Greg Merson Double Bracelet Winner and WSOP Champion Wins Card Player Player of the Year Sponsored By Lock Poker

Winning a poker tournament is hard. In events with huge fields one must dance through the raindrops, dodging bullets and winning coinflips. Higher buy-in events may have smaller fields, but one look around the table reveals five internet millionaires and three seasoned live-tournament veterans. After multiple days of extreme concentration and probably some good fortune, you might just make a final table in a major event. After fifteen hours of the best play and luckiest run-outs of your life, you might even win an event. You will have your photo taken with the winning cards, and maybe a brick of cash in your hand. But after all of the celebration you’ll likely hit the wall and just feel like a nice, long sleep.

Now, wake up and fly to the next one. And the next one, and the next. Do this week in, week out, all the while studying the game and putting every bit of your mental energy in to getting better. Do this and you just might have a chance to be in contention for the title of 2012 Card Player Player of the Year, one of the most difficult titles to win. It’s because winning a poker tournament is hard, but putting up consistent results over an entire year is even harder. It takes skill, steadiness and determination. And now, after an incredible twelve months of tournament poker the 2012 Player of the Year race has finally reached its conclusion.

After an incredible twelve months of tournament poker the 2012 Card Player Player of the Year race has finally reached its conclusion. This year’s top player was none other than 2012 World Series of Poker main event champion Greg Merson, who outlasted a total of 7,072 players en route to winning two of the biggest titles of the year, along with $9,664,179 in live tournament earnings and a winning total of 5,100 POY points.

1st – Greg Merson

The 24-year-old from Laurel, Maryland catapulted himself into the mix in the Player of the Year race when he outlasted a tough 474-player field in the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em six-max championship, defeating a tough final table that featured the likes of Keith Lehr, Shannon Shorr and Andrew Lichtenberger to earn $1,136,197 and 1,800 points.

Just days later, Merson was one of 6,598 players to take his seat in the biggest tournament of the year, the WSOP $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event. After 11 long days of play, only Merson remained. For the win Merson earned $8,527,982 and his second WSOP gold bracelet. In addition to all of the accolades and prize, Merson also scored 3,300 POY points, the most awarded in any event this year. Due to the incredible field size and the large buy-in, the WSOP main event was big enough to catapult its winner into the top ten of the POY by itself, but when combined with Merson’s other huge title, it gave him the outright lead in the race as the year wound down.

Prior to this summer, Merson was a successful online cash-game player, with millions of hands worth of experience but not much notoriety. All that changed when he rose from obscurity with a star-making run at the WSOP.

“You know, I didn’t get much attention when I was playing online, so it was hard to justify my decision to play poker for a living to my friends and relatives,” said Merson. “Now, they’ll get to see me on television, winning absurd amounts of money. This is validation to myself, showing all of those people who said I wouldn’t make it that they were wrong.”

Merson has spoken publicly about his battles with drug addiction, but in early December was happily able to report that he had been sober for a whole year. And what an incredible year of redemption it has been for the young professional who earned more than $9.6 million and two of poker’s most prestigious honors, the title of World Series of Poker main event champion and the title of 2012 Card Player Player of the Year.

Total Points: 5,100
Titles: 2
Final Tables: 2
Money Won: $9,664,179

2nd – Dan Smith

23-year-old Dan Smith came extremely, brutally close to winning the 2012 Player of the Year title. He ended the year with 5,040 points, only 60 behind our champion. Although he fell just short, he still had undeniably one of the greatest years on the tournament circuit in recent memory. Smith won six live tournaments this year, the most titles of any player. He proved himself to be one of the most dominant no-limit hold’em players at the moment, winning events with buy-ins ranging from €5,000 to $100,000.

Smith’s two largest scores came when he won the $100,000 super high-roller at the Aussie Millions for $1,060,981 and the European Poker Tour €50,000 high-roller for $1,186,420. Incredibly, his four other titles all came in events with a €5,000 buy-in, three of which were won in just over a week at the EPT Grand Final this spring. He won his sixth title of 2012 just weeks before the year ended, a last minute push that brought him painfully close to the POY title, but in the end he ran out of time.

In addition to all of his live success this year, Smith has also furthered his legend as an online wizard. In the PokerStars Sunday Million in October he made a deal five-handed, securing nearly the first-place prize in a chip-chop, only to go on and win the set-aside $20,000 to make roughly $8,000 more than the allotted winner’s share. Although this feat did not qualify for the Player of the Year race, it just goes to show what an unbelievable year Smith had at the tables.

Total Points: 5,040
Titles: 6
Final Tables: 9
Money Won: $3,673,806

3rd – Marvin Rettenmaier

German poker pro Marvin Rettenmaier has shown that he is one of the most consistent forces on the live tournament circuit, besting his fourth-place finish in the POY race in 2011 by one place. The 25-year-old from Leonberg made eight final tables, winning four titles and cashing for more than $2.4 million. In 2011 he made the most final tables of any player, but this year he kept nearly the same quantity while improving the quality of his wins, capturing the World Poker Tour $25,000 championship title, the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic title and two EPT side event wins.

“There is definitely a good percentage of me that is not playing just for the money, but is also playing for prestige as well,” Rettenmaier told Card Player. “I don’t have to play the high-rollers against the very good players, but the rankings do mean something to me. You can’t really prove who is the best within a single tournament, or even within a single year, either.”

Well if success over a period longer than a year is part of Rettenmaier’s self-assessment, he is probably surpassing his expectations. Looking at his combined two-year record for 2011 and 2012, he has six titles, 20 final tables and earnings of over $3 million.

Total Points: 4,130
Titles: 4
Final Tables: 8
Money Won: $2,423,741

4th – Kyle Julius

Kyle Julius made his way towards the top of the POY rankings on the back of just a few massive scores, having just about the best year a tournament player can experience without winning a title.

Julius kicked off the year with a runner-up showing in the gigantic PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event for $1.5 million and 2000 POY points. He made another small final table appearance in a $1,000 event at the Binion’s Poker Classic before his next key score. Once again the Illinois native finished as the runner-up, this time in a massive $5,000 no-limit hold’em event at the WSOP that drew more than a thousand people. Julius earned another $589,687 and 1,600 points for that deep run.

Total Points: 3,752
Titles: 0
Final Tables: 3
Money Won: $2,103,282

5th — Ole Schemion

German poker professional Ole Schemion cut his teeth as an online player, but made his presence felt on the live circuit with a breakout performance in 2012. Schemion biggest win of the year came at the Partouche Poker Tour main event in September, where he outlasted a field of 573 to earn $1,474,671 and 2,100 POY points.

He had already won a side event at the EPT Berlin, but it was his third title that truly threw him into contention in the POY race. Schemion topped a field of 212 players in the Master Classics of Poker €5,000 main event, earning $368,895 and 720 POY points.

Total Points: 3,676
Titles: 3
Final Tables: 6
Money Won: $2,032,454

6th – Joseph Cheong

Joseph Cheong was thrust into the poker limelight when he made the 2010 World Series of Poker final table, finishing third. Since then he has been a regular on the tournament circuit around the globe, and in 2012 the former November Niner had a standout year, making seven final tables and cashing for more than a million dollars.

Despite all of his success, he did not win a title this year. But that does not mean he is without big scores: He finished fourth in the WSOP Europe main event for $380,571 and also came runner-up for a bracelet in the $5,000 mixed-max no-limit hold’em at the WSOP, earning $296,956. He also made an impressive run at the PokerStars Asian Championship of Poker Macau festival, making back-to-back final tables for nearly $240,000.

Total Points: 3,590
Titles: 0
Final Tables: 7
Money Won: $1,062,822

7th – Antonio Esfandiari

The man known as “the Magician” has long been one of poker’s most popular figures, combining flashy play with an affable table presence. While he has had numerous tournament successes before, nothing can compare to the unbelievable, record-breaking year he has had in 2012.

In the past twelve months, Esfandiari has earned nearly $19 million in poker tournaments, setting a record for the most earnings in one year largely as a result of winning the $1 million buy-in Big One For One Drop, earning the largest first-place prize in the history of poker: $18,346,673. Esfandiari currently has a more than $6 million lead on the all-time earnings list.

But the 34-year-old was far from a one-trick pony. He also won his third WSOP bracelet in the €1,000 no-limit hold’em event at the WSOP Europe, finished third in a WSOP $3,000 no-limit hold’em shootout event and made the final table of the World Poker Tour Five Diamond Poker Classic for the third year in a row.

Total Points: 3,330
Titles: 2
Final Tables: 4
Money Won: $18,990,987

8th – Phil Hellmuth

Phil Hellmuth is already in the Poker Hall of Fame, but if he wasn’t, he could likely make it based on his 2012 results alone. The 48-year-old had a banner year, furthering his lead as the all-time WSOP gold bracelet winner with 13.

Hellmuth won bracelet number twelve in the WSOP $2,500 razz event for $182,793, and then made two more final tables at the WSOP including finishing fourth in the Big One For One Drop for $2,645,333. “The Poker Brat” won his thirteenth bracelet when he outlasted 420 player in the World Series of Poker Europe main event, earning $1,331,031 and becoming the first player in history to have won both the WSOP main event and the WSOP Europe main event in his career.

Total Points: 3,210
Titles: 2
Final Tables: 4
Money Won: $4,293,213

9th – John Dibella

43-year-old John Dibella took an early lead in the POY race when he won the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event, outlasting an immense 1,072-player field to earn $1,775,000 and 2,400 points. That in itself would make for quite a year, but the New York day trader was far from done, however.

Dibella made three other final tables in 2012, finishing third in a side event at the Borgata just weeks after his PCA win, and then finishing third in the Foxwoods World Poker Finals $3,300 main event for $82,825. Dibella rounded out his year with his second title, topping a field of 181 in a $700 re-entry event to earn $36,870.

Total Points: 3,064
Titles: 2
Final Tables: 4
Money Won: $1,901,113

10th – Oliver Speidel

Much like Dibella, Speidel got an early jump on POY contention when he made an incredible start in January. The Melbourne, Australia native made quite a run at the Aussie Millions, finishing second in a $1,000 AUD no-limit hold’em shootout and sixth in a $1,500 AUD no-limit hold’em bounty before coming out on top of the 659-player field in the main event. For that massive victory, Speidel earned $1.6 million and 2,100 POY points.

In the spring Speidel made two more final tables, finishing sixth in the Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour Sydney main event for $41,262 and fourth in the Asian Poker Tour Philippines main event for $37,000. All of Speidel’s five final tables came in Asia-Pacific based events, demonstrating just how much of a global game tournament poker has become.

Total Points: 3,046
Titles: 1
Final Tables: 5
Money Won: $1,767,371