2016 Card Player Player of the Year Update -- Garrett Greer, Benjamin Zamani and Pat Lyons Climb

After one of the busiest seven-day period on record last week, things stabilized a bit in the 2016 Card Player Player of the Year race. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t plenty of big poker tournaments to wrap this week. Here is a look at the events that most impacted the standings:

2016 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Main Event

Pat Lyons emerged victorious in the 2016 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker $4,000 no-limit hold’em main event at the Bicycle Hotel & Casino, defeating a field of 687 entries to win his first WPT title and the first-place prize of $615,346.

The poker player from Hillsborough, California also earned 1,260 Player of the Year points. This was his second title of 2016, having also won the Arizona State Poker Championship $1,100 main event for $241,700. He has climbed to 39th place in the overall POY standings as a result of his two huge scores.

Lyons defeated Benjamin Zamani heads-up for the title. This was Zamani’s third WPT final table of the season, having finished second in both the 2015 WPT bestbet Jacksonville Bounty Scramble and the 2016 WPT Choctaw main event just a month ago. He earned $341,412 and 1,050 points for his runner-up showing. Zamani has made three final tables in 2016, and with 2,490 points he now sits in 32nd place in the POY standings.

Garrett Greer finished eighth in this event for $52,190 and 210 points. He now has $1,510,912 in year-to-date earnings, with three final tables made including a runner-up finish in the WSOP Millionaire Maker $1,500 no-limit hold’em event for $1 million and 1,100 points. He has accumulated 2,510 points and now sits in 29th place in the standings.

2016 WSOP Circuit Planet Hollywood

Sean H. Yu defeated a field of 528 total entries in the 2016 World Series of Poker Circuit Planet Hollywood $1,675 no-limit hold’em main event to win his second WSOPC gold ring and the $170,286 first-place prize.

Yu also earned 840 POY points for the win. This was his second POY-qualified tournament score of the year, having placed third in a L.A. Poker Classic $570 buy-in preliminary event for $15,505 and 160 points this winter. He now sits in 239th place in the standings as a result.

Jake Schindler finished sixth for $32,710 and 280 points. This was his seventh final table finish of the year. he has cashed for $1,061,296 and won one title along the way, taking down a $25,000 high roller at Aria for $264,000 and 420 points in April. He now occupies the 62nd-place spot on the POY leader board as a result. Schindler finished eighth in the 2014 POY race, having made six final tables and cashed for over $2.2 million that year.

2016 WinStar River Poker Series Main Event

A total of 1,054 entries were made in the 2016 The River Poker Series $2,500 buy-in, $2.5 million guaranteed main event at the WinStar Casino in Oklahoma. In the end a five-handed deal was made that saw 2016 World Series of Poker main event final tablist Gordon Vayo awarded the title and a first-place payout of $587,120.

Vayo was also awarded 1,440 POY points for the win. This was his first final table score of the year, outside of making the WSOP world championship final table. He will return to play out that event this fall, entering the final table in third chip position. As a result of winning this event he now sits in 126th place in the standings. If he were to win the main event he would be awarded 3,300 points, which currently would be enough to put him into third place in the rankings.

The final five’s decision to make a deal was likely influenced by the fact that the event featured a $1 million guaranteed top prize. The difference between first and second place was to be larger than $700,000 if the players stuck to the official payouts. Vayo held a commanding lead with over half of the chips in play when the deal was struck.

Joining Vayo at the final table of this event were Danny Fuhs (9th – $32,623), Chino Rheem (7th – $54,288), Grant Hinkle (5th – $207,669) and Layne Flack (4th – $225,190).

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

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