Player of the Year

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Sets the Stage for 2009 Player of the Year Race
By Ryan Lucchesi

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) recently staged three events that have set the early standings in the Card Player 2009 Player of the Year (POY) race. First and foremost, the $10,000 European Poker Tour main event broke multiple records and accounted for the top four players on the leader board. Canadian Poorya Nazari won 3,000 points to go along with the $3 million he added to his bankroll by outlasting 1,346 other players in the main event, and he should enjoy the top spot on the leader board for a few months. Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier was awarded 2,400 points for winning the 2008 PCA. This year's 3,000 points will make the PCA one of the most important POY events of the year. American Anthony Gregg holds 2,500 points for his runner-up finish in the main event, third-place finisher Benny Spindler from Germany has 2,000 points, and Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes was awarded 1,500 points for finishing in fourth place in the largest poker tournament ever hosted outside of the United States.

Fifth place in the POY standings is where things get interesting. While the $10,000 main event was the big attraction in the Bahamas, side events were very popular, as well. The $5,000 no-limit hold'em event attracted 273 players, and one of them happened to be 2008 World Champion Peter Eastgate, who also happened to win the event to take home $343,000. Eastgate also received 1,296 POY points, and he currently claims fifth place in the standings. He finished in eighth place in the 2008 race, and is already in the running for another strong performance in 2009. Florian Langmann finished runner-up to Eastgate and was awarded 1,080 points, which puts him in seventh place. Another notable player in the top 10 is Team PokerStars Pro Hevad "Rain" Khan, who won the $2,000 no-limit hold'em event to take home 960 points and $200,000, which currently puts him in a tie for ninth place.

The POY stage has been set, and the yearlong race is now well under way.



Team Germany Wins World Cup of Poker

Adding to the festival atmosphere at the Atlantis Resort was the final table of the fifth World Cup of Poker. After weeks of play online, nine finalist countries brought teams of four players to the final table to battle for a $100,000 first-place prize and international pride.

In the end, it was the German team that won the final-table competition. "I am very proud of my teammates and fellow countrymen. This further proves that Germany is a true force to be reckoned with in the poker world," said Jan Heitmann, the German captain.

World Cup of Poker V Results:

1. Germany $100,000 Jan Heitmann (Captain)
2. New Zealand $70,000 Lee Nelson (Captain)
3. Italy $50,000 Luca Pagano (Captain)
4. USA $30,000 Greg Raymer (Captain)
5. Great Britain $10,000 Vicky Coren (Captain)
6. Poland $10,000 Marcin Horecki (Captain)
7. Latvia $5,000 Krisjanis Jurdzs (Captain)
8. Mexico $5,000 J.C. Alvarado (Captain)
9. Canada $5,000 Daniel Negreanu (Captain)

2009 POY Scoring Changes

Two changes in scoring criteria have been implemented for the 2009 POY race. Due to the international growth of the game, all international events with buy-ins of at least $1,000 will be POY events if they meet regular POY qualification criteria. The second change has to do with the point multiplier for the number of entrants in an event. Fields that attract 2,000-plus entrants will have a maximum multiplier of 6 to combine with the numbers for the size of the buy-in and the place in which a player finishes in the tournament to determine the number of POY points he will receive. This will affect mainly the World Series of Poker main event, meaning that a player won't be able to win a POY title based solely on winning that championship. You can check out CardPlayer.com for a full breakdown of the scoring system.

Major Upcoming POY Events

Following a flurry of events in January after the PCA, all eyes will turn to the L.A. Poker Classic (LAPC) at Commerce Casino in Southern California. New Tournament Director Matt Savage has added a $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. championship event, a $10,000 heads-up no-limit hold'em championship event, and a $5,000 pot-limit Omaha event (with one rebuy) to the popular tournament series, which also features the World Poker Tour $10,000 championship event. Many professionals are expected to be in those fields, and CardPlayer.com will be providing live coverage from each and every one of those events.

Here is a breakdown of what lies ahead in February:

LAPC $5,000 pot-limit Omaha (with one rebuy) Feb. 15
LAPC $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Feb. 16-18
EPT Scandinavian Open main event Feb. 17-21
LAPC $10,000 heads-up championship Feb. 18-20
LAPC WPT $10,000 championship event Feb. 21-26

Look Out: Ben Fineman

In his very short career, tournament pro and consummate grinder Ben Fineman has established himself as one of the best all-around pros on the circuit. With strength in versatility, Fineman became one of the very few to make the top 100 in Card Player's 2008 Player of the Year and Online Player of the Year races. His four final tables contributed to an 89th-place finish in live play, and his million-dollar year resulted in a 30th-place finish online.

Fineman's start in poker was stimulated by an unlikely score at a time when poker was just his hobby. "Right before I graduated from college, I had been going to Foxwoods pretty regularly just to play the $1-$2, with a $100 cap, no-limit game," said Fineman. "It honestly was just for fun. I just really loved to play. But then I finished second in one of the weekly tournaments for about $10,000. I got it in my head that I might actually be pretty decent at this game. In retrospect, I really had no idea what I was doing. I just got lucky. Nonetheless, I started to figure things out and studied a ton, and after college, I moved to Las Vegas to try it out for a while."

Fineman takes pride in his ability to succeed both live and online, and talked about the importance of being flexible. "It just depends on what your venue is. If you are a high-stakes cash-game player, you don't care if you can beat the tough rebuy events on PokerStars or Full Tilt. But if you are versatile, you can jump in there when the live events are slow and the cash games aren't running. Being able to do both really increases your equity and allows you to pick and choose when there is more than one option available."

Making a name for yourself in the poker world is not only tough to do, but can sometimes be counterproductive. "It's kind of vain, but it's always nice to get some recognition at the table. There are some times when you don't mind if someone respects your game and gets a little intimidated. But in general, you probably want to stay anonymous at the table. There are pros and cons for both sides, but obviously if you are getting recognized, you must be doing something right, so that can't be too bad in the long run."

If he continues to climb the ladder of success at the same pace, it will be hard for him to maintain a low profile. The regulars already respect and fear his game, but it's only a matter of time before the rest of the poker world finds out just how good Ben Fineman really is.

What's My Line?
Anthony Gregg, 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Runner-Up, Reflects on a Key Pot of the Tournament
By Julio Rodriquez

With just three tables left in the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, a battle of the blinds went down that left some observers scratching their heads and others applauding a gutsy call at a crucial time in the tournament.

The 2008 runner-up, Hafiz Khan, was making another improbable run at the title and was threatening to take control of his table with a series of raises and reraises. It took a confrontation with fellow American Anthony Gregg to stop Khan and end his quest for back-to-back final tables. Coincidentally, Gregg also went on to finish runner-up, losing heads up to Canadian Poorya Nazari.
The 22-year-old Gregg spoke to Card Player about the hand, and went into detail about the thought process that led to an astounding call.

Blinds/Ante	12,000-24,000/2,000
Player	Anthony Gregg	Hafiz Khan
Chip Count	1,184,000	909,000
Hand	K 10	5 3

The Hand

Everyone folded around to Hafiz Khan in the small blind, and he raised to 62,000. Anthony Gregg called from the big blind, and the flop came K J 4.

Khan bet 85,000 and Gregg called. The turn was the Q, and Khan bet 180,000. Gregg made the call, and the river was the 6.
Khan moved all in for 580,000, and after some time in the tank, Gregg called, showing down the K 10. Khan could produce only the 5 3, for complete air, and was eliminated in 21st place.


Julio Rodriguez: In a blind-versus-blind situation deep in a tournament, do you normally opt to take the pot preflop or see what you can do with your position in the hand?

Anthony Gregg: Well, with K-10, I'm not really looking to get it in preflop. So, even though I'm probably way ahead of an aggressive player's range, I don't really feel I need to three-bet. My hand flops so well to a top pair type of hand, and I'm in position, so I had no problem seeing a flop there.

JR: Did you consider raising the flop, since you hit your hand?

AG: I considered it, but if I raise the flop and he decides to jam, I'm not going to be too happy about my situation, having to play that big a pot with a marginal hand.

JR: What about on the turn?

AG: On the turn, I considered shoving, but I didn't think I could get called by any hands worse than mine. I figured the best way to get value was to just call.

JR: What ultimately led you to call on the river?

AG: On the flop and turn, he bet about half the pot. But on the river, he just shoved for a full pot-sized bet. It just seemed like too convenient a line for him to have a sick hand in that spot.

JR: What kind of hand did you put him on?

AG: I thought he could have a hand like J-10 or a missed spade draw. I considered backdoor clubs as a possibility, but he wouldn't have shoved with that; he would have made a smaller bet that would get called.

JR: Do you think it would have been better for him to bet a smaller amount on the river?

AG: It's an odd situation, because his overshove seemed weaker than if he had bet 250,000 or 300,000 on the end. But then again, I probably would've called those bets, as well. So, even though it seemed weak, his shove was actually his best chance to get me to fold. Since neither option would've worked, he should have just shut down his bluff and salvaged part of his stack.