Despite playing "perfect poker," Italian Filippo Candio didn't make this list. I'm relieved that everyone agreed on this one.

Feldman: I have to agree with Lance here and say that Mizrachi taking over the second spot is pretty surprising, but in no way did I not expect him to be on this list after his success this summer. His jump over Mercier and Dwan was the interesting part; if we're talking consistency here, those two have been the epitome over the past year or so. I think it's almost unfair to Antonius that he dropped this month. The rumors at the Rio stated that Antonius was having a great summer in Bobby's Room and that he had no problem skipping all the WSOP events as the games were too juicy to give up. If he was that dedicated to that action, it's hard for me to believe that his earnings weren't higher than many of the top earners on the WSOP felt. I think he deserved a little more credit this month.

Another missing face in my opinion was David Oppenheim, who did his best to earn more recognition in the industry with his third-place finish in the $50,000 Players' Championship. We've all heard about his high-stakes success for years, and I'm not sure what it would take to get him ranked in the coming months besides a major tour victory or a legendary, highly publicized cash game session.