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2015 CarbonPoker Card Player Player of the Year Update -- Jean Montury Joins The Top Five

Urbanovich, Luca, Buddiga and Messina Also Made Moves Inside The Top 20

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It was an eventful week in the 2015 Card Player Player of the Year race, sponsored by CarbonPoker. The European Poker Tour Malta festival played host to several events that made awarded huge amounts of prize money and Player of the Year points. Here is a look at the events that made the biggest impact on the POY standings:

EPT Malta Main Event

An total of 895 entries were made in the first-ever running of the European Poker Tour Malta €5,300 no-limit hold’em main event, building a prize pool of €4,340,750 ($4,740,898 USD). The lion’s share of that was awarded to Jean Montury who emerged victorious, capturing his first EPT title and the €687,400 first-place prize.

The 40-year-old Frenchman also earned 1,824 POY points for the win. He already had two final table finishes under his belt in 2015, including a fourth-place finish in a €2,200 no-limit hold’em prelim at the EPT Deauville festival and an eighth-place showing in a €1,100 ‘big-ante’ no-limit hold’em event earlier this series in Malta. As a result of all that Montury was catapulted into fourth place in the overall POY standings with 2,232 total points and $817,303 in year-to-date earnings.

Runner-up Valentin Messina also moved inside the top twenty after scoring €615,000 ($671,695 USD) and 1,520 POY points. He and Montury made a deal to redistribute the prize money heads up, but played for over seven hours to determine which would be the champion. Messina joined Chance Kornuth and Isaac Baron in a three-way tie for 18th place as a result.

EPT Malta €10,300 High Roller

Ivan LucaA whopping 304 entries were made in the 2015 EPT Malta €10,300 no-limit hold’em eight-max high roller event, building a prize pool equivalent to $3,253,137 USD. In the end American poker pro David Peters came out on top, taking home €597,000 ($651,895 USD) and 1,200 Player of the Year points, enough to see him climb into a four-way tie for 35th place in the overall standings. This was Peters’ 15th tournament title and it brought his career live earnings to $4,822,540.

Peters defeated Chilean Ivan Luca heads-up for the title. This was Luca’s third POY-qualified final table finish of the year, having fourth in a €1,100 EPT Deauville prelim and fifth in the €10,300 high roller at the same event. His runner up finish this week earned him ($433,504 USD) and 1,000 POY points. He now sits in 10th place on the POY leaderboard as a result.

America’s Nick Petrangelo finished sixth for $151,781 and 400 POY points at his third final table of the year. He had already finished sixth in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 high roller in January. That run earned him $301,500 and 504 POY points. In Malta he also placed fourth in the €25,500 high roller for $224,431 and another 336 POY points. As a result of his most recent score he moved into 36th place
in the standings.

EPT Malta Prelims

Dzmitry UrbanovichPoland’s Dzmitry Urbanovich had an incredible week at the EPT Malta, winning three POY qualified tournaments in the span of three days.

He started out by topping a field of 88 entries in the €25,500 high roller for $623,807 and 672 POY points.

He then won the €1,100 ‘big ante’ no-limit hold’em event for another $38,368 and 288 just two days later. The following day he topped a 72-player field in a €5,200 buy-in no-limit hold’em event for another $119,900 and 336 points. He had already won a prelim at the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January, which makes him the only player so far this year to win four POY-qualified titles. He also has seven total final table finishes this year.

As a result of all of that winning Urbanovich currently occupies the number nine spot on the POY leaderboard, with 1,778 total points and year-to-date earnings of $839,612.

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

Rank Player POY Points Earnings
1 Anthony Zinno 3,960 $1,466,038
2 Taylor Paur 2,994 $1,422,274
3 Kevin Schulz 2,280 $1,491,580
4 Jean Montury 2,232 $817,303
5 Joe Kuether 2,215 $1,202,867
6 Manny Stavropoulos 2,100 $1,270,283
7 Diego Ventura 1,900 $907,080
8 Jose Ivan Montes 1,872 $593,192
9 Dzmitry Urbanovich 1,778 $839,612
10 Ivan Luca 1,755 $613,389
11 Lennart Uphoff 1,750 $793,927
11 Mike Leah 1,750 $701,350
13 Pratyush Buddiga 1,698 $637,556
14 Ognyan Dimov 1,680 $616,376
15 Scott Seiver 1,610 $1,989,615
16 Jacob Bazeley 1,596 $510,691
17 Sorel Mizzi 1,548 $1,005,276
18 Valentin Messina 1,520 $671,695
18 Chance Kornuth 1,520 $641,140
18 Isaac Baron 1,520 $704,200