Player of the Year: Top Players Climb Player of the Year Standings, Along With a Talented German Player

Some very big names in poker have made progress in the Card Player 2011 Player of the Year (POY) race recently. Erik Seidel dominated the lineup of high-roller and invitational events that kicked off 2011, and you could say that he has made the “Year of the High Roller” the “Year of Erik Seidel.” He has cemented his legacy as one of the top players in the game, and he leads all tournament players this year in final-table appearances (five) and POY winnings ($4,207,267). He also has accumulated 1,884 POY points, which puts him in 12th place in the standings.

His most recent triumph came in March, when he won the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship and $750,000. Most of his tournament winnings this year have come from winning the biggest buy-in poker tournament of all time, the $250,000 super high-roller event at the Aussie Millions, for $2,489,747.

Another big-name player who approached the top of the standings in March was Victor Ramdin, who won the $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event at The Big Event at The Bicycle Casino. Ramdin defeated fellow Team PokerStars pro Joe Hachem heads up to win $500,000 and 1,920 points.

Ramdin now sits in sixth place in the POY standings, and has set a personal goal of finishing in the top 10 in 2011. He had this to say about his dedication to that goal: “I want to play a lot of poker this year, and guess what? I looked at Card Player and found that I’m in the top 10 in the Player of the Year race. I have won just two tournaments, and I’m there. I’m going to see if I can maintain a spot in the top 10 all year. I will try to make a run at winning it.” Previous POY winners have shown that same kind of early commitment to a sustained run, and he could be a major challenger for the rest of the year.

Marvin Rettenmaier may not have as much name recognition as Seidel and Ramdin, but he tops both of them on the POY leader board. Thanks to his first victory of the year at his third final-table appearance, Rettenmaier now holds the runner-up position in the standings, behind leader Galen Hall. Rettenmaier has 2,520 points, which puts him 480 points away from the top spot. He took home $332,470 for his victory in the main event of the France Poker Series Paris Finale, along with 1,440 points. His final-table appearances in preliminary tournaments at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and European Poker Tour Deauville account for the rest of his points. ♠