2016 Card Player Player of the Year -- Fedor Holz Retakes The Lead

The 2016 World Series of Poker is in it’s home stretch, with only a few more days until the November Nine is set in the main event. The final few events at the WSOP leading into the big dance were some heavy hitters that made a huge impact on the 2016 Card Player Player of the Year race standings. Here is a look back at the events that most shaped the leaderboard this week.

2016 WSOP $111,111 One Drop High Roller

How does one judge who the Player of the Year should be? The most final tables made? The most titles?

As of right now 22-year-old German poker pro Fedor Holz leads in each and every one of those categories. Holz most recently defeated a field of 183 players to win the 2016 WSOP $111,111 buy-in One Drop High Roller, capturing his first gold bracelet, the $4,981,775 first-place prize and 1,680 POY points.

This was Holz 13th final table of the year, the most of any player so far this year. Bryn Kenney is not far behind that stat, though, with 12 final tables to his name. Of those 13
final table showings Holz has emerged victorious five times for two more titles than any other player on the live tournament circuit in 2016.

And with $14,517,350 in year-to-date earnings Holz has more than $8.5 million more in live tournament cashes than the next highest earner Rainer Kempe, who defeated Holz heads-up to win the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl earlier this summer.

As a result of his dominance in each of the key metrics of poker tournament performance Holz has retaken the outright lead in the 2016 Player of the Year race with 5,738 total points. His next nearest competitor, Justin Bonomo, is over 1,200 points behind.

Holz defeated Dan Smith heads-up for the win. Smith was fresh off a third-place finish in the WSOP $25,000 pot-limit Omaha high roller for $487,361 and 784 points. After busting that event he just barely was able to late-register for this tournament at the last possible minute. He added another $3,078,974 and 1,400 points for this runner-up showing.

With two titles, five final tables and $4,137,205 in year-to-date earnings Smith has climbed to sixth place in the overall POY standings with 3,279 points.

2016 WSOP $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em

While most players near the top of the POY leaderboard achieve their ranking through volume, Tony Dunst has found his way into the top five via another approach: make fewer final tables, but when you do run deep make sure to do it in a huge-field event and finish in the top six.

Dunst most recently took down a WSOP $1,000 no-limit hold’em event, outlasting a field of 2,452 players to win his first bracelet, the $339,254 top prize and 1,080 points.

This was only Dunst’s third final table of the year. He started 2016 off with a runner-up showing in the $10,000 AUD Aussie Millions main event, cashing for $700,000 and earning 1,900 points. He also placed sixth in the WPT Canadian Spring Championship for another $42,479 and 360 points.

As a result of these scores Dunst has joined the top five in the POY standings with 3,340 points and $1,081,733 in earnings so far this year.

2016 WSOP $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em

A total of 863 players turned out for the final $5,000 no-limit hold’em event of the 2016 WSOP to build a $4,056,100 prize pool.

In the end Yue Du came out on top, taking home his first bracelet, the $800,586 first-place prize and 1,824 points.

Dominik Nitsche finished fourth for $248,640 and 912 points. This was the two-time bracelet winner’s eighth final table finish of the year.

Nitsche’s one title so far in 2016 came when he took down a €2,200 no-limit hold’em preliminary event at the European Poker Tour Dublin festival. He won $173,338 and 720 points in that event after outlasting the 416-entry field.

Nitsche now sits in 15th place on the POY leaderboard as a result of this latest score, with 2,893 points and $1,288,735 in earnings so far this year.

Here is a look at the current top 20 in the POY standings:

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