Player of the Year

Mike Beasley Joins the 3,000-Point Club, and Three International Events Award Thousands of Points

Fred Berger won the World Series of Poker Circuit event at Harrah’s in New Orleans recently, which was good for $197,584 and 768 Card Player 2010 Player of the Year (POY) points, but it was runner-up Mike Beasley who benefited the most from the event in regard to the POY standings. Beasley won $119,296 in prize money, to take his 2010 tournament earnings to $672,778, and also captured 640 POY points, taking his 2010 total to 3,200, which is good for third place on the leader board.

Beasley is the fifth player this year to have at least 3,000 points thus far. His two other POY scores in 2010 came when he finished second in the PokerStars North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun main event to take home 1,600 points, and when he won a $1,000 preliminary no-limit hold’em event at the Borgata Winter Open for 960 points.

A trio of international tournaments awarded lucrative prizes recently in Europe and Asia. Theo Jorgensen prevailed as the World Poker Tour returned to Paris when he bested 246 opponents at the Grand Prix de Paris. Jorgenson won €633,902 and 1,500 points for the victory. The PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour pulled into Macau for the fourth
season in a row, and its $5,160 no-limit hold’em main event attracted 342 players. The champion was Victorino Torres, who took home $416,000 and 1,632 POY points. The final big event to take place abroad before the 2010 World Series of Poker was the €3,500 WPT Spanish Championship in Barcelona, Spain. The event attracted 326 players, and the winner was Ali Tekintamgac. He bagged 1,188 points and €315,000.

Look Out: Maxim Lykov

Maxim Lykov found success early in season six on the European Poker Tour. He won the first main event of the season at Kiev in the Ukraine, where he topped 296 players to win $473,088 and his first major tournament title. Bolstered by his early victory, he moved on to become one of the most active players at EPT events during season six. He was a fixture at most main events, and he also haunted preliminary events while racking up seven cashes at various tour stops.

The 22-year-old Russian professional cashed in preliminary events in Prague, Berlin, and Monte Carlo, and claimed his second tournament title of the season when he won a $1,000 no-limit hold’em preliminary event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. His second cash in an EPT main event came in the inaugural Snowfest tournament this past March in Austria. He just missed making his second main-event final table when he finished 13th out of 546 players.

Lykov was recently rewarded for his sustained excellence in Europe when he was named the EPT player of the year for season six at the Grand Final. “This is awesome. I worked very hard to win this. I played almost all of the EPT main events, and a lot of side events. I am very pleased. This is great for my profile as a player,” said Lykov.

He will now turn his attention to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas during the summer months. He has had just one cash at the WSOP so far in his young career, but it was for $145,063. He finished third at his first WSOP final table in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em shootout last year.

If he approaches the WSOP with the same commitment and consistency that he has exhibited in EPT events, expect him to increase his career tournament winnings well past their current amount of $1,366,528.

OPOY Spotlight: Corey “Comandr_Cool” Burbick

By Julio Rodriguez

The Card Player Online Player of the Year (OPOY) award honors the best tournament player across the major online sites in a given calendar year. Here, we take a look at one of the current top contenders.

Corey “Comandr_Cool” Burbick had a solid 2009 online and finished the year with $589,375 in winnings, which was good enough for 16th place in the Online Player of the Year (OPOY) standings. However, we’re just five months into the new year and his 2010 campaign is already putting those numbers to shame.

The Davie, Florida, resident already has earned more than $650,000 this year in 27 OPOY-qualifying cashes. Incredibly, 17 of those cashes were final-table appearances, with five outright wins. The month of May was particularly kind to Burbick, who started out by making the final table of a $1K Monday event. He followed that up by winning the Sunday 500, and the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) event No. 3 for $183,060, his largest score to date.

Burbick’s run has put him right in the thick of the OPOY race. The young gun has earned 5,960 points and presently sits in second place, just 700 points behind current leader Taylor “ambiguosity” Paur.

You can check out more about the 2010 OPOY race and leader board by visiting http://www.CardPlayer.com/poker-players/online-player-of-the-year.