2016 Card Player Player of the Year Race Update -- Paul Volpe Climbs To 33rd Place

The World Series of Poker is now in full swing and already some massive events have wrapped up at the Rio, awarding huge paydays and heaps of Card Player Player of the Year points. Here is a look at the tournaments of the past week that most impacted the POY standings.

WSOP $560 NLH Colossus II

The 2016 World Series of Poker Colossus II $565 buy-in no-limit hold’em event drew a total of 21,613 entries, the second most in live tournament poker history behind only last year’s inaugural running of this tournament. The massive turnout still easily surpassed the event’s $7 million guarantee to build a $10,806,500 prize pool.

In the end the largest chunk of that was awarded to Benjamin Keeline, a 30-year-old part-time Uber driver who supplements his income with poker.

Keeline was awarded $1,000,000 and 720 POY points for the win. This was his first final table finish of 2016, but it alone was enough to move him just outside of the top 200 in the standings. He now has $1,566,273 in career live tournament earnings, with his biggest prior score coming from a runner-up finish in the WSOP Circuit Choctaw main event in 2015.

Eighth-place finisher Jonathan Borenstein was at his third final table of the year. The $118,937 and 120 points he earned pushed him into 143rd place in the standings with 865 total points.

WSOP $1,500 Dealer’s Choice

A total of 389 players turned out for the 2016 World Series of Poker $1,500 dealer’s choice six-max event, a tournament that allowed the player on the button to choose from 19 variants of poker, from no-limit hold’em and the H.O.R.S.E. games to more exotic options like badacey, badeucey and old fashioned five card draw.

In the end Lawrence Berg emerged victorious, defeating a tough final table to capture his first gold bracelet and the $125,466 first-place prize. In addition to the bracelet and the money Berg also earned 600 POY points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year.

Fourth place finisher Paul Volpe earned 300 points at his second final table of the year, climbing to 33rd place in the standings as a result. Volpe had previously won the $2,500 no-limit hold’em main event at the Borgata Spring Poker Open for $356,255 and 1,260 POY points.

Volpe finished runner up for the Player of the Year award in 2013 and inside the top 20 in the standings last year. Now he once again finds himself in the mix for the POY title in 2016.

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

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