2014 CarbonPoker Card Player Player of the Year Update -- Buonanno, Salter, Kaverman, Seiver and Blair Join Top 20

Five players found their way into the top 20 this week in the 2014 Card Player Player of the Year race, sponsored by CarbonPoker. Here is a look at the tournaments that most influenced the overall standings over the past seven days:

EPT Grand Final Main Event

After ten hours of heads-up play, the longest one-on-one battle in European Poker Tour history, Italy’s Antonio Buonanno finally defeated Britain’s Jack Salter to win the 2014 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final main event. At around 7 AM in Monaco, roughly 18 hours after the eight-handed final table began, the 47-year-old finally lifted the trophy.

In addition to the title and the trophy, Buonanno also earned the €1,240,000 ($1,715,439 USD) first-place prize and 2,100 POY points, enough to move him into a tie for tenth place in the overall Player of the Year race standings.

In 2013, the EPT Grand Final main event final table featured some of the biggest names in the game, including Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Jake Cody, Johnny Lodden, Noah Schwartz, Andrew Pantling and eventual champ Steve O’Dwyer. This year’s final table was remarkable for quite a different reason: seven of the eight finalists won their seat via satellite. Eighth-place finisher Sebastian Bredthauer didn’t even have to invest any of his own money, making his way to a $178,184 payday after qualifying using PokerStars VPPs (loyalty points).

Buonanno, a former clothing store owner who has traveled the EPT circuit for the past four years and has a big final table at the WSOP under his belt, was the only player of the final eight to directly buy-in. The other seven combined to invest only €1,700 between them in qualifying for the €10,600 buy-in event. They cashed out for a total of €2.7 million.

Runner-up Jack Salter earned €765,000 and 1,750 POY points for his deep run, but surely will be disappointed after holding the chip lead for much of heads-up play and having three huge all-in hands where he was ahead or flipping to win the tournament, but failed to win any of them. Salter, who had won a $5,000 six-max no-limit hold’em event at the 2014 Aussie Millions for $100,206 and 288 POY points in January, now sits in 13th place in the overall standings.

EPT Grand Final €25,000 High Roller

The 2014 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final €25,000 no-limit hold’em high roller drew a record field of 214 entries, building a prizepool of €5,243,000 ($7,271,855 USD). The top 31 finishers made the money, but after three days of high stakes action only one player would away victorious. In the end German high roller extraordinaire Philipp Gruissem was that player, capturing his 14th career tournament title and the first place prize of €993,963 ($1,378,592 USD). As a result the 27-year-old from Aachen increased his lifetime live tournament earnings to over $9.4 million, enough to overtake Pius Heinz as the highest earning German player in live tournament history.

In addition to the title and the prize money Gruissem also earned 1,260 POY points, enough to catapult him into 44th in the overall POY standings. This was his first final table showing in 2014 after making seven in 2013, winning three titles and cashing for nearly $4.5 million throughout last year.

Gruissem entered the eight-handed final table in the middle of the pack, but made it down to heads-up play with American pro Scott Seiver with a solid chip lead after eliminating third-place finisher Davidi Kitai. Seiver and Gruissem, who had played heads-up for a super high roller title last fall at the WPT Alpha8 London, made a deal that guaranteed the former €857,637 and the later €993,963. They also agreed to flip for the title and the trophy.

In addition to the agreed prize money Seiver also took hime 1,050 POY points. This was his third POY qualified final table of the year, having finished fifth in the Aussie Millions $25,000 event for $233,408 and seventh in the Aussie Millions main event for another $152,235. He also won a small €5,200 pot-limit Omaha side event at the EPT Grand Final just days prior to this event. As a result of all of that Seiver now sits in 17th place in the overall POY standings.

Fifth-place finisher Byron Kaverman, who finished runner-up in the World Poker Tour Championship at Borgata last week, earned another €337,650 and 525 POY points. These two scores and a smaller final-table finish in a $1,000 event at the Borgata in January combined to move Kaverman into 14th place in the POY rankings.

WSOP Circuit The Lodge Main Event

A total of 330 entries were made in the 2014 World Series of Poker Circuit $1,675 no-limit hold’em main event at The Lodge Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado.From that field only one player could emerge victorious with the title and in the end it was poker pro Eric Blair that came out on top, earning $116,325 and his first WSOP Circuit gold ring for the win.

In addition to the title, the hardware and the money Blair also earned 480 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his third title of the year, having just won a $1,172 Deepstacks Extravaganza $300,000 guaranteed event at the Venetian roughly two weeks earler and a $2,100 prelim at the Wynn Classic in April. With another small final table finish already under his belt for 2014 as well Blair now sits in 20th place in the overall POY standings, with 1,632 points and year-to-date earnings of $279,996.

Here is a look at the current top 20 in the POY standings:

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