2012 Player of the Year Update -- John Dibella Climbs To Seventh

Here is a look at the ones that made the biggest impact on the 2012 Card Player Player of the Year race, sponsored by Lock Poker.

Borgata Fall Poker Open Prelims

The ongoing Borgata Fall Poker Open main event attracted 644 entries to build a $1,610,000 prize pool. This year’s champion will win $372,568 and 1,260 POY points, with 63 players getting paid. A number of big names remain among the final 27 players restarting on Wednesday, Nov. 21st, including Card Player columnist Matt Matros, Christian Harder, Allen Kessler, Matt Stout, Jeff Papola, Scott Baumstein, Brian Lemke and Vinny Pahuja.

A number of POY contenders made moves in the preliminary events at this series as well. 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event champion John Dibella took down a $760 no-limit hold’em re-entry event to earn his second title of the year, 168 POY points and $36,870. This was Dibella’s fourth final table of the year, and as a result he’s moved into seventh place in the overall standings with 3,064 points and $1,901,113 in year-to-date earnings.

Will “The Thrill” Failla also took down a prelim event at Borgata, topping a 229-player field in a $1,090 no-limit hold’em six-max re-entry event to win $58,865 and 384 POY points. This was Failla’s third title of the year, and his ninth final-table finish. As a result he’s climbed to 25th place in the rankings.

Heartland Poker Tour Belterra

Greg Raymer topped a field of 283 to win the inaugural Heartland Poker Tour Belterra no-limit hold’em main event in Florence, IN to win his record-setting fourth HPT title of 2012.

For the win, the 2004 World Series of Poker main event champion earned $106,030 and 456 POY points. The man known as “Fossilman” has now cashed for a grand total $371,967 on the HPT in 2012, good enough to make him the tour’s all-time money leader and the only player to ever win four titles on the HPT.

Raymer’s path to glory was far from easy however, as he had to outlast a number of tough opponents including runner-up Jacob Bazeley, who took home $59,706 and 380 POY points for his strong showing. Bazely now sits in 51st place in the overall standings, with three prior final-table finishes this year including a $322,294 score for once again finishing runner-up, this time in a $1,500 World Series of Poker no-limit hold’em event.

Here is a look at the top twenty in the POY race:

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