2015 CarbonPoker Card Player Player of the Year Update -- PCA Winners Dominate Leaderboard

The 2015 Card Player Player of the Year race, sponsored by CarbonPoker, is just getting started, but with some of the year’s biggest events taking place in early January, we are already getting a glimpse at some of the players that will be in the mix for the POY title as the year goes on. Check out this look at what went down in one of the very first weeks on the tournament circuit:

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $10,300 Main Event

A total of 816 players turned out for the 12th annual PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $10,300 main event, building a total prize pool of $7,915,200. In the end 26-year-old American poker pro Kevin Schulz emerged victorious, taking $1,491,580 home 2,280 POY points for the win.

Schulz largest prior live tournament score came when he finished fourth in a $5,000 World Series of Poker no-limit hold’em event for a $267,792 payday. With this win he increased his lifetime live earnings to $1,965,123 and also moved into the outright lead in the POY race. The PCA main event has consistently been one of the biggest tournaments of the year with a huge impact on the POY standings. In six out of the past seven years the PCA champ finished inside the top twenty in the POY standings at year’s end.

Schulz defeated Peruvian online poker professional Diego Ventura heads-up for the title. Ventura earned $907,080 and 1,900 POY points as the runner up, enough to move into second in the POY standings.

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller

Ilkin Garibli came out on top of a record field of 269 entries in the PCA $25,000 no-limit hold’em high roller to win $1,105,040 and 1,512 POY points. As a result of this huge win he now sits in fourth place in the overall standings.

The 26-year-old outlasted a stacked final table that included the likes of Dan Heimiller (8th – $162,700), Faraz Jaka (7th – $221,440), recent PCA $100,000 super high roller eighth-place finisher Scott Seiver (5th – $398,340) and EPT Vienna champ Oleksii Khoroshenin (3rd – $629,460).

Garibli took a more than 2-to-1 chiplead into heads-up play with Joe Kuether. The two agreed to a deal that saw Garibli take a $1,105,040 payday while Kuether earned $1,050,000. That was the remained of the prize pool, leaving only the title, the trophy and a commemorative SLYDE luxury watch to play for. After two hours Garibli came out on top, sending Kuether to the rail with his first seven-figure score and 1,260 points. The 26-year-old American pro now sits in sixth place in the POY rankings as a result.

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure LAPT Main Event

For the first time the PCA also played host to a Latin American Poker Tour main event. The $3,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em LAPT main event drew 736 entries overall, building a $1,945,248 prize pool.

Kay came into the final table as the chip leader, but made it to heads-up play with German poker pro Martin Finger holding a 2-to-1 chip lead. Finger has both EPT main event and high roller titles, and was looking to add yet another form of big title to his resume in this event. In the end the American was able to rally and take down the title, earning $367,928 and 1,368 points and climbing into fifth place in the POY standings.

Finger was awarded $223,900 and 1,140 points for his runner-up showing, enough to move into seventh place in the standings.

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 Super High Roller

The 2015 PokerStars Carribean Adventure $100,000 no-limit hold’em super high roller drew a record field of 66 entries, outperforming the prior high water mark of 59 entries in 2013.

As a result the prize pool swelled to over $6.4 million dollars. In the end the lion’s share of that went to Steve O’Dwyer, who notched the largest score of his career when he was awarded the $1,872,580 first-place prize.

O’Dwyer scored 720 POY points as the winner, which for the time being is enough to put him in 15th place in the overall standings. Runner-up Roger Sippl earned $1,344,420 and 600 points and now sits in 18th place in the standings as a result.

Scott Seiver, who finished fifth in the $25,000 high roller mentioned earlier, finished eighth in this event for $243,280. As a result of his two big final table finishes he now occupies the 14th-place position in the standings, with 750 points and $641,620 in year-to-date earnings.

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

Related Articles

One Drop Charity Event Runs Friday At Resorts World

PGT Texas PLO Roundup Main Event Starts Thursday

Charity Series Of Poker Hosts Betting On Miracles On Dec. 4

Most Viewed Articles