2004 Player of the Year Criteria

During the last three years, a few criteria changes were made to the Player of the Year system, and there are a few more this year. The criteria for 2004 follow, and the changes from last year are in boldface:

Tournaments that count in the Player of the Year Standings will be listed in Card Player each issue. They include:

• Tournaments that have at least a $500,000 overall prize pool, 2003 land-based Player of the Year events, or tournaments in which the average prize pool per event is at least $200,000. For example, a one-event tournament (like Bellagio's Friday night tournament) will count if it has a prize pool of at least $200,000. Note: For a tournament to be grandfathered in for 2005, it must meet these new criteria.

• Open events – seniors, dealers, and ladies-only events do not count

• Main events – second-chance tournaments do not count

• Events with at least a $300 buy-in – freeroll events do not count

• Events in the United States, with a few exceptions. The World Poker Tour events at the Aviation Club in France, the UltimateBet tournament in Aruba, and the PartyPoker Million will be included. Card Player has the right to add tournaments at its sole discretion.

There are three criteria when calculating points:

1. Amount of the buy-in

2. Number of entrants

3. Place finished at the final table

Note: If there is a tie between two or more players, each receives the average number of points available. For example, if two players tie for ninth place, each receives half of the ninth-place points. Players receive points only if they are "in the money." If a tournament pays only five places, only the top five players get points. In stud events, eight players will receive points; in other events, nine will receive points.

Total points are calculated by multiplying the point factors of the three criteria:

Place finished – first place receives 120 points; second place, 100; third place, 80; fourth place, 60; fifth place, 50; sixth place, 40; seventh place, 30; eighth place, 20; and ninth place, 10.

Buy-ins – $300-$999 = 1 point, $1,000-$1,999 = 2 points, $2,000-$4,999 = 3 points, and $5,000 and higher = 4 points. The buy-in in rebuy tournaments is calculated by dividing the total gross prize pool by the number of entrants.

Number of entrants – 2-100 = 1 point. Every 10 additional number of entrants increases the number of points by 0.1. The number of entrants is rounded to the nearest 10. The maximum number of points is 4. Examples are: 57 players = 1 point, 132 players = 1.3 points, 135 players = 1.4 points, and 650 players = 4 points.

Here is a hypothetical total point calculation example: You finished in eighth place in a $500 buy-in event that had 200 entrants. You receive 20 points for eighth place; the buy-in is $500, which is a 1-point event; and there are 200 entrants, which is good for 2 points. Thus, you receive 40 total points (20 × 1 × 2 = 40).