who is the best NL hold'em player?

[McCutter]

Phil Hellmuth wins big on High Stakes Poker this year. He is a lifetime winner in The Big Game (few people are). He won the NBC Heads Up Championship against a field of strong players. He is not a "negative expectation player" against any field.
With two tables to go in the WSOP event he won this year, Hellmuth started raising almost every pot and his chip count multiplied. If you watch the final table of the event he won this year (you can download it on a few online sites), you will see that he destroyed everyone at the table and totally controlled the game. His win was never in doubt and he was never "negative expectation."