Player of the Year

EPT Deauville Adds Contenders, While Pilgrim and Smith Put Together Early Runs
The second PokerStars European Poker Tour event of 2010 took place on the Normandy coast of France in late January. The €5,000 no-limit hold’em event attracted 768 players and created a nice pool of Card Player 2010 Player of the Year (POY) points. The winner of the event was Jake Cody, who took home €847,000 and 1,920 points. He is now in fifth place in the standings. Second place went to Teodor Caraba, who was awarded 1,600 points, which is good for sixth place on the leader board. Mike McDonald took third place (1,280 points), but thanks to his cashes at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
earlier in January, “Timex” is now in third place in the standings with a total of 2,240 points.

Dwyte Pilgrim has started 2010 on a hot streak, and his steady performance so far places him in the top 10. Pilgrim won a $500 no-limit hold’em preliminary event (480 points) at the Southern Poker Championship, and then captured his second win of the year in a $300 no-limit hold’em preliminary event in that same tournament (480 points). He continued his hot streak on the Gulf Coast by finishing runner-up in a $1,000 no-limit hold’em preliminary event (600 points). Pilgrim is now in seventh place with 1,560 points.

Another professional who is now a factor in the POY race early in 2010 is Gavin Smith. He won a $2,500 no-limit hold’em event (1,008 points) at the Fallsview Poker Classic at Niagara Falls, and followed that up by finishing in fourth place in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event (382 points). Smith now has 1,392 points and sits in ninth place on the leader board.

Look Out: William Reynolds
William Reynolds topped a tough field that included 84 of the best tournament poker players in the world in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 high-roller no-limit hold’em championship. He took home the top prize of $576,240, and the win put his career tournament earnings at $1,067,133. The young poker player will be competing at his first World Series of Poker this summer in Las Vegas, once he turns 21 years old, so that career tournament earnings figure is sure to grow. His other large tournament cash came in April of 2009, when he took fourth place in the European Poker Tour San Remo main event, for $490,100.

Reynolds faced elimination multiple times during the final-table bubble in the PCA high-roller event, but he persevered and made it to the final table. He played a solid game and saved his best strategy for the end. He was aggressive against his final opponent Will Molson, because Molson had finished runner-up in the same event one year ago, and Reynolds knew that he would tighten up to avoid a similar fate. “I started raising a lot when heads up, and I noticed that he was being very careful with calling out of position and three-betting, so I just decided that I would pop it up with any two cards,” said Reynolds. The aggression worked, and Reynolds steamrolled to victory.

Reynolds also had this advice for players who want to add tournament poker to their repertoires: “Tournament poker is all about picking your spots. If you don’t pick the right spots and you’re not careful about tiptoeing around, you’re going to get knocked out. It’s all about finding the best spot in relation to your stack, the players, the blinds, and so on; everything goes into it.”