Player of The Year Update

As fall becomes winter, the Card Player Player of the Year race shifts gears into its final stages. The key players in this end-of-the-year drama are most likely known to us now, as with each passing week it becomes less and less likely that someone can surge from obscurity with a string of wins. Heading into the final months of the year, the stage is set, and the show will go on.

Some massive events in Europe have had an impact on the race in the past weeks. The European Poker Tour London played host to 30 events, and had quite an effect on the POY standings. Two key players in the race had good showings in event no. 12, a £2,000 no-limit hold’em tournament that drew 189 players, creating a $573,085 prize pool. Sam Stein, who briefly fell to second place in the overall standings, regained the lead by finishing seventh in this event for $21,257 and 171 POY points. With five final tables, his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet and $2,108,046 in year-to-date earnings including online cashes, Stein is clearly having a great 2011. He now sits in the lead, ahead of Marvin Rettenmaier by a mere 63 points.

Matt Waxman also climbed the leader board as a result of his eighth-place finish in the same event, for which he earned $15,474 and 114 POY points, which were good enough to move him into fifth position in the current standings.

The £5,000 Main Event also had an effect on the race. Eventual champion Benny Spindler bested a 691-player field to take home £750,000 and 1920 POY points, moving him into 37th place in the overall standings. Steve O’Dwyer was the runner-up, earning £465,000 and 1600 POY points. He also final tabled an event at the World Series of Poker Europe for €36,357 and 312 POY points, which was good enough to move O’Dwyer into 16th place in the overall standings. He has made seven final tables so far this year, with a win in a $5,000 no-limit hold’em event at the Bellagio Cup VII this summer for $259,452.

Wrapping up the EPT London festival, the £20,000 High Roller event was won by Philipp Gruissem, who less than a month ago took down the EPT Barcelona High Roller event for €234,500. This time around the young German earned £450,000 for outlasting the field of 75 players and defeating a tough final table that included Olivier Busquet, who finished fourth for £171,200, and Sam Trickett, who earned £68,800 for a seventh-place finish.

Trickett is having quite a successful fall in Europe. He stands to win hefty prize money and points at the currently paused Partouche Poker Tour Main Event final table which he will enter as the chip leader when it resumes in November. Trickett made that final table, final tabled the aforementioned EPT London High Roller and then trekked over to Cannes, France and made another final table at the World Series of Poker Europe.

Trickett finished fourth in event 3 for €77,642 and 432 POY points, moving him into a tie for 95th place in the overall rankings. He needs a top-two finish at the Partouche Poker Tour final table in order to move into the top ten in the POY race.

The World Series of Poker Europe has moved from London, and is being held for the first time at the Majestic Barrière Casino in Cannes. The series features eight events, including a €10,400 no-limit hold’em Main Event which is still in progress as of press time. Some notable players won WSOP gold bracelets along the way. Steve Billirakis, who at one point held the record for youngest bracelet winner, took down event 3, the €5,300 pot-limit Omaha tournament. Billirakis topped a 180-player field to take home his second bracelet, the first prize of €238,140 and 864 POY points, moving him into 100th place in the overall standings. He was joined at the final table by the previously mentioned Trickett and november niner Eoghan O’Dea.

Tristan Wade took down event 4, the €3,200 no-limit hold’em shootout. He defeated Mike Watson heads up for his first WSOP gold bracelet, 936 POY points and €182,048. Wade now sits in 22nd place in the overall standings, with six final tables and three titles this year. Also making the final table were the previously mentioned Steve O’Dwyer, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier who moved into 20th position in the overall standings, reigning Online Player of the Year Taylor Paur and James Dempsey.

Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi added another huge title to his list when he took down the unique “mix-max” event 5, officially titled the €10,400 no-limit hold’em split format event. It started with full-ring play on day one, then shifted to six handed play for day two, and finally the final sixteen played heads-up until a winner was crowned. Mizrachi defeated Shawn Buchanan in the final match up for €336,008 and 780 POY points. Other notables to make the final included Brian Powell, Noah Schwartz, Roger Hairabedian and Dan Fleyshman.

While much of the poker world fought it out in Europe, the Bellagio played host to its annual Festa al Lago tournament series. Card Player publisher Barry Shulman and Bryan Devonshire both won preliminary events, but the performance of the series undoubtedly goes to Justin Young. He finished runner-up in one of the prelims, and then went on to take down the $5,000 Main Event for $349,590 and 1104 POY points. Young now sits in 104th place in the overall standings. ♠