Player of the Year

Three Major Events Shake Up Player of the Year Standings

Three major events have taken place recently to completely change the Card Player 2009 Player of the Year [POY] standings. Poorya Nazari still leads the way with 3,000 points, but there are now many challengers closing in behind him. The first large prize during the last few weeks was awarded in the $10,000 buy-in Spring Championship of Online Poker main event on PokerStars. The event attracted 501 players, and Jude Ainsworth from Galway, Ireland, walked away with the top prize of $963,338. He was awarded 2,400 POY points, as well, and now has 2,840 for the year to take the second spot on the leader board. He has made two other final-table appearances in 2009. He finished in third place at the Euro Finals of Poker in January, for $40,931 in prize money and 336 points. His first final-table appearance came just three days into the new year, when he finished sixth in the PartyPoker Irish Poker Championship to take home $5,616 and 104 points.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour recently made its second stop in San Remo, Italy. The inaugural stop hosted an impressive 701 players, and this year the field swelled to 1,178. This pumped up the prize pool to €5,713,000, with a top prize of €1,508,000. Constant Rijkenberg from the Netherlands won the tournament, and also took home the 2,400 points that came with the title and his first major-tournament cash. Rijkenberg now sits in sixth place on the leader board. Kalle Niemi from Finland finished runner-up in San Remo, which was good for €862,000 and 2,000 points. This puts him in a four-way tie for 14th place.

The World Poker Tour Championship took place at Bellagio in mid-April to cap off a busy stretch of action. The number of players for this event fell from 545 in 2008 to 338. The $25,000 buy-in kept the prize pool healthy, however, at $8,196,500, with $2,149,960 going to the winner. The field was one of the most talented of the year, as many top professionals were gunning for one of the top titles in poker. Check out Page 56 for a full recap of the event. Young tournament professional Yevgeniy Timoshenko sat down at the final table with the chip lead, and led from wire to wire there to take home the title of WPT champion for season seven. In addition to the first-place prize money, he won 2,448 points to jump into fifth place in the POY standings. Ran Azor finished second, for $1,446,265 and 2,040 points, which puts him in 12th place on the leader board.

Bertrand Grospellier finished third in the WPT Championship to take home $776,245 and 1,632 points. This was the sixth cash of the year for “ElkY,” who has been one of the hottest players in poker this year. He currently resides in 10th place in the standings with 2,102 points. He also had picked up points by making the final four at the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship in March. He banked $125,000 for finishing in a tie for third in the field of 64 players, and tallied 210 points. He added another 260 points by finishing in second place in a $500 no-limit hold’em preliminary event at the Wynn Classic a few weeks later. He won $25,414 for that performance. Grospellier now has close to $6 million in career tournament winnings at the age of 28.

Look Out: Justin Young

Justin Young either held the chip lead or was among the chip leaders for the majority of the 2009 World Poker Tour Championship at Bellagio. He eventually busted out in eighth place, cashing for $163,420. He made the final table of the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic this past December, where he finished in second place and took home $936,760 in prize money for his first major score. This young tournament pro has been cashing consistently since 2004.
Young hails from Moorhead, North Carolina, and before becoming a poker pro, he was a mechanical engineer for the U.S. military. He said that he began as more of a cash-game player, but is committed to playing in more tournaments moving forward.

He also has found success online, playing under the name of “robert07” on PokerStars and Full Tilt. He has booked $193,290 in Card Player Online Player of the Year winnings. He has been particularly effective in the daily $100 no-limit hold’em rebuy events on PokerStars. He has cashed in the event 14 times, winning tens of thousands of dollars.

He has won three live tournaments in the course of his career — in The Venetian’s Deep-Stack Extravaganza, Bellagio’s Festa al Lago, and Bellagio’s weekly tournaments. He also has made an impressive 22 final tables. He now has accumulated $1,763,322 in career winnings in five years. His best year came in 2008, when he finished in 18th place in the Card Player Player of the Year race.

Young has shown that he has the consistency that it takes to become a proven winner. He possesses a calm table demeanor that shows maturity beyond his years, and he should be a force on the tournament trail for years to come.