Jason Wheeler Leads Online Player of the Year RaceAlex 'Kadabra' Keating and Aleh 'cooltwister' Plauski Round Out Top Three |
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It’s been three months since Taylor “ambiguosity” Paur was crowned Card Player Online Player of the Year and it is time to see who makes up the new batch of contenders for the 2011 title.
Thanks to increased guarantees and the introduction of multi-entry events, more tournaments are qualifying for OPOY than ever. Remember, players are awarded points for any tournament that meets the rule of 100. The tournament must have at least 100 players, feature an average buy-in of at least $100 and have a minimum of $100,000 in the overall prizepool.
Leading the way so far this year is Jason “jdpc27” Wheeler, a former financial consultant who turned to poker after being laid off. Wheeler has made the best out of a bad situation, winning $1.5 million since 2008 including a runner-up finish in a 2009 World Series of Poker event. In 2011, Wheeler has already racked up six online tournament wins.
Currently sitting in second place in high-stakes tournament regular Alex “Kadabra” Keating. Keating has over $1.9 million in tournament winnings and has already claimed two six-figure online scores this year, finishing runner-up in the PokerStars Sunday Warmup and fourth in the $1K Monday.
In third place is Aleh “cooltwister” Plauski, who has already managed to final table 13 online tournaments this year. He recently took down the Full Tilt Poker Friday Night Fight and the $120,000 Guarantee Rebuy, but his biggest score was for $118,000 after finishing third in the $1K Monday.
The rest of the top 10 is rounded out by Bryan “bparis” Paris (fourth), Paul “paulgees81” Volpe (fifth), Jon “LUCFBas” Spinks (sixth), Nick “Grippolio” Grippo (seventh), Anthony “wwwBTHEREcom” Gregg (eighth), Bryan “theczar19” Piccioli (ninth) and Eric “blizair” Blair (tenth).
Steve “gboro780” Gross has managed to finish in the top two for the past three years and quietly lurks in 15th place overall. Last year’s champion Paur currently sits in 40th place.
Here’s a look at the standings.
| Rank | Player Name | OPOY Points | 2011 Winnings |
| 1st | Jason “jdpc27” Wheeler | 4,288 | $376,248 |
| 2nd | Alex “Kadabra” Keating | 4,086 | $420,998 |
| 3rd | Aleh “cooltwister” Plauski | 3,986 | $359,372 |
| 4th | Bryan “bparis” Paris | 3,890 | $413,094 |
| 5th | Paul “paulgees81” Volpe | 3,844 | $495,820 |
| 6th | Jon “LUFCBas” Spinks | 3,736 | $307,237 |
| 7th | Nick “Grippolio” Grippo | 3,442 | $326,633 |
| 8th | Anthony “wwwBTHEREcom” Gregg | 3,364 | $389,232 |
| 9th | Bryan “theczar” Piccioli | 3,222 | $476,903 |
| 10th | Eric “blizair” Blair | 3,114 | $275,214 |
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