Card Player PoY Race Just Got TighterMichael Mizrachi Has Many Good Players Breathing Down His Back |
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Welcome to the race, boys.
The World Series of Poker, with its massive player fields and 40-some poker tournaments, has redefined Card Player Magazine's Player of the Year race. A whole new list of players have bullied their way into the top 10 this summer, but they're all still chasing Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi, who has sat on the top since February.
Mizrachi leads everyone with 5,865 points, but he accumulated most of those points during a three-week span starting at the end of January. He finished second in the Gold Strike World Poker Open, won the Borgata Winter Poker Open a week-and-a-half later and then took second at the $2,500 buy-in no-limit event at the L.A. Poker Classic.
On Aug. 2, he added another 960 points by winning the $1,000 no-limit event at the Bellagio Cup II. During the WSOP, he could do no better than 54 in all the events he played in, but at the Bellagio Cup II he cashed four times.
Standing tall right behind Mizrachi is Phil Hellmuth, who had a fantastic WSOP. He won his 10th bracelet, made four final tables, and cashed eight times. Whether people like it or not, Hellmuth had a strut about him during the WSOP. He was determined to get his 10th bracelet, and that determination put him right in the thick of Card Player's PoY race.
With 3,755 points, Hellmuth is part of a group of nine who have between 3,000 and 4,000 points, showing just how tight the race is this year. Mizrachi is going to have to continue to win this year to claim the award. He's got to know that it's still anybody's prize to win.
Right behind Hellmuth, in third place, is Shannon Shorr, a 21-year-old player from Birmingham, Alabama, who is having a great year. He just won the $10,000 Bellagio Cup II championship event and its $960,690 top prize. That was his second victory at the Bellagio Cup II. (He also won the $1,000 no-limit event.) Since January, he's made five final tables.
Continuing the youth movement is Jeff Madsen, who not only became the youngest WSOP bracelet winner this year, but also captured the WSOP player of the year award for his fantastic play. He has 3,680 points, all of which were pulled from WSOP events. He made four final tables, finished no worse than third at each of them, and won two bracelets.
Nam Le is fifth on the list with 3,585 points and he's won $1,895,424 so far this year on the tournament trail. He has five final tables since January, including a second-place finish in the WSOP's $2,000 no-limit event and a victory at the $5,000 no-limit championship event at the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge II in June.
Out of the top 10, John Hoang won the least amount of money so far this year ($460,406) but has made the most final tables (11). Go figure. He made two WSOP final tables in 2006, and is a pure tournament grinder. A win or two in a large buy-in event will thrust Hoang right to the top of this list.
Allen Cunningham is next on the PoY list with 3,344 points. He finished fourth at the WSOP's main event, which attracted 8,773 players, but don't feel so bad for Cunningham for not wining the bracelet. He won $3,628,513 for fourth. He made three final tables at the WSOP, including a win in the $1,000 pot-limit event.
Erick Lindgren has been hanging around the top 10 all year. He has 3,286 points, which puts him in eighth place on the list. But he's only 470 points from overtaking Hellmuth in second. He finished second to Madsen in the WSOP $5,000 no-limit short-handed event.
David Williams now sits at ninth on the list with 3,152 points. He won a bracelet at the 2006 WSOP (the $1,500 stud event), and has made four final tables this year. He also finished second in the WSOP $5,000 no-limit 2-7 lowball event.
Rounding out the top 10 is William Chen, who won two WSOP bracelets this year (both in hold'em) and also has a series of cashes in smaller buy-in tournaments that still count in the PoY race. He has 3,146 points, and if he continues to play as well as he did at the WSOP, he has a real chance to win the PoY.
So do all the players who ended up in the top 10 a week after the WSOP ended. However it turns out, it should be fun to watch. To keep a watch on the point's race, click here.
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