Player of the Year Update: O'Dwyer Into Tenth, Mercier Into Sixth

Steve O’Dwyer, Jason Mercier and Marvin Rettenmaier all made last minute gains on the Card Player Player of the Year leader board this week, each making deep runs and gaining points with just over a week remaining before the end of 2011. Here are the relevant results from the Player of the Year race as it draws ever closer to its conclusion.

WPT Venice

213 players posted the €3,000 buy-in in the World Poker Tour Venice main event, building a prize pool of $841,345. As a result of this event’s buy-in and field size, neither O’Dwyer nor Rettenmaier could earn enough points to take the top spot from Ben Lamb despite both making the final nine. Rettenmaier could at best move into third with a win in the event. He exited in eighth place however, earning $19,770 and 126 POY points, but not moving up any spots in the overall standings. Rettenmaier made an incredible 13 POY qualified final tables in 2011, the most of any player this year. He also won two titles, including a $332,470 win at the France Poker Series Paris Final and The Grand Poker Series main event.

The eventual champion was Edoardo Alescio, who earned $255,842 and his first WPT title. Steve O’Dwyer went on to finish second, earning $125,740 and 630 POY points. He came into this event ranked 17th, and jumped seven places to tenth overall as a result of his impressive finish. O’Dwyer has had a career year, making three of his top four biggest scores in 2011, and making a plethora of deep runs. In fact, O’Dwyer joined Jason Mercier, Erik Seidel and Blake Kelso in a tie for third most final tables made this year with nine each. He won a $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event at the Bellagio Cup VII this summer, and finished second in the EPT London Main Event for $717,728.

Epic Poker League Mix-Max Main Event

Running December 14-18, the third Epic Poker League $20,000 main event was one of the last chances for the top player of the year competitors to pick up points before the year came to a close. The event featured a unique “mix-max” format. The event began with its 100 entrants playing at eight-handed tables, then changed to seven-handed play on the second day and redrew to six-handed. On the third day, play began six-handed and redrew to four-handed. Play continued four handed until they were down to the final table of five, which would play down to heads-up, at which point a best-of-three heads-up match would begin.

The eventual champion was Chris Klodnicki, who earned the $801,680 first place prize and 600 POY points. The player to benefit most noticeably from the event was Jason Mercier however, who followed up his win at the Bellagio’s Five Diamond World Poker Classic $100,000 buy-in with a seventh place finish in this event for $89,680 and 150 POY points, moving him into sixth position in the overall standings with 4,396 points. As previously mentioned, Mercier has made nine POY qualified final tables in 2011, with three titles this year including his second World Series of Poker bracelet in pot-limit Omaha, the $100,000 high roller win at Bellagio, and a defense of his North American Poker Tour bounty shootout title at the NAPT Mohegan Sun. His POY earnings this year total $2,241,726.

Other players to pick up some key POY points at this EPL main event final table included runner-up Andrew Lichtenberger, who just a week before finished fourth in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic main event for $218,933. Third place finisher Joe Tehan hit his biggest score of the year for $306,800. Fourth place finisher Michael Mizrachi is no stranger to this mix-max format, as he won a similar event at the World Series of Poker Europe for $448,861, and ends the year in 66th position in the overall standings. Rounding out the five-handed final table was Scott Clements, whose fifth place finished earned him $89,680. Clements recently won the Venetian’s Deep Stack Extravaganza IV main event for $145,775. Clements has made eight final tables this year, and currently sits in 38th place in the POY standings.

Looking Forward

Current POY points leader Ben Lamb is 161 points ahead of second place occupant Chris Moorman, and 542 ahead of the next nearest challenger Oleksii Kovalchuk. While the race is not officially over, very few tournaments remain for the top contenders to make a move on Lamb’s top spot. With each passing day, it is looking more likely that the young pro will have yet another prestigious award to add to his incredible list of 2011 achievements that includes $5,351,467 in earnings, his first ever WSOP bracelet in the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha championship, and final table finishes in both the $50,000 Poker Players Championship and in the WSOP Main Event.

A Look At The Standings

Related Articles

Weis Continues Career Year With EPT Cyprus Triumph

Vaskaboinikau Wins EPT Cyprus $50k High Roller

Akimov Wins 2024 CPPT Venetian Main Event

Most Viewed Articles