Player of the Year Update: Will Failla, Moon Kim & Ubaid Habib Into Top 20Bay 101 and HPT Missouri Propel New Players Up The Rankings |
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The 2012 Card Player Player of the Year race sponsored by Lock Poker saw three new players join the top 20. As one would expect, there were a number of notable events that took place this past week. Here are the biggest results:
World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star
San Jose amateur Moon Kim topped the 364-player field at the 2012 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star main event, earning his first WPT title, the $960,900 first-place prize and 1,500 POY points. As a result of this enormous win, Kim has moved into 12th position in the overall standings.
At the beginning of this unique main event, each table started with at least one “Shooting Star,” a famous professional poker player with a bounty on their head. If someone busts a Shooting Star, they are rewarded with $5,000 and an autographed bounty t-shirt. For the first time in WPT history, not a single Shooting Star made it to the final table. Eventual runner-up Ubaid Habib eliminated the last remaining Shooting Star in the tournament, Jonathan Duhamel in 13th place. Duhamel, who is currently third in the POY standings after making six final tables and winning one title, earned $25,620 plus $10,000 in bounties. Habib earned $570,200 and 1,250 POY points for his second-place finish, moving into 19th in the overall standings.
Heartland Poker Tour Missouri
Will “The Thrill” Failla won his second title of 2012 at the Heartland Poker Tour Missouri main event at the River City Casino in St. Louis, MO. Failla was awarded $199,064 and 480 POY points, which moved him into 15th place in the overall standings. The New York native had a breakout year on the tournament circuit in 2011 with $1,208,421 in chases, eight final tables and three titles. Failla seems to be in the same good form this year, as this was already “The Thrill’s” fourth final table of 2012.
A total of 328 players ponied up the $1,650 buy-in, building a prize pool of $476,256. A number of top pros turned out for the HPT’s 100th event, but of the big names only Failla and Allen Kessler made the money, with Kessler finishing in tenth place for $11,192.
WSOP Circuit Caesars Atlantic City
Ryan Eriquezzo topped a record-setting field of 641 entrants in the 2012 WSOP Circuit Atlantic City main event, earning $191,194 in prize money, his second WSOP Circuit gold ring and 840 points. As a result of his victory, the 27-year-old has moved into a tie for 47th in the overall POY standings.
The Connecticut local topped the largest WSOP Circuit main event ever held in Atlantic City, with attendance up by a massive 45 percent over last year’s exact same event, which drew 442 players. The total prize pool came to $932,655 with the top 72 players making the money. In the end, Eriquezzo had to overcome good friend David Zeitlin in a heads-up battle for the title. Zeitlin did his best to fight back from a large chip disadvantage, but in the end he could not recover and was eliminated in second place, earning $118,307.
A look at the Player of the Year leaderboard:
| Rank | Player | POY Points | Earnings |
| 1 | John Dibella | 2,512 | $1,781,418 |
| 2 | Oliver Speidel | 2,500 | $1,689,109 |
| 3 | Jonathan Duhamel | 2,365 | $1,370,986 |
| 4 | Faraz Jaka | 2,200 | $867,539 |
| 5 | Sean Jazayeri | 2,100 | $1,370,240 |
| 6 | Daniel Kelly | 2,090 | $681,858 |
| 7 | David Sands | 2,022 | $830,530 |
| 8 | Kyle Julius | 2,000 | $1,500,000 |
| 9 | Vadzim Kursevich | 1,824 | $1,150,756 |
| 10 | Ken Wong | 1,750 | $1,029,474 |
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