Card Player POY Update -- Chris Moorman Takes The Lead, Elio Fox Into Top Five

Here is a look at the Card Player Player of the Year movement from October 12-20. Be sure to check back each week for another update from the world of tournament poker.

World Series of Poker Europe

The World Series of Poker Europe made a smashing debut this year at the Majestic Barrière Casino in Cannes, France. When the WSOPE premiered in 2007, its three events drew 623 total players. The main event that year attracted 362 players and awarded £1,000,000 to eventual champion Annette Obrestad.

This year’s series featured seven bracelet events that attracted a total of 2,626 players, with the marquee €10,400 main event drawing an impressive field of 593 players.  That is a remarkable 231 players more than the previous high-water mark of 362 players for the event.

After five days of play, American Elio Fox came out on top, defeating Chris Moorman for the title, €1,400,000 first prize and 2400 POY points. Fox has earned $2,684,544 in POY qualifying events so far this year, and 4,320 POY points in the process.

In addition to taking down this prestigious event, Fox won the 2011 Bellagio Cup Main Event for $669,692 and 1320 POY points, as well as a $1,500 event at the 2011 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III for $87,192 and 600 POY points. These three big wins were enough to vault him into fourth place in the overall POY standings.

Although he finished runner-up, Moorman is still having an absolutely fantastic 2011. The second-place finish netted him €800,000 or $1,101,520, as well as 2000 POY points, moving him into the lead in the POY overall standings. He is now leading second place resident Sam Stein by a margin of 1370 points. Also noteworthy is the fact that Moorman is also currently ranked sixth in the Online Player of the Year race with $649,196 Internet winnings this year.

Moorman has had a number of huge scores in some of 2011’s biggest no-limit hold’em events, with a total of $2,289,194 in POY qualified earnings. He started the year off by making the final table of the Aussie Millions $10,000 main event, finishing seventh for $174,244 and 600 POY points. He followed that up with an impressive summer at the World Series of Poker, starting off with a third-place finish in a $2,500 six-max no-limit hold’em event for $271,800 and 1200 POY points. He improved on that score with a runner-up finish in the $10,000 six-max no-limit hold’em event for $716,282. This week’s runner-up finish at the WSOP Europe main event was the biggest score of his career.

Also making the final table were Moritz Kranich who finished third, fourth-place finisher Brian Roberts, Shawn Buchanan who placed sixth and Jake Cody who came in seventh.

Here are the official results and payouts:
1. Elio Fox – €1,400,000 (2,400 POY Points)

2. Chris Moorman – €800,000 (2,000 POY Points)

3. Moritz Kranich – €550,000 (1,600 POY Points)

4. Brian Roberts – €400,000 (1,200 POY Points)

5. Dermot Blain – €275,000 (1,000 POY Points) 

6. Shawn Buchanan – €200,000 (800 POY Points)

7. Jake Cody – €150,000 (600 POY Points)

8. Max Silver – €115,000 (400 POY Points)

In addition to the eventful main event, the WSOP Europe also played host to six other bracelet events. Last week’s POY update detailed the results of events 1-3. Event no. 4, the €3,200 no-limit hold’em shootout, was won by Tristan Wade. He defeated Mike Watson heads up for his first WSOP gold bracelet, 936 POY points and €182,048. Wade now sits in 23rd place in the overall standings, with six final tables and three titles this year. Also making the final table was current 17th place resident Steve O’Dwyer, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier who moved into 21st 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 no. 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 on the third day 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. Buchanan has moved into 29th place in overall standings after this runner-up finish and his final table showing in the main event. Other notables to make the final right included Brian Powell, Noah Schwartz, Roger Hairabedian and Dan Fleyshman.

The final bracelet event before the main, event no. 6, was a €1,620 pot-limit Omaha event that attracted 339 entrants. The eventual champion was Philippe Boucher, who took home €124,584 and 816 POY points.

Bellagio’s Festa al Lago

While much of the poker world fought it out in Europe, the Bellagio played host to its annual Festa al Lago Classic 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 in the overall standings.

Looking Ahead

There are a couple of big chances to pick up POY points over the next week. The fall European leg continues with the European Poker Tour San Remo tournament series running from October 20-27 and featuring 23 events including a €4,600 main event and a €10,000 single-reload eight-max no-limit hold’em event.

Also running this week is the World Series of Poker Circuit Chicago $1,600 re-entry main event at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, IN. In addition to the main event, this WSOP Circuit stop features eleven other events with buy-in ranging from $350 up to $1,100.

In Las Vegas, the 2011 Caesars Palace Poker Classic is getting underway on October 21 and continuing until November 7th, with the $1,000 buy-in championship event beginning on November 4th.

A Look At The Standings

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