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2015 Card Player Player of the Year Update -- Paul Volpe Into Ninth Place

A Look At The Biggest Poker Tournament Results Of The Week

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After a slow month in the wake of the World Series of Poker things are starting to heat up in Card Player Player of the Year race. Here is a look at the tournaments that made the biggest impact on the 2015 POY standings over the past seven days:

2015 Borgata Summer Poker Open

Paul VolpeThe Borgata Summer Poker Open festival wrapped up late last month, ending on a high note with the $2,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em $500,000 guaranteed main event. A grand total of 497 entries were made to easily surpass the guarantee.

Will “The Thrill” Failla came out on top, overcoming a tough final table to earn $283,301 and 1,080 POY points. This was his fourth final table finish of the year, and by far his largest. As a result he now sits in 93rd place in the Player of the Year rankings with 1,406 total points and $341,037 in year-to-date earnings.

Joining Failla at the final table was none other than Paul Volpe. The 2013 Player of the Year award runner up finished fifth in this event for $63,202 and 450 points. This was his eighth final table score of 2015, including wins in a $2,200 prelim at the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and a $1,600 prelim at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic.

Volpe also made three final tables at the WSOP this summer, finishing runner up in both the $10,000 no-limit hold’em heads-up championship and the $10,000 pot-limit hold’em championship. All told he has accumulated 2,971 points and $903,036 in earnings so far this year, climbing into ninth place in the POY rankings as a result.

2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $1 Million Guarantee

Michael OrtizThe Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open has been one of the biggest poker series of the year, giving the poker circuit a shot in the arm each August. The highlight of the huge festival is always the gigantic main event, which this year is a $5 million guaranteed $5,250 buy-in no-limit hold’em event which begins later this week. The largest event of the series so far, though, was a $570 buy-in no-limit hold’em event with a $1 million guarantee.

A total of 2,928 entries were made in this huge event to easily surpass the guarantee, building a $1,464,000 prize pool. In the end the lion’s share of that money was awarded to eventual champion Michael Ortiz. For the win Ortiz earned his first career live tournament title, the $184,730 first-place prize and 600 Player of the Year points.

Cord Garcia finished sixth in this event for $60,756 and 200 points. Garcia had earned his first gold bracelet and $638,880 and 720 POY points earlier this summer when he took down the 2015 WSOP Colossus event, topping a record field of 22,374 players. With these two scores he now sits in 215th place in the overall POY standings with 938 total points.

2015 APPT Manila Main Event

Aaron LimThe 2015 Asia Pacific Poker Tour Manila P50,000 ($1,082) buy-in no-limit hold’em main event drew a total of 585 entries to build a total prize pool equivalent to $552,794. Australia’s Aaron Lim emerged victorious, earning $132,358 and 840 POY points for the win.

This was Lim’s second final table finish of the year, having previously finished third in the APPT Macau Poker Cup $1 million guaranteed event, earning $53,794 and 384 POY points.

As a result of these two score Lim climbed to 126th place in the overall standings with 1,224 total points and $186,152 in year-to-date earnings. Lim has three live tournament titles now, including a gold bracelet win in the 2013 World Series of Poker Asia Pacific $5,000 six-max no-limit hold’em event. He now has more than $1.7 million in live earnings over his career.

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

Rank Player POY Points Earnings
1 Anthony Zinno 6,488 $3,418,327
2 Joe Kuether 3,778 $1,490,557
3 Byron Kaverman 3,580 $2,018,058
4 Jason Mercier 3,520 $1,369,206
5 Taylor Paur 3,144 $1,446,344
6 Ivan Luca 3,117 $1,172,535
7 Nick Petrangelo 3,104 $1,332,571
8 Igor Yaroshevskyy 3,030 $991,139
9 Paul Volpe 2,971 $903,036
10 Dominik Nitsche 2,840 $905,223
11 Benjamin Zamani 2,801 $785,647
12 Justin Liberto 2,608 $876,582
13 Dzmitry Urbanovich 2,598 $2,568,415
14 Keven Stammen 2,516 $659,643
15 Dan Smith 2,508 $1,011,332
16 Javier Zarco 2,460 $989,239
17 Scott Seiver 2,450 $7,528,868
18 Connor Drinan 2,436 $4,408,385
19 Mike Gorodinsky 2,436 $1,684,470
20 Steve O’Dwyer 2,416 $2,711,783