Player of the Year: April Events Take Martin Jacobson Into Third Place and Erik Seidel Into the Top 10

The year 2011 has been one of repeated success by many top professionals, and that has made for one of the most competitive Card Player Player of the Year (POY) races in recent memory. There are 14 players with more than 2,000 POY points, and many of them are the biggest names in the game.

Erik Seidel continues to haunt the top of the leader board with wins in the Aussie Millions and the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, and most recently, a runner-up finish in the World Poker Tour Hollywood Poker Open, where he added $155,103 in prize money to his 2011 tournament earnings, which now stand at $4,362,370, and his career tournament earnings have ballooned to $14,823,022. He also picked up 500 POY points to increase his 2011 total to 2,384, which is good for ninth place in the standings. He was defeated by Mike Scarborough in the WPT Hollywood Poker Open; Scarborough took home 600 points and $273,664 for the victory.

Vanessa Selbst repeated as the champion of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun main event, successfully defending her title by topping a field of 387 players to win $450,000. It was Selbst’s sixth career win, and she now has $4,365,277 in career tournament earnings. She also captured 1,872 POY points, which puts her in 19th place in the standings.

Martin Jacobson made a big move on the POY leader board in April, thanks to a strong showing in the PokerStars European Poker Tour Berlin main event. He finished fourth in a field of 773 players, and the 960 POY points that he was awarded took his 2011 total to 2,887, which is good for third place in the standings. He is just 313 points behind the leader, Vivek Rajkumar. The champion in Berlin was Ben Wilinofsky, who took home $1,174,143 and 1,920 points; he now resides in a tie for 16th place in the standings.

Jacobson has been the most consistent player on the EPT in 2011. He has cashed three times and made two final tables, one in Berlin and the other in Deauville, France. He was the runner-up in Deauville, which was good for $762,185 and 1,600 points. His tournament earnings for 2011 are now $1,145,754. ♠