2016 Card Player Player of the Year Race Update -- Bryn Kenney Climbs To Fourth Place

The poker tournament circuit just keeps churning out big results to shake things up in the 2016 Card Player Player of the Year race. Here is a look at the events that most impacted the rankings over the past seven days:

$25,000 Aria High Rollers – April

Aria Las vegas has played host to back-to-back $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller events each month over the last few years. The 2016 April runnings of these small-field, high-stakes tournaments took place over this past weekend. A total of 28 entries were made in the _ Aria High Roller XXVIII,_ building a total prize pool of $672,000. In the end 2010 Card Player Player of the Year Tom Marchese emerged victorious, securing the $260,655 first-place prize and 420 Player of the Year points.

Incredibly, this was Marchese’s sixth title run in this event. He has made the money 11 in this event, dating back to when he kicked off his run at Aria by winning back-to-back high rollers in one weekend in January, 2015. All told Marchese has cashed for $2,484,582 in this event since it’s inception.

The second event of the weekend drew 25 total entries to build a $600,000 prize pool. This time around it was 2016 Player of the Year race contender Bryn Kenney who came out on top.

For the win he earned $233,794 and 420 POY points, coming just a month after he took down the 2016 Aria High Roller XXVII for $422,400. This was Kenney’s ninth final table of the year and his third title run of 2016, including a win in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 super high roller for more than $1.6 million.

As a result of his incredible run so far in 2016 he now sits in fourth place in the overall POY standings with 2,474 points and year-to-date earnings of $2,758,431.

David Peters finished second for $146,463 and 350 points. This was his seventh final table finish of the year, and with nearly $3.7 million in earnings so far and 2,162 POY points he has moved into sixth place in the rankings.

To nobody’s surprise Tom Marchese finished third for another $119,893 and 280 POY points. He now occupies the 21st-place spot on the leader board as a result.

WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Baltimore Main Event

Joseph Cappello has won the 2016 World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Baltimore $1,675 no-limit hold’em main event, outlasting a field of 894 entries to win his first circuit gold ring and the first-place prize of $292,500.

In addition to the title, the hardware and the money Cappello also earned 912 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his second final table finish of the year, and as a result he has moved into 50th place in the overall POY standings with 1,062 total points and year-to-date earnings of $310,848.

Cappello outlasted a tough final table en route to the title, including players like Alexander Rocka (3rd – $133,140), 2011 WPT Borgata Poker Open champion Bahbak “Bobby” Oboodi (5th – $75,120) and 2014 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open main event champion James Calderaro (6th – $57,525).

WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Baltimore $580 NLH

While Kenney and Peters made moves inside the top 10 Ari Engel kept busy by increasing his overall lead in the POY standings.

Engel finished eighth in the WSOP Circuit horseshoe Baltimore $580 buy-in no-limit hold’em event from a field of 140 entries, earning $2,218 and 24 POY points.

This was Engel’s seventh final table of the year and it brought his point total for 2016 to 3,070. His nearest competitor, Anthony Gregg, now sits 524 points behind in the standings. Engel has won two titles this year, starting off with the $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event at the Aussie Millions. He topped a field of 732 entries there to earn $1,120,000 and 2,280 points.

More recently he won his eighth WSOP Circuit gold ring in a prelim at WSOPC Atlantic City festival, topping a field of 123 entrants in the $580 buy-in no-limit hold’em event to move into a tie for second place on the all-time WSOPC titles with Chris Reslock.

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

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